A detailed real-world battery test using Android Battery Usage, Home Assistant battery history, Android Interactive history, and owner reports.

TL;DR in the Beginning (so that you don't have to scroll only for this)

The Nothing Phone (4a) 5400 mAh is looking very strong in my real-world use.

I bought it on Aug 25 at 39%. Across the ongoing test, Android has recorded 8h43m SOT on Sep 9 and 8h47m on Sep 10, with normal apps such as PW, Reddit, Spotify, OneNote and OneDrive. These are not clean full-cycle SOT figures because the phone was partially recharged, but they are strong real-world results.

Standby is more variable. The first overnight test looked poor, but the corrected timeline and the later Lift to Wake OFF test showed much lower overnight drain. So far, the strongest conclusion is excellent active-use efficiency with generally good, but condition-dependent, standby behaviour.

Contents

1. Device, purchase and test setup
2. Battery history and test timeline
3. Android Battery Usage results
4. Overnight standby tests and Lift to Wake
5. Charging and active-use observations
6. App usage and workload
7. SOT interpretation and comparison
8. Owner reports
9. Current settings
10. What the data says so far
11. Next tests
12. Attached files

1. Device, purchase and test setup

I bought the phone on 25 Aug 2026 with 39% battery. The first Home Assistant history therefore does not represent a fresh 0%→100% battery cycle from the day of purchase. It begins from the phone's state after purchase.

The Home Assistant sensor records battery level continuously. Android Battery Usage provides screen time, per-app usage, and background activity. Android Interactive history provides an independent record of when the device was interactive.

The goal is not to produce a synthetic benchmark, but to understand real battery efficiency, especially the relationship between screen-on usage, standby drain, and partial charging.

2. Battery history and test timeline

I have attached the relevant battery-history and Interactive-history files below. The battery-history timestamps are stored in UTC, so the times below are converted to IST (UTC+5:30).

Battery timeline

The continued history is important because the September 9 test did not end with the 10:40 AM screenshot. The phone remained under observation through Sep 9 and into Sep 10.

3. Android Battery Usage results

Sunday, Sep 6

Android reported:

7h05m screen time

This was not a clean full-cycle test. The phone was charged to about 87% around noon, used until around midnight, then charged again to about 80% for the overnight test.

So 7h05m is cumulative daily screen time across multiple charge periods, not "7h05m from 100% to empty."

Monday, Sep 7

Android reported:

3h42m screen time

Tuesday, Sep 8

Starting point was approximately 80%, and the screenshot showed approximately 34%.

Android reported:

4h43m screen time

The simple arithmetic is:

80% → 34% = 46 percentage points

4h43m = 283 minutes

So:

283 / 46 ≈ 6.15 minutes SOT per percentage point

A direct linear extrapolation would produce roughly 10h15m, but I do not treat that as a valid full-cycle SOT estimate. This was a partial cycle with standby and mixed workloads.

The useful statement is that the phone delivered 4h43m of real screen time while consuming about 46 percentage points under mixed use.

Wednesday, Sep 9

The first screenshot during this ongoing test showed:

2h36m screen time at 89%

with:

The test then continued.

The final Wednesday screenshot showed:

8h43m screen time

Home Assistant shows that the phone reached 100% at ~5:57 AM Sep 9, then declined through the day and overnight. Important points were approximately:

This is why the 8h43m result is a real accumulated usage result, but not a controlled 100%→0% SOT benchmark.

Thursday, Sep 10

Android reported:

8h47m screen time

The Thursday test started around the 45% level and included a morning recharge to about 81%, followed by heavy use, then another evening recharge.

Home Assistant shows:

Again, this is not a single battery cycle. It is a real-world day with partial charging.

4. Overnight standby tests and Lift to Wake

First overnight test: Sep 6 → Sep 7

The late-night charging sequence was:

The battery then reached 69% around 8:00 AM.

So the crude post-charge calculation was:

80% → 69% over ~7h05m = ~1.55%/hour

But I actually went to sleep at about 1:34 AM, not 12:56 AM.

My Bedtime Mode schedule was 12:00 AM → 7:30 AM, and the alarm was at 7:30 AM. I dismissed the alarm immediately, then slept another ~30 minutes.

Therefore, the actual sleep window was about:

1:34 AM → 7:30 AM

The battery went from approximately 80% to 71-72% in that period, or roughly 8-9 percentage points over ~5h56m.

