[Review] Nothing’s A Series Matures: Phone (4a), Phone (4a) Pro and Headphone (a) Deliver More Than Just a Pretty Face

Nothing has recently launched its new A Team lineup in Singapore and it has matured a lot since its first series. This collection includes the Phone (4a), the Phone (4a) Pro, and the Headphone (a).

As the brand continues to carve out a unique space in the crowded smartphone and audio market by focusing on style, these three devices try to balance distinctive looks with everyday practicality. They offer features usually found in more expensive devices but keep prices grounded.

We spend some time with each of the three devices to test out how they run, and whether they are worth your money. Starting with the physical design, Nothing continues to push visual boundaries.

The standard Phone (4a) retains the brand signature transparent look.

You can see the inner compartments, screws, and metallic accents through the back glass, giving it a raw and industrial appearance. It also features a new vertical light strip called the Glyph Bar, which is equipped with 63 small LED lights. These lights can act as a progress bar for timers or show you when you have a notification.

While the phone frame is made of plastic, the buttons are metal and provide a satisfying click.

On the other hand, the Phone (4a) Pro takes a surprising turn by adopting a solid aluminum metal body. This means it loses almost all of the classic transparency that fans expect from the brand.

The metal finish feels cold to the touch and premium, and it helps keep the phone cool when playing games. However, it does attract fingerprints very easily.

The Pro model still features a transparent camera window and a larger circular Glyph Matrix made of 137 LED lights. Interestingly, because this larger light ring uses bigger individual lights, complex animations can look a bit blocky compared to previous models. It excels at showing simple shapes, but detailed patterns do not look as clear.

Moving to the screens, both phones deliver bright and smooth viewing experiences that are easy on the eyes.

The base Phone (4a) has a 6.78 inch screen with a fast refresh rate, meaning that scrolling through web pages or social media feels fluid. The Pro variant steps up to a slightly larger 6.83 inch screen and an even faster 144 hertz refresh rate. Both screens get very bright, making them easy to read outside on a sunny day. The standard model reaches 4500 nits of brightness, while the Pro can hit 5000 nits. The colours are vibrant, and the text is sharp.

For anyone who watches a lot of videos or plays mobile games, both displays are excellent and perform just as well as screens on much more expensive devices.

When it comes to everyday performance, both phones are highly reliable. They use midrange processors that are well suited for daily tasks like messaging, browsing the internet, and watching videos. Under the hood, the standard Phone (4a) runs on the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset, while the Pro steps up to the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4.

The Pro model has a slightly more powerful chip, which gives it a minor advantage when opening heavy applications or playing demanding games. During regular use, you will likely not notice a difference between the two.

The software experience is a major selling point for both devices. They run on Nothing OS, which is a clean and minimalist operating system designed to reduce distractions. The interface uses a black and white color scheme that makes app icons look uniform and tidy.

The software also includes a special button on the side of the phone called the Essential Key, a highlight feature that Nothing is proud of. Pressing this button lets you quickly save voice notes, take screenshots, or write down ideas. These are saved into a dedicated folder where artificial intelligence organizes the information so you can easily search for it later.

In the camera department, both phones feature a versatile three lens setup on the back.

This includes a 50 megapixel main camera, an 8 megapixel wide angle camera for group shots and a 50 megapixel zoom lens that provides a 3.5 times optical zoom. Having a dedicated zoom lens is very rare for phones in this price range, and it takes solid portrait photos in good lighting.

The Phone (4a) Pro adds a telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom and digital zoom that stretches up to 140x. In reality, those extreme zoom levels are more of a marketing feature than something most users will rely on. Image quality tends to drop significantly once the zoom level gets too high. The results often become a soft, AI enhanced approximation rather than a true photograph.

Video recording works at the base level and is capped at 4K 30fps on both devices. Not exactly Nothing’s strength here compared to competitor brands, but it is suffice for most casual users.

Battery life is a major strength for the entire lineup.

Both smartphones are equipped with large 5080 milliampere hour batteries that can comfortably last more than a full day of heavy use. If you only use your phone lightly, you might even get two days of power before needing a recharge. When it is time to plug in, both phones support fast 50 watt wired charging that can fill the battery from zero to sixty percent in just thirty minutes. The only noticeable omission is the lack of wireless charging, which is a feature some competitors offer at this mid price range.

Completing the new product family is the Headphone (a).

These over ear headphones bring a fun pop of colour to the market.

While they are made entirely of plastic and feel lighter than premium headphones, they are still sturdy enough for a daily commute. They feature physical buttons, including a roller for volume control and a physical toggle switch to turn them on and off. This makes them very easy to control without needing to look at them.

The iconic looking carrying pouch for the Headphone (1) has been replaced with a soft bag, which looks kind of casual.

The most impressive feature is the battery life, which offers up to 135 hours of listening time. The audio profile is slightly heavy on the bass, making them great for energetic music or action movies. The active noise cancellation works well to quiet down train noises or office chatter.

Ultimately, Nothing has again created a solid group of products that offer great value.

The base Phone (4a) stands out as the most sensible purchase for most people. It offers almost all the same core features as the Pro model but at a significantly lower price. The Phone (4a) Pro caters specifically to those who want a premium metal body and some higher specs. Paired with the highly capable Headphone (a), the brand proves that midrange technology can be highly functional without costing a fortune.

Pricing and Availability

If you are looking to purchase Nothing’s latest A Team lineup in Singapore, below are the official retail prices and where you can find them.

Availability and Colours:
The new products will be available via Challenger, Courts, Chamber, Nothing.Tech, Nothing Official Store on Lazada, Nothing Official Store on Shopee, Nothing SG on TikTok, and EraSpace.

Product	Colours	Open Sales Date	Recommended Retail Price
Nothing Phone (4a)	Black, White, Pink and Blue	28-Mar	S$599
Nothing Phone (4a) Pro	Black, Silver and Pink	28-Mar	S$749

For more details, please visit Nothing.Tech.

Launch Gifts with Purchase*
Customers purchasing the Nothing Phone (4a) or Nothing Phone (4a) Pro may receive the following gifts:

• Nothing Ear (a) Black (worth S$159)
• Nothing Phone Lanyard (Short) (worth S$30)
• Nothing Bottle (1) (worth S$50)
• Nothing 1-Year Extended Warranty Card (worth S$299)

*Gifts are available while stocks last.