Nothing Ear (Open) Open-Ear Headphones, Earbuds with Earhooks, Clear Voice Technology with 2 Mics, BT 5.3, Fast Charging, Compatible with iPhone & Android -WhiteCarbon Neutral Certified by SCS Global Services

Let's clear the air for those who seem to be confused about the design goal/purpose "Nothing Ear (Open)", these are 'Specialty' EarBuds.They're optimized for Maintaining SA (Situational Awareness) while delivering clear & excellent audio w/o blocking ANY outside sound.It's PURPOSELY designed to not seal your ear canal or be inserted into your ears; that's BY DESIGN!Go watch the original YT videos about these and why they were created, the CEO of 'Nothing' explains what problems they were designed to solve.So anybody telling you that you have to insert these into your ear canals are HIGHLY misinformed as to their design goals & usage.You ARE SUPPOSED to leave them hanging right outside of the ear canals, you ARE "NOT supposed to insert them into your ear" for ANY reason.If you want EarBuds that seal your ear canals, "Nothing" offers other EarBuds for those purposes, please go look at them.Now, lets get back to the review.I'm coming from using the "Nothing Ear Stick". Those were good EarBuds that mimiced the design of the original Apple AirPods.Those still touched the openings in your ear and sealed the larger openings right outside w/o any silicone being shoved into the smaller ear openings.For me, that blocked out too much noise for my tastes, I wanted MORE SA (Situational Awareness).I don't want audio Transparency Modes, I just wanted the real thing; w/o lag from the EarBuds internal processing.This literally solves that problem for me and does a great job at it.The Battery life is pretty good.Initial tests in phone calls led to good Battery Usage.15% Ear Open Power ~= 1.0 hr Talk Time.Reaching the Marketing Claims of 8 hr per Ear Open unit seems very realistic w/o recharging.Pure PodCast Listening is easier on the batteries, I'm able to get many hours w/o having to charge the Ear Opens.I've only drained the case battery down to 65% despite having over 8 hours of podcast listening + Long conversations over the phone.I haven't recharged it after the initial charge to full for the case + Ear Opens.BTW, I got these 2 days before the official Release Date of Sep 30.I got them on Sep 28, thanks Amazon!So I've got extra time to use them. This marks the First Week of using them during my Every Day routines.Comfort wise, I LOVE it, the Audio Drivers sit right outside your Ear, nothing gets shoved into the larger or smaller orifices in your ear.I can hear everything around me & maintain SA.Nobody seems to be able to hear what's being broadcasted as well, if they really wanted to hear something, their ear has to be right next to your Ear Opens.At that point, you've got other issues if somebody has their ears so close that your heads are about to collide.So far, I'm loving my first week of using these Ear Opens, I like them more than my Ear Sticks, which were already excellant.While driving the audio quality is clearer & louder, despite not having any seal into my ear, and I can hear everything around me as well.So it solves my problem of maintaining SA while out about on the street, or while driving.Audio call quality is pretty good, nothing to write home about.It's clear enough, but don't expect it to mimic any professional level microphones.It's good enough for it's class of EarBuds, especially at it's price.There is a small rattle in the case, I wish there was something they could do to solve that.I'll improvise a solution in the mean time.Over-All, these are AWESOME EarBuds.I definitely recommend the "Nothing Ear Open" for those who want to maintain SA (Situational Awareness) while out & about doing every day routines or working or driving around.

I saw the deluge of videos on these once they were announced, and they did not disappoint. These are my first open earbuds, so I have nothing in this category to compare with. However, these made a huge positive first impression on me coming from the sealed in-ear Pixel Buds Pro (I never really used the ANC on them anyways – they were in Transparency mode most of the time).They're plenty loud for me. The sound quality is good for what these are. There's an objective amount of detail that's lost due to the open design, but these are impressive for what they've accomplished. Just to try it out, I tried pushing the driver closer to my ear canal with my fingers, and the deeper bass and cleaner sound was a lot more evident. At their default volume (about half) they may have even been a bit too loud, so my regular listening volume is at the lowest setting (I've yet to try them in a noisy environment, though). I can hear everything around me in a similar way that the Buds Pro had its Transparency mode, except I don't have something shoved directly into my ear opening.Which leads to the next point – comfort and longevity are the reason I wanted to move to open buds. I can wear these for hours at a time and barely notice they're there. It's not an unlimited amount of time, but it's much longer than I can sustain in-ear buds. They're not imperceptible, but you have to be conscious of them to notice you're wearing them.Sure they might be a little dorky looking, but that goes for just about any buds in this style. They have the Nothing touch, so I think they hold their own in terms of design which is a good thing. Nothing has been killing it in terms of their industrial design. I'd love to rock one of their phones but they only come in XL sizes.There is a bit of a delay with the touch controls, but that's probably to prevent accidental touches. The pressure required to activate the squeeze controls. Some of them are mixes of multiple taps and holds, which is probably another reason for the delay. They're customizable through the Nothing X app, which you have to download onto your device. The options are adequate and I've customized them from default, and placed the Assistant gesture on the right bud.In terms of their size, the case looked huge when I saw it in videos. It's not small by any means but it is smaller than I expected. If there was something I could change about these, it would all be in the case. A more compact size (similar to the Soundcore AeroFit) and wireless charging would be nice.The packaging is pretty minimal, but it comes with all you need. They're fully charged out of the box, you get a charging cable and some reading material. There is a firmware update available once you get them connected to the app. For some reason when I first paired them to my phone, only the left bud connected. After putting them back in the case and long pressing the button on the case, all was good to go. Then I was able to proceed with the firmware update. Earlier I mentioned that my regular listening volume is at the lowest, but once they're disconnected and reconnected they go back to their default volume. I need to determine if this is a phone thing or a buds thing (I haven't found any indication there's a setting for it in the Nothing X app).That about sums up my experiences in the hours that I've had these. I'll be updating this review if my impressions change, and I'm overall happy with my first Nothing purchase.