The mid-range device from the Nothing brand is a popular device due to its unconventional design and stable performance for most users. The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is their second generation Pro after the (3a) Pro which I felt was less “Pro”. So does the Phone (4a) Pro live up to its name or is it the other way around? I will explain more in this review article.
Nothing Phone (3)
Screen 6.83″ Flexible AMOLED, 144Hz, 5000 nits
1260 x 2800 pixels, 20:9 (440 PPI)
Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor (4 nm)
1 x 2.8 GHz Cortex-A720 chip
4 x 2.4 GHz Cortex-A720
3 x 1.8 GHz Cortex-A720
Adreno 722 Graphics Chip
RAM 12GB RAM
256GB Internal Storage
(no microSD card)
Primary Camera 50MP Primary Lens, LYT 700C OIS
50MP Periscope Telephoto, OIS, 3.5x Optical, 140x Zoom
8MP Ultra wide
50MP Front Camera (wide)
5080 mAh battery
Wired 50W
Dual SIM Nano SIM/Telephony
eSIM
NFC Yes
Infrared None
Waterproof IP65
Scanning System Fingerprint Scan
Face Scan
Selling Price RM2299 (12/256GB)
Design
If I didn't know that Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is a mid-range device, I would probably consider this to be a flagship device. The design brought by Nothing on (4a) Pro is neater and more premium. This device has used aluminum construction materials for its entire body and the use of a plateau camera design. This aluminum body also contributes to the durability of this device while being equipped with IP65.
Most importantly, the camera arrangement this time is more organized and pleasing to the eye. If on Nothing Phone (3), I feel that Nothing forced the design too much to the point of being too unique, but on Nothing Phone (4a) Pro it looks more mature and still maintains unique elements.
This Phone (4a) Pro has abandoned the use of Glyph lights and is now replaced with Glyph Matrix as a unique feature on this device. The Glyph Matrix on Phone (4a) Pro looks neater because it uses a larger pixel size compared to Phone (3).
The Glyph Toys feature is also present with the Glyph Matrix but it doesn't have as many options as the Phone (3) because the Phone (4a) Pro doesn't have capacitive buttons to control the Glyph Toys but for me this isn't a bad thing because I rarely use the Glyph Toys feature.
Apart from the aluminum body, the thinness of this device also makes it feel like a flagship device. With a thickness of only 8mm, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is the second thinnest device because the first throne is still held by the CMF Phone 2 Pro. With this thin device, it makes this device feel more premium when held. Even the Nothing Phone (3) can't provide the same experience despite holding the status of Nothing's flagship device.
One of the changes I like that Nothing brought to the Phone (4a) Pro is the position of the buttons. Starting from the Phone (3a) series, the position of the power button and also the Essential Key are placed on the right side of the device so I often press the wrong button between these two buttons. However, in this Phone (4a) series, the power and volume buttons are placed on the right side of the device and only the Essential Key is on the left side of the device. This is a small change that has a big impact on daily use.
Screen
The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is equipped with a Flexible AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1.5k while supporting HDR10+ content and the highest brightness level of all Nothing devices, which is 5000nits. In addition, this display also uses a 144 Hz refresh rate. This is also the first time that Nothing uses a refresh rate this high.
But like the Nothing Phone (3), it does not use an LTPO panel, but it is not a big issue because this is a mid-range device. This display also has 10-Bit color support to provide more accurate color sharpness.
This screen can provide excellent display quality in terms of sharpness, color and brightness level. The 6.83” size also adds to the level of satisfaction while being helped by the thinner bezels. I didn’t face any issues with the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro screen for media use, watching movies or playing mobile games. In terms of durability, this screen uses Corning Gorilla Glass 7i which is not the thickest but quite good in its class.
Software – Nothing OS 4.1
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro runs Nothing OS 4.1 based on Android 16. This is the first device to run Nothing OS 4.1 out of the box. If we consider this, this is the second year I have been using Nothing devices as a daily device and to be honest, after using three different generations of Nothing OS and with Nothing OS 4.1, I feel that there are some new things that Nothing brings. However, it basically still maintains the Nothing DNA with various personalizations and widgets that can be used.
Nothing OS 4.1 feels smoother because it is combined with the performance of this device itself. Animations also look more natural and fast when opening and closing applications. Nothing OS itself provides a user experience on this mid-range device like a flagship device.
Like the previous series, it still retains the Essential Space feature for making notes with the help of AI. The functions are also mostly the same as before, only with Nothing OS 4.1 you can access Essential Space on other Nothing devices via cloud storage.
Compared to Nothing OS 2.0 and 3.0, Nothing OS 4.1 this time is intended for other users to try Nothing devices because to some extent I see more user-friendly Pixel elements on Nothing OS this time. As for Android support, Nothing provides support for up to 3 years and also 6 years for security patches. This is not long support but it is enough for a mid-range device.
Performance
This time Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is powered by a different chip than Phone (4a), not like the Phone (3a) series which uses the same chip. This device is powered by a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip along with a combination of 12GB LPDDR5X with 256GB UFS3.1 storage. However, one thing you need to know is that the chip used is actually a year old but for me it is not a big deal. You can see this benchmark score as a reference.
