While they look a bit more like hearing aids than earbuds, Skybuds are miniature earbuds without the cords. The tiny buds fit snugly in your ear, transmitting music and phone calls alike wirelessly from your iPhone to your ears via Bluetooth. This is especially useful for those who either despise cords or have their earbuds constantly falling out of their ears.
But the really interesting part about Skybuds is how you charge and store the earbuds. Rather than bundle a separate charger and carrying case that you’ll probably end up losing or forgetting somewhere, Skybuds come with a proprietary iPhone case that charges and stores your earbuds. The case has two inductive charging ports, one for each ear, below the case on each side. Inside the case is a 1,000mAh battery that not only charges the earbuds, but can charge your iPhone too. The earbuds only need 100mAh to fully charge, so your iPhone can take up some of the extra battery life to keep it going throughout the day.
What’s especially cool is the included app, which will help monitor battery usage to charge your iPhone while leaving enough juice to charge your Skybuds when you need it. Since it uses Bluetooth, the Skybuds also include a wireless Bluetooth headset feature, along with a wireless microphone. That way you can also take calls while listening to your music. The microphone can also be used to enable passive noise cancellation to reduce nearby disturbances. Skybuds ultimately are not just wireless earbuds, but also a case for your iPhone, a battery pack for your iPhone, and even a Bluetooth headset, all without the extra clutter of a separate charger or other equipment.
Skybuds aren’t cheap, though. The accessory will retail at $300, but Kickstarter backers will be able to grab this device for just $225 if they back now. The earbuds also only last three to four hours on a single charge, meaning any long day or flight will require pausing to charge. No word on how long it takes to charge the buds, but we imagine it’s pretty quick. Skybuds plans to start shipping in May to early backers.
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