Carl Pei and his technology brand Nothing are both known for creating hype, followed by some controversy. More recently, all the hype around Nothing’s latest mid-range smartphones, the Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro, was followed by many fans and users complaining about the brand’s use of a slower UFS 2.2 storage. CEO of Nothing, Pei, was quick to respond that users should “stop complaining” however, that did not seem enough to silence online critics. Nothing has now, finally, given out a detailed explanation about why it chose to do so.
In a post on Nothing’s community forums, an executive has given out a rather detailed explanation along with comparison testing in an attempt to prove that the difference between UFS 2.2 and UFS 3.1 storage is not much, provided the software is optimised well to suit the user’s requirements.
The post clearly stated that “No device can have the absolute best of everything without increasing costs significantly.” However, the brand was quick to point out that its choice of UFS 2.2 storage was not “about cutting costs but about putting resources where they matter most.”
Nothing explained that storage speed is one of the many factors involved with overall performance. However, the overall feeling of performance when using a phone’s software is a combination of storage, RAM, CPU, and software optimisation.
The tech brand went on to claim that for most tasks like messaging, web browsing, and social media, users will not be able to tell the difference between a phone with UFS 2.2 storage and UFS 3.1 storage. The only area where it matters is file transfers (like when installing a large game), which is where UFS 3.1 is noticeably faster. Nothing also added that file transfers are not considered as everyday tasks for “most people”.
Nothing then went on to show details of read/write speeds of two devices, proving a point that the differences between UFS 2.2 and 3.1 aren’t a big deal. It also explained that its Phone 3a uses (adaptive) NTFS optimisation to process files more efficiently. It also touches upon app loading speeds, claiming that with its Smart Clean technology, unnecessary files are always removed or organised, and so this results in quick app load times as well.
And then it finally addresses the big question about futureproofing. The brand claims that the device’s longevity mainly relies on updates and optimisations. It even went on to promise that the Phone 3a series will “continue to perform reliably for years”. It added that modern software (or apps) were built to scale across different hardware configurations.
In our review of the Nothing Phone 3a, we noticed no real-world issues in terms of software performance or when running apps. The only proper hiccup we noticed was with its camera app’s image processing speeds which is something we also noticed on the Realme P3 Pro, which also packs a slow eMMC 5.1 storage paired with the same processor.
