The Phone 4a Pro is Nothing's official entry into a price segment that OnePlus once ruled in India. Here's what I feel about the device.
Nothing Phone 4a Pro is the company's entry into a price segment that has, for some time, seen little to no action from the brand in India. The pricing is interesting, too, given the market's price sensitivity. The Nothing 4a series includes two phones: the 4a and 4a Pro.
Talking prices, the Phone 4a starts at Rs. 31,999 for the base 8GB and 128GB storage model, and goes all the way up to Rs. 37,999 for the 12GB and 256GB storage model. On the other hand, the Phone 4a Pro starts at Rs. 39,999 for the 8GB and 128GB, Rs. 42,999 for the 8GB and 256GB and Rs. 45,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage model. Interestingly, the starting price of the Phone 4a Pro is what gave OnePlus the crown of the mid-range in the Indian smartphone market a few years ago.
Considering Carl Pei has already confirmed that there will be no flagship smartphone from Nothing this year, the 4a Pro is most likely get a good amount of limelight. But, is it worth the hype? I was at the company's global event in London, and here's what I think of the Phone 4a Pro.
You can also read my first impressions of the Nothing Phone 4a here.
The Phone 4a Pro, to start with, doesn't feel like a Nothing device at all. During the keynote, the first glimpse of the device's design didn't get the same reaction as the first smartphone from the London-headquartered brand did from the crowd. But Carl's tweet perfectly captures the shift. The design of the Phone 4a Pro grows on you as you hold the device. The company has launched the device in Black, Silver and Pink colours. While the Black and Silver are familiar from Nothing, what surprised me was the Pink.
The Nothing Phone 4a Pro in Pink reminds you of the iPhone 6s in Rose Gold. It looks stunning and is definitely one of the best I would pick. The 4a Pro has a metal unibody design, and yes, that means the company ditched the transparent design. Apart from metal, the 4a Pro is also the slimmest phone from the house of Nothing at 7.95mm. The in-hand feel of the Phone 4a Pro is the best from Nothing so far. At 210 grams, the Phone 4a Pro has excellent weight distribution, and it's manageable with just one hand.
The 6.83-inch AMOLED display offers 1.5K resolution, 450 PPI, and a 144Hz refresh rate. The phone offers a peak brightness of 5000 nits and features Corning Gorilla Glass 7i on the front. The display, during the limited time I used it at the launch, seemed crisp. Stay tuned for more on the display in our review.
But, Nothing being Nothing, there's a signature transparent design in the camera deco that also integrates the Glyph Matrix, composed of 137 mini-LEDs. The company says the Matrix is bright at about 3000nits. Interestingly, the phone also supports Glyph Toys. Again, full marks to the design team for the attention to detail. Nothing really knows how to nail the design part when they design products. This also tells a lot about the company.
The Phone 4a Pro features a large vapour cooling system and IP65 dust- and water-resistance. At the back, the phone houses the main 50-megapixel Sony LYT700x sensor with OIS, alongside a 50-megapixel telephoto sensor, and offers up to 140x ultra zoom. There's also an ultra-wide camera, but Nothing hasn't shared details about it. Notably, the Phone 4a Pro gets the longest zoom ever on a Nothing phone. At the front, you get a 32-megapixel selfie camera. During the London event, I had limited time with the Phone 4a Pro, so that I couldn't test the cameras. Stay tuned to Gadgets 360 for the review, which should drop on March 19.
Talking about the processor, the Phone 4a Pro is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 and in the limited time I spent with the device, it handled multitasking with ease. We will run the Phone 4a Pro through our standard suite of tests during the review, so stay tuned. The smartphone packs a 5080mAh battery and comes with 50W wired charging. Much like the 4a, the Phone 4a Pro also runs on Nothing OS 4.1 based on Android 16. The new version brings some upgrades and new features, which we will cover in the review.
Overall, the Phone 4a Pro impresses with its design, following the tradition set by Nothing devices so far.
Disclosure: Nothing sponsored the correspondent's flights and hotel for the event in London.
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