New Delhi: Nothing Phone 4a has been in my hands for over a week now, and users have used it every single day calls, games, photos, videos, late-night scrolling and all. So when I say this is one of the most interesting phones in its price range right now, it actually mean it. But it is not perfect. Let we break it all down for you.
Design
The first time we picked up the 4a, we just kept staring at the back. Nothing has completely changed the design from the 3a. Gone is the cluttered bottom layout instead, you get a clean, industrial look with a metal plate and a battery-style cutout that just feels way more mature and confident.
The glyph lights from before are also gone. In their place is a new vertical glyph bar on the side, packed with 63 tiny LEDs inside seven square sections. It is noticeably brighter than before, and the yellow tint that used to bug people in older models? Completely gone. You can use it as a camera countdown timer, a volume indicator, a notification light, or even to track your food delivery progress. Music visualisation is not live yet, but Nothing has confirmed it is coming soon via an update.
The colour options this time are also worth mentioning. You get classic white and black, a clean blue, and then there is the new pink and honestly, it is stunning. The button placement has also been fixed. Power and volume buttons are now on one side, and the essential key sits on the other. A small change, but a smart one.
Display
The screen is now a 1.5K AMOLED LTPS panel running at 120Hz, which is a genuine step up from the standard 1080p on the 3a. It is noticeably sharper, and the brightness boost makes a real difference when you are outside. Put the two phones side by side and the difference is clear. The front is now protected by Gorilla Glass 7i, which is a solid improvement. The stereo speakers also sound fuller and richer than before.
Performance
Under the hood, the 4a runs on the Snapdragon 7S Gen 4 chip with up to 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM. But the storage upgrade is the real win here it finally comes with UFS 3.1 storage, ditching the older and slower UFS 2.2. That means faster app loading and better long-term performance.
In gaming, BGMI runs at a smooth 120fps. Call Of Duty Mobile caps at 90fps and Genshin Impact averages around 40fps. But it is everyday use where this phone really shines. In over a week of heavy usage, I did not face a single crash, freeze, or slowdown. The Nothing OS 4.1 interface is smooth from start to finish, and the haptic feedback feels refined and well-placed throughout the experience. You also get three years of OS updates and six years of security patches, which is a great deal at this price.
Camera
This is the biggest upgrade in the 4a and it is massive. The Nothing Phone 4a is the first phone in this segment to come with a proper 3.5x periscope zoom lens. Some of the zoomed-in shots I got were so sharp and detailed that I genuinely had to double-check which phone I had used. Even pushing it to 7x still looks surprisingly clean.
The main camera delivers accurate colours and handles lighting well. The 8MP ultra-wide does a decent job, though it loses detail when you zoom in and the colour tone is slightly different from the other lenses. Video quality is solid with good stabilisation, but there is no 4K 60fps the processor tops out at 4K 30fps. Camera processing is also a touch slow, though that should be fixable with a software update.
Battery
The 4a comes with a 5,400mAh battery, up from 5,000mAh on the 3A. With regular use calls, messaging, social media, some gaming and video watching it was comfortably getting six to seven hours of screen-on time with battery still left over. Overnight drain was just 1%, which is great. Charging supports 50W and takes roughly an hour from empty. The one catch? No wireless charging.
Should You Buy It?
Nothing Phone 4a starts at Rs 31,999, which is a noticeable jump from where the 3A was priced. That said, with bank discounts and exchange offers, you can still bring it down close to Rs 25,000 and at that price, it is a genuinely strong deal. Do note that there is no NFC and no eSIM support in the Indian variant.
The periscope camera alone makes the 4a stand out in this price range. Add the sharper display, cleaner design, improved battery, and finally-decent storage and this phone makes a strong case for itself. If you are on a 3A or an older device and wondering whether to upgrade, the answer is yes. This one is worth it.
