Home
Mobiles
Mobiles Reviews
Nothing Phone 3a Lite First Impressions

Nothing Phone 3a Lite First Impressions

The Nothing Phone 3a Lite brings a breath of fresh air to the mid-range segment. Check out the first impressions to know more about the device.

Written by Rohan Pal, Edited by Ketan Pratap | Updated: 29 October 2025 18:30 IST

The Nothing Phone 3a Lite packs a triple-camera setup on the rear panel.

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Highlights

The Nothing Phone 3a Lite features a transparent glass back
The handset is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro SoC
The device features a 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging support

Nothing has been consistently proven with its recent launches that a smartphone does not have to be boring when it comes to design. And with the Nothing Phone 3a Lite, the company plans to take this legacy to a broader audience. The latest smartphone from the brand is an entry to the Nothing ecosystem and comfortably sits below the Phone 3a series. That said, the brand has ensured it adds most of the distinctive elements, such as a transparent back panel, Glyph interface, AMOLED display, a clean user interface, and more. However, the phone is also the first in the line to come with the Glance and pre-installed apps. That said, we had some time with the device, and here is what you need to know.

Starting with the pricing, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite is priced at EUR 249 (approx. Rs. 25,580) for the base variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, while the top-end model with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage is priced at EUR 279 (approx. Rs. 28,660). The smartphone will be available for purchase in Europe and the UK starting from October 29, 2025. That said, the brand has revealed it will bring the latest smartphone to the Indian market, though there is no definite timeline for it.

The smartphone features a transparent back panel, and comes in White and Black colour options.

Now that you have familiarised yourself with the pricing, let's talk about the design. The latest Lite variant from Nothing brings all the bells and whistles of a typical Nothing smartphone. You get a transparent glass back panel that surely looks scream Nothing from a distance. More importantly, the camera sensors look more like the Phone 3, though the brand has managed to deliver some distinction.

The smartphone features volume controls on the left and power on/off button and Essential Key on the right.

The battery module has a visible rugged look, while the rest of the panels look plain. There is also a single Glyph light at the bottom right. The phone comes with a flat frame, which is made of aluminium and offers a good grip when you hold it, despite the slipperiness of the glass panel. The right side of the device features a power on/off button and a dedicated Essential Key, while on the left, you are greeted with volume controls.

All the buttons are blacked out, which sure adds some brownie points to the design. The base has a speaker grille, a SIM tray, and a USB Type-C port. The phone weighs 199 grams and is also easy to hold in your hand, with a thickness of 8.3mm. The phone is available in two colour options: White and Black.

The smartphone is loaded with a 6.77-inch flexible AMOLED display with 120Hz screen refresh rate.

Coming to the display, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite features a 6.77-inch flexible AMOLED display that offers a Full HD+ resolution (1080x2392 pixels). The handset also comes with a 120Hz screen refresh rate and up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness. You also get a 10-bit colour panel along with 2160Hz PWM dimming and 1000Hz instant touch sampling rate. That said, during brief use, the display looked good in indoor conditions, and the colours were decent enough. We will discuss this further in our upcoming review.

Another major highlight from the brand is its cameras. The Nothing Phone 3a Lite features a triple-camera setup on the rear panel. The device features a 50-megapixel Samsung sensor with f/1.88 aperture and OIS + EIS support. The device also features an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2-megapixel macro shooter.

The handset packs a 50-megapixel triple-camera setup on the rear panel.

On the front, the handset features a 16-megapixel selfie camera for selfies and video calls. Interestingly, the phone also uses TrueLens Engine 4.0, which was first introduced with the Phone 3. The software offers helpful features such as AI scene detection, Ultra XDR, and Auto Tone for accurate skin tones.

Moving on, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 Pro processor, which was also present in the CMF Phone 2 Pro. The chipset is based on a 4nm process. You also get 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage, expandable to 2TB with a microSD card.

The handset is powered by the MediaTek Dimenisty 7300 Pro processor.

The device runs Nothing OS 3.5, based on Android 15. The company is promising 3 years of software and 6 years of security patches. The user interface presents the Essential Space, an AI-powered library that lets you organise notes, transcribe text to audio, and more. There is also a dedicated Essential Key that allows quick access to the Space.

That being said, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite also marks an important shift from the brand. With this, you will be getting Glance and some pre-installed applications. However, the company claims that it will give users full access to either opt for Glance or disable it completely. Similarly, the company is currently adding three pre-installed apps —Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok —to the phone, though we might see more in the future.

The latest smartphone is loaded with a 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging support.

Lastly, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite packs a 5,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging support. The brand claims that the phone can provide up to 55 hours of music playback, up to 22 hours of YouTube, and up to 9.5 hours of gaming.

To conclude, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite appears to fill the gap between the CMF series and the Phone 3a series. The phone comfortably fits between the two, giving users more options in this price segment. And the brand is offering a good value-for-money proposition in this segment, including a transparent back, a clean user interface, a good display, and decent overall performance. That said, it would be interesting to see how well the brand prices it in a market like India, where the competition is quite fierce in the Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000 price bracket.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Nothing Phone 3a Lite, Nothing Phone 3a Lite Design, Nothing Phone 3a Lite Launch, Nothing Phone 3a Lite launch date, Nothing Phone 3a Lite price, Nothing Phone 3a Lite processor, Nothing Phone 3a Lite Specifications

Rohan Pal

Email Rohan Pal

Rohan Pal is the Assistant Editor at Gadgets360. With over 8 years of experience in technology, he has worked with multiple organizations, specializing in smartphones, laptops, wearables, appliances, and more. His passion for technology prompts him to curate and share tech news, guides, reviews, and how-tos. Off the clock, you'll spot him delving into the world of anime or lightening the team's mood with a steady flow of quirky memes. You can reach out to him at rohanp@ndtv.com. More

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Select Launched in India With Vega OS: Price, Features

Nothing Phone 3a Lite First Impressions

Related Stories