I’ve reviewed phones for a living for a decade, and while I usually end up preferring devices at the pricier end of the market, occasionally a much cheaper phone impresses me and makes me question whether you really need to spend more.

One of those phones is 2025’s Nothing Phone 3a – a bargain at its £349 RRP, but a quite phenomenal deal right now over at Amazon, where it has been reduced by £100 to £249.

This gets you 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, which is amazing for the price.

Nothing is a relatively young tech company based in London, and has quickly become known for its penchant for transparent smartphones and headphones. The Phone 3a is a mid-range Android phone but specs that punch well above its weight – and in the current sale is priced more like a true budget device.

The Phone 3a offers triple cameras including an optical telephoto lens, a rarity in this price bracket, plus a unique and interesting transparent design, available in black or white. It shows mock-innards and also has three ‘Glyph’ lights around the camera, which can be programmed to light up to indicate notifications from chosen contacts or apps.

In my review when the phone came out I called it “the best budget phone you can buy”, and despite it now being replaced by the Phone 4a, it’s very hard to argue with the Phone 3a’s value when it’s on sale for £249.

View the Nothing Phone 3a at Amazon

You get triple cameras with a 50MP main and 50MP telephoto lens, plus a 32MP selfie lens and the latest Android 16 software. Nothing offers six years of security updates from launch, so this phone will be safe to use until 2031.

It’s also great to see an OLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate, plus battery life that can stretch to two days if you aren’t a heavy phone user.

It’s all powered by the Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, which is absolutely fine for all but the most demanding mobile demands – this is not a phone to get if you want to play intense 3D games, but everything else will be A-OK.

If your smartphone use amounts to calls, texts, WhatsApp, email and Instagram, you really don’t have to spend more than this to get a capable phone. Perhaps one weak area for the Phone 3a is its overall image quality, but photos are good in daylight and more than acceptable for social media – just don’t expect them to look as good as on a phone that costs £800.

A fine phone at an even finer price.