Nank get real with OE mix True Wireless Earphones

Nank (previously known as Naenka) has been big in the bone conduction earphone space, now there's a move to open ear and the first True Wireless earphones the OE Mix.

Nank OE Mix box

The box contains the earphones in their case, a USB A to USB C cable and an instruction manual.

Open Box

The earphones are light, weighing in a 6.7g each (i.e. left and right) and are coated with a non-skin irritable silicon.

Open case

Bluetooth is now at version 5.4 and supports 60mS latency for gaming. Battery life is 24 hours (but each earphone will hold charge for 6 hours and then has to be put in the case to recharge). Whilst charging the LED on the case flashes red and turns green when fully charged.

Earphones

The drivers have a 0.0096mm diaphragm and support Super Base 2.0 (Nank's terminology).

Earphones

There aren't any physical buttons on the earphone, but they are touch sensitive and touching the left and right top of the earphone perform the following: -

Double touch L/R - switch between music and call.

Single touch L - volume down

Single touch R - volume up

Long touch L - rewind

Long touch R - fast forward

Long touch L/R (1.5s) - call hangup

Triple touch L/R - microphone

The first thing you notice (well don't notice) is how light they are. It can feel a bit awkward placing them over the ear in the correct position, but when they are there, they are very comfortable. Though they stay in place, they can easily be knocked off by say brushing your hand against them while doing something else.

When removed from the case, the earphones turn on and will automatically connect to the device they're paired with (the first time they turn on they will automatically go into pairing mode). When put back into the case they will start charging and the case green light will flash. The earphone turn themselves off - though they can be turned off by touching them for a longer time i.e. over 1.5 seconds - they tell you they're turning off. Though as soon as they are removed from the charger they turn themselves on again.

The earphones are IP55 rated and survive getting wet from sweat etc. As they don't completely cover the ear, you can still hear your environment, so these are good for activities like cycling or running. They can't be fully immersed in water so aren't suitable for swimming.

The sound quality is very good and there are decent highs and lows (notes) as the earphone speakers are placed just outside the ear canal projecting the sound inwards and unlike other Nank bone conducting earphones don't suffer the issues of some of bass being lost or tickling against the skin.

These are a nice addition to the Nank line and at the website price of £43.32 they aren't going to break the bank.

Apple to drop Samsung for CPUs

Apple's latest iPhone 5 has hit the streets, but what many people don't know is that most of the phone is actually made by Samsung. Samsung fabricate the CPU and make the display and also many of the wireless chips (they used to be made by Cambridge Silicon Radio/CSR, but Samsung acquired their chip division). Apple are moving chip fabrication away from Samsung and their A7 chip will be fabricated by TSMC (or other fab plant), though they may not completely remove themselves from Samsung as they have a production line set-up for the A6. Samsung contributed both design and technology expertise to Apple's earlier CPUs but now much of this expertise has been taken in-house and Apple just require a silicon fab to actually manufacture their new CPUs. The A6 was almost entirely engineered in-house by Apple. This will be a blow to Samsung as they struggle to fill the production lines at their fabs.