London-based Nothing has brought one of the last things setting top-level phones apart from cheaper mid-range models down to a more affordable price: high-quality camera zoom.

Cameras have long been the battleground of the most expensive phones, each vying for better quality, longer reach and multiple lenses. While much of this costly progress has trickled down to cheaper models, optical zoom cameras are few and far between below the £600 mark.

The £449 (€459/$459/A$849) Nothing 3a Pro sets itself apart with the company’s trademark transparent, light-up design and a 50-megapixel 3x telephoto camera on the back that rivals phones costing twice as much.

It builds on the excellent Phone 2a with a similar set of “glyph” LED strips on the back that light up in complex patterns for notifications, calls, timers, charging, the volume and other fun things.

The transparent glass back reveals an interesting design beneath, but the gigantic camera cluster is the standout element. It is huge and protrudes far enough for it to act like a grip for your finger on the back of the phone. The back and front of the 3a Pro are glass, while the sides are a high-quality plastic.

The screen is a large and fast OLED, which looks really good and has fast optical fingerprint scanner under it towards the bottom.

Specifications

• Screen: 6.77in 120Hz FHD+ OLED (387ppi)

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3

• RAM: 12GB

• Storage: 256GB

• Operating system: Nothing OS 3.1 (Android 15)

• Camera: 50MP main, 50MP 3x tele and 8MP ultrawide, 50MP selfie

• Connectivity: 5G, eSIM, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4 and GNSS

• Water resistance: IP64 (spray resistant)

• Dimensions: 163.5 x 77.5 x 8.4mm

• Weight: 211g

The 3a Pro has Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, which can’t rival the top chips for raw power but is fast enough to make the phone feel snappy and responsive. It can handle most games fine without getting hot and is about 25% faster than the Phone 2a.

The battery life is great, lasting about three days between charges with general use, including more than seven hours spent actively using the screen. Gaming and using the camera dents the battery, but even so most should only need to charge it every other day.

NothingOS

The 3a Pro runs Nothing’s version of Android 15, which offers a relatively clutter-free, fast and unique experience filled with nice design touches based around dot-matrix art. There are plenty of customisation options to tailor the look and feel of the phone, including monochrome and distraction-free themes, but generally it is just a bit more fun than most version of Android.

It has a few of Google’s AI tools, including Gemini, and various image editing tools in Google Photos. But the big new addition is Nothing’s Essential Space app, which acts like an AI-powered notebook capable of collecting and analysing various screenshots, text and voice notes.

A dedicated button on the side of the phone captures what’s on screen, while pressing and holding records a quick voice note to go with it. The app analyses the content to create summaries, transcriptions and possible actions, such as reminders or to-do lists. Opening the app shows the various things you’ve captured sorted into collections, such as a cross between Pinterest and a note-taking app such as Evernote.

The app is a little basic at the moment and requires a connection to Nothing’s servers to work, but the idea is sound and it currently works well as a way of keeping screenshots and other data out of your gallery. The AI summaries, like all AI tools, are a bit hit and miss, and your various captures are stuck on your phone, but it has far more potential than a lot of gimmicky AI features currently being touted by various parties.

Unfortunately, you can’t customise the side button to do something else, so if you don’t like Essential Space it is rendered useless, unlike rivals such as Apple’s action button. I also pressed it a lot, mistaking it for the power button, taking a fair number of accidental screenshots in the process.

Nothing will support the 3a Pro with three years of Android updates and a total of six years of security updates. That is a year or so behind the best in the business but a lot longer than many rivals, which is good to see.

Camera

The 3a Pro has three cameras on the back: an 8-megapixel ultrawide, a 50MP main and a 50MP 3x telephoto, the later of which is the standout feature for this price range of phone.

The ultrawide camera is reasonable, if a little soft on detail. The main camera is pretty good all round with solid colour and dynamic range, making a decent job of most situations. The 3x zoom camera is arguably the best of the lot, producing nicely detailed images with reasonable reach. All three cameras suffer from a bit of overprocessing, which you can see when you zoom in on photos. The main and telephoto cameras offer an in-sensor zoom to 2x and 6x respectively, but they are not great showing obvious artefacts, while zooming beyond 10x the images start to look more like oil paintings than photos.

Overall, the camera on the 3a Pro is one of the best for a mid-range phone and offers a real zoom, which is rare at this price. It won’t trouble the top Android or iPhones, however.

Sustainability

Nothing says the battery maintains at least 90% of its original capacity for at least 1,200 full charge cycles. The Phone 2a is generally repairable in the UK. Screen replacements cost £89 or batteries cost £29 plus about £35 labour and shipping by Nothing.

The device is made of recycled aluminium, copper, plastic, steel, tin and other materials. It has a carbon footprint of 51.3kg CO2 equivalent. The company publishes sustainability reports.

Price

The Nothing Phone 3a Pro costs £449 (€459/$459/A$849).

For comparison, the Phone 3a costs £329, the Google Pixel 8a costs £499, the Samsung Galaxy A56 costs £499 and the iPhone 16e costs £599.

Verdict

Nothing hits the right notes with the Phone 3a Pro to make it one of the best mid-range phones you can buy.

Very few rivals have a real zoom camera at this price, let alone one as good as on the back of the 3a Pro. It has a big, crisp and smooth display, solid mid-range performance and very long battery life. A standout design adds interest to the otherwise dull phone market, while good software with up to six years of support means it will go the distance.

Nothing’s AI-powered screenshot and note-taking app shows potential, even if it is a bit basic at the moment. But giving it a dedicated button that can’t be used for anything else feels like a miss. I would rather choose which app or function to bind to the button.

The mid-range smartphone market is rapidly becoming packed with very good options, but Nothing manages to stand out and is worth considering when your old phone gives up the ghost.

Pros: good camera with 3x optical zoom, interesting design, great software with six years of support, good screen, solid performance, long battery life, good fingerprint scanner, splash resistant.

Cons: AI features need work, extra button can’t be customised, only three years of Android version updates, enormous camera cluster protrudes from the back.