Technology is always at our side throughout the day: now
each of us has a smartphone in his pocket. In this context, devices can become
a burden: constant availability has turned into stress for many people. Carl
Pei, a former prominent figure of OnePlus , realized it on his skin: when he
left the company that gave him the popularity he deserves, he did it to be more
with family and friends and to focus about what's really important .
Carl Pei is now 31 years old. He was 24 when OnePlus was
born and he knows how the technological world moves at particularly high rates.
Let me be clear, he himself admits that he is one of those people who want to
know all the news of the market, but after the age of 30 he felt the need to
point in another direction.
Change course
From this premise his new adventure is born: Nothing,
literally "nothing" , just as null should be the negative impact that
technologys has on our lives. Pei says that in his view the market is going
wrong and technology in some ways is entering too much into people's everyday
life, becoming almost stressful in some respects.
Furthermore, innovation in some fields seems to have almost
stopped, at least in the common imagination: looking at some products on the
market, at first sight many seem the same. Of course, the tech market hasn't
stopped being interesting , but maybe it would be good to start thinking about
what kind of use we want to make of technology.
Nothing is a young company in all respects, not only for the
age of its founder but also for the vision of the world it wants to represent.
Among the investors we find Casey Neistat, a well-known American YouTuber, but
also GV (formerly Google Ventures). Novelty combined with financial strength,
this is what the company represents on paper.
But from which market to start to aim for this change ? The
most "stale" of all at the moment, according to many, is precisely
that of the earphones: it is useless to go around them too much, Apple's
AirPods have made school and several manufacturers have tried to follow the
trail . Out there, the products freely inspired by the solutions of the
Cupertino company are wasted.
Think about it: do you remember any product released in
recent years that really represented something different, while getting some
attention from the public, compared to Apple's AirPods ? Probably not and this
is precisely the reason why Carl Pei and associates wanted to start with the
earphones, even if the goal for the future is to bring this approach, which we
can in some ways define young, also in other types of products.
The first step: Nothing ear (1) and thoughtful design
You will forgive us for the decidedly atypical introduction,
but for the first time in a long time the feeling is that of finding yourself
in front of something that can really make a difference , at least in term of
concept. Of course, we are just at the beginning and the long-term success of
Nothing is far from obvious, but there is a reason why so many big names have
chosen to bet decisively on the new reality of Carl Pei.
The arrival of the first information had left us a bit
perplexed: how can we innovate the world of earphones , in which everything
seems to have already been invented? Why are they presenting this type of
product as an absolute novelty? We understood this during our test of Nothing
ear (1), product sold to99 euros on the official portal , which is only the
first step for the company.
The earphones are presented differently from the first
contact: to open the sales package, it must in fact be broken through a special
strip. A clear and strong signal: a break with the past . It focuses on a
technology that does not bother in everyday life.
Once you have extracted the USB Type-C / USB Type-A cable
for charging, strictly transparent, the spare rubber pads in Small and Large
size, with the Medium already mounted, and the manuals, it is time for the
earphones. The design is transparent: the internal components are visible and
this guarantees a feeling of purity, in line with the philosophy of the
company. It is not easy to make a product of this type: you have to work with
the right materials, combining them with a not insignificant design.
Behind the look of the product is teenage engineering, a
Swedish hardware company. In short, Carl Pei and associates went fishing for
professionals and this stands out positively.
The attention to detail in the look of the earphones is
manic: there is the red color which, in the color coding of the RCA connectors,
means right (and guess which earphone is placed on?). The icing on the cakes
are the futuristic writings present almost everywhere , from the earphones to
the case, which seem almost positioned on a screen. Although, of course, there
is no display.
The clever positioning of the components and the ability to
see them complete the circle. Also think that the case, which also focuses on
transparency, has a recess in the middle between the two earphones, which
improves the grip and potentially allows you to use this small box as a sort of
fidget spinner .opening and closing are convenient and an LED signals the
operation . On the right side are the pairing button and the USB Type-C port
for charging: everything is neat and tidy. Put simply, you can say everything
to Nothing except that the design is not reasoned or does not represent
something new for the market. For the rest, there is no lack of IPX4
certification for splashes of water and sweat.
