The ₹20,000–₹25,000 smartphone segment in India is wild! On the one hand, it's exciting because there’s a ton of variety and some surprisingly good specs.
But it’s also tough—super crowded and competitive, and to stand out, brands either need to set a trend or quietly fade into the background.
That’s the vibe Nothing is going for with the Phone 3a. And let’s just say… it stirred the pot.
We’ve been using this as my daily driver even before it officially launched in India—and I definitely have some thoughts. Also, at the time of writting this article, the phone is going for ₹22,999 on Flipkart, with a ₹2,000 discount on all bank cards. Not sure if that’ll change by the time this video goes up.
Nothing Phone 3a Design
Anyway, let’s start with the design—This phone is a visual magnet and it almost immediately grabs your attention. And Design is subjective, sure, but in this segment, where most phones are rinse-repeat copies, this one is loud, bold, and fresh. It's also a more mature take on the Nothing phone 2a but at the same it still doesn't take itself too seriously.
Build-wise though it's not the best in class. It doesn't feel as ergonomic in-hand as, say, an Oppo or OnePlus phone with their rounded edges. The frame is plastic—and not the toughest kind either. This unit has already picked up minor scratches and I have a feeling it's going to only get worse.
Still, the semi transparent back gives it a strong identity. Even before people see the glyph lights, they’re going to ask: “Hey, which phone is that?” And weirdly, we like that..
It looks like a flagship… even though it doesn't always feel like one. It has Panda Glass protection on both the front and the back, which is a clear cost cutting choice because the older Nothing Phone 2a came with Gorilla Glass 5. Still, it comes with a pre-installed screen protector. I’ve been using mine without a case, and surprisingly no scratches.
We were nervous about the white variant getting dirty, but the back has managed to stay relatively clean.
Audio is also Surprisingly immersive. Stereo speakers are loud, with punchy bass and clear vocals. No Dolby Atmos, but thats not a dealbreaker for us. The haptics are on point, and the UI uses them well. Auto-brightness also works really smoothly—better than expected at this price.
The in- display fingerprint scanner is also fast and reliable.
And ofcourse, there’s the Glyph Interface—Nothing’s flashy light setup on the back. Personally, I find it more distracting than useful. We tried to like it, but when you're driving or working and it flashes unexpectedly… it's hard to ignore.
Still, it's very customizable, and the music visualizer is kind of cool, syncing the lights to your music. We have to give a special mention to this dedicated “Essential Key”, which, even after months of launch, isn’t very useful. In fact, it’s very easy to take accidental screenshots because of this key’s close proximity to the power button.
It takes you to a dedicated Essential Space which is basically a glorified screenshot app with a few smart features. Nothing says they have big plans to build this Essential Space into something big, but we’re yet to see much progress. Remapping this key is disabled as of now, but it could change in the future.
Nothing Phone 3a Display
The display is a flat 6.7-inch 10-bit AMOLED with 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh. Some brands are pushing 1.5K panels in this price range, but not this one.
But I'm fine with the specs here because it's a bright and vivid screen that's great for watching a lot of content.. we binged the latest season of Black mirror on this thing and it holds up—indoors and outdoors. In fact, this is one of the best phones I've used in terms of screen legibility at this price point.
Nothing Phone 3a Performance & Software
Under the hood, you’ve got the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, paired with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GGB UFS 2.2 storage. This setup ensures that daily tasks such as browsing, texting, and watching videos are handled with ease. It also scores well on Antutu...
The phone does warm up a bit while playing games and gets hot when using the camera app outdoors; however, the camera app does not shut down nor show any warnings about limiting use. However, the phone always struggled with processing images which is something we also noticed on the Realme P3 Pro which has the same chip.
We also noticed some sluggishness when using the camera app, especially when switching between camera modes or switching cameras.
Now, a lot of folks say this isn’t a “gaming phone,” but it runs BGMI at 90fps smoothly. COD: Mobile works well too and I even tested heavier graphic games like Genshin Impact - it ran just fine at 60fps on medium-high settings. So yeah, we're happy with that.
Now, about the storage type—UFS 2.2 isn’t the fastest, but unless you’re transferring giant files or video editing on your phone, you probably won’t notice the difference. But we still feel Nothing should have offered at least UFS 3.1 here because some UFS 2.2 phones have been known to lag or have performance issues down the line, especially as apps become more demanding.
Now let’s talk software. Nothing OS 3.1 runs on top of Android 15, and it’s genuinely charming. The UI has style—beautiful widgets, consistent iconography, and it’s surprisingly practical. Everything feels well-optimized down to the smallest animations. Even small things like the double-tap-to-lock animation feel snappy.
Nothing is promising 3 years of OS updates and 6 years of secuirty updates, which I think is quite reasonable.
Nothing Phone 3a Battery
Then, there’s the battery. A 5,000mAh cell is big enough, but let’s face it, Nothing is competing with Chinese phones in this segment. And most of the new Chinese phones this year are launching with bigger silicon carbon batteries.
Plus, Nothing does not include a charging brick in the box either, which all OnePlus, iQOO and Poco phones do provide. So yeah, Nothing could’ve been a lot more aggressive in this department.
But even now, the phone easily lasts me a full day and more with heavy use—calls, camera, everything. Charging’s a bit slow though, capped at 50W, which is behind most of the competition. Takes about 1.5 hours to fully top up with a third-party fast charger.
Nothing Phone 3a Cameras
Please watch the video for camera samples.
The camera department is quite impressive too. The Nothing Phone 3a Pro holds its own with a 50MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultrawide camera, and a 50MP 2x telephoto sensor. The primary camera is especially impressive for the price. It captures crisp, detailed shots in well-lit conditions, with vibrant colours and accurate skin tones.
The 2x telephoto lens is great for portrait photography, offering smooth bokeh drop off and decent edge detection. If you’re someone who loves taking portraits, you’ll appreciate this phone.
Low-light performance has improved quite a bit over previous Nothing devices. It does a decent job of reducing flare and improving exposure, but it’s still not the best around.
The ultrawide camera is also strictly average.
On the video front, the phone can shoot 4K footage at 30fps with the primary sensor, which is more than enough for most casual videographers.
However, the lack of 4K recording support on the telephoto lens is a bit of a letdown, especially since a 50MP sensor can technically support 4K.
Nothing Phone 3a Verdict
Bottom line? We’d recommend this phone to anyone who wants a head-turning design and a clean, no-nonsense software experience.
But if performance is your priority, the Realme P3 Pro only for 1,000 Rupees more gives you more bang for your buck—plus, the camera’s better too.
