A little over a year ago, The National surmised that the Nothing Phone (2a) was an “affordable killer”, a term we (as far as we know) coined to describe a smartphone ready to take on lower-priced devices already considered competitive compared to flagship devices.
Now, the UK smartphone maker wants to kill the competition again with the Nothing Phone (3a), coming with a new generative artificial intelligence service at an even lower price. We take a deeper look.
What's the difference between Nothing (2a) and (3a)?
Not much has changed in the new model, but whatever differences there are have been enough to create a stir.
On the outside, there's a subtle difference. The Phone (3a) has a slightly larger screen, now 6.8 inches (17.3cm) compared to the Phone (2a)'s 6.7 inches. The volume rocker remains on the left, while on the right, in addition to the power button, there's a new control – the Essential Key – which we'll come back to later. Overall, it's slightly thicker too, and still resembles the current iPhone's design.
And what's a Nothing Phone without two signature features – a transparent rear cover and the dancing? glyphs? We won't spend too much time on the latter, which basically serve the same purpose – as visual notifications or alerts in co-ordination with whatever app is active.
We also still maintain that the glyphs remain a novelty, unless the manufacturer repurposes them into something awesome – rejig it into a Tetris-esque game, maybe – to merit actually flipping the device over and using them.
Which colour do we prefer? We'd go with the white variant, since it has a cleaner look and complements the transparent rear and glyphs better. The white edges also give a good contrast up front. Blue – available only in the 12GB/256GB configuration – is a close second.
And, somehow, Nothing was able to lower its price further: the device now starts at Dh999 for an 8GB/128GB combo, which is Dh200 lower than its predecessor. However, you can only go up as much as 256GB of storage (with 12GB of RAM).
The 'Essential' addition
Entirely new to the Phone (3a) is Essential Space, Nothing's latest attempt to leverage generative AI. (The Phone (2a) did dangle a free one-year subscription to Perplexity's chatbot service at launch, but that's missing in the new device.)
Starting this requires the Essential Key and the drill is simple: press once to take a screenshot, long press to start a voice recording and double-press to open Essential Space. However, depending on how you use your smartphone, you may confuse the Essential Key for the power button, which has actually happened to us quite a number of times.
Once a screenshot is taken, you have the option to add a voice note before saving the image; accessing it in Essential Space will allow you to add it to a collection. The latest software update extends this to the camera app, where you can use the Essential Key to save the shot straight to Essential Space. For some reason, you cannot add a voice note once the shots are in Essential Space, which seems to be a misstep.
Strangely enough, all images taken with the Essential Key don't go into the phone's gallery. And by the way, a regular screenshot – which goes into your gallery – can be taken by pressing the power and volume-down buttons.
Essential Space basically gives suggestions and summaries, personalised based on what you've saved. Think of it as using any chatbot but with an image input. It's a nice attempt, but it still needs improvement. Nothing, however, has said new updates will be introduced soon, so that could be something to look forward to.
Even more interesting: a code teardown of the Essential Space app by Android Authority had revealed that Nothing may charge users $120 for using the feature. It is unclear if this is an annual or lifetime fee (and that's too much for a monthly basis), and Nothing has not commented on this.
A third snapper
The other big addition is a third lens to boost the camera system. Nothing added a 50MP telephoto lens, which is interesting as such a camera, with its size and function, doesn't come often with mid-range devices, let alone those below the Dh1,000 threshold. Not even the Phone (2a) had one.
While the previous model did a good job, there are subtle differences between the Phone (2a) and (3a). Shots are slightly more vivid and the (3a) captures a little more light, although there's an issue with some areas that are brighter than they're supposed to be. Night or dimly-lit shots, in certain circumstances, tend to get grainy.
It also has a new 2x optical zoom, in addition to a 4x lossless zoom; the former is more preferred as it results in less quality loss. You can max out at 30x, but it also grains out your images.
Video also does a decent job, but we did notice that it seems to struggle with focusing on subjects. We're unsure why this is the case, but hopefully Nothing will take note of this and issue a fix in a future software update.
How long does it last?
Here's where the Phone (3a) shines: battery life. Nothing claims the device lasts nearly 26 hours for YouTube videos – 5 hours more than what Apple advertises for the iPhone 16e. In our one-hour YouTube-at-full-brightness test, the Phone (3a) lost 7 per cent.
Curiously, with the Phone (2a), Nothing had said it lasts up to 29 hours for video.
Charging is also pegged by Nothing to be a breeze, claiming that the Phone (3a) will hit a full charge in 56 minutes and zip to 50 per cent in 19 minutes, which are hairlines faster than the Phone (2a)'s 23 minutes and 59 minutes, respectively. Our tests got us at 91 per cent and 46 per cent, respectively, which are still impressive.
As for how long it lasts, Nothing claims this is their best battery yet, thanks to a more advanced chipset, despite remaining at 5000mAh. It lasts practically the same as the Phone (2a), and by that we mean hobbling to a second night nearly empty. Use less battery-intensive apps and you might be able to stretch it to a third morning, though at that stage it's pointless and you'd be better off already plugging it in overnight.
Verdict
The Nothing Phone (3a) is an excellent choice in its category. It is a compelling choice for your budget, although you won't be able to go beyond the max 256GB of storage, which could be a deal-breaker for those heavy on saving files, media content especially, on their device (hello, Google Cloud).
Essential Space is a great idea, but we'd like to see more of it. Right now, it's limited to the functions we've discussed above, and the device overall doesn't have now-basic generative AI features such as tools for writing and message organisation – things not even the Phone (3a) Pro has. We expect Nothing to have these soon – at least in their higher-end models.
