Nothing said last week that it will be launching both the Ear (3a) and the Phone (4b) together. As promised, both have had the veil lifted off of them, with the company sharing more details of what each of them provide. Here, we’ll be focusing on the earbuds and what they bring to the table. One new feature is the ability to take audio notes quickly and easily, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
But first, the basics. The Nothing Ear (3a) features 12mm drivers, which the company says boosts bass performance. Then there’s LDAC support which enables up to 24-bit / 96 kHz audio transmission for those who enjoy their hi-res wireless audio. There are three microphones that take care of calls and ANC, with what is described as “an AI-powered noise reduction system”, because of course.
Total playback time is rated at 10 hours, or up to 42 hours with the case involved. These numbers are without ANC though. With ANC, these drop to six hours and 25 hours respectively. On that note, the Nothing Ear (3a) also features a 1×3 LED status light system, which lets you check battery levels, charging status, pairing progress and the like at a glance.
Getting back to the audio notes bit mentioned earlier, Nothing highlights that the Ear (3a) comes with 32MB of built-in storage. This, plus a new gesture of pinching both stems, allows you to “capture audio moments directly” through the earbuds. These recordings are automatically synced to the Nothing X app. And from there, you can replay, edit, share or transcribe your audio clips. In the same vein, the Ear (3a) allows call recordings of up to two hours, but doing so will notify the person on the other end that they are being recorded.
The Nothing Ear (3a) comes in the usual black and white colourways, with the bright yellow and pink options also making a return. Unfortunately, the company has not provided local pricing and availability details. But elsewhere, they are priced at US$99 (~RM403).
