back to article Huawei teases bonkers gadget combo

Have you ever left the house with your smartwatch on, but forgotten your earbuds? Huawei has a solution to that modern crisis: Watch Buds. As the name implies, the device is a smartwatch that incorporates earbuds. As the video below demonstrates, the watch face flips up to reveal a pair of earbuds nestled beneath, with tiny …

  1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    assertion the case is fashionable and desirable.

    Well, to the people that want to sell it, perhaps... all they have to do is persuade the buyers that this is the case.

    1. that one in the corner Silver badge

      Re: assertion the case is fashionable and desirable.

      X := my past performance at judging the desirability of a fashion item, taking into account its practical application, apparent cost of materials, durability etc.

      Y := apparent similarity between myself and other El Reg commenter, based on vaguely remembered posts

      f(a) := likelihood person of class 'a' follows a comment written like this to the end

      Z := ratio(f(fashionable young person), f(commentard))

      Combining X*Y with Z and weighting for "how many sleeps before Christmas" implies: Huawei are going to sell lots more of these than any of us can believe.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

        Re: assertion the case is fashionable and desirable.

        that one in the corner,

        I think you may have missed an important variable from your equation.

        Obviously there is an inverse relationship between my idea of what's fashionable, and what is actually fashionable. Although there was one brief period in the nineties when the waistcoat became a fashion item, about 6 months after I'd started wearing them. Thus proving that there's an exception to every rule...

        However we also need to account for the negative coolness effect. Thus, if by some miracle, I were to correctly deem an item to be cool that the fashionable also found to be so. The sudden imbalance of trendion and anti-trendion particles in this area of the universe would cause a local spike in the emissions of Ratner radiation - thus draining the item in question of cool and leading it to become unfashionable. This effect would be incresed even further should I chose to actually purchase said item.

  2. doublelayer Silver badge

    Overthinking this now

    Now I'm trying to imagine how they could possibly manage this and getting the mental equivalent of NaN results. There's just no practical way they can get a watch to hold earbuds without making the watch ridiculously thick or the buds so small they no longer fit in human ears, and I'm guessing they've done some (or a lot) of both given that if they did make the buds incredibly small and shrunk the watch to the thinnest they could manage, battery life to run and charge both isn't likely to be good.

    Maybe as someone who doesn't wear watches I'm underestimating how thick of a watch people will put up with, but somehow I don't think so.

    1. Little Mouse

      Re: Overthinking this now

      Maybe they should store the buds on the strap so that they press into the inside of your wrist.

      It'd be the perfect watch if you've "left the house with your smartwatch on, but forgotten your earbuds" AND get frequently get travel sickness.

  3. Ball boy Silver badge

    Just because you *can* make something....

    ....doesn't mean you *should* make it!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Just because you *can* make something....

      your 'should' fails to apply to human race. If anything, the 'shouldn't do that' is probably the greatest factor behind our success as a species (and ultimate failure, methinks).

  4. PhilipN Silver badge

    Security Alarm

    Could someone kindly remind me whether airport security staff ever check watches. Or is it always assumed there is in fact a real time-keeping movement inside and nothing else*.

    *Yeah I KNOW smart watches do lots "else" but you get the point, yes?

    1. mmonroe

      Re: Security Alarm

      My 2cm x 1.5cm watch set the alarm off going through the metal detector in Kuala Lumpur. Security didn't understand and neither did I. Its a £20 Sekonda, which tells the time. They got one of the jewellry concessionaires to whip the back off for a peek inside. I don't know what they were expecting to find, but I was soon on my way.

      1. PhilipN Silver badge

        Re: Security Alarm

        Sekonda is Russian, yes? Say no more.

        Had one once. Maybe still in a drawer somewhere.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: Security Alarm

          Maybe the luminous dial was Polonium paint?

          The lead lined one ---------------->

    2. elsergiovolador Silver badge

      Re: Security Alarm

      One time airport security disassembled my phone (it was when it was possible to do so with a screwdriver).

    3. steviebuk Silver badge

      Re: Security Alarm

      Saw them x-ray one at Southampton when I went on cruise earlier in year. I could of bagged myself a fancy watch as it had been in one of the trays but fell out and was under the x-ray table. Lucky I spotted it so pointed it out to security who picked it up and went to give it me back. Had to tell them it wasn't mine.

