Nothing Phone 3 review

There’s no simple way to put this - the Nothing Phone 3’s design is polarising, to say the least. It’s out there and quite over the top, with the placements and elements at the back not really adhering to what most smartphone makers do. The telephoto camera doesn’t sit in line with the primary and ultra-wide cameras, and the flash module is a different size entirely, matching the glyph matrix display in dimensions.

The transparent back glass returns, showcasing a modular framework that is a bunch of lines and curves, and don’t seem to make any pattern-based sense at all. There’s also the button that controls the glyph matrix display’s interface, which sits flush with the rest of the back but requires a firm press to operate. It’s all a bit strange and I initially found it weird to look at, but I’ll admit it grew on me over time. 

There are two colour options - white and black - and I can’t really pick a favourite between the two. The white shows off the design elements more visibly, while the black has its own subtle elegance. All of this sits in an aluminium frame, which looks and feels good and goes well with the rest of the device. 

 

 

 

 

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There’s a flat screen with no edge curves, as well as flat sides that give the Nothing Phone 3 an assured hand feel. The buttons and ports are uniformly laid out, and feel nice and expensive, in line with the price of the phone. The Nothing Phone 3 does look and feel like a high-end smartphone, which goes some way in helping to justify the price tag.

ALSO SEE: Nothing Phone 3a Pro review

The Nothing Phone 3 is big and heavy, with the 6.67-inch screen adding significant bulk to the overall size. It’s IP68 certified for dust and water resistance, so it can handle being fully submerged in shallow water for a few minutes at a time, and can definitely shake off splashes of water without any real risk of damage.

The 6.67-inch screen is an OLED one, with a resolution of 1260x2800 pixels, a refresh rate of 120Hz, and Corning Gorilla Glass 7i on top for protection. There’s a peak brightness rating of 4500 nits, and support for HDR10+ high dynamic range content.

The specification sheet is the cause for many of the talking points on the Nothing Phone 3 and its price - particularly the choice of chipset. Now to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset on the Nothing Phone 3; it’s a sensible option with a decent balance of performance and efficiency. However, should a smartphone with this chipset cost Rs. 80,000 and up? The Poco F7 has this same chipset and costs Rs. 31,999 onwards…

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is a good chipset for a smartphone as such, with performance figures which largely match up to 2024’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Other specs are decent enough, with either 12GB of DDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage (Rs. 79,999) or 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage (Rs. 89,999), and support for the latest wireless standards including Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and all key 5G bands supported in India, along with dual-SIM and eSIM support.

Android 15 powers the Nothing Phone 3, with the brand’s own Nothing OS 3.5 on top. The company promises seven years of software support (five years of software updates and an additional two years of security updates) for the Nothing Phone 3, and you can expect an Android 16-based update to Nothing OS to roll out in a few months.

 

 

 

 

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Nothing OS 3.5 is different, but I quite like it. The minimalist theme might be a bit confusing for newcomers, but the dark colours and lack of text on the homescreen actually looks quite cool if you can get used to it. This includes the quick settings shade and settings menu as well, which have their own unique look and feel. You do fortunately have the choice to switch to a more straightforward stock Android-style look and feel, and key bits like the notification lineup and app drawer are straightforward and uncomplicated.

ALSO SEE: Poco F7 review

Sticking to a promise made when Nothing was still new to the space, the Nothing Phone 3 is devoid of bloatware. There are, of course, some of Nothing’s own apps in place, but these are functional and come in handy. Apps such as gallery and weather may seem like unnecessary duplication, but these stick to the theme of the OS. Others are specific to features on the phone, and add to the customisations and personalisation elements that make the Nothing Phone 3 feel different.

Essential Space and the Nothing X apps serve key purposes - the latter manages connected Nothing products such as earphones and headphones, while the former covers some of the device’s simplified AI capabilities. It allows you to capture screenshots with a single press, or hold it down to record audio clips from the microphone. 

