I hope the Nothing Phone 4a Pro is the future of Nothing Phone design

I have a lot of opinions on Nothing Phones, which is funny for a guy who lives in the US and can’t really use them properly — at least not as a Verizon customer. And yet, for the most part, I have a very positive view of the brand. I like Nothing OS, I think the Essential Apps are convenient, and the industrial design language works for me every single time. Now that Nothing has the cheaper Headphone A, I even like those, too.

But, there’s one Nothing launch that I had a hard time with, and that was the flagship Phone 3. I struggled with the motivation behind the Glyph Matrix, and the spread-out cameras made it tough to recommend a protective case. I still liked using the phone, but I really struggled with some of the day-to-day practicality.

So, riddle me this: I love the direction of the Nothing Phone 4a Pro. It kind of solves the things I was worried about, and it does so without sacrificing key parts of its identity. Here’s why I really hope this is the direction Nothing sticks with for the future.

Sorry, but aluminum beats transparent-ish every time

Alright, yes, I know, Nothing has abandoned the look that made it interesting. It’s created an iPhone 17 Pro but tweaked it a bit so it doesn’t look like a copycat. How dare it? And now that we have that out of the way, I don’t know how you can look at the Phone 4a Pro and not see an improvement. No, maybe it’s not as transparent as it used to be, but let’s remember that the previous designs were never really transparent—they just looked that way to be cool.

So, now that the Nothing Phone 4a Pro has a mostly aluminum design, it’s solved one of my biggest problems. I don’t think I’m actually worried about finding a case for this phone, because I know that the metal body will stand up to wear and tear much better than the plastic frame of its predecessor. Also, by bringing all the important design elements into the camera bump, even if I do buy a case, it’ll be simple enough to make a single cutout around the raised area instead of small ones around each camera.

And yes, I can understand the argument from those who think this is Nothing abandoning its design language. I know it looks less distinct than even the Phone 4a, which I was about to call my favorite Nothing design because of how it recalls its predecessor. However, when I look at the part of the Phone 4a Pro that’s still transparent — really just the camera bump — I can’t help but see the controls of a submarine. It’s not a cool, futuristic droid, but a powerful, well-engineered machine, and one that’s much better protected.

If we’re talking practicality, I think the Phone 4a Pro nails that, too. It feels cleaner and less cluttered, and uniting the power and volume controls on the opposite side of the Essential Key is exactly what I’d hoped for. I had a terrible time pressing the wrong button on the Phone 3 series (both flagship and mid-range), so I’ll happily put the AI trigger on the side I rarely touch — it deserves the same set-it-and-forget-it treatment that Apple’s Camera Control gets.

The Glyph Matrix looks better, but I still like the Glyph Bar

Of course, if you read about my issues with the Nothing Phone 3, you’ll know that many of them stemmed from the Glyph Matrix. Sure, it’s a clever idea, putting a Tamagotchi-like circle on the back of your phone to show notifications and progress through tasks, but most of the uses felt more like toys than tools. So, it might come as a surprise that I don’t totally hate how the feature looks on the back of the Phone 4a Pro.

Honestly, I’m not sure why that is, either. It may be that Nothing increased the size of its Glyph Matrix by around 57%, using a pretty impressive 137 LEDs and the red recording light, or maybe it’s just that it fits better into the camera bump in the unified design. Whatever it is, I’m looking forward to giving Nothing’s light-up feature another chance.

That being said, I’m not about to call it a better solution than the Glyph Interface or the Glyph Bar. I still like a less-is-more approach, showing as little detail as possible if I’m going to have lights on the back of my phone. I would much rather have ringtones and notification chimes that blink a few times — like those on the Phone 4a — instead of showing off who’s calling or displaying a text message.

See, the Glyph Bar on the Phone 4a looks like it will let me check my phone less. I’ll be able to see that I’m getting a call or text and decide whether to flip my phone over to look at it. With the Glyph Matrix, I’m faced with whoever is calling right away. It becomes harder to ignore, which is in stark contrast to Nothing’s Glyph Toys — light-up quirks that I still don’t use.

To me, though, Nothing’s LEDs aren’t a dealbreaker. If I still don’t like them, I still won’t use them, or I’ll simply set them up to show the time, almost like an always-on smartwatch. The rest of the Phone 4a Pro is easily an improvement, adding durability and simplifying controls, and I’ll happily trade that if it makes the phone better in everyday usage.