After leaving OnePlus, co-founder Carl Pei started Nothing. That’s the company. called It is not “nothing”, a state of non-existence. The company’s first product was a set of true wireless earbuds, followed by mid-range smartphones. Now, Nothing is making a new move to wireless his earbuds with the ill-named Nothing Ear Stick. These AirPods-style earbuds drop some features from the first pair of Nothing earbuds, but they’re also priced at just $99. Apple’s earbuds are more expensive, starting at $170, and the Nothing Ear 1 is $150.
The buds on the earsticks have the same clarity as the rest of Nothing’s products. It has the same external stick section as the company’s Ear 1 earbuds (and AirPods), but it stays in your ear rather than sticking into your ear canal.If the Ear 1 is Nothing’s AirPods Pro competitor, the Stick is his entry-level Similar to AirPods. Inside, the Ear Stick Buds feature custom 12.6 mm drivers and enough battery for around 7 hours of playtime. Nothing boasts about audio quality, but connectivity is limited to SBC and AAC, and there are no high-quality Bluetooth codecs like LDAC or aptX.
The case is also highly stylized with a clear outer shell that reveals the earbuds when they are locked in place. There’s no wireless charging this time around, but that helps keep the price of the earbuds down.
Even with its lack of features, the earsticks may outperform the company’s other earbuds in some respects.Antenna design has been improved and the module has been moved under the sticks, resulting in more reliable connections. This was an Ear 1 problem. Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair are also supported, making it easy to connect your Stick earbuds to a variety of devices. Again, this was an Ear 1 issue. There is a companion app for controlling the new earbuds, but if you’re using the Nothing Phone, the earbuds will be integrated with the system UI for control.
Nothing doesn’t sell smartphones in the US, but new earbuds can be ordered statewide. Pre-orders start today for $99. However, anyone with a Nothing Phone can get him 10% off. We do not plan to start shipping earsticks on November 4th.
