- Snappy performance
- Solid primary camera for the price
- Great value
- Lower starting storage than competitors
- Not as water-resistant as some similarly priced rivals
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite isn’t a complicated device. It’s a remix of CMF Phone 2 Pro from Nothing’s sub-brand. The main differences are aesthetic, but there are a few hardware changes, too. None of this is a bad thing - the CMF Phone 2 Pro is our budget phone of the year - and it’s always nice to have another reliable budget pick on the market.
Most of the core specifications are the same between the Nothing Phone 3a and the CMF Phone 2 Pro. You get a nice 6.77-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a zippy enough Dimensity 7300 Pro chipset, and a 5,000mAh battery that comfortably offers at least six hours of screen time per charge. That’s about a day of moderate usage with a comfortable buffer. The fundamentals are all there, and match or exceed what I’d expect for this price point.
The Nothing Phone 3a Lite shares its primary, ultra-wide, and selfie camera with the CMF Phone 2 Pro, and for the most part, this is a good thing. It can take a nice enough photo in most situations, and can get reasonable results in low light, but you may need a few takes for an image you’re definitely happy with.
Unfortunately, Nothing has swapped the 50MP 2x zoom lens you’ll find in the CMF Phone 2a Pro for a 2MP macro lens. While you can get a decent 2x digital crop from the Nothing Phone 3a Lite’s primary lens, the quality drops off quickly after that. I don’t know about you, but I’d always take a zoom lens over a macro.
Nothing Phone 3a Lite camera samples
Check out these camera samples taken on the Nothing Phone 3a Lite. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version.
Lens swap aside, the other big difference between the Nothing Phone 3a Lite and the CMF Phone 2 Pro is design. While the CMF Phone 2 Pro back is made from colourful plastic, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite has a transparent glass back similar to its more expensive handsets. Plastic is typically harder to break than glass with an accidental drop, but this is largely an aesthetic decision.
The one practical change that comes out of this is a “glyph” on the back of the device. By default, the glyph lights up when you get notifications, but there’s also a solid amount of customisability. If you designate a contact as important, the glyph will continue to flash until you check the notification, for example. Or you can set different patterns for different contacts, if you want to try and recognise who is calling without checking the screen.
While the Nothing Phone 3a Lite gets the basics right, there is still a bit of room for improvement. By and large, these are all features where Nothing has gotten part of the way there, but we’ve seen better from the competition.
For example, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite will get three years of major operating system updates and six years of security updates. That’s fantastic for a $400 or so phone, but competitors like OPPO are promising five years of operating system upgrades and six years of security for its cheaper devices.
Similarly, the Nothing Phone 3a Lite has an IP54 rating for water-resistance. That makes it splash-proof, but proper IP68 water-resistance is now becoming more common at its price point.
And lastly, while you can get a 256GB variant, the entry-level Phone 3a Lite is only 128GB. Plenty of phones in this price bracket now have 256GB as a starting point.
Nothing Phone 3a Lite - Final Thoughts
Unless you really love the Nothing Phone 3a Lite’s aesthetic or would prefer a glass back over a plastic one, the CMF Phone 2 Pro is a smarter buy. There’s a good chance you’ll be able to find it for sale, and I’d take a 50MP zoom lens over a 2MP macro lens any day. Even if neither phone is on sale, the Phone 3a Lite is only $10 cheaper than the CMF Phone 2 Pro at $439. Both phones are great for the asking price, but despite the Phone 3a Lite’s fun design, I prefer the more pragmatic CMF Phone 2 Pro.
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Alex Choros
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