Mobile Technology

Earity wireless earbuds feature a little voice control

Earity wireless earbuds feature a little voice control
The Earity buds let you know who is calling and enable you to answer or reject with a simple "yes" or "no"
The Earity buds let you know who is calling and enable you to answer or reject with a simple "yes" or "no"
View 14 Images
When a call is incoming, the earbuds alert you to who that caller is, to which a simple "yes" or "no" will be detected by an earbone microphone
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When a call is incoming, the earbuds alert you to who that caller is, to which a simple "yes" or "no" will be detected by an earbone microphone
The Earity buds connect with your mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m)
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The Earity buds connect with your mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m)
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When a call is incoming, the earbuds alert you to who that caller is, to which a simple "yes" or "no" will be detected by an earbone microphone
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When a call is incoming, the earbuds alert you to who that caller is, to which a simple "yes" or "no" will be detected by an earbone microphone
Beyond phone calls, the company claims the Earity buds to provide a "crystal clear" music listening
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Beyond phone calls, the company claims the Earity buds to provide a "crystal clear" music listening
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The Earity buds connect with your mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m)
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The Earity buds connect with your mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m)
The earbuds come with a sleek tube for storage, which doubles as a charging device, with each charge of the 90 mAh polymer battery, said to be good for 20 days of use
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The earbuds come with a sleek tube for storage, which doubles as a charging device, with each charge of the 90 mAh polymer battery, said to be good for 20 days of use
The Earity buds connect with your mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m)
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The Earity buds connect with your mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m)
When a call is incoming, the earbuds alert you to who that caller is, to which a simple "yes" or "no" will be detected by an earbone microphone to determine whether the call is accepted
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When a call is incoming, the earbuds alert you to who that caller is, to which a simple "yes" or "no" will be detected by an earbone microphone to determine whether the call is accepted
The earbuds come with a sleek tube for storage, which doubles as a charging device, with each charge of the 90 mAh polymer battery, said to be good for 20 days of use
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The earbuds come with a sleek tube for storage, which doubles as a charging device, with each charge of the 90 mAh polymer battery, said to be good for 20 days of use
The Earity buds connect with your mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m)
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The Earity buds connect with your mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m)
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The Earity buds let you know who is calling and enable you to answer or reject with a simple "yes" or "no"
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The Earity buds let you know who is calling and enable you to answer or reject with a simple "yes" or "no"
View gallery - 14 images

Let's be honest, if we put the ability to carry audio from a device to our ears to one side, headphone cords are nothing but trouble. When they aren't balled up in a tangled mess, they're catching on objects and yanking the buds out of our ears. While various wireless earphones have emerged to tackle this problem, the team behind Earity is looking to take this convenience one step further with a pair of earbuds that respond to voice commands.

Earity's founder and CEO Maksym Vysochaskiy says the inspiration for the earphones came to him while driving his car. Conscious of the increased risk of traffic accidents resulting from people using mobile phones behind the wheel, he saw an opportunity to create a distraction-free solution to screening and answering calls.

The Earity buds connect with a mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m). When a call is incoming, the earbuds alert you to who that caller is, to which a simple "yes" or "no" will be detected by an ear bone microphone to determine whether or not you want to take the call. While not exactly expansive, this voice command functionality might appeal to people who are habitually reaching for their phone while on the road.

The Earity buds connect with your mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m)
The Earity buds connect with your mobile device over Bluetooth 4.0 within a range of 32 ft (10 m)

Beyond phone calls, the company claims the Earity buds provide "crystal clear" music listening, though this will need to be controlled by more traditional means (and by that we mean your thumbs). For those looking for hands-free control over this aspect as well, Motorola's recently announced Hint earbuds may well be worth a look.

The Earity buds come with a sleek tube for storage, which doubles as a charging device, with each charge of the 90 mAh polymer battery said to be good for 20 days of use. Vysochaskiy and his team are set to launch an Indiegogo campaign on October 14 to scale up production, where early pledges of US$79 will have a set sent your way in January 2015 if all goes to plan.

Vysochaskiy pitches the Earity buds in the video below.

Source: Earity

View gallery - 14 images
5 comments
5 comments
Ken Dawson
Now, if they could only make them small enough so you don't look like a huge nerd with a giant black piece of plastic hanging out of your ear....
Cyndysub
Studies have shown that even hand free talking is raising risks to a very high level of distracting the driver.
Just Cause
@Cyndysub So does talking to passengers inside the car, people naturally turn their heads to talk and make facial expressions (not all the time but enough). Nothing short of driverless cars will stop accidents caused human (and even then software bugs or design failures, etc will cause them). On the other hand it's always nice seeing people trying to create solutions instead of a government telling you that you can't do this or that.
charlieFreak
I just bought similar ear buds for $6 each from China via eBay.
P51d007
I've been using bluetooth since my old plantronics M1500 back in the motorola star tac days. When people say "you look like a dork", I just say screw you, I don't give a crap, it works for me. People get too hung up on looks. If it is functional, works, I don't give a crap how it looks. Heck, I've seen a lot of idiotic "fashion trends" on tv that are more laughable than a bluetooth headset.