Nothing Phone (3a) Pro Review: The mid-segment (finally) gets a camera phone

“With good cameras come hefty price tags” has generally been the rule in the smartphone market. Small wonder that most of the really good camera phones come in the premium segment (in the vicinity of Rs 40,000 / $500 and above). In the mid-segment, one generally has to be content with phones with one very good main sensor, with the other cameras generally playing supporting roles.

Nothing is looking to change that with the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, which comes with not just a very good main sensor but also a periscope telephoto sensor (a rarity even at much higher price points), making it easily the most versatile camera phone in the mid-segment on paper.

But do those promising-on-paper cameras live up to their potential in real life, and has Nothing cut any spec and performance corners in bringing them to this price point? Let us take a closer look.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro Design and Appearance: That transparent-y back, those LEDs…and cameras that stick out, literally

The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro follows the design of the ‘a’ series of Nothing’s phones, with a back that seems transparent and with LEDs on the upper half (the flagships have it all over the back). It is one of the most eye-catching designs out there, and it is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea; we like its geekish steampunk feels with the visible screws and metal accented inner layers. The stand-out feature in design terms, rather appropriately, is the camera unit, which is in the form of a large protruding sphere with three cameras (one surrounded by a metal-colored enclosure) and a flash on it. The front is largely routine – tall display with thin bezels and a punch hole notch – and the side, which is the same color as the back (we got grey), has the volume keys on the left, while on the right side are the power/display button and the Essential space button, which is a new feature on Nothing phones (more on which later).

Its design might distract some from the fact that the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is a big phone. It is 163.2 mm tall and rather unusually wide at 77.5 mm, and while it is relatively slim at 8.39 mm, it is still taller than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, almost as wide and actually a little thicker. At 211 grams, it is not exactly lightweight, either. The Phone (3a) Pro has a glass back, and that gives it a more premium feel than the plastic one on the Phone (2a) and (2a) Plus. Although Nothing claims “100 percent recycled aluminum in mid-frame and for all buttons,” most of the frame seems to be sturdy plastic and blends with the rest of the device (our grey model had a grey frame). The front comes with Panda Glass protection, while the back is “high-grade tempered glass,” and the phone comes with IP64 dust and water protection (good enough for splashes and light rain), which is decent but not quite on par with what devices like the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ are offering.

The phone is available in black and grey colors, and we got the grey one. We think the black looks better, but thanks to those LEDs and that transparent back, people are going to stop and stare every time they see the Phone (3a) Pro. What they think after seeing it is going to be a matter of preference. Speaking for ourselves, we like what we see: a big, geeky phone that makes people go: “What’s that?” Of course, we say Nothing in reply. Literally.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro spec sheet: Typically mid-segment, and the cameras stick out…again

The Nothing Phone (3a) ticks most mid-segment spec boxes. It comes with a large 6.77-inch flexible AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 3000 nits. The resolution of 2392 x 1080 is a little on the lower side for such a big display when you consider that iQOO, OnePlus, and Redmi are offering higher resolutions (1.5K, to use their terminology). The phone runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, which is known to be a good mid-segment performer, and comes accompanied with RAM and storage variants of 8 GB/ 128 GB, 8 GB/ 256 GB, and 12 GB/ 256 GB. Storage is UFS 2.2, which is a little slower, considering that many in the competition offer UFS 3.1 and higher at these price points.

The phone runs on Android 15 with NothingOS on top of it. Keeping all of this running is a 5000 mAh battery with support for 50W charging, but (again) no charger in the box, which seems a bit of a miss at this price point. You also see stereo speakers, although they have no support for Dolby Atmos.

The cameras add a premium sheen to this steady mid-segment spec sheet. Nothing has opted for a three-camera setup for the Phone (3a) Pro – a 50-megapixel Samsung main sensor with OIS, an 8-megapixel Sony ultrawide, and the real surprise, a 50-megapixel Sony LYTIA 600 periscope telephoto with 3x zoom and OIS. A periscope telephoto is very rare at this price point and is normally seen only on flagships, and Nothing claims that it can deliver up to 6x in-sensor zoom and even 60x digital zoom. Add a 50-megapixel selfie camera to the mix, and the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro can claim to be perhaps the best-specced camera phone not just at its price point but even at those above it.

