I've used the Nothing Phone (3a) – here are two things I like and one I don't

MWC 2025 is in full swing, with a host of new technology being brought to market. And while the brand itself may not actually be exhibiting there, Nothing has unveiled a new duo of Android phones.

In particular, the new devices – the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro and this, the Nothing Phone (3a) – look set to rock the market for the best cheap phones, coming in at £329 ($379/AU$459) for the base model and £449 ($459/AU$849) for the Pro model.

I've been testing out the base model from the series to get to grips with what it does well and where it struggles to keep pace. We'll dive in to those thoughts in a second, but first let's blitz through the key specs for the model.

Nothing Phone (3a): key specs

Inside the Nothing Phone (3a), you'll find a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor. That's the newest model in Qualcomm's series of processors aimed at the midrange market, and offers a lot of horsepower.

That's paired with a 5,000mAh battery for a long-lasting handset. Still, it's not just good in terms of capacity – you'll also be able to charge it quickly, thanks to 50W fast charging. Nothing suggest a total 1-100% recharge can be achieved in just 56 minutes, while a 50% top up can be had in less than 20 minutes.

The display is a 6.77-inch flexible AMOLED panel, topped with something called Panda Glass. That's similar in many ways to Gorilla Glass, but comes from China instead of the USA.

It's a 120Hz panel with adaptive refresh rate, and offers up to 1,000Hz touch sampling rate when gaming mode is enabled. Up to 3,000 nits of brightness can be had, and there's even an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Essential Space

Let's start with one of the most useful AI-powered features I've heard about in a while – Essential Space. Nothing describe it as using AI to take something useful and make it even better, removing friction from your day.

So, what exactly is it? Well, it's effectively a super-powered note taker, which can be used to save everything from a gig poster to a voice note about a quirky dream.

It all comes together through the Essential key – a physical button which sits on the side of the handset, and is denoted by its shiny finish. Press that when using the camera to capture what it sees, or hold it down to add a voice note and screenshot combo.

I could talk for hours about this feature. It's so refreshing to see a tech brand take something like AI and make something actually genuinely useful. I've only scratched the surface of what it can do so far, with additional features set to arrive throughout the year, but it's already one of my favourite things about the handset.

Killer cameras

It might seem odd to talk about the camera on this handset in a positive way. After all, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is more the shot-snapping whizz kid – it's got a periscope telephoto lens, after all!

But having given both of the handsets a go, I must say that the Phone (3a) was more appealing. It's good enough for most people, offering a more comprehensive suite of features than you may think, thanks to crop zoom and computational photography.

I'm not always the biggest fan of the way it adjusts the images – though that's an issue I have with a lot of phone cameras in this day and age – but it's certainly well placed for capturing those everyday shots.

Build quality

As you may expect of a handset priced so modestly, there are some corners which have to be cut. Overall, I don't think it's too noticeable on the handset, but the build quality really does suffer.

It's perhaps most noticeable in the display, which is really fragile. The Panda Glass just doesn't seem to hold up in the modern age, quickly and easily picking up some fairly deep scratches which other screens would brush off with ease. I actually noticed something similar when testing the Nothing Phone (2a) Plus, but hoped for improvement here.

The back panel and frame feel like plastic – there's no mention of the actual construction in the materials the brand provided. That's no bad thing per se – it certainly wouldn't offend me from a feel standpoint – though I'd question the longevity those materials have.