I recently got the Nothing Phone (3a), the 12 + 256GB version, for a price of 2399 yuan from an online store.

Design

In a word: it looks really good, especially the back.

AI

The Nothing Phone (3a) runs on the Nothing OS 4.0 system, which natively integrates the following AI features:

• Essential Space
• Essential Playground
• Essential Search

Let’s focus on Essential Space. In summary: if you don't use it as your main daily device, its functionality is quite limited. It has weak capabilities for collecting social media content and can only understand some web articles. Most importantly, it still does not support search as of today.

This means that if you treat it as a collection tool but cannot search through it, it becomes unappetizing and a pity to discard.

Camera

Compared to the iPhone 13, the camera performance is quite average, and the images are not very clear.

I am not a photography enthusiast, so it may have some advantages, but I can't see them.

Conclusion

This is the most cost-effective phone in this price range. My initial need was to test my apps and websites, and it does that very well.