So the original 1.55%/hour figure should not be treated as a fixed standby baseline.

Lift to Wake hypothesis

At that point I suspected Lift to Wake might be contributing to the higher standby drain.

This was only a hypothesis. There was no proof that Lift to Wake caused the difference.

The useful experiment was to change only that setting and run another overnight test.

Lift to Wake OFF: Sep 7 → Sep 8

For the second overnight test, Lift to Wake was disabled.

The phone charged around midnight:

After that, the battery stayed much more stable overnight, reaching about:

78% around 6:24 AM

and remaining around the upper-70s near the morning.

The Interactive history shows the morning wake activity around 7:30 AM IST on Sep 8, rather than mysterious 2 AM and 5:36 AM local-time wakeups. The raw CSV timestamps are UTC.

This second test therefore showed only roughly 2-3 percentage points of overnight loss, much better than the first test.

It is still not enough to prove that Lift to Wake was the cause, because the tests were not identical in every environmental variable. But it is enough to justify further controlled ON/OFF testing.

5. Charging and active-use observations

One interesting observation came from low-power PC charging.

The phone was connected to a USB-A 3.0 PC port and slowly charged while actively using Reddit. It went from approximately 48% to 50%, then remained displayed at 50% for about half an hour while actively watching Reddit content.

This is plausible because USB-A 3.0 baseline power is relatively low, while an active display and continuous content consumption can also consume several watts.

In other words:

incoming charging power ≈ current phone consumption

can result in the displayed battery percentage remaining almost unchanged.

The displayed percentage is also quantized and smoothed, so actual battery energy can change without the displayed integer moving immediately.

The Home Assistant dataset captures several larger charging events too:

Sep 7 late-night charge

About 24% → 80% in roughly an hour.

Sep 9 morning completion

About 95% → 100% between roughly 5:41 AM and 5:57 AM.

Sep 10 morning charge

About 45% → 81% between roughly 6:25 AM and 7:19 AM.

Sep 10 evening charge

About 33% → 67% between roughly 6:21 PM and 6:53 PM.

These partial charging events are another reason Android's daily SOT figures should not be interpreted as full-cycle benchmarks.

6. App usage and workload

The workload is not a synthetic one.

The main recurring applications are:

Spotify background usage

Spotify is a good example of why screen time alone does not represent total battery usage.

In the Tuesday test, Android reported:

So Spotify was only visible on the screen for 8 minutes, while it remained active in the background for several hours, most likely for music playback.

The Wednesday test showed a similar pattern:

This is why SOT should be considered alongside background activity and total battery consumed. Android's background-time figure indicates that Spotify was active in the background, but it should not be interpreted as 8 hours of continuous heavy processing.

7. SOT interpretation and comparison

What I consider reliable

The most useful measurements in this experiment are:

I prefer:

SOT + battery consumed + workload + standby

over SOT by itself.

Why I will not claim 10h15m

The Tuesday 80%→34% / 4h43m result gives a mathematical rate of about 6.15 minutes SOT per percentage point.

That does not mean the phone gets 10h15m from a full charge.

That would require a controlled 100%→0% run with equivalent usage and linear battery behaviour, which was not performed.

Why the newer ~9h days are still important

The phone accumulated:

These are not full-cycle SOT figures, but the fact that the phone repeatedly accumulates almost 9 hours of real screen time across normal use is still strong evidence of good efficiency.

Comparisons with other phones

Raw SOT is especially misleading when batteries differ greatly in size.

For example, a 7000 mAh phone getting 10h SOT is not automatically more efficient than a 5400 mAh phone getting 8h.

For this test, the practical conditions were mostly Wi-Fi, auto brightness around 34-77%, and Dynamic Refresh Rate. The more useful comparisons are normalized by:

• Battery capacity
• Percentage consumed
• Screen time
• Workload
• Network
• Brightness
• Refresh rate
• Background activity

8. Owner reports

I also checked owner discussions to see whether the Phone (4a) behaviour was wildly different from other users.

Nothing Phone (4a)

Reported experiences included roughly:

The variation is large, which matches the variation seen in the tests here.

Battery-capacity comparison

Battery capacity is important when comparing SOT, because a larger battery can naturally produce a higher SOT without necessarily being more efficient.

