Nothing Phone (4a) Pro Review: The All-Rounder or Just Hyped Design?
I've been using the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro for around 28 days, and here's my experience with it.
Let's get into it.
- Nothing Phone (4a) Pro Review: The All-Rounder or Just Hyped Design? I've been using the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro for around 28 days, and here's my experience with it. Let's get into it.
What you'll find here ๐ - Design & Build - Display - Performance - Gaming - Camera - Battery & Charging - Software - Glyph Matrix - Miscellaneous - VerdictDESIGN & BUILD The design is unique. Unlike previous Nothing phones, you don't get a fully transparent back, but I actually like this approach. The Phone (4a) Pro comes in Silver, Pink, and Black. I got the Pink variant, and honestly, it's a chef's kiss.The metal body and frame add a premium feel, while also helping with heat dissipation. The transparent camera module houses the triple cameras and the larger Glyph Matrix. On the front, you get Gorilla Glass 7i protection. The power button and Essential Key are on the right.While the volume buttons are on the left. Accidental Essential Key presses are much lower now, though they still happen occasionally. Overall, the build quality is excellent. The phone feels well balanced in hand and isn't slippery without a case. It is slightly wide though.DISPLAY It features a 6.83-inch 1.5K Flexible AMOLED display with up to 144Hz refresh rate, 5000 nits peak brightness, 1600 nits HBM brightness, and 2160Hz PWM dimming. The display is bright enough indoors, though the 144Hz refresh rate is limited to specific games.So you'll mostly see 120Hz in regular usage. YouTube supports HDR, but Netflix still doesn't. Under direct sunlight, visibility feels slightly lower than expected and could've been better. The fingerprint scanner is also positioned a bit too low and could've been placed higher.In my usage, the display quality has been excellent. It's sharp, content consumption is enjoyable, and I haven't faced any issues. The symmetrical and extremely thin bezels, the slimmest on a Nothing phone so far, add a lot to the premium feel.PERFORMANCE I'd say the performance is decent. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 is an average performer for this price segment, nothing extraordinary, but it gets the job done. My bigger concern is the UFS 3.1 storage. It's noticeably slower than UFS 4.0 and may show its age sooner.That said, I haven't faced any major UI jitters so far. However, I did notice some lag and performance drops after heavy camera usage. GAMING BGMI: The phone gets slightly warm after around 40โ45 minutes of gaming, but nothing alarming. Performance is actually pretty good.with FPS staying around 58โ59 most of the time. 120 FPS is supported, though it usually hovers around 115 FPS. Free Fire: With 60 FPS enabled, the game mostly stays around 58โ59 FPS. Genshin Impact: You can play it casually. With 60 FPS enabled, I was getting around 53โ55 FPS.Overall, it's good enough for casual gaming, but I wouldn't recommend it for very heavy gaming sessions. (FPS stats for all three games are attached)CAMERAS This is easily one of the biggest highlights of the Phone (4a) Pro. The biggest improvement isn't just the hardware itself, but how much the ISP of the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 helps in processing. Color science, HDR, and overall tuning feel noticeably improved.MAIN CAMERA The main camera performs really well in daylight. Images are sharp, dynamic range is excellent, and colors lean more towards the natural side rather than being overly vibrant. HDR performance is particularly impressive, with better highlight control and cleaner....shadow regions. Indoor shots are mostly consistent, though white balance inconsistencies can still appear occasionally. Low-light performance is good too, with decent noise control and close-to-real-life colors. PERISCOPE The 3.5x periscope is one of the strongest points....of this phone Portraits and zoom shots look excellent,with good detail and pleasing background compression. Zoom quality also holds up quite well That said, the JN5 sensor is smaller than the LYT-600 used on the Phone (3a) Pro. A larger sensor would've delivered even better....low-light results and telemacro capabilities. PORTRAITS Portraits are very well handled. Edge detection is good, skin tones look natural, and you can shoot at different focal lengths for different looks. Nothing has also added new portrait bokeh effects, which are fun, ngl.ULTRAWIDE The 8MP ultrawide is probably the weakest camera here. In daylight it gets the job done, but detail levels are average. In low light, it struggles more and noticeably loses detail. FRONT CAMERA The 32MP selfie camera delivers good results with natural skin tones.Selfies look sharp, and overall consistency is good. The front camera video quality is decent too, though I personally feel the field of view could've been slightly wider. VIDEO After the update, both the main and periscope cameras support 4K 60fps recording.Colors and dynamic range are good, and video quality overall is pleasing. Stabilization is decent, though not class-leading. The telephoto camera also performs well in videos. Ultrawide video is still more limited, and front camera video tops out below what I would've expected....at this price. I still feel 4K video from the front camera should've been available. One thing I really like is the ability to use LUTs directly inside the camera app. It gives users much more creative freedom, though the camera app itself still needs some optimization.Overall, the Phone (4a) Pro offers a very versatile camera experience with noticeably improved color science compared to previous generations. Also, I've done a separate thread with 100 camera samples ๐ธ Check it out if you want to see more.Shots I captured on the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro! ๐ธ All clicked just like a normal user would, with no edits. Giving a real idea of the point-and-shoot experience. Please โค๏ธ & ๐ A thread ๐งต (1/n)BATTERY & CHARGING The Phone (4a) Pro packs a 5400mAh battery and supports 50W fast charging, making it an upgrade over its predecessor. For most users,battery life won't be a concern. In my usage with a mix of 5G, hotspot, and AOD enabled,I consistently got around 6-7+ hours....of screen-on time. With moderate usage, 7-8 hours of SoT is easily achievable. Using the official Nothing 45W charger,a full charge from 0% to 100% takes around 65-75 minutes (Personally I don't have this official charger, so for these stats, I referred to some youtube videos)SOFTWARE The Phone (4a) Pro runs Nothing OS 4.1 based on Android 16, and the experience is exactly what you'd expect: clean, minimal, and smooth. Nothing promises 3+6 years of updates, though I personally feel 4+6 would've been better at this price.There is no bloatware here, and the improved animation engine makes scrolling and transitions feel smoother than before. Customization is decent too, with lockscreen clocks, widgets, icon packs, and depth effects. That said, Nothing OS still isn't the most feature-rich skin outGLYPH MATRIX The Glyph Matrix has better functional use, though I still miss the original Glyph lights. That said, developers are doing some great work with it, and I feel the future of the Matrix holds something much more interesting.MISCELLANEOUS - Speaker and mic quality are good and clear. - NFC support is present. - No IR blaster, which would've been nice to have. - 4G and 5G connectivity have been solid. - Wi-Fi performance is reliable. - No issues with call quality or the proximity sensor. - HapticsVERDICT The Phone (4a) Pro does a lot of things right. The cameras are strong, Nothing OS remains clean and smooth, and the metal build gives it a unique identity. It's not perfect though. Performance is only decent for the price, the ultrawide camera is average, and someThis unit was provided by @nothingindia & @Technerd_9 as part of the Nothing Community Review Program, so thanks to them ๐ค No payment, no editorial control. The brand is seeing this review at the same time as you all. Putting all this together takes a lot of time, effort, andGIF
Good going bro
