Nothing ear (1) buds are launching next week, and after images of the buds themselves leaked this week, we've now got an official peek at them. Admittedly they're nestled in their case so we can't see the full design, but we also have more of the specs confirmed, so we can dive into what makes them so special.
Obviously the most remarkable thing about the Nothing ear (1) is the transparent design which extends to both the earbuds and the case. A behind-the-scenes video gave us a little insight into just how complicated that was to achieve without making the earbuds look cheap, and from what we can see, Nothing has smashed it. But what about the specs?
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We already know that we'll be getting ANC for the £99 earbuds, and company co-founder Carl Pei has said that Nothing ear (1) will be "similar to the AirPods Pro" in terms of features, but will carry a price tag that's the a fraction of the Apple's earbuds (via TechCrunch). And now we have a few more tidbits about them.
In addition to the triple mic setup for the ANC, Nothing ear (1) will boast 24 hours of battery life with the feature turned on, and up to 34 hours with ANC disabled. For comparison, the AirPods Pro offer 4.5 hours per charge with ANC active, and five hours with it turned off – the same as the regular AirPods.
The charging case battery capacity comes in at 570mAh, compared to the AirPod Pro's 519 mAh, and it can juice up the Nothing ear (1) buds with six hours of playtime in just 10 minutes with the ANC on, and eight hours with the ANC off. The AirPods Pro will give you an hour of playtime after just five minutes. Both charging cases for the earbuds offer wireless charging to boot, but overall, Nothing has Apple beat in the battery and charging department.
If the rest of the specs can go toe-to-toe with Apple's AirPods Pro, you'll be looking at spending just $99/ £99/ €99 (approx. AU$182) for the Nothing ear (1) compared to $249 / £249 / AU$399. 100 pairs of limited edition Nothing ear (1) wireless earbuds are being auctioned off on StockX with the bidding closing today. The earbuds launch officially next week, on July 27.