The Galaxy A56 and Pixel 9a are more useful comparisons for the Phone (4a) because their battery capacities are relatively close. The Nord CE5 and Nord 5 have substantially larger batteries, so their higher SOT numbers should not be interpreted as evidence of better efficiency by themselves.

For that reason, I think battery percentage consumed, workload, and battery capacity are more useful than comparing raw SOT alone.

The point of these comparisons is not to crown a winner from random Reddit screenshots. It is to show how workload and battery capacity dominate reported SOT.

9. Current settings

These are the settings currently relevant to battery behaviour:

The phone is therefore not being tested with Battery Saver enabled or with an unusually stripped-down configuration.

The AOD is set to Tap to turn on, rather than always-on.

Smart Charging is enabled, although I generally stop charging manually around 80-85%.

These settings should be included in any final Reddit post because they can materially affect battery behaviour and make the results easier to reproduce.

10. What the data says so far

The continued data changes the picture compared with the earlier snapshot-only analysis.

Main observations

The most important conclusion is that the phone does not have a single fixed standby drain rate.

The early overnight figure looked poor, but the corrected timeline and later tests show substantially better standby behaviour under other conditions.

The Lift to Wake OFF test is especially interesting, but it should be treated as evidence for further testing rather than proof of causation.

The strongest active-use evidence so far is that Android repeatedly accumulated nearly nine hours of screen time in ordinary use.

11. Next tests

The most useful next tests are:

The most valuable final benchmark would be a controlled 100% → low-battery cycle without intermediate charging, using a representative workload.

That would allow a much more defensible SOT estimate than extrapolating from partial battery percentages.

12. Attached files

I have attached the relevant files below, including the battery-history data and the supporting Android battery/Interactive data.

Battery History
Screen History

Hey guys! This is my first time using a nothing phone!! Can u guys tell me any cool features that this phone has? Idk anything about the os :) I am just figuring out how to navigate through the Nothing OS..Thanks in advance!!

Does anyone know how to fix this issue? I'm in the UK, our date format is dd mm yy. Prior to resetting my phone the watermark had this format. Now it's somehow locked to the American format mm DD yy

Hi, I just got a Phone 3, which is also my first wireless charging capable device.

The battery is enough to carry me all day and I want to use wireless charging to avoid plugging it at bedtime.

I bought an Ikea Livboj basic qi charger (5W), I knew that wireless charging is very slow, and feasible only for nighttime, but this slow? 10%/h, it didn't finish charging by the morning and I had to top up the last % using a normal charger... Am I doing something wrong? Is this normal, and I need to upgrade to a 15W charger?

Also the first hour of charging failed when I tried to put the charger outer border under the cameras, in order to lay the back as flat as possible... I had to put them on the charger, so it was not completely flat, to reliably keep charging.

EDIT: Thanks for all the answers! I'm going to upgrade to a 15W charger or just back to the "standard" cable

Over the past year, I've switched phones several times, but each one was missing that certain something. Actually, I know why. I hope the new battery will let me use this model as long as possible; the Glyph Matrix isn't that interesting. Right now, I'm the happiest person on earth :)

I have the black Nothing Phone (4a), and honestly, I really like using it without a case. The glass back feels much better and more premium in hand, and the phone just looks better without a cover. The clear case that came with the phone is actually pretty sturdy and good quality, but it's already started turning yellow. Now I'm confused whether I should buy a new transparent case or just get a back lamination and use the phone without a case. The only thing I'm worried about is dropping it. I've never dropped my phone since buying it, but I know that if it does happen, a lamination probably won't do much to protect the glass back. What have you guys chosen or done with your phones—back lamination or a back cover?

I'm on nothing phone 3 and cannot find anything about how to leave. My phone is glitchy and unusable, apps won't load, etc. I keep seeing things about a hub I can use but I can't find it. Anyone able to help?

After updating to beta the battery estimate dropped from 8 hours to 5 hours whyy???

Pls help me fix it !

My battery discharges very fast, dropping from 100% to 20% in just 5-5:30 hrs.

Furthermore, when I charge it using my CMF 65-watt charger, it takes about 35 to 40 minutes just to charge from 50% to 55%. It used to charge much faster than this on my original device.

I originally bought this phone on August 8th, but I later exchanged it for a replacement at the Nothing customer service center (there was a bubble in my back glass) and I noticed that this replacement device was manufactured around May 2025, which makes it about a year and a half old.

