I liked last year’s Nothing Phone 3A Pro so much that I awarded it a CNET Editors’ Choice Award, so its follow-up, the Nothing Phone 4A Pro, has a lot to live up to. I spent some time with the phone, and there’s certainly a lot to like — from its new pink design to its capable processor. But Nothing phones have always had one other important advantage: price.
In $499 in the US again £499 in the UKthe Phone 4A Pro is undeniably affordable, especially considering its strong collection of specs. Its main competition is the Google Pixel 10A, which is the exact same price and just impressed in our full review for its all-around performance ($599 iPhone 17E follows behind in number). It’s too early to tell how the Phone 4A Pro stacks up against Google’s phone, but it certainly has enough to justify your consideration.
Here’s what you need to know about this affordable Android phone.
No Phone 4A Pro: Pink design with Glyph Matrix
My favorite thing about the phone is its pink color. Does that make me too shallow? Yes, but I’m fine with that. I love pink gadgets. I accidentally managed to turn my cosmic orange 17 Pro chemically pink, and had a custom pink wrap installed on my expensive Leica Q3 43. It’s a subtle pink, rather than a hot pink like the old Motorola Razr V3, but it’s a fun color that doesn’t take itself too seriously — and that’s refreshing.
Most of today’s phones come in shades of black, silver or gray, so I really appreciate it when a brand adds more personality to the medicine. That said, No major design changes have been made here. The company is known for its phones with plastic backs that reveal some of the underlying components, and its “Glyph” LED light patterns. I loved that look of the 3A Pro and the Nothing Phone 1 and 2 before it.
The Glyph Matrix is arguably a bit of a gimmick.
There’s still some of that here, but it’s been assembled and squashed into the camera bar, with about 70% of the phone now being a blank expanse of aluminum. Turn off the camera bar and you can look at basically any other phone. The bar itself looks interesting, with some visible screw heads keeping that industrial feel. It’s also where you’ll find the three camera lenses and the Glyph Matrix that was introduced last year in the more expensive Nothing Phone 3.
The Matrix is essentially a circular dot display that can display information such as the time, battery level or incoming notifications. But Nothing has opened up Glyph to allow developers or users to create their own tools, such as a countdown timer for your Uber to arrive. The Phone 3’s Glyph Matrix was touch-sensitive, allowing it to use so-called “Glyph toys,” like spinning a bottle, while the 4A Pro simply displayed it.
I found those features to be good in some ways, and the new Glyph Matrix — used more as a display than an interactive toy — loses out a bit in terms of performance while offering a much better experience. Whether it can be even more useful remains to be seen. I also think it’s a shame that the Phone 4A Pro doesn’t have the bright LED lights that the company is known for; even the more affordable Phone 4A has a set of lights to notify you of incoming calls.
Most of the phone is just an expanse of pink metal. I think there is nothing more you could do here.
The phone is IP65 rated, protecting it from spills or making calls in the rain. That makes it not as dust-resistant as many other phones, though it may not survive prolonged immersion like IP68-rated devices. It goes without saying that it uses recycled plastics, steel, aluminum and tin in its construction, giving it the lowest carbon footprint of any of its phones.
Nothing Phone 4A Pro: Processor, software and camera
Powering the phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip and 8GB or 12GB of RAM. I tested the 12GB model and found it to be satisfyingly fast for everyday use. Navigating the Android interface was stuttering, apps opened quickly, and the very demanding game Genshin Impact played smoothly, even on high quality settings.
It runs Android 16 with Nothing’s custom skin on top, which turns most of the interface into a stark, monochrome thing. I’m not a fan, mainly because the lack of color markings makes it hard for me to distinguish app icons — a problem I encountered with the Leica UI on the Xiaomi Leitzphone. However, you can change the theme to a normal interface if you need more color too, and I like the various Nothing widgets you can install and the Secret Space that allows you to hide sensitive apps and images behind a password. That doesn’t make it the most privacy-friendly phone in the world, but it’s a great option for casual phone owners.
The Nothing interface makes the icons black and white, making it very difficult to figure out which one is which.
You’ll find Nothing’s Essential Space on board, a productivity app the company launched on its phones last year. It’s basically a repository of screenshots and voice notes to help you make sense of your broadcasts throughout the day. It uses a physical hardware button on the side of the phone; press and hold, and it’ll take a screenshot of whatever you’re looking at, and you can record a voice note to remind yourself of what’s important or maybe remind yourself to buy something later.
I love Essential Space. It’s actually a useful tool, especially if you’re the type of person who casually thinks about things you need to do during the day but can’t seem to remember that thing and later when you have time to act on it. It’s by no means a reason to choose the Nothing phone over another device, but it’s a useful device to play around with when considering the Phone 4A Pro.
Nothing promises three years of Android updates and a total of six years of security updates for the Phone 4A Pro, meaning it should still be safe to use in 2032. I would like to see more software updates (the Pixel 10A will receive software updates and security updates for seven years), but security support is the main thing here, as that is directly related to the life of the phone’.
On the back there are three cameras, including a 50-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel telephoto camera with 3.5x optical zoom and an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera.
Taken with a large camera, this photo has decent colors and details.
The ultrawide shot looks dark, but it was a very cloudy day.
At 3.5x zoom, this image retains crisp detail.
The 32-megapixel selfie camera doesn’t make me look 10 years younger. There are no stars.
I only briefly tested the camera and found it to be decent for the price, but I want to take more test shots, including a comparison with the Pixel 10A, before I give any verdicts. Generally, Nothing Phones cameras don’t offer the image quality to keep photography professionals happy, but if you’re after well-balanced photos of your kids playing in the garden, then it’ll be fine.
The phone packs a 5,080-mAh battery, which the company claims will give you 17 hours of mixed usage. That will depend on how much you want your phone; in our streaming test, it dropped about 10% after its first hour and only dropped to 73% after the third hour. That is below average. Keep things reasonable, though, and you don’t have to work too hard to get a day out of it. It has 50-watt wired charging for quick power back up, though you’ll need to provide your own compatible fast charger.
The camera bar with Glyph stands out a bit.
No Phone 4A Pro: Should you buy it?
There’s a lot I like about the phone. It has enough power for all your daily needs, its cameras are good enough for taking pictures, and while its design may be a bit more experimental, the pink color and Glyph Matrix display certainly help it stand out from the crowd.
But the Nothing Phone 4A’s $499 price tag is the main reason to consider this phone, and from my testing so far, it certainly feels like you’re getting a lot of phone for your money. Of course, if you are looking for the latest and greatest in phone technology, then you should look towards the Xiaomi Leitzphone or the Galaxy S26 Ultra. But both of these will cost you at least three times as much, so you have to think: Is a better camera and more processing power really not worth it to you?
I’ll have to leave my final verdict once I’m able to fully review it, so stay tuned to see how this phone really stacks up, especially the Pixel 10A.
