Review: Nokia Essential E3511 ANC True Wireless Earbuds

Apart from the open-fit Nokia E3103 earbuds, Nokia has also made in-ear earbuds that even comes with ANC to keep up with the latest audio trends. The Nokia E3511 earbuds retail for S$149, but they are discounted on Lazada at S$99, which puts them in the budget category of true wireless earbuds.

Unboxing

Here’s what you’ll find in the box:

• Nokia Essential E3511 ANC True Wireless Earbuds
• Charging case
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• User manual
• Ear tips x3 (S, M, L)

Tech specs

Build quality and features

The Nokia E3511 earbuds comes in three colours – (1) White, (2) Black, and (3) Blue. The unit I have is the black variant. For the black model, the case has a space grey matte finish to give off a metallic design. The overall build quality of the case is pretty good, there is slight heft to it and the hinges and magnetic closings don’t feel cheap. The size of the case is small but thick, so it will likely have an uncomfortable bulge in your jeans pocket.

As for the earbuds, they have the AirPods Pro design language which means it comes with a stem. The earbuds are made from plastic and have a glossy finish to them. The size of the Nokia E3511 earbuds are a tad larger than the E3103. The earbuds are IP44 water-resistant which is better than IPX4, so the earbuds should cope just fine even if you’re caught in the rain wearing them. The Nokia E3511 earbuds are touch controlled and the sensors are located on the stem of the earbuds where there is a tiny indent.

Controls

You can control almost all of the main media functions such as play/pause, volume, and forward, but cannot go backwards on tracks.

The touch sensors are on the little indent on the stem of the earbuds. But since they do not require a minimum level of force to engage it, I tend to accidentally trigger some controls when wearing the earbuds. The touch controls are responsive but the lack of haptic feedback can make it a little tricky to gauge the number of presses registered.

Ambient mode

Ambient mode allows external surroundings sounds to come into the earbuds. The overall feel of Nokia E3511‘s ambient mode is largely natural. The pitch of the surrounding sounds are quite accurate, and have a comfortable openness to them. Voices also do not robotic or processed.

Battery life

The Nokia E3511 earbuds offers up to 6.5 hours of playtime on a full charge, which is pretty good for its size. Using ANC brings the battery life down to 4.5 hours. The charging case can offer close to 3x the charge, so you can get anywhere between 12.5 hours to 18.5 hours depending on your mileage of ANC.

As for charging, the Nokia E3511 earbuds is charged via a wired option via USB-C only.

Fit and comfort

The Nokia E3511 earbuds is largely comfortable to wear. The fit is quite similar to the Oppo Enco earbuds, but the Nokia E3511 earbuds being larger does feel a little bit substantial in my ears. The end of the stem sometimes make contact with my skin as well. Having said that, the fit is gentle and unobtrusive.

Pairing, connectivity, and latency

Nokia E3511 earbuds has the latest Bluetooth 5.2 and pairs to my phone as a single unit. During my time of testing, the Bluetooth connection was stable. However, I did notice about half a second of latency or audio lag when watching YouTube videos from the YouTube app on my iPhone 11, which is a little weird given that the E3103 with Bluetooth had no such issue. Anyway, if you want to use just one earbud, you can use either the left or right earbud.

Sound quality

The Nokia E3511 earbuds has a warm sound signature overall, but isn’t something I would call bass heavy. Bass delivers impactful punch which do not extend too deep into sub-bass for a meaty thump. Midrange offers good level of detail which allows vocals to be at the forefront on tracks like ‘Gravity’ by John Mayer. But when tracks are more complicated or has consistent bass kicks in the background, the mids can start to feel a little suppressed. Treble provides a comfortable warm veil but lacks that sparkle to push those bright hi-ends to come alive.

Despite an overall warm sound signature, it is quite different from the Creative Outlier Pro for example, which has a more prominent bass heavy sound with de-emphasised treble. And in comparison, the Nokia E3511 earbuds is more balanced across the board, with a mellow tuning.

ANC performance

ANC on the Nokia E3511 earbuds is average and was kind of expected at its price point. Low end noises such as engine rumble are negated with a slight hum in the background. Higher frequency noises such as rail squeal on MRT can still be heard slightly, but having ANC to reduce the volume of it is better than nothing. For about S$100, if you’re looking for better ANC at this price range the Creative Outlier Pro offers strong ANC and handles higher frequencies noises much better.

Microphone quality

The microphone of the Nokia E3511 earbuds is promising but unfortunately did not do so well in the noise test. In a controlled environment, voice pickup was clear and more forward than the E3103 earbuds. Voice sounded warmer with more body to it. When noise was introduced, the Nokia E3511 earbuds was able to cancel of most of it but the clarity of my voice also suffers as a result. For the same price range of S$100, the Creative Outlier Pro has a better microphone.

Conclusion

The Nokia E3511 earbuds offers a warm sound which a long list of feature set such as ANC and Ambient Mode to make a competitive pair of true wireless earbuds. Its current promotional price at S$98 feels well and fairly priced, given the likes so many “budget” true wireless earbuds now that seem to offer a comprehensive set of feature to compete against big name flagships.