Product feedback after first days

FilipJacobson · 2021-08-21T13:33:14+00:00

Model Name: iPhone 11 Pro Max Software Version: 14.7.1 (up to date) App Version: 1.0.4 Here is some feedback from the first two days of using the product fo...

sman

The ear(1) are trash.

Intermittent connection issues. Every time I start listening they disconnect and reconnect about 4-5 times before actually working.
Impossible to eat without them falling out of the ear. They are just a little too big to handle jaw movements properly. Same goes for smiling.
After less than a week, the left earphone won’t charge unless the case itself is being charged - as if it’s not getting enough power without the cable. So I had the awkward experience of sticking them in my ear with one of them having 0% battery after being in the case (which was still 80% charged) overnight.

Reviewers claimed the issues they were facing would be fixed before launch as they were all using “pre-sale” items. But the truth is, this is an unfinished, rushed product that was horribly overhyped.

“You can buy 3 pairs for the price of Apple Airpods” - Yeah, and you might have to to get a pair that offers the experience you require.

WayneS

sman

I think this is fair feedback, but we are also literally seeing a small team trying to compete with teams of hundreds, if not thousands of people. If we truly support nothing, we accept that it’s a young company who will need to take a few hits to learn important lessons to serve people better down the line. No one gets it perfect from the start, especially if you’re a small company where costs are high and you don’t have ‘big league’ budget yet. That said, for a company that has never done this before.. it’s an impressive package for the consumer that will only get better over time.

For sure though, the team will have to go back to the drawing board and look to fit in software QA at the hardware level early and often to de-risk moments leading up to launches. The design and technology will need to move on parallel tracks, vs in phases to maximize an optimal outcome without bottlenecks. But again, it’s a small team who just wants to make great products for people, and I have confidence they can do it.

The good news is a lot of these issues can be rectified via software updates. There are so many audio ‘experts’ out there on tuning for IEMs (ie, Crinacle, etc) that it would be awesome if nothing could borrow their wisdom. There’s so much great info on forums and subreddits nowadays that it’s a shame more ‘big league’ companies don’t take advantage of that more often, but I have a feeling nothing will. It’s crowdsourced trust that will separate this company from the others.

RUTHVIK

sman

True there were issues with charging , some times the case even wont turn on until I charge it . Did a mistake in buying these. More than Trash

Surya_8055

Took my time to review the ear(1). They are pretty cool. Let me talk about the pros and cons

Pros -

The design is pretty cool. I mean, I walked around outdoor with ear(1) and everybody loved the design. There isn’t any better tws product to do as such.
The sound quality is good. Merging up with teenage engineering is the best possible way to get the audio output right. The sound is crisp and clear.
The charging speed and the charge on the earbuds are well enough. I don’t expect them to be exceptional as they offer decent battery life.
Talking about Noise cancellation, most of the people didn’t like that much in this device. I too felt the same. But at this price point you shouldn’t expect more. They have done a pretty good job on this. Although they are some bugs, I would mention on the cons.
I have also tested the calling feature indoors and outdoors. Indoors they are fine. They have mentioned that they can cancel the noise even at 40km/hr. That is just not true. The caller on the other side had heard a lot of noise while on call.
But I think the product is worth the price.

Now there are a few cons, of which some can be solved through software updates.

Latency- I noticed a little bit of latency even while playing YouTube. It is quite negligible, but it is what it is.
There is an issue with the noise cancellation feature. It automatically shifts from transparency to noise cancellation and vice versa. It is just irritating.
Dual connection is just not there. Switching between devices is the most important aspect in terms of bluetooth devices. Even budget devices offer switching between devices.
The earbud won’t charge sometimes until unless they are plugged to adapter. This is just not good.
The app needs to be improved a lot. I mean, there is no custom equaliser, the battery indication on the app is the worst.
Ear detection does not work sometimes for me.

These all can be solved through software updates. But, there is one thing that cannot be solved. It’s the scratches on the case. It is a plastic case and the quality is not good. Even though they are on smooth surfaces and on cloth type material, scratches appear. I ordered a body protector from gadget shields for protection.

Overall I love the product. But, if all the bugs are solved through software updates mentioned above, it just would be great.

Kastello

RUTHVIK

It’s a firmware problem as it seems @arpan2308 mentioned, the support said it will be fixed in the coming days

Kastello

Update is out 🙂

Cheetosdust

Kastello I just saw that in a screenshot shared by @Rob ⚡️. I think a new thread to discuss the update can be useful. I would gladly create it, but I still don’t have mine.

Rob ⚡️

Cheetosdust

The arrival of a Community Manager and Moderating Team can’t come soon enough! Plenty of organizing and archiving to do!

Cheetosdust

Rob ⚡️ Completely agree with you. And hopefully soon we’ll also have a new batch of members, the first and only one so far was way more than a month ago.

Hopefully, the community spirit will be reinforced by that too.

Rob ⚡️

Cheetosdust

I’m looking forward to seeing more activity on here again, it has felt a little flat recently!

