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Enlarge ImagePugz
Pugz earbuds draw your attention with this claim on Kickstarter: “Pugz-World’s smallest wireless earbuds charged through phone.”
The Kickstarter promo video features a couple of guys in pug dog masks explaining why current wireless earbud options suck and how Pugz will make it all better. It’s pretty compelling when you look at the specs. The creators say the earbuds are sweat-resistant and comfortable. There’s a built-in microphone and a battery that lasts 4.5 hours.
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Perhaps the biggest selling point is that you can charge the earbuds using your phone’s power connector, the Pugz charger cable works with Apple Lightning and most Android phone ports, and still listen to music at the same time. The earbuds clip to the charger cable with a magnetic snap. This unique charging system is called “The Squircle,” named for its combination of a circle and square shape. It also includes a USB converter for charging with a computer or wall outlet.
The Pugz team says it takes 40 minutes to charge the earbuds and only uses about 3 percent of your smartphone’s battery capacity. It will be interesting to see how the real-world numbers stack up once backers receive their Pugz and start to use them.
Pugz come in two styles, sealed with noise cancellation (the kind that goes into your ear canal) and leaking (the kind that sits just inside your earlobe). Magnets on the cords let you dangle them safely around your neck when not in use.
Pugz
Functioning Pugz prototypes have already been made, and the Kickstarter is about getting the product into mass production. There may be a million earbuds already on the market, but the Pugz promises are enough to attract a pretty major outpouring of crowdfunding support. The original $50,000 goal has been dwarfed, with the campaign pulling in over $849,000 in pledges with a week left to run.
A set of Pugz in either sealed or leaking style goes for a $119 (about £79, AU$169) early-bird pledge price or a regular $149 (about £98, AU$212) price. Keep in mind that not all crowdfunding projects deliver on time and as expected.
The Pugz price is in line with higher-end earbuds. The battery life won’t blow you away, but the on-the-go charging feature should make that a moot point. It’s no wonder over 6,000 backers want to put these puppies in their ears.
