With its new Cellphone 3a Professional, Nothing is on a roll

A relative newcomer to the smartphone market, Nothing has made a reputation for itself within the cell business over the previous couple of years. The London, England-based firm has vaulted into the general public’s creativeness with its line of unique-looking handsets, every of which affords attention-grabbing {hardware} options and a clean software expertise.

Coinciding with this yr’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) commerce present, Nothing has taken the chance to launch its latest line of mid-range smartphones: the Cellphone 3a and the Cellphone 3a Professional. With the latter gadget, has the corporate managed to take care of the momentum of its earlier choices, or is the Cellphone 3a Professional simply one other mid-ranger in a crowded Android playing field? I slotted my SIM card into the telephone to seek out out.

Editor’s Alternative

Nothing Cellphone 3a Professional

The Nothing Cellphone 3a Professional is a mid-range handset with a 6.77-inch show, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset, and a uniquely designed rear triple digital camera design.

Professionals & Cons

• Distinctive design language
• Wonderful software program pores and skin
• No superfluous AI gimmicks

• Water and mud ranking might be improved
• Optical fingerprint sensor is a bit poky
• Important Key feels a bit underbaked

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Worth, availability, and specs

Beginning off with specs, the Nothing Cellphone 3a Professional packs a stable assortment of {hardware} into its distinctive chassis. With a 6.77-inch 1080 x 2392 decision AMOLED panel in tow, the telephone’s footprint is kind of massive throughout. Actual dimensions are available at 6.44 x 3.05 x 0.33-inches (163.5 x 77.5 x 8.4 mm), and the gadget weighs in at 7.44 oz (211 g).

Below the hood, the Cellphone 3a Professional is powered by the mid-range Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor, which is supplemented with 12GB of RAM. A 5,000 mAh battery pack can be crammed in, which is able to topping up at a speedy 50W fee.

Nothing has packed the 3a Professional with a triple rear digital camera array: a 50-megapixel f/1.9 wide-angle shooter, a 50-megapixel f/2.6 periscope 3X zoom lens, and an 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide sensor with a 120 diploma subject of view. Video recording tops out at 4K decision at 30 frames per second (fps), or 1080p at as much as 120fps. Moreover, a single 50-megapixel f/2.2 front-facing shooter is on deck, which is able to recording at as much as 4K decision at 30fps.

The Cellphone 3a Professional is water and dust resistant at an IP64 certification stage, which makes it dust-tight and guarded in opposition to splashes of contemporary water from any angle. Sadly, a scarcity of IP67 or IP68 certification signifies that the telephone cannot formally take a dunk.

Elsewhere, the gadget is outfitted with an optical under-display fingerprint scanner, a bottom-mounted USB-C port, stereo audio system, and Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 compatibility.

The Nothing Cellphone 3a Professional is accessible in each gray and black colorways, with an MSRP of $460. For the asking value, the telephone ships with 12GB of RAM and 256 GB of inside storage. The Cellphone 3a Professional goes up for pre-order on March 11 within the US, with shipments anticipated to start rolling out on March 25.

What I appreciated in regards to the Nothing Cellphone 3a Professional

I am a fan of the Cellphone 3a Professional’s digital camera hump design

I am unable to discuss in regards to the Cellphone 3a Professional with out beginning off with its distinctive design language. Nothing has made a reputation for itself by bucking the usual sweet bar-style telephone pattern, a minimum of when it comes to aesthetics. The 3a Professional maintains the corporate’s translucent rear panel design, combined with a triple ‘glyph’ mild setup of LED lights.

Extra noteworthy this yr, is Nothing’s decision to make a statement piece out of the digital camera protrusion. It is massive, it is in cost, and it is controversial, to say the least. Personally, I’ve no qualms in regards to the design — I really feel that it suits in completely with the remainder of the telephone’s look, and I respect that it’s not an all-black monolith like so many different digital camera telephones are today.

The Cellphone 3a Professional’s show is a high-point for me. Its 1080 x 2392 decision is sweet and crisp, its 3,000 nits of peak brightness is spectacular, and its variable refresh fee of between 30 and 120Hz makes for a silky-smooth expertise. I am a fan of the symmetrical bezels flanking the show, that are an affordable 0.09-inch (2.3mm) in width.

My favourite side of the complete Cellphone 3a Professional package deal, nevertheless, needs to be the software program expertise. The telephone runs the customized Nothing OS 3.1 software program pores and skin atop of Android 15, and I merely cannot get sufficient of it. Navigation is stutter-free, animations are slick, and there is subsequent to no bloatware bogging down the expertise.

The OS’s enjoyable dot matrix aesthetic is nice to take a look at, and a way of design coherence is current all through the system. Nothing has sprinkled in some small tweaks all through, however none of it feels overbearing. The aforementioned Glyph Interface lighting system might be personalized with relative ease, and there is a Particular Options part with entry to some extra superior choices like RAM Booster and Sport Mode.

Nothing has additionally constructed an experimental app drawer expertise that classes downloaded software program titles by style, versus by alphabetic order. The design carefully resembles Apple’s App Library, in addition to the upcoming Start Menu update for Windows 11. In case you aren’t a fan of the design selection, it is easy to modify again to the usual Android implementation — personally, I am having fun with the brand new fashion.