It’ll be interesting to see how Nothing makes good use of the more active community members and how it keeps the more casual user engaged.

arpan2308

Rob ⚡️

They should have included community personal invite code in the ear(1) box

Surya_8055

Ok, now the ear(1) has been updated to the latest firmware update. I have again tested them a couple of hours and issues which I had while using them before. Let me briefly explain them.

The in ear detection while putting them on and taking them out is improved a little bit. Although the music doesn’t stop quickly, it is okay and fine for most.
The battery indicator and charging the bud has been solved for me. Atleast until now.
Now talking about sound, I mean, wow. I am using a OnePlus phone. They have Dolby Atmos enabled by default. If you have any OnePlus phone or any other device that has equaliser, just turn that off. Somebody already mentioned this, but I didn’t notice much of a difference before the update. Teenage engineering has done a very good job in terms of sound.
Before I mentioned that the noise cancellation is kind of sus. It always shifts from transparency to noise cancellation and back. After the update I didn’t face that issue. I went out and tested them, they don’t shift now as before. I like that.
I also played YouTube videos. Before it had little bit of latency which is ignorable. But after the update I didn’t get any latency.
I had given them to my friends to test them out. He always listens to them above 80% volume. Now here’s a thing. There is a bit of sound leakage. At 100% volume you can clearly hear the beat. This can’t be updated through a software. But I’m okay with it. Although most of the people don’t Listen at 100%. It’s fine. I’m just mentioning.

I am mentioning again. Just turn off your current equaliser and Dolby Atmos on mobile and try them. I give a big thumbs up to TEENAGE ENGINEERING here.

Now I can easily recommend them to my friends or family. I hope everyone gets their hands on and post the reviews. Looking forward to that. Cheers to ear(1) ✌️.

Cheetosdust

Surya_8055 Many thanks for sharing your impressions after the update - for someone who is waiting for them to be delivered, this is crucial.

Honestly, it is a really good surprise to read that Nothing managed to fix a lot of the problems you reported before. That gives me hope for the product that I am going to receive itself and for future updates.

And also: thank you for the tip about the equalizer and Dolby Atmos. Will remember your words for sure.

Rob ⚡️

Surya_8055

Thanks for sharing your testing - it sounds like a very positive update! I actually posted my review over the weekend, and it seems most of my gripes have been fixed already! Great timing! 😆

Dominic

Surya_8055

Because of the bugs I though about cancelling my order, but now it seems that Nothing fixed most of the more popular bugs, which is awesome. I think I will keep my order. I don’t want to give up on Nothing, and I trust them that if any other major issues would appear, they will similarly fix them.

Thanks for sharing your post-update experience!

Surya_8055

@Cheetosdust

Your welcome. It is in our hands to improve the experience of ear(1). We make sure NOTHING will be successful in that and also in every product they launch.

I hope your product will be delivered as soon as possible and also for others in this community.

Cheetosdust

Surya_8055 Many thanks, so far it’s still “unfulfilled”. Fingers crossed.

And I completely agree with you. The amount of useful feedback that I keep seeing in this community is astonishing.

Cheetosdust

Dominic Just a tiny bit of complementary information: I don’t think you can cancel your order from the official Nothing store.

From what I could understand, you would have to let the order be shipped and then reject the parcel when it arrives to your door, starting the returning process.

But I completely agree with you, the reports being made in this thread truly give me a new hope for the product.

Surya_8055

@Dominic

When is the delivery due mate?

Bass

Hi guys!

I’m have some kind of malfunction after approx 2 weeks of usage and wanna know if any of you have had the same…

so, yesterday my battery-level indicator for the case went hay-wire like I’ve seen happen. It indicated 1% even though it was almost fully charged. Then the left earbud stopped working (like it is out of battery and it won’t charge). The right one worked fine. How ever my battery level On the case sis not jump up like I’ve read happened to others, not even if charged. After that I could only use the right earbud and the battery indicator on this worked fine (and was charging when it was in the case).

I’ve tried to reset the device (lid closed, buds in case and pressing the button for 30+seconds) with no result. I’ve also tried to “forget” the device from my phones Bluetooth and the result from this is that I can not pair them again - my iPhone doesn’t seem to find the device.

In the app I can change ANC still, how ever only on the right bud.

So, friends, any thoughts? 😅

The result of this is that I’m stuck with my AirPod pros, and oh my god I already miss the hell out of my ear (1)!

Thank you!

Maybe @changename can help me whit this matter?

Bass

An addition: The green diod is constantly green. I´ve just submitted to Nothing support so case to be continued 🙂

Rob ⚡️

Bass

Sorry to hear about your issues with ear (1)! I’d have tried the same thing … a device reset normally does the trick!

Bass I’ve tried to reset the device (lid closed, buds in case and pressing the button for 30+seconds)

It’s worth noting that to perform a device reset with ear (1), the lid needs to be OPEN, followed by a hold of the pairing button for 10 seconds. A successful reset is indicated by a flash of orange/red by the LED.

That said, with your permanently green LED indicator, it sounds like there might be an even bigger issue with your unit than just pairing! I hope it gets sorted soon. 🙏