Nothing Phone 4a review: The new mid-range champion with a G-Shock soul — and that camera is remarkable

Nothing is a brand that has an impressively distinct identity. The Phone 4a is deceptively simple, but there’s much more to it than first impressions suggest.

Here’s my review of the Phone 4(a).

What: Nothing Phone 4a | Price: Rs 31,999 onwards

Same translucent design and a new Glyph interface

I will be honest; when I first received the Phone 4a the thing that struck me was that the device I was holding felt like a toy. As an adult man who still buys Lego, I found that the Phone 4a has a vibe of its own, heavy on nostalgia, with a vintage aesthetic yet modern in appeal. Like Casio, Nothing does a little bit of everything, and it always delivers its trademark mix of fun and function. There’s something about Nothing that aligns with the core principles of purist smartphone obsessives.

The Nothing Phone 4a (left) next to the iPod 3rd generation (right). (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/ The Indian Express)

And yet, the Phone 4a manages to charm: it does what it needs to do with a bit of flair and personality. For me, the Phone 4a is a continuation of the Phone 3a, a popular mid-range smartphone that launched last year. It still features the semi-translucent design, now a trademark of Nothing.

I love how the Phone 4a stands out in a sea of phones that almost look identical. Sure, Nothing has stuck to its design language since the Phone 1, and for some, it may seem a bit monotonous. But honestly, the Phone 4a still feels fresh and has a certain teenage energy, much like the iPod did in its early days.

My review unit came in white, and it always reminds me of the iPod. However, Phone 4a will also be available in black, blue, and a light pink. Both the blue and pink options have saturated shades, and honestly, they look refreshing, especially at a time when muted colourways are the norm. Still, the Phone 4a has only subtle design changes compared to its predecessor.

For example, a new design feature is a pill-shaped camera bump in the top middle of the device. The flash is positioned off-centre above the camera bump, which is surrounded by a ring of coils, and these coils are colour-matched to each Phone 4a model. The side frames are also colour-matched to their primary colour.

The Phone 4a’s flat sides make it great to hold in landscape mode, whether you are watching a movie, taking photos, or playing games. It doesn’t slip from the hands, and that’s a good design trait. The phone’s frame is plastic, which contributes to the device’s light weight in the hand.

The Phone 4a feels more refined, and every aspect has been upgraded, from the cameras and battery. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/ The Indian Express)

For a change, the Essential Key is now separated from the power and volume buttons, placed on the left-hand side. All physical buttons are made of aluminium, while the back is made of Panda Glass, which protects the phone from wear and tear.

Nothing has retained the LED lights, which the company calls the Glyph. However, the Glyph lights on the back have received a major makeover. There’s now a bar with six square lights and an additional red recording light. Each square contains nine mini-LEDs that can be further customised.

If you aren’t familiar with Nothing phones, the Glyph lights on the back blink when a notification comes through, and there’s a Glyph Composer that lets you customise ringtones and illumination patterns. There are also fun features like Flip to Glyph, which silences your phone when it’s placed face down and support for other apps like Uber and Zomato.

However, I must say the new Glyph bar feels less flashy, and the whole cool light-up concept that Nothing once had seems to be gone, especially the LED light strips that used to illuminate in unique patterns to give visual notifications at a glance.

Bright display and fast processor

The screen is a large, fast OLED: a 6.78-inch panel that’s smooth at 120Hz and sharp at 440 pixels per inch. The display looked really bright and colourful in my testing. It did a decent job of countering the overhead Delhi sunshine, as well as the cloudy skies of San Francisco.

The screen is also stronger this time, featuring Gorilla Glass 7i, which provides better protection against scrapes and drops. In case you’re wondering, Nothing has used a 10-bit panel, which means smoother gradations and more realistic colours in photography and video content compared with an 8-bit panel. With an IP64 water-resistance rating, taking calls in the pouring rain won’t be an issue.

Performance from the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 alongside up to 12GB of RAM has been flawless. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

The 4a has Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chip, which can’t compete with top-tier chips in raw performance but is fast enough to make the phone feel snappy and responsive in everyday use. It can handle most games well, including Genshin Impact, though obviously not at the highest settings. It’s available in 256GB of storage with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM. I recommend opting for the 12GB RAM version.