Experience of use and data sheet
After a quick configuration via the side button of the case
and through the preliminary version of the official app, on Android simply open
the case to connect the earphones to the mobile device. We carried out our test
mainly using the green robot operating system, supported from version 5.1
onwards, but the earphones can also be used on iOS 11 or higher.
We go to Bluetooth 5.2, the latest standard, which allows
you to considerably distance yourself from your smartphone or tablet. In this
case it is of littles use to provide precise parameters, as each context is a
story in itself and there could be several obstacles. To make you understand
the goodness of this solution, we compared Nothing ear (1) and Bluetooth 5.2
with a model that has instead support for the Bluetooth 4.1 standard. Going to
a basement and leaving the smartphone on the second floor, the old headphones
began to lose the signal, while the ears (1) managed to keep playback almost
stable.
The supported profiles are A2DP, AVRCP and HFP, while the available codecs
are AAC and SBC .
In any case, precisely during the aforementioned type of
movements, but also outdoors, we realized how light these earphones are: just
4.7 grams per single earphone , with dimensions of 28.9 x 21.5 x 23 , 5 mm.
Ergonomics are also excellent. You know the classic headphones that are often
lost once worn? Forget them. Here the earphones fit properly inside the ear and
the presence in the package of spare rubber pads of various sizes can help
further.
Nothing has therefore managed to reflect its philosophy also
in this context. Earphones according to Carl Pei's company must be something
you almost forget you're wearing. Convenience is at home for Nothing ear (1),
so we can assign another check mark. Among other thing, in case you are
wondering, the case is also easy to transport: the dimensions are 58.6 x 58.6 x
23.7 mm, for a weight of 57.4 grams.
At this points, many of you may be wondering how the earbuds
perform in terms of sound quality. The mids are enveloping and full-bodied , as
well as the highs are more ringing than many other earphones we have had the
opportunity to try. If we want to find a flaw, the bass is less thunderous than
expected from a product like this. However, we are looking for the needle in
the haystack, as these are earphones that are placed in the price range below
100 euros.
As far as philosophy is concerned, we try to represent
something different than Apple's AirPods, probably the real competitor of
Nothing ear (1), we must also take into account that the launch price is lower
and not a little lower than the company's solution. of Cupertino. Of course,
there is no shortage of offers online and the gap in terms of price becomes
narrower, but you understand well that we need to analyze the whole and that
the AirPods have been around for some time now. Summing up, Nothing has done a
great job: getting to these levels with the first product is not easy at all .
Through the official application it is possible to set
various features. The Hear section allows you to select the mode relating to
ANC (Active Noise Cancellation, -40dB) . We will be able to choose between the
Light option , more moderate, and Maximum , for very noisy environments, for
example on an airplane. Both do not disappoint expectations, reaching good
levels for earphones. There is also a Transparency mode , which allow you to
amplify external sounds, as well as the possibility of simply deactivating the
ANC.
As for the equalization, we can choose between four presets:
Balanced, More Treble, More Bass and Voice. The names are self-explanatory and
all work well.
As for autonomy, we can confirm the data provided by
Nothing: during our test we achieved very similar results. Up to 4 hours of use
with ANC active while deactivating it you get almost 6 hours, thanks to the 34
mAh earphone battery. Obviously a lot depends on the type of use but the
information highlighted by the company is not far-fetched. Through the case,
which has a 570 mAh battery, you can go up to a total of 24 hours with ANC or
up to 34 hours without active noise cancellation.
There is also a gem as regards charging: there is support
for the Qi wireless standard, then you can use a special charger. In any case,
10 minutes of charging with the USB Type-C / USB Type-A cable, which however is
a bit too shorts for our taste, guarantees about 50 minutes of use with
earphones with active ANC and about 1, 2 hours without noise cancellation. In
short, you will hardly find yourself without residual charge.
