Nothing’s focus on design has delivered some of the most striking mobile devices and accessories in recent years. Problem is, has practicality been ignored?
The Nothing Ear (stick) suffers from one hardware design flaw that very nearly overshadows the rest of the product. The audio quality is fine, the battery life is decent, and the look of the buds and the case are unique. But as is sometimes the situation with gadgets with moving parts, including those that cost far more than this pair of earbuds, a single speck of sand can be its undoing.
The design of the Nothing Ear (stick) is fantastic in a vacuum. If we’re looking at this device as a prop with which one can snap photos in a studio, it’s wonderful. As you’ll have undoubtedly seen in Nothing advertisements and promotional materials, Nothing devices have been designed with visual touchpoints aplenty.
When we reviewed the Nothing Phone 1, we had some similar views on the Android smartphone — is the unique design a tradeoff for a suitably solid experience? Or could it be that Nothing’s done such an extremely good job at making their products look and feel different from all other rivals, that we’re willing to excuse a few flaws?
The Nothing Ear (stick)’s name focuses on the case in which the earbuds are delivered and charged. It’s an adult-thumb-sized piece of hardware with a single physical button, a USB-C port, a tray in which two earbuds can rest and charge via pogo pins, and a single LED indicator. The area where the earbuds rest is surrounded by an outer tube made of transparent plastic that covers and protects the buds.
The design is elegant, beautiful, and unique. The inner tube that cradles the buds has a tactile micro bump pattern that’s effectively invisible except under bright light — at least, at first.
The buds are made up of white plastic, black plastic, and clear plastic. The clear plastic, much like the outer tube of the case, reveals the inner elements of each device. Text that reads „ear (stick)“ is printed on the black surface under the clear plastic of each earbud.
One earbud has a white dot, the other has a red. Everything about this product suggests that the physical aesthetic was the absolute priority of its creators — with one exception.
The left earbud fits in a wearer’s ear in a way in which the text on the side of the device is upside-down. When both worn correctly, the opposite bud displays its text right side up and readable. Given how clean and readable the design is when both buds are at home in their charging case, we see that the designers‘ priority wasn’t necessarily the buds as they appear in the ears of their wearer, but the way the products look encased in their charging stick.
If you use this device (and the earbuds within it) in a controlled environment, it’s a beautiful example of daring, innovative, and aesthetically pleasing industrial design. If you plan on using the Nothing Ear (stick) in the wild, there’s a decent chance you’ll have issues with dust, dirt, and other debris.
I used the Nothing Ear (stick) while mowing my lawn, playing fetch with my dog, and going on a bike ride. I did not roll in dirt or otherwise place the (stick) in a pile of sand. The photos I captured for this review show the closest the buds and the (stick) came to the ground, and they survived without a scratch.