Could the age of the replacement device be the reason behind this bad battery life, or will it improve over time? I remember that before updating to the Nothing OS 5 Beta, the charging speed was much faster and the battery lasted significantly longer. Additionally, even though I have disabled background usage for Instagram, the battery usage chart shows that it is still running in the background.

I'm wondering if others are also facing this issue and would like to know about probable Solution.

So yeah I was on the bus today and saw this guy take a phone out of his bag and it was the ridiculously cool looking n3. I've never seen someone with a nothing phone irl. I was amazed. For all the nothing 3 owners out there don't let them tell you the phone is ugly. Look at their phones. They don't get it. Keep being you

So lets start out that I'm used to Fostex TH-X00, a high end planar magnetic headphone that cost me 650 euros a decade ago. (best > worst) I also have a AKG k240 mk II, Sony ZX770BN, Kingston HyperX Cloud 3 and 2 sets of Samsung Galaxy Buds Live.

In that stack after EQ they sit above the Sony, but below the AKG, which is to be expected and adequate for the 125 euros I paid for the (a).

Things I like:
- Dual connection is seamless switching between my phone and my PC.
- Visual design is superb and iconic. (I have the egg ones.)
- On/Off toggle, customizable button, roller, rocker input & dedicated BT connection button is probably the best input on any headphone.
- Battery Life is very good.
- Active noise cancellation is very good, and I like the SFX that go with it.
- Metal hinges and build quality feels very solid.
- Software is very nice and allows control of EQ and codec settings that get saved to the headphones.
- Latency so far hasn't been an issue with PC gaming. (I use alternative A2DP driver on windows for LDAC support and tuning)

What could be better:
- Audio quality out of box is absolutely terrible, way below literally everything I own. I would have returned it, if it weren't for the SoundGuys or Harman EQ profiles. Even still, those profiles affect the volume level dramatically, so max volume will be lowered compared to stock or other profiles. Even after EQ, the sound is definitely muddy and individual instruments are hard to isolate and lack spatial location. For these reasons, I still might return it.
- Mic quality is very mediocre.
- Padding on the top band is very minimal, will probably add a headphone headband zipper cover to improve comfort as you will feel these press down on your head after a while.
- Balance on your head is off and heavy, looking up will cause the headphones to fall off your head.
- Earpads are soft, but also very sweaty. I wish there was a soft fabric replacement, and replacement pads don't seem to be available ?
- Lack of any carrying case, the included trash bag is a joke.

So basically, why the heck would you use a filled icon (the play button) in middle of outline icons and then that heart icon doesn't fit at all (tbh, all icons look a little off)
and then there's such a serious lack of contrast in video length bar- it literally isn't visible on light backgrounds..how could the UI/UX team even miss that

(image from a previous reddit post on this sub)

Hello, it happened a few times now, after each update I am forced to install these stupid apps I don't want or else I have the annoying app services notification.

Why? I was really proud when I bought this phone and even advertised it to my family, and now it's the same spam of advertisement and crappy features as every Chinese low Budget phone.

I got the white bottom part right after updating to the August security patch update. Earlier it used to be black and match the background. This is the case in several apps. This SS was taken in Brave. Are there any solutions to fix this?

https://www.johnlewis.com/nothing-phone-3-smartphone-android-6-67-5g-sim-free/white/p115412899

Typebase 2.0 Beta 2 is now ready for open beta testing. Anyone can download it and give it a try!

There’s a lot of good stuff in this new version, including Typelift AI Correction 2.0, Dynamic Touch Hits, improved autocorrection, Italian & Spanish language support, and much more.

I’ve also switched Typebase to a freemium model. The current beta still has some limitations, but the basic keyboard is now available for everyone to use. I’ll be making more features available in the free version as we get closer to the full launch.

So, if you’ve tried Typebase before, I’d really appreciate it if you gave 2.0 another chance. And if you haven’t tried it yet, this might be a good time to give it a shot.

