Anyone else picturing Eliza Doolittle, wandering the streets of London singing "Nothing Ear Open!" to the tune of Morning Has Broken, in a long-lost draft version of the opening scene of My Fair Lady? OK maybe just me… but you've got to admit, it's the funniest name for a set of earbuds you've heard in a while.
And that's what's been spotted in the wild! Gadget discovery site 91 Mobiles has posted an image of what the online publication claims is a listing for the new Nothing audio product within Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) certification.
The entry confirms the marketing name 'Ear Open' with Nothing as the brand, along with a model number, B182 (easy to remember for Blink 182 fans), and a 'low power device' listing category – i.e. something that connects to Bluetooth. Crucially, the equipment description reads 'true wireless earphones', which, if the leak proves genuine, is a pretty conclusive giveaway that new Nothing buds are in the pipeline.
For the avoidance of any doubt, the buds above are not the Nothing Ear Open – but don't be too hard on yourself if you don't recognize 'em. Those are the July 2024-release CMF by Nothing Buds Pro 2 in blue, which we've just finished testing (we'll be publishing that review soon).
Nothing Ear Open: what to expect
Obviously, the sum total of the information contained in the leak has now been shared, which leaves us with very little concrete evidence to go on. But if I know Nothing (and I believe I do) the company's naming strategy is usually every bit as transparent as its products – who could forget the long, thin case that accompanied the Nothing Ear Stick, for instance?
So, I'm almost certain we can expect a set of open-ear earbuds from Nothing – something like the Bose Ultra Open, OneOdio OpenRock Pro, Oladance OWS, or in fact, any of the options in our best open ear headphones roundup.
Most, though not all, of these types of earbuds have a spiral-shaped design (think ammonite, if fossils are your thing), where the driver housing or 'bud' part sits in the center, close to your ear canal but not inside it, while the other end of the spiral slips behind the ear, sometimes snapping gently into place.
Regular readers will know that in May 2024, Nothing won the ChatGPT race and brought pinch-to-speak functionality to all of its audio products when used with a Nothing phone – including the inaugural Nothing Ear (1), subsequent Ear (stick) and Ear (2), plus the cheaper CMF Buds, CMF Neckband Pro, and CMF Buds Pro. So, it makes sense to assume that Nothing's virtual voice assistant USP will be carried over to the Nothing Ear Open.
Then, there's Nothing's game-changing sound personalization mode. It's reserved for the flagship models – you get it in Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (2); you don't get it in Nothing Ear (a) – but as Nothing's first foray into the world of open-ear offerings, I might expect to see the feature in some capacity, albeit pared down (because delivering a tailored audio experience in designs that sit outside the ear canal is a tricky business). Active noise cancellation? That's unlikely, because the main reason for buying an open-ear headphone is to better hear your environment.
Finally, if recent reviews of the firm's excellent 2024-release Nothing Ear (a) and Nothing Ear earbuds are anything to go on, the sound could be really something, you know? In summary – and if the pricing is as reasonable as recent offerings from Carl Pei's 2020 startup – I predict a huge hit.
When might we see the Nothing Ear Open? Impossible to say with any certainty. For now, we wait…
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