Nothing’s new earbuds can record calls and what you’re listening to

It’s a feature that’s somewhat reminiscent of Nothing’s Ear 3 introduced last September. Those come with a wireless charging case equipped with upgraded microphones that can be used for phone calls or recording voice notes and memos to Nothing’s mobile app, but the Ear 3A take a different approach.

The new earbuds still come with a case, but it’s only used for storage and charging, boosting playback times from up to 10 to 42 hours, or up to 25 in total when using ANC. The only microphones are located on the earbuds themselves, which have been upgraded with 32MB of storage. Yes, that’s megabytes, not gigabytes.

The added memory allows the earbuds to record what you’re listening to. By pinching both earbuds you can activate a new feature called Audio Snapshot that records what’s playing plus a bit of preroll so nothing is missed. Those recordings are automatically synced to the Nothing X app, where they can be shared, edited, replayed, or transcribed. The company points out in a release today that the new feature “is for personal, non-commercial use only,” so there probably aren’t any limits on what you can capture.

The Ear 3A can also record phone calls using a different gesture, but given the limited amount of storage, those recordings are limited to around two hours. And as with Audio Snapshots, they’re easily accessible once synced to the mobile app afterward.

Other upgrades for the Ear 3A include new 12mm drivers delivering deeper bass, improved noise cancellation covering a broader frequency range, an additional extra-small size of ear tips, and a new pink color option alongside the black, white, and yellow versions that were previously available.

The Ear 3A launch is accompanied by the release of the Nothing Phone 4B, a budget handset that’s only releasing in the UK, Europe, and India.