A 12 months and a 1/2 of ago, I included this exciting product from a small Shenzhen begin-up: a mens calvin klein sunglasses that doubled as earphones way to audio system constructed into its hands. While I located the product probably useful, in the end the audio tech made the hands too thick, ensuing in now no longer simply a clumsy appearance, however an uncomfortable match. The audio that pumped out additionally sounded very flat. Some distance larger enterprise primarily based totally in Shenzhen—Huawei—has made a comparable product, and it's far unsurprisingly lots extra polished. Made in partnership with South Korean modern eyewear emblem Gentle Monster, Huawei’s contemporary is called the Eyewear 2, and it’s a part of the Chinese tech giant’s push to construct a whole surroundings of client merchandise cantered round its smartphone—a approach the enterprise calls “1 + 8 + N.”

As the call suggests, the Eyewear 2 is certainly the sequel to the primary pair of “clever sun shades” additionally made in collaboration via way of means of the 2 brands. I in no way attempted the original, however I’ve been informed the Eyewear 2 improves the speaker device and capabilities extra styles.

I can’t say the way it compares to the primary generation; however, the Eyewear 2 do pump out audio that sound complete and loud—lots higher than the pair from the start-up. Let’s begin with the layout: The Eyewear 2 appearance much like a normal pair of sun shades. This is an instantaneous win over the opposite audio sun shades I’ve seen, now no longer simply from the begin-up however additionally Bose’s personal version, which has very thick hands. In fact, the most effective giveaway that those aren't ordinary sun shades is the bigger than standard case, which additionally costs the sun shades, and the small crimson mark at the facet of the hands to allow customers recognize in which to faucet for clever controls. And those faucet controls paintings as advertised. Double faucet at the proper arm controls audio gambling or pausing. Do the identical at the left arm and it triggers the phones’ virtual assistant, whether or not it's Siri, Google’s Assistant or Huawei’s personal Celia. Sliding on every arm control both audio fast-forwarding or volume.

The audio system—one on every arm—use an outdoor layout, which means it performs track across the customers’ ears rather than at once into their ear canals. Audio does sound proper with crisp minds and a few minor bass. In quiet environments, I actually have listened to track and podcasts without feeling just like the audio turned into lacking.

However, due to the fact it's far an outdoor layout—sound from the outdoor global can nonetheless attain my ears—this indicates whilst the surroundings receive too loud, the audio may be tough to pay attention. This is much less a flaw with the Eyewear 2 than the fact that Hong Kong is a town with bad stages of noise pollution. The hands have mics constructed in that does an excellent process of selecting up my voice, as I turned into capable of summon Siri via way of means of double tapping an arm, ask a question, and feature Siri respond, all with my tele cell smart phone interior my pocket the complete time. I turned into additionally capable of obtain telecall smartphone calls, with the opposite birthday celebration announcing I sounded “clean and loud enough.”
This overall manipulate over your audio and virtual assistant, in conjunction with the open-ear layout make those perfect for biking or jogging, due to the fact I can pay attention to track or podcasts and nonetheless pay attention the whole thing going on the street round me.

The Eyewear 2 has all of the fancy clever capabilities that top class wi-fi earbuds offer, like robotically pausing track whilst you're taking off the glasses, with audio resuming while you placed them again on. The case additionally costs the sun shades wirelessly thru NFC. A unmarried fee can play 5 hours of audio. The sun shades match without difficulty way to its bendy hinge. And even as I idea the rounded layout appeared a chunk female out of the box, my companion appreciates its unisex layout and the way it frames her face. The Huawei X Gentle Monster Eyewear 2 is on sale in Europe and Asia, for across the equal of $350. Personally, $350 for a couple of sun shades—even clever ones—sounded excessive to me at first, however I’m additionally now no longer precisely a fashion-aware kind who recognize what’s modern in fashion. My companion and buddies who're extra into fashion, have informed me Gentle Monster is a modern emblem whose merchandise are especially coveted in South Korea amongst celebrities. The common charge of a couple of ordinary Gentle Monster sun shades, for example, fees round $260, so after thinking about that, I suppose $350 is fair.