Nothing Phone (3) Pro Cameras: The cameras stick out yet again, this time from the rest of the competition

They stick out in design. They stick out on the spec sheet. And well, the cameras on the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro stick out in terms of performance as well. The main sensor expectedly captures some very good images in terms of colors and detail, in both daylight and even in low light conditions, saturating colors lightly without making them seem over the top. However, the real ace in the camera pack is telephoto, which at times seems to deliver better images than even the main sensor, with slightly warmer colors. Zoom worked very well, not just at 3x and 6x but even well beyond that.

In fact, we found we could get decent social media-worthy snaps even at 10x zoom. Even low-light performance is impressive. Telephotos can also be used to take macro-like snaps, as you can get a really close-up perspective of objects and people without actually getting too close. Once again, the results are very impressive. Portrait snaps work out very well, too, with good edge definition and bokeh, and you also get four focal lengths to choose from (24 mm, 50 mm, 70 mm, and 100 mm).

Video quality is decent without being exceptional, although 4K video seems supported only on the main sensor. The 50-megapixel selfie sensor is a pleasant surprise. While it will not compete with those on Vivo’s V series, it delivered some very sharp stills, even though the contrasts seemed a little exaggerated. We got the inevitable skin smoothing that is a default feature of most selfie cameras. The cameras come with Nothing’s TrueLens Engine 3, which brings special algorithms and AI processing as well as what Nothing terms “multi-frame technology) for extra sharp images. And it works well most of the time. Stick to the main sensor and the telephoto, and you will have perhaps the only phone in the mid-segment with two cameras that work well in good and low light conditions.

It is not all roses, though. The cameras, while exceptional, can be a little inconsistent, with details going missing at times and colors fluctuating from snap to snap. There was also the occasional case of the camera freezing mid-shot or the phone getting locked when we were taking a snap (really odd). We also encountered lens flare near light sources. And finally, while the 8-megapixel ultrawide camera did provide us with a different perspective, it was a poor cousin of the others in terms of details. To its credit, Nothing has been working on ironing out camera issues through its updates, and performance has actually been improving.

All said and done, we would say the Phone (3a) Pro easily boasts the best camera setup in a phone priced below Rs 35,000 or even Rs 40,000 in the market at the time of writing. Other phones might pack in more megapixels, but in terms of photographic performance and potential, the Phone (3a) Pro is quite outstanding.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro performance: Solid everyday soldier. Essential Space is promising, but WIP!

The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is a very smooth performer when it comes to handling everyday tasks. That large display may be FHD+ but is great for viewing content, be it on websites or on videos, and the dual speakers turn in an impressive performance in terms of volume, significantly louder than the (2a) and (2a) Plus. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 is not a gaming beast, so it would be naive to expect the Phone (3a) Pro to run Genshin Impact or Call of Duty in all its glory. That said, it does a very decent job with both games, with the graphics tweaked a little and sails through casual games like Subway Surfer without any trouble at all. The phone did show a tendency to heat up a little initially, but that seems to have been fixed by the numerous updates that Nothing has delivered since launch. Saving videos and images sometimes took time (perhaps because of UFS 2.2 storage), but it never reached deal-breaking levels.

The Essential Space concept on the phone is an interesting one, although it is very much a work in progress. This is basically a quick note-taking feature, which is triggered by pressing the Essential key next to the power/display key on the right side of the phone. The location of the key is problematic as we actually hit it accidentally a few times while trying to hit the power button – perhaps they need to be kept more apart – but you get used to it after a while. Whether you actually use it depends on how often you like to take notes and save and analyze information. Hitting the Essential key takes a screenshot and also gives you the option to write or speak a note. Keep the key pressed, and you can record a voice note. Hit the key twice, and you will be taken to the Essential Space section, where your screenshots and notes are kept (voice notes get transcribed). You can also press the Essential Key while using the camera, and the image will be saved in your Essential Spaces.

