Perhaps the most notable feature of Nothing’s latest phone is its unique combination of hardware design and Android software. However, after a few weeks using the Nothing Phone 3A, the Essential Space app has me hooked on the surface-lower smartphone.
This is also an application that is difficult to explain in one sentence. It’s kind of like a screenshot gallery, some notes apps, a little to-do list apps, a little bit country, a little bit rock. All of this is sewn with similar AI features that we see on most new smartphones.
But the necessary space puts everything in one place compared to the disconnected apps and features of Google AI, Galaxy AI, or Apple Intelligence. Help the utility by having a dedicated launcher button (required keys): a single press will take a screenshot of the phone (and archive it in space), while a long press will start recording your voice – and also archive it in space, which can also initiate AI-powered transcription. The double press of Essential Key launched the app, which seemed odd. The screenshot should also be a double press, but maybe it’s just me.
This is not a completely new premise. We appreciate Google’s Pixel Screenshot app, which also organizes your screenshots well to make things easier to find. However, Google’s Screenshot app is limited to this – Screenshot. On the other hand, nothing has been announced that similar smart collection features will be brought in in the future.
In the Nothing’s Space app, the phone extracts dates, tries to create a to-do list, analyzes screenshots and associates them with time, date, and location data. In short, this makes it easier to remember why I do screenshots while I do this, and even try to create viable projects and reminders. I’ve started taking voice notes and thought carefully about everything I had to do on weekday mornings. It will aggregate it into a to-do list and complete the goals I can check after it is done.
With the necessary space, nothing seems to interfere with AI. While image generation, rewriting emails and writing guides for my smartphone were fun, the necessary space eliminated many obstacles to using these features. I don’t have to ask the phone 3A to transcribe your voice recording; it just starts working. Considering the mid-range processors of mid-range phones, it is foreseeable that AI processing takes place on the cloud. There is nothing to say that after it finishes processing the request from its server. But for what most basic spaces can do, phones with more than twice the price of a phone 3A can handle AI processing.
Unless you initiate recording with that nasty basic key, you can’t share something with the space, whether it’s a photo or a recording. Of course, you can do old screenshots, photos, and websites, but then you’re back to the same disconnect process as other Android devices and iPhones.
There is no necessary space to simplify AI, such as many features I use, such as transcription and reminders. The company scoffed at further features such as focus searches for use within the Space app and provided cute heads for your voice notes like Flip-to record, which only reinforces what I think is weird software Curio. It’s not about going big, but putting everything together, it’s one of the best integrations of AI designed to make your life easier.
