These $250 earphones from Bose can't play music
What's the story
Bose has launched Sleepbuds, an earphone that can't play music. Intrigued? Their only purpose is to help users sleep better. Bose's smallest product yet, Sleepbuds fit snugly into your ears and are meant to be worn overnight for a good night's sleep. It blocks out the ambient noises around you and lets you drift off without even feeling that there's something in your ears.
Single functionality
Sleepbuds don't stream music, purely designed to help you sleep
Besides masking external sound, Sleepbuds also feature 10 pre-loaded white noise tracks that include sounds of gentle waves and wind turbines. It connects to your phone using low-energy Bluetooth and you can use the company's "Sleep" app to select the white noise track you want to listen to and set its volume and other preferences. However, note that Sleepbuds cannot play music at all.
Details
The device should be available widely before year-end
The device costs $249 and is currently available in the US and Canada. Sleepbuds will come to other markets including Europe, Asia-Pacific, Mexico, and Latin America by fall this year. Bose claims that Sleepbuds can last for 16 hours on a single charge. The device also features an alarm function which can be snoozed from the phone.
Sleep tech
Sleepbuds first launched as an Indiegogo campaign last year
Sleepbuds were first announced last year on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, where it raised $450,000. Though the device doesn't feature Bose's trademark noise-cancellation tech, its unique selling point is its weight and size. It has a smaller footprint than a penny and weighs just 1.4 grams. Even in that small a size, the device packs a rechargeable battery, miniature circuit board, transmitter, and laser-etched antenna.