Review of Nothing Ear (1)
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Likes & Dislikes most:
Appearance: The new “Nothing” brand is all about design and giving electronics a new look. One example of this innovation is packaging. As you can see in the photos, when you open the package you are dealing with a very pleasing package with a silkscreen of the headphones. However, the problem is that in order to get your brand new headphones you have to tear off the top of the package but some people (like me) like keeping boxes and in this case it is not possible. After opening the outer box we are dealing with a very anonymous metallic silver box, like a matryoshka doll. In this silver box, we can find the headphones, a Type-C -> USB cable and various-sized ear grommets. I would say that they have fully succeeded in making the design of these headphones distinctive. Everything is made in an innovative way that is never seen before, the charging case is transparent to allow us to see the beauty of our new headphones, which are available in white or black. As visible in the photos, I received the white one, but my favourites are the black one. The headphones also have a particular design, we can see the matte black circuits thanks to the fact that the external body is transparent. A very unique characteristic is the absence of the letters L and R on the headphones and on the case, which are replaced by two circles, one white and one red. I like that choice very much but maybe this is not user-friendly for everyone. One disadvantage of this case is that it scratches very easily indeed my Nothing ear (1)'s case is already scratched.
Setup and connection: The Setup is very simple, even without a Nothing Phone. As soon as we open the box, we find a QR code that redirects us to the “ear (1)” app on the App Store or Play Store. Once the application is open, we are guided through the setup until the end of the process. The app reflects perfectly the style of the company: very well designed, with few functions but well integrated.
Display Performance: The audio driver quality of these headphones is very high. Headphones are very comfortable to hold in the ears even for a long time because of their lightness, only 4.7 g. The microphone is not that great, but it’s compensated by the excellent EQ and the battery.
Functionality: I do not love the ANC and the transparency mode, as there was a constant buzzing sound, which I think is normal to expect for a $99 pair of headphones. I do not appreciate the limitation of the gestures, because to resume a song I am forced to click twice the earphone. Instead, I appreciated the volume slider along the body of the headphones. And finally, the software does not immediately recognize when I take them off my ears, continuing to let the music go for a few seconds outside my ears.
Performance in different scenarios: I have used them to run and discovered that I prefer them to my AirPods Pro because of the light weight. In addition, while moving my head with Nothing ear (1) on, there is no way of that falling to the ground, they are very firm to my ear in comparison with AirPods and AirPods Pro.
Comparison with Airpods Pro: These Nothing Ears (1) are 0.7 grams lighter than the AirPods Pro. I like the fact that they are available in two colours instead of only 1 of the AirPods Pro. The “ear tip fit test” feature of the AirPods is missing. Furthermore, with these Nothing Ear (1) it is possible to misclick the touch sensor on the body of the Ear (1). Another important fact is that to get the most from the AirPods Pro you need an iPhone, while this is not necessary with the Nothing Ear. The duration of the battery is way similar, but the charging phase is different, in fact charging for 10 minutes the Nothing Ear 1 provides 8 hours of listening instead of the 1 hour of the Airpods Pro. They both have a Qi Module. The ANC is way better on Airpods Pro. For a non-expert ear, they sound the same but the microphone is a bit better on the Airpods Pro. Last but not least, the Nothing Ear (1) costs $99 against the $249 of the Airpods Pro. So yes, I would change my Airpods Pro with these new Nothing Ear (1).
Suggestion for the product: As I said I would like to choose the gestures I want and have a better ANC and Transparency mode.
Price Range: These $99 earphones are very impressive, I would pay up to $150 for this excellent product, especially if I would have been the owner of Nothing Phone.
Here are some photos.
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