By way of its software program replace coverage for the Cellphone 3a Professional, Nothing guarantees 3 years of Android characteristic updates, along with six years of safety patches. This does not fairly match the seven years of updates promised by the likes of Samsung, Google, and Honor on their respective flagship choices, however so far as mid-rangers go, the 3a Professional is in a great spot.

Lastly, I am pleased with the Cellphone 3a Professional’s stamina. The 5,000mAH battery pack is on the bigger facet, and I discovered in a single day battery drain to be negligible. I am often capable of get by way of a whole day without having to high up, and the 50W wired charging fee is sweet and brisk. Sadly, the telephone lacks Qi or Qi2 wi-fi charging, which is a ache level for somebody like me who has invested in altering pads all through my dwelling.

Associated

Nothing is turning heads again with its new Phone 3a Series

Nothing has formally unveiled its mid-range Cellphone 3a Collection at Cell World Congress 2025, however leaks spoiled a lot of the shock issue.

What I did not like in regards to the Nothing Cellphone 3a Professional

The fingerprint sensor is not one of the best, and the shortage of wi-fi charging is disappointing

I commend Nothing for not falling into the lure of over-hyping and under-delivering on generative and agentic AI options with its newest handset line. I’ve but to seek out compelling use instances for a lot of the AI instruments cropping up on competing smartphones, and so their absence hasn’t saved me up at night time whereas utilizing the 3a Professional as my each day driver.

Nevertheless, Nothing does embody one novel AI instrument in particular, and it is reasonably hit-or-miss in the meanwhile. Dubbed the Important Area, the characteristic features as an enclave for storing screenshots, in addition to for embedding and transcribing voice memos. The characteristic works as marketed — through a devoted Important Key situated beneath the sleep/wake button — however there is not a variety of utility right here to talk of.

I can envision the Important Area evolving into one thing genuinely helpful over time, and I like the concept of at all times having fast entry to voice memos. In the intervening time, nevertheless, the characteristic merely hasn’t confirmed helpful in my each day workflow. I additionally discover myself by chance urgent the important thing with out that means to, regardless of its barely concave design.

By way of uncooked efficiency, the Cellphone 3a Professional’s Snapdragon 7c Gen 3 chipset is decidedly mid-range, as anticipated. A Geekbench 6 benchmark check netted outcomes of 1,173 for single-core and three,307 for multi-core. For each day use, the shortage of additional processing grunt has had no affect on my expertise with the telephone. In fact, had I been making an attempt to play intensive cell video games, I might in all probability be singing a distinct tune.

Digital camera efficiency is the opposite side of the Cellphone 3a Professional that’s mid-range through-and-through. The digital camera system is able to outputting some glorious photographs, however issues begin to get a bit fuzzy in low-light circumstances. The 3X periscope lens is a pleasant addition, and it is extra helpful than the 2X focal size shooter discovered on the usual Cellphone 3a, for instance.

I want the ultra-wide shooter had higher specs — its 8-megapixel decision is on the low facet, even by mid-range telephone requirements. The 120-degree subject of view is completely tremendous in my expertise, however it may be difficult to take a crisp shot when environmental circumstances aren’t preferrred.

One different minor level of competition: in my testing, the Cellphone 3a Professional’s under-display fingerprint sensor is a bit on the fiddly facet. Compared with the ultrasonic sensors discovered on another smartphones, the 3a Professional’s reader is slower to provoke and a bit much less correct total. I additionally want the sensor itself was larger up on the display, versus close to the very backside of the panel.

Associated

Nothing’s Ear (Open) are the most comfortable earbuds I’ve worn because they don’t go in my ears

In case you’re like me and discover most common wi-fi earbuds uncomfortable, the Ear (Open)’s on-ear design might be what you’ve got been ready for.

Must you purchase the Nothing Cellphone 3a Professional?

So far as mid-range smartphones go, the Cellphone 3a Professional leads the pack

For an asking value of $460, the Cellphone 3a Professional brings lots to the desk. The gadget’s distinctive design is eye-catching, and its software program expertise is slick and no-nonsense. The gadget appears and feels premium, punching nicely above its weight bodily talking.

In fact, some concessions needed to be made — together with the shortage of wi-fi charging, the mid-range Snapdragon chipset, and the middling fingerprint sensor — however by and huge, the Cellphone 3a Professional appears and feels very very similar to a flagship Android telephone in disguise.

In case you’re in search of a mid-range smartphone at an affordable value, then Nothing’s Cellphone 3a Professional is a wonderful selection. The handset affords a lot of the flagship Android expertise, however at a extremely palatable value. Personally, now greater than ever, I stay up for seeing what Nothing has been cooking up within the high-end telephone division.

This gadget was offered to Pocket-lint by Nothing.

Editor’s Alternative

Nothing Cellphone 3a Professional

The Nothing Cellphone 3a Professional is a mid-range handset with a 6.77-inch show, the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chipset, and a uniquely designed rear triple digital camera design.