Since Carl Pei left OnePlus to train Nothing, his new venture promised a radical new approach to modern technological design and based on new information, it looks like nothing will lean heavily on a tech trend from the 90s: transparent gadgets.
In what nothing claims is the “very first close-up photo “of its upcoming wireless headphones (1), he posted a pretty enigmatic image on Instagram featuring a transparent element surrounded by even more transparent swirls, which may or may not be part of the design of the gadget.
Although nothing has yet to confirm which part of her next headphones are pictured in the pictures above, after digging and checking a bit Nothing is teaser doc, I suspect the large rectangular shape is a transparent case for Nothing’s headphones, while the headphones themselves can be seen (albeit very distorted) on the bottom left. There are even some discernible components like the little whitish protrusions on the ear cups, which appear to be translucent ear tips of sorts.
The idea of transparency is something Nothing and Pei pushed hard enough, Pei today stating that “transparent design is one of the hardest things for the engineering team to accomplish” and that the danger to take this route is that “It’s very easy to create something that looks cheap when it’s transparent.”
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Previously, Pei had even said that Nothing’s goal was to completely eliminate things like logos and branding from its devices so that the only thing left was “raw technology”. Having said that, trying to make a transparent gadget and doing it are two very different things, as many components of the gadgets like screws, glue, and batteries aren’t really conducive to being transparent or translucent, which is a challenge. ‘team mentions in the company’s mini-doc.
Anyway, if we look past Nothing’s teaser to consumer electronics as a whole, it really feels like Nothing can be on to something with its quest for seamless tech, or at all. least coming full circle on a trend we last saw in the 90s early 2000s.
Back when Macaulay Culkin was always a cute kid who repelled incompetent thieves, toys and translucent plastic game consoles were everywhere. We had transparent neon green N64s, iMacs with shiny candy-colored shells, and all kinds of trinkets and gadgets built out of translucent plastic, and that was pretty awesome.
In recent years, a number of companies have danced around the idea of transparent gadgets with things like those from Xiaomi. transparent television or his special Mi 9 edition. But for the most part, transparent or translucent technology has been largely confined to more niches. segments like retro games, where there is already a built-in fan base for transparent gadgets.
But in a way it’s which makes Nothing pushing transparent technology such an enticing proposition. Not only is Nothing about to tap into the nostalgia of millennials who are now adults but still have fond memories of their translucent ’90s tech, aiming for transparency, Nothing should have a much easier time standing out from the crowd. big tech brands like Apple, Samsung and others.
Unfortunately, with so little concrete information at the moment, we are mostly just speculating. But with Nothing set to officially launch its earbuds (1) on July 27, we should have a much clearer idea of what Nothing is really up to before. long.