There is a lot of AI sorcery in Essential Spaces that not only transcribes your voice notes but also analyses information on screenshots, tries to evaluate, and does a lot more. As of now, the concept seems to be more in a state of evolution than revolution (we are not even sure if it does enough to merit a separate hardware key of its own), but it could develop into a very innovative note-taking tool. In its current form, it is not very intuitive, and explaining its functionality would need a separate story altogether (we are working on it). It is a work in progress, but Nothing deserves a round of applause for trying something different.

The Phone (3a) Pro runs on NothingOS, Nothing’s super clean and slightly retro take on Android. There is no bloatware and plenty of AI tools, and if you like your phone’s interface to be simple and straightforward, then you will love the Phone (3a) Pro. Of course, you also get the option to use the LEDs on the back to light up to notify you about messages, calls, and much more, and while this option is not as handy as on the larger LED setup of the Phone (1) and Phone (2), it is definitely handy, especially for those who like to keep their phones face down, although setting up the notification patterns for different functions and people needs some patience. Call quality is good, and the fingerprint sensor works well. The phone is a little big to handle, but otherwise, it is a steady soldier for everyday wars. And a regularly updated soldier, too – Nothing has been issuing updates at a steady stream to improve performance and fix bugs, awesome for some, irritating for others.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro battery: Decent battery life, totally absent charger

The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro’s 5000 mAh battery generally sees off a day of normal to heavy usage easily. A lot is going to depend on how much you use the cameras, really, and you will be tempted to use them a lot, but the phone gets through a day of use without breaking a sweat.

Charging is not its strongest point, though. The phone supports 50W charging and took about an hour and ten minutes to charge fully on Nothing’s own CMF charger, which is definitely on the higher side as compared to the likes of the Redmi Note 14 Pro+ and OnePlus Nord 4, which come with larger batteries but support faster charging, and come with chargers in the box. While the Phone (3a) Pro charges up to 60 percent in about half an hour, the overall charging speed remains on the slow side, and the absence of a charger in the box at this price point is a definite drawback.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro Price: Not fighting on price, really

The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is available in three RAM and storage configurations at the following prices:

• 8 GB/ 128 GB: Rs 29,999
• 8 GB/ 256 GB: Rs 31,999
• 12 GB/ 256 GB: Rs 33,999

Those prices put the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro on the premium side of the mid-segment market. The fact that it does not come with a charger or cover in the box only adds to the expense involved in getting it. This puts it in the range of the OnePlus Nord 4 (Rs 29,999), which has an equally interesting design (complete with a metal back), a bigger battery, and the more gaming-oriented iQOO Neo 10R, which brings a faster processor and much bigger battery to the table at a lower price (Rs 26,999 onwards). There is also the Redmi Note 14 Pro+, which starts at close to Rs 30,000 and comes with a similar processor, bigger battery, and IP68 dust and water resistance. All of them come with faster charging and chargers in the box. The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro has its hands well and truly full.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro Review Verdict: Mainly for phone photographers

We are going to keep it simple: the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is really for those who want very good cameras on their phones for around Rs 30,000. Take cameras out of the equation, and the Phone (3a) Pro can be matched by similar or lower-priced competitors in spec terms, and indeed even its own Phone (3a) sibling, which comes with broadly similar specs and design (barring the massive camera bump).

Bring its cameras to the competition table, and the Phone (3a) Pro moves into a different, almost elite zone. For all their inconsistencies and occasional shortcomings, the Phone (3a) Pro’s cameras are unmatched in terms of photographic potential at this price point. Combine that with the clean UI of the phone, and top it with a very edgy, geek-friendly design, and we think that the Phone (3a) Pro is the perfect phone for those who want to do a lot on their phone’s cameras and do not want to spend a lot in the process! Those cameras stick out…in all respects: design, specs, and, above all, performance.

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