A new leak is giving us a glimpse of what the new button on the upcoming Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro may do. And some of you may not like this.
Nothing has been gearing up for the launch of the Nothing Phone (3a) series on March 4, and we’ve seen plenty of exciting teasers about the new mid-rangers.
But have you noticed something missing from the hype train about the upcoming Nothing Phones? Something that’s been all over new phone releases, including the newest Galaxy S25 and iPhone 16? Drum-roll please… Yep, you guessed it – AI.
Today’s leak brings some info about Nothing’s approach to the latest industry fad. For some of you, this may be disappointing (I mean, we’re getting sick of talks about AI tricks now, aren’t we?) but still maybe some of you may like it.
Not too long ago, Nothing revealed a new button for the Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro – an iPhone 16-like button on the right side. However, it’s not going to be like the action button or the camera control button on the iPhone, but more like the Galaxy S25’s ex-Bixby button. Yep, it will be a button to bring up AI, if this new leak is to be believed.
SmartPrix tipster Shivam Kumar has now detailed what this new button on the (3a) may be used for: accessing the company’s custom AI, housed within an app called “Essential Space”. And with this info, the earlier teaser starts making more sense, as Nothing said “Your second memory. One click away”.
The Essential Space is reportedly designed to capture, process, and remember moments of inspiration, reminders, to-dos and what have you. Examples may include screenshots, voice notes, social media saves, and photos – these things usually get scattered throughout the day. Apparently, they may be housed within the Essential Space.
The button may hence be called the Essential Key. Reportedly, it may allow you to do the following:
- Press: for capturing and sending directly to Essential Space
- Long-Press: for recording a voice note
- Double-tap: to access all saved content in Essential Space.
Some features of Essential Space may include:
- Camera Capture, which would allow you to send the photo to Essential Space to be analyzed and stored by pressing the Essential Key.
- Smart Collections: sorts images, audio, text, using AI.
- Focused Search
- Flip to Record
Focused Search and Flip to Record’s functionalities are not exactly clear from the leak. Focused Search is said to help you find what you are looking for, while Flip to Record may offer you a new way of recording notes.
Curiously enough, Nothing may pull an Apple move here and it seems not all the features of Essential Space may be available with the Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro (it’s not clear if they will be added later, or never, but it seems Essential Space is still in development). It may be that the company releases all of the new AI experience with its first flagship, the Nothing Phone (3).
At first, my reaction to the leak was, ‘Oh no, not more AI!’ But actually, I can see how this might be useful. I just wish the button were customizable – so if you’re not a fan of AI being front and center, you could assign it to something else. Unfortunately, based on this leak, the button seems to be locked into AI functions, unlike the iPhone 16’s Action Button, which lets you choose its purpose. Or the iPhone 16’s camera control button, which serves as a shutter.
Nothing’s new mid-rangers will be unveiled on March 4. Recently, Nothing took a deep dive into the Phone (3a) design, fully revealing it ahead of the launch. We’ve also recently seen the (3a) Pro show up on Geekbench with some underwhelming results. The phone is set to face the upcoming Pixel 9a and Samsung Galaxy A56for the title of the best budget phone.