The battery life is great, lasting about two days on a charge with typical use, thanks to the 5400 mAh battery (the global version has a 5080mAh battery) and 50W fast charging. Lately, I have been seeing more phones come with larger batteries, which is necessary as consumers today spend more time consuming multimedia content and streaming video for hours on end. You certainly don’t want a phone that needs a full charge every night.

Nothing OS is refreshing

The 4a offers Nothing’s version of Android 16, which is clutter-free, fast, and a different take on Android. I’m sure you already know about Nothing OS, but if not, I’d say it’s one of the most distinctive Android interfaces built for phones. When you first power on the phone, you have a choice between a very Nothing-style dot-matrix home screen layout and a more stock Android layout.

The dot-matrix design is a homage to the memorable old-school interfaces that were common in the 90s. I loved it, especially as someone who grew up with the Nintendo Game Boy. On the 4a, there are also plenty of customisation options, including monochrome themes and Nothing’s stylised widgets, which have a bit more fun and character than most versions of Android. Nothing promises six years of software and security support.

Performance from the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 alongside up to 12GB of RAM has been flawless. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/ The Indian Express)

In recent months, Nothing has also jumped on the AI bandwagon with the Essential Space app, a feature that leverages both hardware and software. It’s designed to collect screenshots and voice notes, which can then be organised and analysed. 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.

It’s a solid idea on paper, and while it has seen several updates, it is still a work in progress. On 4a, Nothing is bringing up Essential Search, which was previously available on the flagship Phone 3. There is also an option to generate new apps, widgets, and other settings by prompting an AI, which will then build and ideally run them on the phone. This is Nothing’s first step toward building an AI-focused operating system.

Essential Voice, meanwhile, converts your speech into polished, well-structured text, removing filler words, correcting mistakes, and adjusting the tone for messages, emails, or formal writing – all while keeping your natural voice. It will support 12 languages, including Hindi.

As part of Nothing OS 4.1, there will be several new additions, including a custom lock screen that lets you add depth effects to wallpapers and place new widgets. The Breathing Break widget provides guided breathing exercises synced with haptic feedback to help you relax, destress, or refocus.

The camera is the highlight

The 4a has three cameras on the back: an 8-megapixel ultrawide, a 50MP main, and a 50MP 3.5x telephoto, which Nothing calls the tetraprism periscopic telephoto lens.

After extensively testing the Nothing Phone 4a camera system, I can confidently say the biggest improvement is in the camera itself. Photos feel more natural and familiar, which previous Nothing phone cameras lacked. I took more than 200 photos in San Francisco a few days ago, and the shots I captured with the 4a looked beautifully crisp and vibrant.

Phone 4a camera sample. Image resized for web.

Phone 4a camera sample. Image resized for web.

Phone 4a camera sample. Image resized for web.

Phone 4a camera sample. Image resized for web.

Phone 4a camera sample. Image resized for web.

Phone 4a camera sample. Image resized for web.

Phone 4a camera sample. Image resized for web.

Phone 4a camera sample. Image resized for web.

I noticed richer colours and better detail, especially in close-up shots. The 3.5x zoom camera is simply the best of the lot, producing nicely detailed images when I zoomed across the city from the top of the hill. I suddenly saw so much detail in the distant buildings and could clearly read the tiny text on a street sign. However, I was surprised by how well the camera performed in low light. I spent one of my evenings in SFO’s famous Chinatown, and the 4a’s camera did wonders, delivering satisfying colour without compromising overall detail.

So, should you buy the Nothing Phone 4a?

Over the years, Nothing has done a great job of bringing phones to the market that are distinctly different. It produces everyday phones at a reasonable price, and the semi-translucent designs keep the brand in the conversation. While the Phone 4a’s upgrades aren’t drastic compared to the Phone 3a, if you are coming from older phones, especially OnePlus or Vivo devices, you will notice a significant difference in speed and overall features.

One gripe I have with the Phone 4a is the higher price. Tighter memory supply is driving up costs, as suppliers favour the more lucrative AI data centre market over consumer hardware. Nothing, like its peers in the industry, is forced to increase smartphone prices. I would have liked the Phone 4a to cost the same as its predecessor, but we can’t expect smartphone prices to stay the same.