Nothing Phone (3a) Pro review — nothing short of fantastic

Nothing is exactly what the tech world needs right now. It's a quiet disrupter of sorts, where it's not re-inventing the wheel but giving it a refreshing spruce. Throughout its phone releases, it's come up with inventive ways to stand out: a see-through body, a monochrome UI and now a dedicated button to transport you to the world of AI.

Welcome to the Nothing Phone 3a range, two phones (the 3a and the 3a Pro) both under £500 — one significantly so.

Now, we all know that trilogies are hard to get right. Even the Godfather stumbled on the third release but can Nothing succeed where Ford Coppola failed?

Shortlist has been lucky enough to have had both phones for the last week or so now — here are 5 things to know about the Nothing (3a) Pro...

1. It's clear: the Nothing Phone design is incredible

Transparency has always been key to Nothing's design. This must cause the makers of the components inside the device a whole host of headaches, given they are never the prettiest of things to showcase but this phone proves you can do it, with some fantastic fibonacci series inspired curves throughout.

Being transparent is such a clever design flourish and one that is thankfully present on the Nothing Phone 3 range.

The phone measures 163.5 x 77.5 x 8.4mm and has a 6.77-inch screen, which puts it into Samsung S25 Ultra territory.

Given the look and feel of the device, you would be mistaken that this is a premium model to rival the S25 Ultra but there are a number of specs that give the game away a little here.

It isn't waterproof, being IP64 means that it is dust tight and water resistant up to a point. So no dunking this one in the bath.

There's no face detection, but you do get a fingerprint sensor and while there's no actual MicroSD expansion slot, a 256GB storage (complemented by 12GB RAM) should mean that you have enough internal space for all your files.

Charging wise, you are missing out a little, too, as there's no wireless on board — it does charge in a pretty quick 50% in around 20 min, 100% in under an hour, though.

The rim around the phone chassis is made of plastic, too, but one that's been given a slightly rougher feel (for grip) and, in turn, this does make it feel nice and premium. The back is glass, though, and this adds to the quality of the device.

Inside there's a decent Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 — not flagship but mighty for the mid range. And the screen is AMOLED, clocking in at 120Hz.

So, there some compromises to be made, but let's re-iterate here — you are getting a lot of phone for under £500 and one of the best-looking on the market, too. I mean, just look at that huge camera array on the back of the thing...

2. The camera array is MASSIVE

Flip the phone over and it feels like the Eye of Sauron is staring into your soul. That's because Nothing Phone has The One Ring To Rule Them All on its back, which houses a punchy camera array.

Inside the bulbous ring are three cameras and a sensor: a 50MP (wide), 50MP, (telephoto), and an 8MP Ultrawide with 3x optical zoom.

Such a camera array isn't unusual, what with OnePlus and Xiaomi Redmi also adopting this style so you can't call it original. You can call it refreshing, though, even if it's a little chunky (the telephoto is periscopic so the ring needs a bit of depth) and does sometimes get stuck on the lip of your jeans.

Around the array is where you also find Nothing's glyphs. This light show can be programmed so you know exactly who is calling, or if you have an important notification. It's a lovely USP and one that once again highlights how much fun a Nothing Phone is to use.

The camera quality is impressive — it's rare you would camera array of this quality on a mid range, especially one that is packing a telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom power.

This makes close-up images a lot of fun to make and the quality is superb as well — especially when it comes to macro photography which is done through the telephoto lens.

There's video on board, too, which tops out at 4K 30fps and the selfie camera is 50MP and a decent quality.

3. The UI is black and white

One thing I almost never shout out in a review is a phone manufacturer's dedicated UI/software skin on Android because it's nearly alway crap. Go pure Android or go home is my usual mantra but not so here: the Nothing UI is nothing short of impressive.

I went all in with the UI, choosing the monochrome look and I have loved it ever since. It takes a little while for the phone to shift all your apps to a monochrome style but once it's done, then it makes for one of the best phone aesthetics we have ever seen.

The dot matrix style of the widgets is superb, especially the little guy that takes a walk across the screen counting your steps. Head to the app drawer and Nothing has an option to group your apps together to make them easier to find.

While we would love more third-party integration with the glyph interface (I wanted to use those fancy lights more), it really is a fun thing to have. You can customise the glyphs within the app interface.

4. AI gets its own dedicated button

One of the newest additions to the Nothing range this year is a dedicated button that takes you to the Essential Space of the Nothing Phone. This sounds impressive but during our time with it, it really just felt like a quick way to take screen grabs and then add them to a dedicated space.

Given this is Nothing's AI play — it is meant to be an extension of your memory where you can add notes to grabs, voice memos and pictures — it just didn't work that way for us. But I think with a little finessing it could well be a great place to store essential things you need day to day, ready for when you need them.

Nothing is using AI to organise this space — everything is stored in the Essential Space app and if, say, you take a grab of an email then Nothing with use AI to summarise what was said in it.

If you long press the button then that is when you can leave yourself a voice note, attached to whatever you are grabbing.

5. The price is better than alright

Nothing has released both the Nothing 3A and the Nothing 3A Pro, While I have reviewed the Pro version here, it is worth noting that the only real difference between the two is the camera array on the back.

The Nothing 3A has been given a more modest 32MP front camera and an Ultrawide camera that doesn't have the periscope tech.

The prices for both is as follows:

• Phone (3a) is available in Black, White, and Blue: 8+128GB — £329; 12+256GB — £379
• Phone (3a) Pro is available in Grey and Black: 12+256GB — £449

Given both handsets are under £500, it is astonishing just how much phone you get for this price.

Nothing Phone 3A Pro final verdict

Nothing has done it again with the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. It has created a fantastic-looking phone with specs that make you think you are using a handset that costs a lot more for the money.

Yes, some features have been omitted to get into this price tag — lack of wireless charging will be a bugbear for some — but the other features have been polished to such a quality that all is forgiven.

If you are another manufacturer looking to hit up the mid-range this year, then the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is the one to beat.

• Head to Nothing to sign up for pre-order information now. The Nothing (3a) Pro is coming 11 March, 10AM. While the Nothing (3a) is available to pre-order now.