  5. VeryRealHuman
    FAIL

    So what?

    There has been a watch with earbuds bolted to it on sale on AliExpress for like 2 years already. Of course, this is marginally more impressive, but still kinda useless. Also, Nokia has a phone with BT Earbuds stored inside. There's only one question that remains: But why?

  6. Zebo-the-Fat

    Why?

    Why bother?

    Never felt the need for a Smartwatch and I am able to survive for more than a day without earphones in.

    1. steviebuk Silver badge

      Re: Why?

      Thought about a smartwatch and despite hating Apple my partner was giving me her old watch. Mainly so she would know where I was. That didn't bother me, she worries I'll go missing on my walks with the dog. Anyway. Didn't last long as I don't have an Apple phone so made it pointless. Then I discovered they need, even the new ones, charging every day. No thanks.

      Got a Lorus Lumibrite for £30 from Argos instead.

      I now watch Wristwatch revival on YouTube. He's really good. Makes it look easy.

    2. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

      Re: Why?

      More lost parts, more things accidentally dropped, more batteries to charge, more custom chargers, more tiny pieces to break, more space needed to carry more stuff.

      Just a phone with always-on-display, 1 TB storage, and a headphone jack for me. I can fit the two travel accessories - USB cable and wired earbuds - in a pocket.

    3. martinusher Silver badge

      Re: Why?

      I don't have an urge to get a Smartwatch but I know quite a few that have them. Some are in their 80s. They love the things; maybe its a trace memory of old comic strips and wristphones? (Dick Tracey?)

      Earbuds? Seem to me to easy to lose hearing aids. Real hearing aids are deigned to stay in place in the ear canal and modern ones can double as Bluetooth earbuds. I can't imagine why anyone would bother with them but lots of people seem to use them.

  7. elsergiovolador Silver badge

    Storage

    Seems like a neat storage for your afternoon Colombian snow bump.

    1. KittenHuffer Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Storage

      Yeah, if you're out for a long walk it would be great for some Bolivian marching powder!

      ------> Me, after hitting the watch stash!

      1. elsergiovolador Silver badge

        Re: Storage

        and you can set it to kindly remind you in case you have been indulging in devil's lettuce and forgot.

  8. Paul Smith

    Irony alert

    I look forward to seeing this device being used in the next James Bond movie.

  9. IGotOut Silver badge

    Wait you mean....

    ...you can put your phone in a leather case that goes on your belt?

    Where do they get such ground breaking ideas back.

    Hopefully thry'll make these sooon for my 20 year old motorola.

    1. ravenviz Silver badge

      Re: Wait you mean....

      I know, a case that holds a phone *and* earbuds!

  10. xyz123 Silver badge

    Lets all put on a watch that reports your location second-by-second to bejing.

    Add earbuds with a microphone so it can record ALL your calls and funnel them to a chinese datacentre!!!

  11. Pax681

    Well wearbuds did that first they were ok.not spectacular but ok

  12. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    Alternative uses

    If you have to take meds at stipulated times through the day, then put them in your watch and set an alarm. Problem at the moment is that only two pills can be stored at a time.

    Another possibility is for where to stash an engagement ring. Set a reminder alarm as to when to do the deed and call it an "engagement ring".

  13. the Jim bloke

    why arent they doing this with phones?

    Despite otherwise adequate speaker performance, my last couple of Nokia phones have absolute crap phone volume and quality, requiring external headphones to be usable. Having earbuds handy would be useful for this.

    But the aesthetic for phones is they must be skinny, so no extraneous bits...

    My next phone wont be a Nokia..

  14. 43300 Silver badge

    Bluetooth earphones generally - why?

    I bought some because they were allegedly so great and were on offer. No less hassle than wired ones, and they needed to be charged. When they broke (for no obvious reason - just stopped working) I bought some wired ones again.

    Problem is of course that more and more phones don't now have the 3.5mm jack socket.

    1. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

      Re: No less hassle than wired ones

      I see a number of people on the train sit down, get their plugs out, plug them in (to their ears), then spend the rest of the journey trying to find out why they don't work. I've even seen people reading the instructions that came with the devices(s). Now that is serious!

      Tip: To look really cool on the train, forget gadgets, stick with reading a book. Now I'm the antithesis of cool, but I've had some nice women start up conversations with me on the subject of whatever book I'm currently reading.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like