CHENNAI: We live in a world of ‘incremental upgrades’ in the smartphone space. Minor upgrades that sometimes don’t really seem like a significant leap over the previous year’s version of the same smartphone. That’s one reason why the Nothing 4a has our attention. We’ll tell you why.
Nothing has stood out in a cluttered smartphone space with its unique approach to design. It’s not just hardware, the brand’s custom user interface augments the industrial design with an intuitive, clutter-free interface.
The Nothing 4a feels really good in your hand. Nothing has made subtle design changes to last year’s 3a with rounded corners and a flat frame that make the device easier to clasp despite its 200 gm plus heft.
You get the same trademark, transparent design and an interesting array of colours including our favourite – Pink. The device comes with an IP64 rating, you can immerse it for up to 20 minutes in a depth of up to 25 cm. The redesigned key layout sees Nothing’s Essential Key swap places with the Power button that now sits with the volume rocker on the left spine. This is a welcome change.
One of our favourite features of Nothing devices is the Glyph interface. Nothing has reimagined the Glyph Bar that plays out as a vertical LED bar that flanks the rear cam.
You get the same trademark, transparent design and an interesting array of colours including our favourite – Pink. The device comes with an IP64 rating, you can immerse it for up to 20 minutes in a depth of up to 25 cm. The redesigned key layout sees Nothing’s Essential Key swap places with the Power button that now sits with the volume rocker on the left spine. This is a welcome change.
One of our favourite features of Nothing devices is the Glyph interface. Nothing has reimagined the Glyph Bar that plays out as a vertical LED bar that flanks the rear cam.
We saw a visible improvement in zoom images, this periscope lens offers 3.5x optical zoom and 7x in-sensor zoom, making it one of the best in the segment. The 4a also does a great job with portrait images and lowlight images. At the heart of the Nothing 4a is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset.
Nothing is offering the 4a in three variants - 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB and the top of the line 12GB/256GB version. The device may not be the fastest in the segment but slayed almost everything we threw at it.
The Nothing 4a comes with a 5400 mAh battery under the hood. You get 50W wired charging (there’s no wireless charging option) that powers this device in just over an hour. Battery life is solid and is one of the many improvements over the Nothing 3a that debuted in 2025. It’s one of the many enhancements that makes the Nothing 4a a compelling option at its asking price.
(Rs 31,999 onwards)