A worthy successor
The Nothing Phone 3a is a marked improvement over the 2a in many areas for a slight bump in price. It has the iconic transparent design, a telephoto camera, faster charging, and a vivid display. The new Essential Space has some neat AI features that are actually useful.
For
- Unique design
- Very good triple-camera system with optical zoom
- Essential Key brings AI to your fingertips
- Three years of OS upgrades and six years of security updates
- Vibrant and eye-friendly display
- 50W wired charging
Against
- No wireless charging
- Weak gaming performance
- Only available in U.S. via the beta program
- U.S. carrier support is iffy
A solid product
The Moto G Power 2025 gets a couple of things right like the design, build quality, battery life, and excellent IP69 waterproofing. It also has good support for all major U.S. carriers and is easily available. The cameras are still not that great though and the display is not an OLED like the Phone 3a.
For
- Better availability and network compatibility in the U.S. than 3a
- IP68/IP69 rating is incredible
- Amazing battery life
- Tough build quality
- Cheaper than 3a
- Supports wireless charging
Against
- Very average cameras
- UI can feel sluggish
- Some bloatware
The year 2025 is off to a fantastic start as far as budget and mid-range smartphones go. We’ve already got a pretty eclectic range of options to choose from, our current favorite being the Nothing Phone 3a. As a successor to the highly popular Phone 2a, the 3a offers a useful third telephoto camera, slightly quicker charging, and a brighter OLED display. It’s not easily available everywhere, like in the U.S., which is where the Moto G Power 2025 comes in.
Motorola’s offering is cheaper than the Phone 3a, more readily available in the U.S., and has stronger waterproofing. It’s also a solid and dependable phone with equally lean software, a decently long update commitment for its price, and you get wireless charging. Deciding between the Nothing Phone 3a vs. Moto G Power 2025 can get tricky, but that’s where we come in.
Nothing Phone 3a vs. Moto G Power 2025: Design and display
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The Nothing Phone 3a follows the company’s signature look of a transparent glass back panel with neatly laid out components. The side frame is plastic but it’s matte so there’s good enough grip when you hold it and it doesn’t look cheap. We have the programmable Glyph lights too around the camera module which are a fun addition. The phone is slim but a bit weighty at 201 grams. Nothing has given it an IP64 rating for dust and splash resistance. While this is better than the 2a, it’s not great for a mid-range phone in 2025. The 3a comes in white, black, and blue, but the latter is limited to select markets.
The Nothing Phone 3a’s display is nicely specced with a large 6.77-inch AMOLED display and 120Hz refresh rate. It’s a Full-HD resolution only but the pixel count is well above 300 ppi, so images and text look sharp. Nothing has chosen Panda Glass for scratch protection, which held up well when we tested it. Brightness levels are also pretty great with up to 1,300 nits when using it outdoors and up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness.
The Moto G Power 2025 has slightly taller dimensions but similar thickness and weight as the Phone 3a. The design is now similar to Motorola’s more premium phones, which gives the G Power better street cred. We also liked the tough build quality of the phone which earns it a MIL-STD-810H rating. The back panel is made of faux-leather instead of glass but it still looks and feels quite premium. The lack of glass also means there’s no worry of any shattering if you drop it. The G Power 2025 comes in a striking Leaf Green colorway and also Slate Gray.
The Moto G Power 2025 doesn’t have a very captivating display as the Nothing Phone 3a, but it gets the job done. It’s a 6.8-inch IPS panel with a similar resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and Gorilla Glass 5 scratch protection. The display worked fine in all lighting conditions during our review period, and we didn’t face any issues.
The one design feature that really makes this phone stand out if the IP68/ IP69 rating. IP69 is something that’s not available even on most flagship phones, so to see this on a $300 phone is pretty cool.
Nothing Phone 3a vs. Moto G Power 2025: Performance and specs
The Nothing Phone 3a is only available in the U.S. via the beta program, which means you need to jump through a few hoops in order to get it. As of writing this, Nothing’s website says the 3a is sold out and new stocks are only expected in two months. Only the top-end variant with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage is listed for $379. Nothing does sell a base variant too with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage in other markets for less. Apart from availability, there are compatibility issues right now with AT&T and Verizon’s networks, but T-Mobile works just fine.
The Nothing Phone 3a uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor, which is a budget SoC optimized to improve AI performance. Sadly, gaming performance is actually worse than its predecessor, which is a step down. We noticed lower FPS in games like Minecraft on the Phone 3a vs. the 2a.
Thankfully, battery life is very good for a phone of its class. The 5,000mAh capacity will easily carry you through more than a day before you’ll need to charge it. The 50W wired charging also ensures the battery is charged quickly, although you’ll need to buy the charger separately. Wireless charging is a bit of a miss, something that the Moto offers.
The Moto G Power 2025 delivers equally good battery life with the same capacity as the 3a. Charging speed is slower at 30W and you’ll need to buy the adapter separately. There is 15W wireless charging, which is pretty good for a phone of its class.