These can then be put through AI analysis - use it to create reminders, segregate data, pull out key points such as dates and numbers, and more. It’s a simplified approach to AI, and is deliberately not confusing; a good thing to point out given how some brands tend to cram in too many AI features which tend to be fairly useless in practice.

A triple-camera setup isn’t the domain of only premium smartphones in itself, and there are plenty of mid-range devices with decent triple-camera setups. However, the capabilities of the cameras is the key factor here, so don’t simply go by the number of cameras in making a decision. The Nothing Phone 3 gets a triple-camera setup, with three 50-megapixel camera sensors in place. There’s a regular everyday camera, an ultra-wide sensor, and a periscope telephoto sensor.

This enables a decent set of features on the camera, including up to 3x optical zoom and 6x digital lossless zoom, 4K video at up to 60fps, portrait shots with up to 4x zoom, and macro shots using the 3x or 6x zoom capabilities. There’s also an action mode for capturing images in fast-moving scenarios, up to 240fps slow-motion video at full-HD resolution, and other useful modes such as time-lapse, panorama, night, and expert mode for custom controls.

ALSO SEE: OnePlus Nord 5 review

The versatility of the camera setup is the Nothing Phone 3’s biggest asset when it comes to photography. There are modes for everything, and results are favourable across modes and photography types. Everyday photography is fairly reliable in point-and-shoot mode, and you don’t need to put too much effort in composing the shot in most situations. 

Other modes such as zoom and ultra-wide work as expected, and video recording is decent and clean across resolutions and frame-rates. While other smartphones in this price segment boast of partnerships with photography specialist brands (OnePlus and Hasselblad, Vivo and Zeiss, Xiaomi and Leica), the Nothing Phone 3 sticks to an uncomplicated and home-built camera system that largely delivers decent performance. That said, don’t expect class-leading performance here, especially given the price.

Performance is where the Nothing Phone 3’s price tends to get in the way of calling this a truly sensible smartphone. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset is a good choice and is now seen on devices priced at under Rs. 40,000, and in the coming months could even make its way to devices priced at under Rs. 30,000. Does it therefore make sense to have on a smartphone priced at Rs. 80,000 and up? I don’t think so.

Objectively, this phone does well enough, managing various apps, multi-tasking, and even relatively heavy requirements such as gaming. Thermal management is decent, and the Nothing Phone 3 is generally a decent device to use. That said, you’ll still feel the difference as you use the phone; this just doesn’t function like many other Android flagship devices with more performance-driven chipsets in 2025.

ALSO SEE: Buying Guide: Best Premium Smartphones

It’s tricky to describe those differences, but there are some giveaways. For one, it’ll take just a fraction of a second longer to do the same things as most other phones in its price segment; quick switching between apps, loading times, processing times for things like saving images to the gallery - it all takes just a bit longer. 

These might seem trivial at first, but that operational efficiency starts to get to you over time, and highlights just why flagship smartphones utilise flagship hardware. That flagship chipset is also a big reason for the price of the smartphone, and the Nothing Phone 3’s Rs. 80,000 price tag isn’t justified by the choice of the components in use.

Battery life and charging on the Nothing Phone 3 aren’t bad, but are far from exceptional and don’t match up to the competition. The device has a 5500mAh battery (on the India model) which is acceptable, and delivers about one full day of running with moderate use. Up to 65W wired at 15W wireless charging is supported, but there’s no adapter in the box - just the cable. If you do have the right adapter lying around, charging is acceptable and you’ll get a full charge in a little over an hour - but that’s a big if.

The Nothing Phone 3 is polarising, to say the least. It’s the brand’s most expensive device yet, and for that price you get looks which you either love or hate, and specifications that don’t really belong on a phone that costs Rs. 80,000. Camera, software, display, and battery life are all acceptable, but even then this phone is definitely priced at least Rs. 30,000 too high, in my opinion.

As such, you’re primarily paying for the design and a couple of admittedly unique feature additions here, but whether that makes sense or not is entirely up to you.