At this point, some of you will be wondering if everything
is nearly perfect. There are some flaws that are a bit 'turn up the nose . The
application, for example, is still in the preliminary phase and a few hours
after the release of the review we even received an update. The arrival of the
product is close, given that it will start with limited quantities on July 31,
2021, with a mass launch that will start in Italy from August 17, 2021.
So we didn't have too many problem in taking this software
as a basis for testing. . By default, the In-Ear Detection function is active,
which allows you to detect when a user takes off the headset, pausing the
content being played. We had to deactivate this option almost immediately, as
it was a bit too sensitive. In some cases, even the slightest movement of the
head can cause the option to be enabled. Although convenient on paper, you
understand well that in this way its usefulness is somewhat thwarted.
On the other hand, the Clear Voice Technology is not bad ,
which uses the three microphones available , as well as special algorithms, to
make the voice reach the interlocutor in a "crystalline" way. Just
think that over a million combinations of voices and sounds have been fed to
the AI. This solution works well and we have not encountered any particular
problems during calls.
It also works well the gesture, applied to both earphones.
By default, a triple tap starts the next song, while holding down changes the
noise canceling mode. Special acoustic signals make it clear to the user when
the operation has been carried out. Here the customization is very limited: you
can simply change the triple tap, associating the latter with the possibility
of returning to the previous song, or completely deactivating the gestures.
We would have expected more customization possibilities from
this point of view. To be clear, the double tap is associated with playback or
pause: you cannot change its action. The same goes for swiping your finger from
bottom to top and vice versa, which are associated with raising or lowering the
volume. This is understandable, but why is it not possible to disable these
gestures like the others? Why can't they be reprogrammed? In short, we hope
that in the future some software updates will bring news from this point of
view.
Also consider that performing a gesture such as the one that
allows you to lower and raise the volume is not exactly comfortable: you have
to get used to it , also given the shape and the way in which the earphones are
inserted inside the ear. Net of all this, the official application also allows
access to further options, allowing for example the firmware update and above
all the use of the Find My Earbud functionality . If you lose, for example,
Nothing ear (1) in the maze of the sofa, just open the application and activate
this option: the earphones will start ringing and you will find them
quickly.Nothing has entered the market with a straight leg. Making a product
like Nothing ear (1)right from the start it is a not insignificant test of
strength. The sound quality is good for 99 euro earphones, as well as the
design finally represents something different and studied in detail even in the
case. The autonomy is discreet and there is no lack of features such as quick
gestures, Find My Earbud and Clear Voice Technology. Support for the Qi standard
for wireless charging, the presence of Bluetooth 5.2, presets in terms of
equalization and the various ANC modes are also a welcome addition to the
package. The company's transparency philosophy is also respected in terms of
convenience: after a while, you almost forget you're wearing headphones. Net of
some indecision in the default preset in terms of bass, the only real flaw is
constituted by some limitations of the official application. In fact, the
In-Ear Detection function does not always work as it should and the
impossibility of customizing some gestures is a little upset. Then there is the
question of competition: it is useless to go around it, the AirPods are
probably the main rival of Nothing ear (1), even if the launch price of the
latter is lower. The choice is therefore up to the user, but the new reality of
Carl Pei has started off well, already aiming to challenge a colossus. If
Nothing continues like this, we can't wait to find out what the future holds.
AirPods are probably Nothing ear's main rival (1), even if the launch price of
the latter is lower. The choice is therefore up to the user, but the new
reality of Carl Pei has started off well, already aiming to challenge a
colossus. If Nothing continues like this, we can't wait to find out what the
future holds. AirPods are probably Nothing ear's main rival (1), even if the
launch price of the latter is lower. The choice is therefore up to the user,
but the new reality of Carl Pei has started off well, already aiming to
challenge a colossus. If Nothing continues like this, we can't wait to find out
what the future holds.