The G Power 2025 only comes in a single variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage for $299. This makes it more affordable than the Phone 3a. Being a Motorola, you’ll also easily find it online or at offline stores in the U.S. and it’s compatible with all the major carriers. What’s not so great though is the performance. Somehow, Motorola picked a worse SoC than the 2024 model for the new G Power and that shows even in everyday use. Even with 8GB of RAM and a clean UI, we noticed intermittent lag and sluggishness when using it. It’s certainly not the best phone gaming and performs worse than the Phone 3a.
|
Category |
Nothing Phone 3a |
Moto G Power 2025 |
|---|---|---|
|
Processor |
Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 |
Mediatek Dimensity 6300 |
|
Display |
6.77-inch 120Hz LTPO OLED, 2392 x 1080, HDR10, 1300 nits HBM, 3000 nits max, 2160Hz PWM dimming |
6.8-inch 120Hz IPS LCD, 2388 x 1080, Gorilla Glass 5 |
|
Operating System |
Nothing OS 3.1 (Android 15) |
Hello UX (Android 15) |
|
Memory |
8GB/12GB |
8GB |
|
Storage |
128GB/256GB |
128GB |
|
Rear cameras |
50MP f/1.88 Samsung, 1/1.57″ sensor, 4K30, OIS, PDAF; 50MP f/2.0 Samsung, 1/2.74″ sensor, 2x optical zoom, EIS, Autofocus; 8MP f/2.2 Sony, 120-degree FoV |
50MP f/1.8, OIS, PDAF; 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide |
|
Front camera |
32MP f/2.2 Samsung, 1/3.44″ sensor |
16MP f/2.4 |
|
Battery |
5,000mAh |
5,000mAh |
|
Charging |
50W wired charging |
30W wired charging, 15W wireless charging |
|
Connectivity |
Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, global 5G bands, NFC, GPS, dual nano-SIM |
5G bands, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth, NFC |
|
Dimensions |
163.52 x 77.5 x 8.35 mm |
166.6 x 77.1 x 8.7 mm |
|
Weight |
201g |
208g |
|
Durability |
IP64 |
IP68/IP69 |
With the Nothing Phone 3a, you get three OS upgrades and six years of security patches. The phone ships with Nothing OS 3.1, which is based on Android 15 and includes all the latest AI features like Essential Space. This feature is still in beta but the dedicated button makes it very easy to fire up some of the apps like voice memo or note-taking, when needed. More smart features like Smart Search, Smart Collections, and Focus Search are expected to come in a future update. The interface is clean and bloat-free, which is something we really like about Nothing’s software approach.
The Moto G Power 2025 has a similar near-stock Android-like experience. You get Android 15 out of the box but only two major OS upgrades after that. Motorola hasn’t had the best track record of issuing timely updates either so we’ll take this promise with a bit of salt for now. As we mentioned above, the interface does get sluggish at times even if you’re not doing anything taxing. There aren’t many AI features either as that isn’t really the focus of this phone.
Nothing Phone 3a vs. Moto G Power 2025: Cameras
Nothing debuts a telephoto camera on its phones for the first time in the Phone 3a (and 3a Pro). The 3a boasts an impressive 50MP telephoto with 2x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom. There’s also a 50MP main camera and an 8MP ultrawide. In our testing, we came away impressed with the image quality from all the cameras, which is a big improvement over the Phone 2a. The phone can also do 4K 30fps videos, which is pretty respectable.
The cameras on the Moto G Power 2025 are serviceable under good lighting, but that’s about it. You only get a 50MP wide and an 8MP ultra-wide sensor on the back, both of which deliver okay image quality. The same goes for the 16MP selfie camera, which is no match for the 32MP sensor in the Phone 3a.
Nothing Phone 3a vs. Moto G Power 2025: Which should you buy?
If you live in a region outside the U.S. where the Nothing Phone 3a is easily available, you should 100% buy it over the Moto G Power 2025. It might cost a bit more, but you’ll be getting a vastly better-looking phone as well as excellent cameras, good performance, slick software with a longer update cycle, and quicker charging. Apart from the weaker waterproofing and no wireless charging, there’s no major con going against it. The Nothing Phone 3a Pro is also worth considering if you need better telephoto and selfie cameras.
For those living in the U.S., the Moto G Power 2025 is still a good buy at $300. If your priority is battery life and a phone that can survive a dishwasher, there’s nothing better in this segment. You should be able to find the Pixel 7a for around $329 online as an alternative to the Moto. The Pixel gets you much better cameras, an OLED screen, an IP67 rating, and software updates till early 2028.
The best phone under $400
The Nothing Phone 3a is hard to beat and is something you can blindly buy if it’s available in your region. You stand to get a great design, useful AI features, good cameras, and solid battery life.
Best waterproof phone of its class
If you need the best waterproofing in a $300 phone, look no further than the Moto G Power 2025. It also delivers good battery life and build quality, making it a great value pick.