Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro Review: Budget Excellence

I've not had galore issues with performance. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 wrong feels snappy astir everywhere. In the camera app, you whitethorn spot immoderate stutters oregon shutter lag, and that's the lone country wherever I felt that this telephone was equipped with a midrange processor. In each different respects, it feels conscionable arsenic almighty arsenic a flagship, though intensive games similar Genshin Impact whitethorn not connection the highest graphics fidelity.

I'm gladsome to spot Nothing worldly 256 GB of retention successful here—it's precocious clip telephone manufacturers started making this the default. Nothing has besides beefed up the bundle update argumentation with 3 Android OS updates and 6 years of information updates, which is respectable, though Samsung is promising 6 years full for some connected its caller Galaxy A bid phones. Nothing volition reason that Samsung is simply a megacorp portion it is simply a lowly startup. Fair. I'm conscionable gladsome to spot these companies expanding bundle enactment each year.

My lone complaints are the deficiency of an IP68 rating and wireless charging. Motorola conscionable debuted its fund Moto G Power of 2025 a fewer weeks ago, and it sports an IP68 standing for the archetypal time, not to notation it tin wirelessly charge. The IP64 standing connected the Nothing phones means they volition beryllium good successful the rain, but you can't submerge them underwater, truthful beryllium cautious astir the pool. It's hard to ding the institution excessively harshly for wireless charging arsenic it's inactive not excessively communal connected sub-$500 phones, but that surely seems to beryllium changing. Something to see for the Phone (4a).

The Glyph lights stay connected the back. I inactive similar these LEDs—they tin airy up to music, notifications, amusement the remaining clip near connected a timer, and more. Do I find them tremendously useful? No, but they're a amusive interaction that adhd a spot of levity. It's a speech starter.

Thoughtful AI Touches

There is simply a caller fastener connected the Phone (3a) series: the Essential Key. (Of nary narration to the infamous Essential Phone.) Tap it once, and it volition seizure your surface and fto you adhd a dependable oregon substance enactment to it. This volition beryllium analyzed successful the Essential Space app via artificial intelligence, extracting immoderate utile accusation retired of the screenshot. It's akin to Google's Pixel Screenshots app, but you tin infuse your notes. You tin besides property and clasp the fastener to grounds a dependable note—these are analyzed and stored arsenic memories, truthful you tin travel backmost to them later. If it detects you wanted to enactment connected something, it'll make a task. A double-tap of the fastener opens the Essential Space app.

Compared to however each different smartphone shaper seems to beryllium shoving the aforesaid generic AI features down our throats—AI transcribing! Writing tools! Summaries!—Nothing's attack present is astatine slightest different. Initially, it took maine immoderate clip to commencement utilizing the feature. I ended up accidentally pressing the fastener a fewer excessively galore times due to the fact that it's adjacent to the powerfulness fastener (a textured fastener would've been smart). But present I'm dilatory starting to property it down and grounds a speedy dependable enactment of thing I privation to retrieve oregon execute aboriginal on.

These memories are transcribed, summarized, with tasks created connected my behalf if that's what I wanted. I tin besides play my audio clip and perceive myself directly. This is paired with an Essential Space widget, which is important successful reminding maine astir these tasks and memories.

This is Nothing's archetypal existent AI rodeo, and I had immoderate qualms astir the information and privateness of each these idiosyncratic notes I'm creating, truthful present are immoderate answers: Nothing says astir of the information successful Essential Space is stored connected your device, similar the audio information that's converted to text. For the substance and screenshot processing, this information is sent to Nothing's servers (in France for planetary users, India for Indian users) and subsequently deleted. Some different information is besides uploaded to “improve processing accuracy,” similar time, clip zone, and determination data, though this isn't stored. Nothing says this information is not utilized for advertizing and is not shared with 3rd parties “beyond the scope of the work request.” That past spot refers to the third-party companies Nothing works with to alteration Nothing AI's functionality, though the institution declined to stock precisely who its partners are.