Nothing Beats Phone 4b with Ear 3a?

Summary of Nothing Beats Phone 4b with Ear 3a?

by MKBHD

1h 27m•July 10, 2026
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Overview of Nothing Beats Phone 4b with Ear 3a?

This episode of Waveform mixes hands-on gadget talk with broader platform and AI concerns. The hosts cover Nothing’s new budget phone and earbuds, upcoming Samsung and Google hardware reveals, Meta’s glasses and image-generation push, X’s new video editor, and what Apple’s next Siri update really means for third-party apps. There’s also the usual banter about tech nostalgia, phone gimmicks, and a trivia segment on the phrase “in a pickle.”

Quick Hits and Running Jokes

  • The episode opens with praise for Google’s “search a song” feature, which lets you hum or mumble a tune and usually identifies it correctly.
  • The team compares it to the old Shazam vs. SoundHound era, noting how those apps were effectively “Sherlocked” by built-in phone features.
  • They also riff on the idea of ranking the best phone gimmicks over the years, including features that seemed silly at launch but turned out to be genuinely useful.

Nothing Phone 4B and Ear 3a

Nothing Phone 4B

  • Nothing’s new phone is framed as a budget-focused model in a crowded lineup, with the host suggesting it likely started as a CMF-branded device before being reworked.
  • Key specs and positioning:
    • AMOLED display
    • 120Hz refresh rate
    • Snapdragon 6 Gen 4
    • 8GB RAM / 128GB storage
    • 50MP main camera + 8MP ultrawide
    • Larger battery in India, with a slightly smaller battery elsewhere
  • The phone is seen as solid but not exciting: decent value, but not especially premium or performance-heavy.
  • Reddit reactions were mixed to negative, especially around:
    • Pricing
    • The phone’s chin
    • The overall feeling that it looks more “CMF” than “Nothing”

Nothing Ear 3a

  • The Ear 3a is a $99 pair of earbuds positioned as a more affordable option below Nothing’s pricier buds.
  • The hosts say these are among Nothing’s best products overall, especially for the price.
  • New feature: audio snapshot
    • The case has 32MB of storage
    • It can record calls, meetings, or other audio for later use in the Nothing app
    • The likely use case is transcription / AI memory capture
  • They’re skeptical about how useful the feature really is, and note possible legal/privacy issues around call recording in some regions.

Upcoming Samsung and Google Hardware

Samsung Unpacked

  • Samsung’s teaser strongly suggests a new foldable with a different shape.
  • The hosts think it may be a more passport-style, wider foldable, likely positioned below the more premium “Ultra” model.
  • The teaser wording is so explicit that they joke Samsung is barely pretending not to reveal the product.

Google’s Upcoming Pixel Event

  • Google is also teasing its next Pixel hardware, with the hosts expecting:
    • A new Pixel flagship
    • A potential price increase
    • A possible new “glow” or reflective finish on the visor/camera bar
  • For the Pixel Watch, rumors suggest:
    • A modest price hike
    • New colors, including warm gold and pyrite
    • Two sizes, 41mm and 44mm

Meta, Privacy, and AI Image Generation

Meta Glasses LED Update

  • Meta is reportedly pushing a mandatory update to stop people from tampering with the LED on Meta glasses used as a recording indicator.
  • This is in response to users drilling out the LED so the glasses could record secretly.
  • The hosts welcome the update, but argue:
    • The LED should be more obviously tied to recording
    • Any camera/access activity should trigger a visible alert
    • In an ideal world, nearby people should be notified too

Meta’s Muse AI Image Model

  • Meta launched its first major AI image tool from its superintelligence effort: Muse.
  • It’s deeply integrated into Instagram and can:
    • Generate images
    • Remix photos
    • Incorporate user likenesses and other people’s photos
  • Main criticism:
    • The opt-out controls are buried
    • The watermark is invisible, which the hosts feel is insufficient for misinformation prevention
  • Recommended action:
    • Go into Instagram settings and turn off the option that allows people to reuse your content
    • Also disable any AI-related reuse permissions if available

X/Twitter’s New Video Editor

  • X announced a new iOS video editor and recorder with features like:
    • Text overlays
    • Auto captions
    • Green-screen style effects
  • The company says it wants to encourage original content creation.
  • The hosts are skeptical because:
    • X is still full of reuploaded stolen videos
    • It appears to make little effort to remove infringing content
    • A better solution would be to penalize stolen uploads in monetization and distribution
  • They note that the feature is currently iPhone-only, with Android support still “coming.”

iOS 27 Siri and Third-Party App Support

  • One of the deeper segments explains what’s really happening with the new Siri in iOS 27.
  • Key point: Siri is not meant to be Apple-app-only.
  • Apple is introducing:
    • Entity schemas: let apps label data like recipes, photos, notes, events, etc.
    • Intent schemas: let apps expose what Siri is allowed to do inside them
  • The confusion comes from the fact that:
    • Current Xcode beta builds don’t yet allow developers to ship with these features
    • So current beta demos mostly show Apple apps
  • The hosts expect full support to arrive when the OS officially ships in the fall, not during the beta phase.
  • They stress that Google and other major developers need to support this for Siri to become truly useful with Gmail, Calendar, Photos, and similar services.

Practical Takeaways

  • If you use Instagram, review your sharing/reuse settings and opt out of AI reuse if you care about your content being used for model training or remixing.
  • If you’re waiting on Siri improvements, don’t judge the new system solely by beta behavior—third-party support is likely coming later.
  • If you’re shopping budget phones, Nothing’s new B-series device is a reasonable option, but not a standout spec monster.
  • If you’re into foldables or Pixels, keep an eye on the upcoming Samsung and Google events.

Trivia Answers

  • The phrase “in a pickle” is traced to Shakespeare, specifically The Tempest.
  • The LG G7 ThinQ launched with Android 8.0 Oreo.