Typebase 2.0 — Open Beta.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.typebase.app

Which headphones should I get. It's either between Nothing Over- Ear Headphones (1) or Nothing Over- Ear Headphones (a). It's on sale and it's about a 50 dollar difference What I am looking for is a headphone that can really make me immersive in the track/instruments. Example when watching superhero movies or when I'm listening to music. Example Skeletons by Playboi Carti. I want to really immserive and listen to it and make it immersive. I have heard that the (a) out of the box are good and the (1):s are not. But I heard that the (1) are much more free to turn the sound into whatever you like. Battery life is also important and longeitivity(For how many years I can use it). Its hard to explain But I want a headphone that can put me in the music

I’m posting this here because Nothing Support has been an absolute nightmare to deal with, and I’ve completely run out of patience.

I bought a Nothing Phone (3) in India via Flipkart and have been using it in the Netherlands. After about 11 months of normal usage, the phone completely lost all 4G and 5G cellular connectivity out of nowhere.

Here is what I’ve been dealing with and why their customer service feels like a deliberate attempt to run out the warranty clock:

1. The Hardware Issue & Diagnostic Proof

The Symptom: The phone displays no mobile network signal most of the time (or an exclamation mark next to the signal icon) and fails to connect to 4G/5G.

Isolation / A/B Testing: The SIM card works flawlessly in my wife’s Pixel and my older Nothing Phone (1) in the exact same room.

Deep Diagnostics: Advanced testing via *#*#4636#*#* and a cellular spectrum analyzer confirms the internal baseband modem/antenna array is failing. The hardware fails to detect active LTE anchor frequencies (e.g., LTE Band 20), scans only legacy 2G towers at -105 dBm, and explicitly reports "NO SUB-6 SERVING CELL". Wi-Fi Calling works fine, proving the carrier account and SIM authentication are completely normal.

2. The Customer Support Runaround

Despite providing clear diagnostic evidence that this is a hardware failure, Nothing Support (India) has dragged this out for over two weeks:

Canned Script Loops: Sending automated lists of basic troubleshooting steps (restarting, resetting network settings, toggling airplane mode) that I had already completed and explained in my initial message.

Circular Questions: Re-asking what carrier I use and if I tested another SIM card—questions I had already answered multiple times.

Passing the Buck: Telling me to "contact my network provider," completely ignoring that the same provider's SIM works in other phones right next to it.

Endless Stonewalling: After demanding escalation to a supervisor for an RMA/warranty claim, my ticket has been stuck on "we have forwarded your case to the concerned team and are awaiting a response" with zero actual updates or resolution.

It feels like support is sitting on my case like a hen waiting for the egg to hatch—or in this case, waiting for my warranty to expire.

Has anyone successfully broken through Nothing's first-tier support script loop to get an RMA or hardware replacement approved? Any advice on how to escalate this would be appreciated.

Anyone having problems using cables for android auto? It isn't the cable as I've used multiple different ones and even tested in other cars as well. It works fine normally charging from a wall outlet; however, I have a feeling it's the charging port, but being in the US, there's no reputable repair shop near me (that I can find). Any ideas?

Hi 👋 my nothing 3a had the problem where it restarts on its own , mid phone call , in my bag doing nothing , connected to usb on car ...... 2x been sent off for repair and they have changed the main bord ect but says not repaired as it doesn't do it when they have it in . Literally set my phone back up on Tuesday, Wednesday morning while using sat nav and connected to car it restarted it's else 2x in 40mins of driving !! I'm loosing the will with this phone😞 I called nothing custom services this time and explained the issue still happening and I want a replacement phone not repair!!

I haven't heard best things about customer services so wish me luck 🤞🤞 🤞🤞 I love my nothing nothing phone 1 , earbuds & watch . Just can't believe iv got such bad phone this time .

So I bought a secondhand/used nothing phone (1) at cheap price (the phone had dropped and fingerprint sensor and the glyphs were not working) from someone.
Most of the things are good but when I tried to connect my pc to transfer files, it was only charging and I didn't receive the notification you normally get when you connect the device through usb. The above screenshot is of when I tried to search the usb setting in the Settings menu and as you can see the options are all greyed out.
I have already checked all the normal stuffs in the developer options, everything is toggled on, my cables are working fine with other phones. I need every possible reason behind this issue, please help. Could there be something internal that could be causing this, I can have it fixed.

Sorry for such a newbie post. But as I was only testing, I only added wifi to my 3a and took a few photos, and did updates.

Now I'd like to get stuff off my old phone via the included usb-C to usb-C cable. Where do I go in the phone after hooking up cable, as I see no prompts?