But limited availability may convince some bargain hunters to go with more established phones from Google and Samsung.
Sure, a $459 midrange phone with several premium features like theNothing Phone 3a Prois cool.
But you know what’s even cooler?
But do remarkable specs in theory make for a remarkable phone in practice?
Nothing isn’t selling the gadget through retailers or carriers at this time.
Rather, you’ll have throughNothing’s U.S.
It’s not that big a hassle in the greater scheme of things, but it does limit availability.
Pre-orders for the Noting Phone 3a begin March 4, with sales getting underway March 11.
Nothing Phone 3a review: Design
“What’s with the Blade Runner phone?”
(In addition to white, U.S. shoppers can also opt for a black version of the phone.)
You do get a pretty durable phone for the price.
I imagine those incidents would decrease the longer I use the phone.
We didn’t get close to that number when we measured the screen’s brightness with a light meter.
And I certainly didn’t need to crank up the brightness to make out details on the screen.
(Numbers closer zero mean more accurate colors.)
I also appreciated the sound quality emanating from the stereo speakers on either end of the phone.
The telephoto lens a 50MP sensor that supports a 2x optical zoom is one of three rear cameras.
Joining the party are a 50MP main lens and an 8MP ultrawide camera.
A 32MP front camera handles selfie duties.
This image of a frittata looks very good when handled by the Nothing Phone 3a.
Still, I really can’t find fault with the Nothing Phone 3a here.
I was generally impressed with how the Nothing Phone 3a performed in low lighting.
Take this shot of some flags right before sunset.
Not every photo shot in dark conditions by the Nothing Phone 3a turned out well.
Even the distortion around the lightbulbs dangling from the store’s awning is kept to a minimum.
I’m too pale in the Nothing Phone 3a shot, as the image looks pretty over-exposed.
But overall, this this is weakest photo I took with the Nothing Phone.
Switching to the front camera, the Nothing Phone 3a redeems itself.
Clearly, the Nothing Phone 3a can top other budget phones on a consistent basis.
Multicore scores improved a bit more, jumping 27% to 3,288.
The more expensive Pixel 8a posted better results than the Nothing Phone 3a, though.
In both cases, the phones' displays were set to their default adaptive refresh rate.
The Moto G Power (2025) topped 17 hours, for example.
Remember to keep pressing that button as you’re recording your thoughts, or the recording will stop.
When your done with the recording, the Essential Space feature will use AI to transcribe it.
AI also provides a quick summary of any screenshots you’ve taken with the Essential Key.
And you’re able to organize related screenshots into folders, making Essential Space a valuable research tool.
Nothing promises three years of Android updates and six years of security updates for the 3a.
That security support is certainly extensive, especially for phones in this price range.
For $379, you get a long-lasting phone with a unique design and a gorgeous display.
There are nits worth picking.
I would have liked to see bigger performance gains over the Nothing Phone 2a.
On that last point, though, the Nothing Phone 3a is worth the effort to track down.
But even those devices will have a hard time measuring up against the latest phones from Nothing.
