Nothing doesn’t have a Telephone 3 but, as an alternative selecting to make a lateral transfer to not one, however two new mid-range units, the Nothing Telephone 3a and, intriguingly, the 3a Professional. Reassuringly, Nothing continues to design telephones in contrast to anything on the market. Its retro-future design aesthetic for the exposed-but-not {hardware} on the rear of the telephones, in addition to the dot-matrix fonts, animations and software program, are all again.
{Hardware} design stays Nothing’s largest energy. I get requested in regards to the Nothing cellphone greater than I do once I’m utilizing the most recent iPhone, Samsung’s foldables or anything. It’s simply totally different. The Telephone 3a sequence now has a glass backing (upgraded from polycarbonate) and you may nonetheless see screw fittings, electronics and a return of Nothing’s Glyph lighting system. The Telephone 3a is rated IP64, including higher safety this yr towards rogue water sprays and liquid incidents.
Nothing has as soon as once more rejigged the uncovered {hardware}, and the Glyph lighting particulars are all on the high of the cellphone, circling the digital camera unit. On the Telephone 3a Professional, courtesy of a brand new periscope sensor able to 3X optical zoom, a considerable round digital camera unit protrudes from the again.
Should you assume the 3a Professional’s digital camera module appears chunky, it additionally provides roughly 10 grams to its weight in comparison with the bottom Nothing Telephone 3a. However for digital camera obsessives, solely one in all these telephones will maintain your consideration. (Though the blue iteration of the Nothing Telephone 3a is attractive.)
The Nothing Telephone 3a Professional’s 50-megapixel telephoto sensor can stretch to 3x optical zoom, but it surely additionally features a quite useable, in my early testing, lossless cropped 6x zoom. There’s additionally a 50MP main sensor with f/1.88 lens, and dual-pixel section detection auto-focus (PDAF). Nothing has crammed in an ultrawide 8MP sensor with a 120-degree area of view.
The 3a Professional additionally has a telemacro mode and might mix focus as shut as 15cm (5.9 inches) away with the zoom of the telephoto. It’s a function that makes macro pictures way more helpful – and nonetheless uncommon on telephones exterior of China.
The bottom mannequin Telephone 3a’s predominant 50MP digital camera has single-pixel PDAF, however in any other case retains the identical main digital camera specs. Its telephoto stretches to 2x optical zoom, and a 3rd ultrawide 8MP digital camera.
Whereas we’ll discover the digital camera extra deeply in our overview, my early impressions are optimistic. Photographs are crisp and Nothing has a knack for curated filters that look good. I particularly just like the frosted glass impact, which Nothing additionally provides for wallpaper customization.
Nothing says its TrueLens Engine 3.0 combines AI-powered tone mapping with Extremely XDR, which it co-developed with Google, to tune images. It entails a burst of 8 RAW photos, that are all processed collectively to regulate the brightness of every pixel as much as 5 instances. Nothing’s picture processing appears to lean in direction of punchy, high-contrast images and video.
The Telephone 3a and Telephone 3a Professional are in any other case equivalent in specs. In comparison with the Nothing Telephone 2a, each new units have an even bigger 6.77-inch AMOLED LTPS show, now utilizing Panda Glass quite than Corning’s Gorilla Glass. As you would possibly anticipate from most (however not all) telephones, the 3a has an always-on show, can attain 120Hz refresh charges and it now hits 1,300 nits, making it brighter than the corporate’s final cellphone, too.
As soon as once more, the telephones each have a giant 5,000mAh battery and quick charging at as much as 50W. In accordance with Nothing, this implies it ought to take lower than an hour to cost the gadget totally, whilst you ought to have the ability to get midway there in 19 minutes. One of many solely elements of the Nothing Telephone 3a sequence that hints that they are not fairly at a flagship stage is their processor: a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3. We’ll put that chip by means of its paces in our overview, however it’s supposed to assist with Nothing’s personal customized software program pecadillos, just like the TrueLens Engine. The corporate says that chip makes the 3a sequence 92 p.c higher at AI processing than its predecessor.
In a nod to each its OnePlus historical past and the current pattern for including buttons, Nothing added its Important Key to the Telephone 3a, on the fitting edge beneath the ability button. Oddly, it has a special end to the remainder of the machined buttons on the 3a and feels a bit cheaper. It really works like an AI assistant launcher on different smartphones, like Samsung’s Gemini AI launcher, though the AI hooks come later. One press will seize and ship content material a screenshot to Nothing’s Important Area app, whereas an extended press will begin recording a voice observe. You too can double-press to launch straight into the Important Area app, which is a cupboard space for all these collections.
Nothing makes use of the identical AI tips we’ve seen elsewhere; it simply simplifies them. The Telephone 3a will transcribe your voice notes, automate reminders, and even describe your images and screenshots if wanted. As I juggle work commitments, different writing initiatives, life and every thing else, that is an intriguing soup of AI instruments, storage and automation, all in a single place.
This additionally appears to be Nothing’s equal of Android’s Labs setting. The corporate is teasing additional performance, corresponding to centered search, flip-to-record, Digital camera Seize (utilizing the Important key whereas within the digital camera app), Good Collections of all of your notes and extra. It appears to be the Notes equal of how Google Pictures provides you fast and quick access to the pictures and movies you’re in search of.
With the Telephone 3a Professional’s software program extra broadly, Nothing OS is enjoyable. Regardless of a studying curve in locations, it’s playful. The icons, fonts, and animations throughout Nothing’s tackle Android 15 add a refreshing contact of persona in a sea of smartphone sameness.
Maybe there are a couple of too many inventive cooks, as Nothing’s ornamental touches jostle with what I assume are Google’s baked-in fonts and menus. A few of the icons are arduous to discern, too. After powering up the Telephone 3a for the primary time, a pixelated smiley face appeared on the house display screen. I’d faucet it and understand it does nothing. It seems that is Nothing’s try at exhibiting your display screen time – but it surely doesn’t must be a 2×2 widget.
Different good touches embrace a monochrome theme (on these monochrome telephones), app label removing and a wise app drawer that corrals comparable apps collectively for extra simple navigation.
Availability within the US will come by means of a Beta Program, like in earlier years. The Telephone 3a ($379) is obtainable to preorder now in gray, black and blue, with units touchdown March 11, whereas the Telephone 3a Professional ($459) in black and gray, goes on preorder March 11 and launches March 25. Within the UK, the corporate’s Nothing Retailer in London shall be one of many first locations to supply the cellphone immediately, from 11AM GMT on March 8.