Nothing today announced a pair of updates to its line of headphones. The naming conventions are a touch confusing here, but the Nothing Ear is an update of the Nothing Ear (2), while the Nothing Ear (a) is more of a spiritual successor to the Nothing Ear Stick.
The most notable piece of today’s news, however, is probably Nothing’s embrace of ChatGPT this time around. As the world’s “smart artificial smartphones” battle it out with devices like Humane’s Ai Pin and the Rabbit R1 for sharing, the London-based carrier seems to have skipped a step by incorporating the technology into its new headphones.
More specifically, if you have the ChatGPT app installed on a connected Nothing headset, you’ll be able to ask the AI program questions with a pinch of the headset stem. Think Siri/Google Assistant/Alexa-style access to a pair of headphones, only this taps directly into OpenAI’s hugely popular platform.
“Nothing will also enhance the Nothing smartphone user experience on Nothing OS by integrating system-level entry points into ChatGPT, including sharing screenshots and Nothing widgets,” the company notes. The feature will be available exclusively for both new handsets.
Pre-orders for both buds start today. Nothing says the ear buds offer improved sound over their predecessors, thanks to a new driver system. This, meanwhile, allowed more room for the battery, with up to 25% longer life than the ear (2). An “intelligent” active noise cancellation system adapts accordingly to environmental noise and checks for “leakage” between the buds and the ear canal.
The Ear(a) also brings noise-cancelling improvements, but what really seems to push the Nothing is the bright yellow color, which belies the black-and-white aesthetic that has defined its devices.
The Ear and Ear (a) are both reasonably priced at $149 and $99, respectively. The mission starts on April 22nd.
