Aipower thinks there's a better way to charge wireless earbuds: embedding them in a digital watch. The company's Wearbuds are nearing the end of a very successful Kickstarter campaign, which ends today.
It's not often that you see innovations coming from Chinese companies in the mobile space, but the concept behind Wearbuds is interesting. In a way, Wearbuds' creators have tried to go a step beyond what Apple offers with its wireless Airpods.
Aipower designed the watch that charges its earbuds. It's priced from $69 for a matte black version to $149 for a limited edition with a pedometer, fitness tracking, and sleep tracking -- in addition to the basic wireless earbuds function.
The Kickstarter campaign busted through its goal of $50,000 in a single day and has topped $800,000 as it nears its final hours. The finalized version will ship to Kickstarter backers this fall.
Wearbuds weigh just 3.6 grams each and offer wireless stereo that lets you take phone calls or play music in your ears via the wireless pods, which are connected to your smartphone via a Bluetooth connection.
The earbuds are tiny, and you plug them into either side of the smartwatch's rounded oblong screen. The watch charges the Wearbuds, and after the seven-day watch battery runs out, you charge the watch with a wire that plugs into the wall.
Aipower said it has patented the design.
I tried out a $99 white version of the watch with some of the features turned on.
The sound comes from a Qualcomm audio chipset and graphene-augmented drivers and was good quality, and the Wearbuds' batteries lasted around 5.5 hours.
I encountered a few problems you can chalk up to the prototype status of the watch I tried. The buds didn't stay in the watch charging slots that well, and one popped out while I was in a kickboxing class. The wrist strap holes weren't a good fit either, so it took a while for me to strap the watch on. Other than that, it all functioned as advertised.
A $129 version of the watch will come with a transparent band, and the straps are swappable. Audio support includes the aptX format with smooth audio streaming and passive noise cancellation with hybrid silicone material. You can tap the sides of the Wearpods to pause or play, adjust the volume, or change the track.
The Wearpods have IPX6 water resistance and the watch features a processor with an Arm Cortex-M core. It also comes with an app that lets you review basic information like your heart rate, steps walked, and hours slept.