Huawei FreeClip: The earring-like earbuds that clip onto your ears

Image: Huawei

Huawei has a reputation for unconventional product designs. And its latest creation, the Huawei FreeClip, might be its most eccentric yet. The FreeClip earbuds look like earrings or piercings, thanks to a C-bridge design that clips onto the back of your ears. This is a departure from the usual hooks that go over the ear (think the PowerBeats Pro). Huawei claims this design is based on “10,000+ global human ear data” (sic) and allows you to wear these buds in either ear. 

They also have an IP54 rating, so they can resist sweat and be taken on workouts outdoors. The open-ear structure is meant to make it easier to stay alert towards your surroundings.

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Huawei signs patent cross-licensing deal with rival OPPO

Huawei may finally have some of its key connectivity features accessible outside of China. The company has signed a cross-licensing agreement with BBK Electronics' OPPO. Huawei can share its connectivity know-how, while OPPO can provide patents regarding audio and video tech. The announcements from both companies don't go into the detail about the deal. 

Due to US sanctions, Huawei hasn't been able to fully utilize its key technologies or make money out of them. The deal will at least help them earn additional revenue. OPPO, together with vivo (another BBK Electronics company), has shipped over 51 million units in the last quarter, meaning Huawei can earn handsomely from their agreement. It will be interesting to note if lawmakers will pay attention to this deal, and if that'll affect BBK's business.

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Huawei announces half e-reader, half tablet MatePad Paper

Source: Huawei

Huawei's newest tablet is also an e-reader. If you wanted more features than a Kindle, that's what the MatePad Paper offers. It's a 10.3-inch device featuring a greyscale screen with an anti-glare reflective display for low-light use. It can reproduce 256 shades of greyscale to display text, images, and videos. I'm not sure I'd be too excited about black & white videos (unless they're created that way). But it's an option here. It also has 32 levels of backlighting.

For an e-ink device, the MatePad Paper has relatively smaller bezels. Huawei says it can achieve an 86.3 percent screen-to-body ratio but gets a book spine-inspired design to make sure you still have something to hold. The MatePad Paper also supports the Huawei M Pencil, so you can scribble or annotate on documents or books. According to the company, it has refined the sensitivity of the textured screen to 26ms, which might not seem much for newer devices. But it's a notable feature on a matte e-ink surface.

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Huawei unveils clamshell P50 Pocket

Source: Huawei

Huawei's latest foldable takes on the stylish, portable clamshell design. The company officially unveiled its P50 Pocket smartphone. It gets Huawei Mate X series' patented hinge mechanism, which means there should be no visible gap between the top and bottom half of the phone when it's folded.

Inside is a 6.9-inch 120Hz OLED display with a tall 21:9 aspect ratio and 2,790 x 1,188 resolution. There is a punch-hole cutout for the 10-megapixel selfie camera at the top centre. 

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