When adding unconventional functionalities to a device that does its job well more times than not, it always ends up feeling gimmicky or the intended job suffers as a result of the compromise in designing the product to add the new functionality. There are times, however, adding the new functionality makes the overall experience better, and you end up wondering why this wasn’t thought of before.
Huawei is definitely hoping for the latter case with the company teasing, a smartwatch that can open up to store wireless earbuds inside it. The Chinese company calls it the Watch Buds, and it was supposed to be unveiled on 2nd December during Huawei’s winter product launch, but the passing of former China President Jiang Zemin made them postpone the event.
Nevertheless, the company took to Weibo and posted a short video on how the Watch Buds work. The size of the watch is similar to that of Huawei’s Watch GT line, so it is not unnaturally big, and it appears to be running the company’s own Harmony OS. To access the hidden earbuds, you have to open the underside of the watch’s dial.
Where the Watch Buds have to defer in design from the Watch GT line has to be the battery. It is expected that once stored, the earbuds would be charged up, meaning the smartwatch would need a bigger battery than other smartwatches of the same size. The upside of having the earbuds stored and charged by your smartwatch is that you will no longer need to carry around a case where you would normally store and charge them.
Having built-in wireless earbuds is something Nokia tried with the Nokia 5710 XpressAudio feature phone, however, this is the first time a company has tried the same with a smartwatch.
The Watch Buds appear to be out in the wild already, with a few people sharing photos of the smartwatch on social media. Even the Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO, Yu Chengdong has already been spotted wearing the watch. Yu has already given his thoughts on the new device, describing it as a “revolutionary breakthrough in the form and structure design of wearable products by Huawei.”
We will likely learn more about the Watch Buds when Huawei reschedules the official launch of the device and provides us with more information including battery life and the weight of the watch
