True Nothing ‘Ear (1)’ wireless earbuds launched to take on AirPods Pro with ANC and unusual design for $ 99

Nothing, a new brand from OnePlus founder Carl Pei, officially launched the true “Ear (1)” wireless earbuds today after months of anticipation around the company’s rival AirPods Pro.

The ear (1) features in-ear design, active noise cancellation, Bluetooth 5.2, IPX4 water resistance and charging case with Qi-compatible wireless charging and a USB-C port. Quick pairing is only supported on Android devices.

The ANC uses three microphones on each earbud and can be set to Maximum for noisy environments, Light for quieter environments, and there is also a transparency mode to hear the sound around you. During calls, microphones are used to cancel out background noise.

The Earphones (1) provide 5.7 hours of battery life with ANC off and 34 hours of battery life when used with the charging case. This drops to four hours for the buds and to 24 hours with the case with ANC enabled.

Each earpiece can be controlled with touch and gesture controls, which can be personalized with the accompanying app. The app also offers EQ controls and Find my Earbud functions.

One of the most striking things about the headphones is their unique design based on clear plastic, which reveals some of the device’s internal circuitry and magnets. Each earpiece has a color-coded red or white circle to indicate left and right ears.

Inside, the headphones feature 11.6mm speakers. Nothing’s hardware and software was tuned by renowned Swedish electronics company Teenage Engineering.

Earbuds (1) cost $ 150 less than Apple’s ‌AirPods Pro‌, but offer many of the same features, such as premium design, ANC, transparency mode, IPX4 water resistance, 24 hours autonomy with the charging case. Some features like Bluetooth 5.2, three microphones per earbud, and the weight of the earbuds are actually better than queAirPods Pros, but they will of course lack Apple-specific features like auto-pairing with the H1 chip. Earbuds (1) are also cheaper than Samsung’s $ 200 Galaxy Buds Pro.

In recent months, Nothing has launched an aggressive and covert marketing campaign to build excitement around its true wireless headphones. Pei previously said the company plans to launch a connected ecosystem of new devices that will extend far beyond this initial product.

The Earphones (1) go on sale August 17 in 45 countries, priced at $ 99 in the US.