Nothing Phone (3a) review: The Glyph mid-ranger gains a real telephoto and the Essential Key.
Personality as a spec.
Phone (3a) wins the segment's software war outright and backs it with a real telephoto — two things $379 rarely buys together. The weatherproofing and glass are where Nothing saved; for most buyers the trade reads as fair.
01Display
78/10078/100 trails the 81-point cohort average for mid-range phones of 2025.
02Camera
74/10074/100 puts it above the 71-point average for mid-range phones of 2025.
03Performance
66/10066/100 trails the 70-point cohort average for mid-range phones of 2025.
04Battery
76/10076/100 is one of the weaker battery results among mid-range phones of 2025 — 8 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
05Build
78/10078/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2025.
06Value
80/10080/100 puts it above the 78-point average for mid-range phones of 2025.
- 2× telephoto at $379.
- Nothing OS — cleanest Android skin in the class.
- Glyph interface + Essential Key feel genuinely different.
- 6 years of security patches.
- IP64 while rivals hit IP68.
- Panda Glass scratches easier than Gorilla.
- 7s Gen 3 is mid-pack for games.
- No charger in box.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 117-phone cohort of mid-range devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .