This Ridiculous Smartwatch Has A Hidden Pair Of Earbuds Inside

4 minute read

Smartwatches are weird again, and this time Huawei is taking the lead. The company gave us a preview of its upcoming device, the Huawei Watch Buds. It looks like another well-built smartwatch from Huawei — until you open the case to reveal two wireless headphones.

Yes, you heard correctly. The contact area rises, presenting you with a pair of true wireless earphones, which sit snugly in their magnetic recesses. As you might expect, these aren't bulky noise-canceling headphones or AirPods-style earphones.

These are spherical earbuds small enough to fit into the main body of the smartwatch. However, the design is not innovative as it looks strikingly similar to the Nokia True Wireless earphones and Motorola Verve Earbuds.

What really stands out here is the smartwatch technology. Huawei's design team managed to fit enough space for two headphones inside the main body, and added a magnetic wireless charging system to keep these audio devices powered well.

If you didn't think the excitement was enough, someone shot a video of the smartwatch in what appears to be a retail store. As mentioned earlier, the exterior design does not stand out from an aesthetic point of view, but once you open it, it surprises you.

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The Huawei Watch Buds were supposed to be launched in December, but the event was postponed at the last minute. Huawei's official Weibo channel did not provide an explanation, and no new launch date has been announced yet.

It's the kind of magic that inspires me and I look forward to it as a tech buy for the holidays. Will it launch in the US? Very unlikely. And based on this Politico report, you probably won't find it in Europe either.

Huawei's headphone trick is pretty interesting, but Nokia did a similar one earlier this year. The company revived the legendary XpressMusic series in July with the Nokia 5710 XpressAudio - a discreet feature phone, and then the old phone became a pair of headphones.

Nokia 5710 XpressAudio phone with earphone on the back.

From the back, simply slide off the cover to reveal a pair of stem-style headphones. Is it funny, yes! And at a reasonable price of just $90, why not make it an impulse buy for the tech nerd? Or the phone could be a hit for short-term digital detox resolutions.

But hey, we're talking about smartwatches, which makes me wonder: Where did all these crazy experiments go? Let's not forget the elegant Calendar watch, which ZTE's girl was so attractive about, or the Nubia Alpha smartwatch of 2019.

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The latter was ahead of its time thanks to a stylized, Omnitrix-like display inspired by the fictional world of Spielberg's Ready Player One . It had its flaws, but it was a very promising project. It's a shame Nubia never developed an improved version that offered more reliable support for non-touch hand gestures.

In 2018, a company called Shell released a smartwatch that became a full-fledged smartphone. They simply removed the main round body from the strap and two branches appeared, each with a speaker and microphone on the rounded edge. In fact, its battery will be charged thanks to the movement of your hands to generate electricity.

Conceptual illustration of an IBM foldable smartwatch.

Do you want more questions? Well, in 2019, computing giant IBM filed a patent for a foldable smartwatch that could turn into — wait for it — a tablet. The patent filing, titled Variable Screen Size for Electronics, envisions a smartwatch with a foldable panel, the same year that Samsung was rocked by the debacle of its first foldable phone.

At the moment, the weirdness of the smartwatch sector is leaning more towards innovation. Take the Huawei Watch D, for example, which features a smart airlock system on the watchband to monitor blood pressure without the hassle of calibration.

Apple and Samsung are targeting non-invasive blood glucose monitoring for their upcoming smartwatches. Blood alcohol measurement and a deep chemical analysis of sweat are also on the radar in development. Crazy smartwatch innovation never hurts, and while something like the Huawei Watch Buds isn't particularly useful, it's still exciting to see.