Here is a comparison of the capabilities of Phone 4(a) Pro compared to several other mid-range devices.
Poco X8 Pro – Dimensity 8500 Ultra (4 nm)
Vivo V70 – Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 (4nm)
Oppo Reno15 – Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 (4nm)
Oppo Reno14 Pro – Dimensity 8450 (4 nm)
Honor 400 Pro – Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4 nm)
Google Pixel 10 Pro XL – Tensor G5 (3 nm)
Poco X7 Pro – Dimensity 8400 Ultra (4 nm)
AnTuTu 3D
Score Device
Nothing Phone 4(a) Pro 1,408,711
Poco X8 Pro 2,086,502
Vivo V70 1,464,284
Oppo Reno15 1,412,018
Oppo Reno14 Pro 1,437,541
Honor 400 Pro 1,861,573
Google Pixel 10 Pro XL 1,214,735
Poco X7 Pro 1,590,533
Geekbench 6
Single Core Multi Core Device
Nothing Phone 4(a) Pro 1282 3907
Poco X8 Pro 1721 6340
Vivo V70 1361 4181
Oppo Reno15 1280 3857
Oppo Reno14 Pro 1615 6174
Honor 400 Pro 1224 6083
Google Pixel 10 Pro XL 2303 6134
Poco X7 Pro 1575 6121
3DMark Wildlife Extreme
Chip Score
Nothing Phone 4(a) Pro 1993
Poco X8 Pro 4120
Vivo X70 2093
Oppo Reno15 2082
Oppo Reno14 Pro 3780
Honor 400 Pro 4467
Google Pixel 10 Pro XL 2567
Poco X7 Pro 3839
Although the benchmark score is not very high, real-world usage feels very smooth and fast. I'm sure the person who bought the Nothing device is not a gamer because this device is not aimed at that group but some games like MLBB and PUBG can still be played on medium to high settings but the device will heat up a little.
For typical daily use, this device is able to provide adequate performance as mentioned earlier and even feels faster than the previous Phone (3a) Pro. This is all due to the use of LPDDR5X and also UFS3.1 storage. This device is indeed aimed specifically at users who are looking for a balance in performance and are not thirsty for power just enough to do daily tasks.
Camera
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro still maintains the use of a three-main camera system consisting of a 50MP OIS main lens with a Sony LYT-700C sensor. 50MP periscope telephoto lens with Samsung JN5 sensor which can provide 3.5x optical zoom and maximum zoom up to 140x. Ultra-wide lens still uses 8MP with Sony IMX355 sensor. Honestly I wish this ultra-wide lens was given a slightly higher megapixel value.
Through TrueLens Engine 4.0 technology with Sony LYT 700C sensor, the image results for the main lens of this Phone (4a) Pro look very good. Light control is very good even though taking pictures in very hot weather, I only noticed that the contrast in the picture is a little less intense. The colors produced are more natural like what the human eye sees. Sharpness also looks good without any excessive processing that will make the picture look less beautiful.
This Nothing Phone (4a) Pro still retains the periscope telephoto lens like last year, it has a 3.5x optical zoom capability and a maximum zoom of up to 140x, but I highly recommend not using the maximum zoom capability. The image quality from this telephoto lens is also like the main lens, at 3.5x optical zoom it looks very good and can maintain high details. When it exceeds 3.5x zoom it will use a digital zoom system which I think can only be used at 7x for good quality.
The 8MP ultra-wide lens is quite impressive, in fact it can still be used if it is during the day or in areas with sufficient light. Due to the use of TrueLens Engine 4.0, nighttime images with this ultra-wide lens can still be used, but in situations where there is no strong light source at all it will start to show its weaknesses.
Battery
The battery capacity is 5080mAh, I'm not sure if the 80mAh can be categorized as an upgrade or not but what I am sure is that the battery life can be categorized as very good where it can last all day. I can open Google Maps from Rawang to Alor Star for 6 hours and the battery remaining is still at 40%.
I'm not sure why Nothing didn't switch directly to Silicon Carbon battery technology which can provide higher capacity like most competitors in the same class.
For charging, Nothing still provides the same power as the previous Phone (3a) Pro which is 50W so the charging time is also about the same as before where charging from 30% to 100% only takes 40 minutes. It's not impressive and not too bad but Nothing has added wired reverse charging to the Phone (4a) Pro but it would be better if Nothing added direct wired charging support.
What's in the Box
Here's what we received in the box:
1 x Nothing Phone (4a) Pro
1 x USB-C to USB-C Cable
1 x Frame
1 x User Manual.
1 x Transparent SIM Ejector.
Conclusion
The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is a mid-range device that feels very premium like a flagship device in terms of design and construction materials. If you're not after power and performance, it can be said that the Phone (4a) Pro is very good in everyday use and among the good ones in the mid-range. The Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is sold at a price tag of RM2299, a slight increase compared to last year, but I think this increase is reasonable due to the increasing memory prices.
Pros
A design equivalent to a flagship device.
A beautiful screen.
Usage of UFS 3.1 storage.
The button arrangement is easier.
Use of a Neat Glyph Matrix.
A better camera system.
Good battery life.
Cons
Not very fast performance.
Ultra-wide lens is still 8MP
No major upgrade in battery capacity.
