Hey Guys,
I’m back with the another post of Nothing Phone (3a) review. Today I’m sharing the detailed charging test & battery optimisation review after using it whole day as primary device.
Charging Test:
I put the Nothing Phone (3a) through a dedicated charging test to understand how fast and efficient it really is when juicing up its 5000mAh battery. Here’s a deep dive into the results and what they mean for everyday use.
Highlights —
- Battery capacity - 5000mAh
- Charging Support - 50W PD+PPS
- Charger used - CMF 65W GaN Charger
- Charging - 1% to 100%
Let’s take a closer look at the data collected during the charging test:
- 0% to 49% in 30 min
- 0% to 96% in 1 hour
- 0% to 100% in 1 hour & 8 min
During the test, I noticed that 96% to 100% in 8 minutes. The last 4% takes around 8 minutes, which is typical for most modern smartphones. This slower pace is a deliberate choice, designed to protect battery health by minimizing heat and voltage stress during the final top-off.
Balanced Efficiency —
Charging the full 5000mAh battery in just 1 hour and 8 minutes is a respectable figure, especially considering the size of the battery and the Nothing seems to be striking a good balance between speed and sustainability here to preserve longevity.
Battery Review:
I put the Nothing Phone (3a) through a comprehensive battery test, featuring a balanced & heavy media consumption, gaming, calls, and daily social media use all with real-life settings turned on.
Let’s break down how the battery was consumed over specific tasks:
Watching Movie —
- Dune: Part Two (2hrs 30min)
- Battery Drop: 100% to 85% (15%)
A heavy, high-res movie like Dune 2 for over 2.5 hours consuming only 15% is impressive and shows good video optimization.
Gaming —
- Played BGMI (2hrs 5min)
- Battery Drop: 85% to 48% (37%)
- Temperature: 41°C to 43°C
As expected, gaming is the biggest battery drainer here. But this also reflects realistic use running a demanding game like BGMI for over 2 hours with such a percentage drop is typical. Heat was under control for a mid-range chip.
Good thing is - the device didn’t exceeds 43°C temperature while giving consistent 84-90 FPS gaming with Extreme+ settings for 2 hours. Heat was under control for a mid-range chip & Nothing Phone 3a has a 4,500 mm² steel VC, reducing overall phone temperature by up to 25%.
Instagram —
- Scrolling, stories & reels (45mins)
- Battery Drop: 48% to 35% (13%)
Scrolling on Instagram is heavier than it seem. This result is consistent with modern social app behavior constant refreshes and media loading.
Calling 📞 —
- Phone Calls (30mins)
- Battery Drop: 35% to 31% (4%)
Pretty efficient. As expected, calling isn’t too demanding though the screen being off during the call helps to less battery consumption.
YouTube —
- Streaming (1hr)
- Battery Drop: 31% to 24% (7%)
This also suggests YouTube is better optimized or ran at a 1080p resolution during the test.
Spotify —
- Playback (1hr)
- Battery Drop: 23% to 17% (6%)
With wired earphones and screen off, Spotify was a minor drain. Great for those who stream music all day.
Apps with short usage & background usage —
- Telegram, X, Camera, Gallery – 55mins
- Battery Drop: 17% to 9% (8%)
Note: This segment reflects casual interaction and background activity. Pretty power efficient Nothing OS seems to be handling background processes well.
End Result:
- Total Screen on Time (SOT): 8 Hours
- Battery Remaining: 9%
Total Usage Time (Including Standby): Likely 10–11 hours total depending on breaks.
During this test - AOD, WiFi, Bluetooth & Location were continuously ‘On’. That’s a strong point here.
After full day usage, I observed the 4% battery drop (9% - 5%) during my sleep time.
📌 Nothing Phone 3a delivers where it matters most reliability, 5000mAh battery is well managed & phone don’t get heat.
📌 SOT may be different according to everyone’s usage.
I hope you all like this review, I’ll be back with another post very soon… Stay tuned.
Thank you,
Ishan Wankhade 🙂
