Nothing Phone (4a) Review: Stylish design and strong performance but... Worth buying?

Nothing Phone (4a) Review: At the beginning of this month, Nothing launched its mid-range smartphone in India -- the Nothing Phone (4a) -- at a starting price of Rs 31,999. According to the company, this phone is designed to raise the bar in the mid-range segment as the new lineup combines Nothing’s transparent design with powerful Snapdragon performance, advanced telephoto cameras, and the latest Nothing OS experience.

Sounds impressive, doesn't it?

But is it really that good in practice?

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And is it worth buying?

Let's find out in this review.

Nothing Phone (4a) Review: Price, Colours, Variants

The smartphone is available in three variants:

• 8+128GB, priced at Rs 31,999
• 8+256GB, priced at Rs 34,999
• 12+256GB, priced at Rs 37,999

Apart from this, the Nothing Phone (4a) is available in four colours:

• Black
• White
• Blue
• Pink

We used the 12+256 variant of the device and here are details of what we found:

Nothing Phone (4a) Review: What's inside the box?

In the box, you will get the Nothing Phone (4a) smartphone, Nothing's SIM tool, a USB-C cable, and a case.

For more, watch Nothing Phone (4a) unboxing.

Nothing Phone (4a) Review: Design

Like other Nothing smartphones, the phone (4a) features Nothing's signature transparent glass back, but with a minimalist design. On the top right, it has a new "glyph bar" design consisting of six small vertical stacks of LED lights (seven, including the red dot). For the camera, it features a pill-shaped module, kind of similar to Phone (3a). The phone has a glass front and glass back paired with a plastic frame. But the back glass feels like plastic.

Without the back cover, the Nothing Phone (4a) feels a bit slippery, but the good thing is that it doesn't pick up fingerprints or smudges easily. It's also not too heavy. This time, the volume buttons are placed alongside the power button on the right side of the phone, while the "Essential key" is located on the left. We're happy with this change, as we previously highlighted that placing the Essential key on the right side below the power button led to accidental pressing of the button, and that was a bit frustrating.

At the bottom, it has the SIM slot, primary microphone, USB Type-C port, and speaker grille. The secondary microphone is positioned at the top. The device has an IP64 rating, which indicates protection against dust, light rain, and splashes of water, but it should be noted that it is not completely waterproof.

Nothing Phone (4a) Review: Display

The Phone (4a) boasts a 6.78-inch flexible AMOLED display, similar to Nothing Phone (3a) and Nothing Phone 3(a) Lite. We found that the peak brightness of 4,500 nits performs well in real-world usage.

The vibrant colours and deep blacks of the AMOLED display made the content look rich and detailed. We watched content using popular apps like YouTube and Instagram on the device, and the experience was quite good.

The bezels on the display are also smaller compared to previous models.

Along with the transparent design, another highlight of Nothing's phone is its Glyph interface which is called Glyph Bar in Phone (4a); it blinks whenever a timers, recording alerts, volume indicators, and notifications arrive, making it different and attractive from other smartphones on the market.

Nothing Phone (4a) Review: Battery

Unlike the previous models of the company’s "a" series lineup, Nothing Phone (4a) is powered by a 5,400mAh battery and supports up to 50W fast wired charging. It is the largest battery ever used in this series lineup.

There's no charging adapter included in the box, which is a bit disappointing, but you can use any USB-C charger, so it's not a big problem.

We used an 80W SuperVOOC charger, which took about 1 hour and 20 minutes to charge the device from 0 to 100 per cent.

Practically, with normal usage – which includes a mix of activities ranging from browsing social media to watching content, making calls or clicking photos – the battery of the device is capable of lasting for a day comfortably, we found.

Nothing Phone (4a) Review: Camera

The Nothing Phone (4a) boasts a triple-camera system, featuring a 50MP primary sensor along with a 50MP telephoto lens (with 3.5x optical zoom and 70x ultra zoom) and an 8 MP ultrawide camera.

For selfies, it offers a 32MP front-facing sensor. In the latest (4a), the company almost reuses the camera system from the (3a), with one small change – the telephoto has been upgraded to a 3.5x optical zoom lens, from the 2x unit on the older model.

Daylight photos are quite good. We liked the clarity of photos taken with the Nothing Phone (4a). They are detailed, colour-balanced, and have good dynamic range. Night photos are also good, almost accurately depicting the actual environment without over-brightening scenes.

Noise levels are also controlled. The front camera also performs well, capturing skin tones well.

Nothing Phone (4a) Review: Performance

Nothing Phone (4a) comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 processor, which packs an octa-core CPU. It runs Android version 16, with Nothing OS 4.1 on top.

During testing, the device did not show any lag while multitasking or using multiple apps in the background. There was no noticeable heating problem either. The experience of light gaming was decent.

Nothing Phone (4a) Review: Pros and cons

Pros:

• Large 5,400mAh battery with support for fast charging.
• Triple-camera system with improved telephoto lens and good daylight/night performance.
• Smooth performance with Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 processor and stable multitasking.

Cons:

• The back glass feels like plastic, reducing the premium feel.
• A bit slippery when used without the cover.
• The charging adapter is not included in the box.
• Fast charging requires an external high-watt charger for the best speeds.