CHENNAI: Mid-range smartphone, flagship killer; these are some of the tags for devices that land around the Rs 40K price band. The Nothing 4a Pro is a bold new vision for this type of smartphone. It may not be perfect and yet there’s ‘nothing’ quite like it for buyers seeking a refreshing change from the bland ‘sameness’ that seems to have taken over devices at this price point.
Design has been Nothing’s calling card. This is not design that just makes a statement to break the clutter but design that thoughtfully blends edgy hardware with a minimalist UI.
The Nothing 4a Pro is a departure from Nothing’s trademark transparent design with a metal unibody template that we dig. At 7.95 mm, it’s remarkably thin and feels great in your hand. The device comes in three colour ways with the silver variant highlighting Nothing’s unique design approach for the 4a Pro.
Nothing’s LED strips make way for a fun Glyph Matrix similar to the premium Nothing Phone (3). It combines 137 mini-LEDs and sits at the top right corner of the device. It’s a cool spot for notifications, timers as well as a range of ‘Glyph Toys’.
The triple rear-camera sits alongside the Glyph Matrix in an elevated plateau of sorts. The design might be polarising but it certainly gets our nod. Nothing’s industrial design is complemented by Nothing 4.1 OS that’s one of our favourite spins of Android. We would have liked to see more than three years of Android OS Updates on this device.
It's not just the design that replaces plastic with refined metal, the 4a Pro comes with all-round upgrades over last year’s Nothing 3a Pro. The 6.83-inch flexible AMOLED display (1250 x 2800 pixels / 440 PPI) with a 144 Hz refresh rate is a case in point.
It peaks at 5000 nits and offers excellent visibility in all conditions. The rear camera combines a 50MP primary lens with a 50MP periscope telephoto and an 8MP ultrawide lens. The improved telephoto lens offers 140x digital zoom that is rare in this segment but the zoom works best until 10x. The 4a Pro is one of the most versatile shooters at this price point and does a good job in lowlight.
Nothing hasn’t billed this as a heavy duty performance smartphone and yet it doesn’t stutter. At its heart is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor that should please most average users. You get a choice of three storage variants that go all the way to 12GB/256GB.
Battery life is another win. The 5400 mAh battery comfortably sails through a day and powers up in quick time (50W wired charging); there’s no charging brick in the box though. It’s easy to recommend the Nothing 4a Pro for anyone looking for a phone under Rs 40K. Aside from standout design, it also ticks the boxes that matter for most buyers in this segment.
(Ashwin Rajagopalan is a lifestyle writer and consumer technology expert. Catch the latest digital and tech updates in this weekly column.)