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- The Nothing Phone (3a) is down to just £239 in the Amazon Spring Deal Days Sale
- Previously, it has averaged £295 in price over the past 180 days
- I awarded this phone five stars and the Expert Reviews Best Buy award in my review, due to its excellent battery life, gorgeous display, useful AI and rare telephoto camera
There are a fair few phone deals in the Amazon Spring Deal Days sale – you can see a roundup of my top picks over on my best phone deals page – but what is slightly lacking is budget phone deals. Most of the offers are on phones well over £400, with only a couple of options left for those of us who prefer shopping in a more affordable aisle.
Luckily, among those merry few aimed towards bargain hunters is the only budget phone deal that you need – the Nothing Phone (3a). This has been a firm favourite of mine in the mid-range phone category for a while now, with excellent performance, battery life, cameras and display quality, as well as the unique and useful Essential Space AI, helping it rise above the pack.
It was already quite a tempting proposition at its original retail price of £329 – a telephoto camera and dedicated AI suite for that kind of money is insane – but this deal makes it an unmissable bargain. Dropping from an average price (over the past 180 days) of £295, the Nothing Phone (3a) can now be yours for just £239.
Why should I buy the Nothing Phone (3a)?
As alluded to above, there are two main features of the Nothing Phone (3a) that you just don’t usually see for this kind of money. The 2x telephoto camera is my favourite, producing sharp and striking optical zoom shots – particularly useful for snapping portraits – with detail and colouring that matches the excellent main camera.
The Essential Space AI, activated via a dedicated button on the lower right side of the phone, serves as a juiced-up screenshot function, snapping your screen’s content, along with your choice of notes or voice recordings, and filing them away in a dedicated app for later recall. Best of all, the AI intelligently sorts and organises your captures, allowing easy searching later, or things like events to be automatically compiled into a to-do list.
Beyond those two unique features, the Nothing Phone (3a) is just a very good phone for this price. Performance and battery life are among the best in this price range, with the latter in particular impressing with a result of over 30 hours in our testing, and the 6.77in AMOLED display is sharp, bright and beautifully colour-accurate, with an average Delta E of just 0.85 – our target is 1 or under here, so that speaks to excellent accuracy.
What could the Nothing Phone (3a) do better?
I’m generally a fan of the Nothing software – the widget style is very accessible and customisable, while those who prefer a more traditional look can still opt for the classic Android aesthetic instead.
Compared to phones around its price, the Phone (3a) has decent software support, with three OS updates and six years of security patches promised. As with all phones under £500, however, the threat of Google’s Pixel A-series looms large. In this case, the Pixel 8a can be picked up for around £309, and was promised seven years of software support back in 2024, meaning that it will remain updated through to 2031, whereas the Nothing’s OS updates drop off in 2028.
The only other complaint of note (this is seriously such a well-rounded budget phone) is the placement of the Essential Key. Low down on the right side is fairly annoying to access, regardless of which hand you hold it in, and it can all-too-easily be accidentally activated by a car phone holder. Nothing is very aware of this issue, as the recently announced Nothing Phone (4a) moves the button to high-up on the left edge, which works far better.
Is this deal worth it?
Of course, to get that superior AI button placement, you’ll need to shell out over £100 more, as the new Phone (4a) starts just a little higher than its predecessor, at £349. I don’t know just yet how else it compares to the Phone (3a) – keep an eye out for my full review coming very soon.
For now, even with the shorter software support roadmap and wonky Essential Key location, the Nothing Phone (3a) is an absolutely outstanding phone. And at this price, it’s a certified bargain. I’d have recommended it at the average price of £295 but this deal price of £239 is too good to pass up. It’s the cheapest that it has ever been and broadly just a ridiculously good price for a fantastic and unique phone.
If you want to check out what other bargains we’ve dug up, head on over to our central Amazon Spring Deal Days hub, where you’ll find all of our favourite offers on everything from TVs to vacuum cleaners and much more.
