Digi.no / Barcelona: Mymanu previously offered a range of earplugs which, in addition to serving as regular earplugs you can listen to and speak to music on the phone, can also translate speech between 35 different languages.
This exact feature still requires a mobile phone and an app that comes free with purchase of the earbuds, but at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today, they launched a mobile-free version for the rest.
Thus, you should be able to make and receive phone calls using the headset, and without connecting a mobile phone. Dubbed the Titan, the headset has built-in support for 4G and eSIM networks, and is voice-controlled so you don’t have to fiddle with it while doing sports, cooking, or anything else. Of course it has buttons too, if you want to use it.
We had a quick chat with company founder and CEO Danny Manu, who willingly explained how the headset works and what it can do.
We can’t deny that mobile phones have positively changed the way the world works, but I wanted to offer consumers a way to stay connected without having to use a mobile phone. There are many situations where you don’t want to carry your phone or it simply isn’t convenient to carry it with you, but you still want to be connected.
Titanium consists of a kind of collar that is located around the user’s neck, the wires of which connect to the earplugs. At the moment, everything seems a little big and impractical, but this is only the first version. Danny says they are already working on a smaller version.
Titanium must be resistant to both moisture and heat, and lie safely around the user’s neck, in order to be able to work, for example, during exercise or on the move. Danny promises up to 8 hours of battery life in the device.
Danny also promises that the simultaneous interpreter will be able to translate and read SMS aloud and print speech sent in other languages. Over time, they should also be able to translate audio messages so well that the recipient hears the translation in the same speaker’s voice.
Unfortunately some “hands-on” wasn’t possible because the prototype they had with them at the show unfortunately only worked with the British mobile network, but we did wear it test, and tried the translation on the previous model of earplugs.
It wasn’t automatic, but considering the volume in the hall, it was still impressive. We asked questions in Norwegian to an English speaking person, and got the correct answers in English. I struggled a bit more with English to Norwegian, probably because the speaker was wearing a bandage, but after several attempts a correct answer came up in understandable Norwegian.
Titanium can be pre-ordered today. Regular price is £349 but pre-orders currently offer at least a 51% discount, being £170 at the time of writing. The product itself won’t be available until summer 2022, we learn from Mymanu.
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