Nothing Phone 4a Pro Review: Premium Aluminum Meets Quirky Design!

Nothing’s newest innovative smartphone brings a fresh twist to the Android scene with its large aluminum body, trio of cameras, and a distinctive large LED matrix display on the reverse, proving that mid-range devices can also offer unique fun features.

The Phone 4a Pro marks a notable shift from Nothing’s earlier models which featured glass backs and visible internals. This model retains some transparency in the camera section at the top, but opts for a robust aluminum chassis for the rest, which is uncommon in Android devices.

Priced at £499 (€479/$499/A$949), the Phone 4a Pro is positioned between the more affordable Phone 4a at £349 and the premium Phone 3 at £699. This pricing pits it against several well-regarded but less creatively designed competitors, including the Google Pixel 10a.

The aluminum frame of the 4a Pro feels premium, but it’s a substantial device featuring a large 6.83in OLED screen. It’s comparable in size to few other models, like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra or the iPhone 17 Pro Max, often requiring two hands to operate comfortably.

A prominent feature on the back is the large circular dot-matrix LED screen that displays notification icons, time, timers, volume, and battery levels. This screen also serves as a basic selfie viewfinder for the rear cameras and can display various fun widgets, like a moon phase tracker, downloaded from the Nothing user community.

Echoing the earlier Glyph interface by Nothing, these features may seem gimmicky, but having the time and specific notification icons on the back is unexpectedly practical.

Technical Specifications

• Screen: 6.83in 144Hz QHD+ OLED (450ppi)

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4

• RAM: 8GB or 12GB

• Storage: 128GB or 256GB

• Operating System: Nothing OS 4.1 (based on Android 16)

• Camera: 50MP primary, 50MP 3.5x telephoto, and 8MP ultra-wide, 32MP front camera

• Connectivity: 5G, eSIM, WiFi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, and GNSS

• Water Resistance: IP65 (up to 25cm depth for 20 minutes)

• Dimensions: 163.6 x 76.6 x 7.9mm

• Weight: 210g

Reliable Mid-range Performance and Battery Life

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor, the Phone 4a Pro manages everyday tasks adequately. It supports medium settings for gaming, though it tends to warm up under heavy use. The battery comfortably lasts over two days with more than seven hours of screen time per day across various activities like messaging, web browsing, watching videos, and app usage. Game playing does reduce battery life faster, by about 30% per hour, but even on days of heavy usage, there typically remains about 20% battery life. Most users will find themselves charging the device every other day.

Nothing OS 4.1

The device runs on Nothing OS 4.1, a highly customizable, sleek iteration of Android 16. It offers a choice between standard app icons and widgets or unique dot-matrix-style graphics, adding an element of retro flair to daily operations. This OS version integrates live notifications from popular apps like Uber or Google Maps on an enhanced lock screen, and includes Google’s Gemini alongside Nothing’s own set of AI tools.

The Essential Space app, introduced last year, now provides cloud synchronization for up to 2.15GB of your AI-analyzed data including images, text, voice notes, and call recordings. However, access to this data is limited to users with a Nothing device. The phone’s AI-powered search taps into Essential Space data, and the new Essential Voice feature is an AI-driven dictation tool that helps clean up verbal pauses and automatically inserts frequently used phrases like your phone number. While innovative, it’s slightly slow and requires an internet connection to function.

Nothing promises three years of Android updates and six years of security updates, which is less than what some competitors offer for similar prices. Additionally, certain apps like Netflix might not fully utilize the device’s screen capabilities due to HDR playback certification issues.

Camera Capabilities

The Phone 4a Pro features a triple-camera setup on the back, and a high-quality 32-megapixel front camera. The primary 50MP camera performs excellently in well-lit conditions, capturing images with rich detail and dynamic range, although it falls short in lower light situations, producing somewhat soft images. The 50MP 3.5x telephoto lens is the highlight, offering crisp, detailed photos in good lighting and capable of achieving an effective 7x zoom with a 2x crop, extending up to a 140x digital zoom. Beyond 30x, however, the image quality degrades significantly. The 8MP ultra-wide camera is less impressive, struggling with detail. While the night mode softens details more than expected, the main and telephoto cameras deliver good value for their price. Video recording capabilities are decent but lag behind some competitors that offer 4K at 60fps.

Sustainability Features

The battery is designed to retain at least 80% of its capacity for up to 1,200 full charge cycles. The device is largely repairable within the UK and is constructed using recycled materials such as aluminum, plastic, steel, and tin. Nothing has published sustainability reports for several of its products, detailing a carbon footprint of 50.5kg CO₂ equivalents.

Pricing Details

The Nothing Phone 4a Pro is available starting from £499 (€479/$499/A$949). For context, the Phone 4a is priced at £349, the Phone 3 at £699, the Google Pixel 10a at £449, the Samsung Galaxy A57 5G at £529, and the Apple iPhone 17e at £599.

Overall Assessment

The Phone 4a Pro continues Nothing’s trend of offering eye-catching, well-designed Android devices that stand out from typical smartphones. The aluminum body feels luxurious, and the front display is both large and vibrant. The rear camera cluster with its unique dot-matrix display is the most distinctive feature, enhancing the user experience with a visually interesting version of Android. It’s enjoyable for daily use, with useful AI tools, decent mid-range performance, and good battery longevity. The main and telephoto cameras are competitive for the price range.

However, the Phone 4a Pro is somewhat pricey for a mid-range phone, especially considering the current market trend of increasing costs. The more affordable Phone 4a retains many of the Pro model’s appealing features at a lower price point, offering better value. While you might find better camera performance or stronger overall performance for the same cost, the alternatives lack the distinctiveness of the Nothing brand.

Pros: excellent software interface, robust build, striking dot-matrix screen, high-quality 3.5x telephoto lens, large vibrant display, fingerprint scanner, fast charging, extended security updates, strong battery life.

Cons: lacks wifi 7 support, camera quality doesn’t match the top competitors, AI features are still developing, limited to three years of Android updates, Glyph interface may seem gimmicky, pricey for mid-range specs.