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Nothing has yet to unveil its first open-back portable stereo (OWS) headphones, which may be better suited for activities where you really want to hear what's going on around you. The new Nothing Ear Open, with its in-ear design, could be a more comfortable alternative to headphones that rely on silicone tips that fit into your ear canal.
Nothing Ear Open joins the trend of headphones that eschew active noise cancelling technology with a design that purposely lets outside sound through Shokz headphones have been offering this for years, using bone conduction technology that leaves the ears completely exposed. Bose introduced its $299 Ultra Open earbuds in February, positioning them as headphones you could comfortably wear all day, even at work. Nothing's new Ear Open headphones offer similar features, but cost $149.
The previous Nothing, Ear and Ear(a) models, launched last April, have slightly better battery life (8.5 and 9.5 hours respectively with ANC off), but the Nothing Ear Open can last an extra eight hours on a full charge within their slim 19mm thick case, or a total of 30 hours if you plug them in and recharge them every now and then. There's no wireless charging, but what they claim is that a quick 10-minute charge with a USB-C cable will give you two hours of music playback.
That's a solid battery life considering the Ear Open feature includes the largest 14.2-millimeter drivers. Nothing in previous headphones has this, but it features a directional design that minimizes sound leakage. Each earbud also comes equipped with a pair of microphones and Nothing's latest noise-canceling technology (Clear Voice Technology 3.0) to prevent external noise from drowning out your voice during phone calls.
Nothing Ear Open features a "three-point balance system" and silicone ear hooks to keep the earbuds snugly in place inside your ear. The Ear Open are the company's heaviest in-ear headphones, weighing 8.1 grams each, but their hooks help distribute the weight across your ears. However, as The Verge's Victoria Song discovered in her review of the Shokz OpenFit Air, wearing over-ear headphones can be difficult with certain styles of glasses, as the temples and hooks compete for space above your ears.
The headphones use Bluetooth 5.3 with support for AAC and SBC codecs, can connect to two Bluetooth devices and quickly switch between them, and offer a “low latency mode” for gamers that automatically activates when Nothing Phone users are in gaming mode. When paired with other phones, low latency mode can be activated using the Nothing mobile app, which also facilitates integration with ChatGPT. Nothing Ear Open will be available for pre-order in the US, Canada and Europe on the company's website starting September 24th, and will be available worldwide from October 1st.
