Mobvoi's new product: TicPods Free overview

Mobvoi, the American AI company, came out with another product besides their smart speaker TicHome Mini and the smartwatch, TicWatch. This time around, they have turned towards what they call “most interactive wireless earbuds”: the TicPods Free. The whole idea started back in March of 2017 and since then, they managed to raise more than enough funds to start massive production and get themselves to the point of shipping these earphones out to the customers in July this year. In the meantime, they had a trial period of user feedback when in order to modify the prototype and get the final version they took suggestions from trail users. So, let’s take a look what are final features of the TicPods Free by Mobvoi.

Talking about some technical features, when it comes to audio, TicPods Free have a clear and crisp audio. One of the changes from the prototype to final version was a minimization of the audio lag which is now satisfactory. They also have noise cancellation as well as noise isolation and when you talk on the phone they will cancel out the external sounds and ambient noise so your voice will stay very clear even if there is wind out. On top of this, they also have IPX5 water and dust resistance.

When it comes to connectivity, TicPods Free are true wireless earphones meaning that they are not connected by any wire to either your phone or each other. They use Bluetooth to connect to your smart device. Furthermore, they are compatible to connect to devices using both iOS and Android.

One of the highlight features of the TicPods Free earbuds is the voice assistant support with Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa. The stem of the earpods has intuitive touch controls that you use to manage calls and music and access your voice assistant. The controls are not hard to get a hang of sliding up and down changes the volume, double tapping manages the call or skips a song while a 2-second touch activates your voice assistant that can read out your notifications to you so you do not have to take your phone out of the pocket.

Battery life of the TicPods Free earbuds is a pretty good one with 18 hours in total: 4 hours with a single charge plus the additional 14 hours you get in the case. Naturally, as other recent additions to market of wireless earbuds, they have the option of fast charging. The cases use micro USB port to recharge itself. An additional feature on them is that they have the in-ear detection which makes them pause the music when you take them off in order to save the battery and only when they detect that you put them back in they resume playing.

The design of these earpods is very similar to that of Apple’s Airpods with a slight difference in what the bud itself looks like, but the stem still sticks out. They have been awarded Red Dot and iF design awards. You can purchase them in three colors: white, red and finally dark blue. They all have two sizes of the silicone tips so you can adjust them to fit your ear and sit comfortably. TicPods come in a simple charging case in which you can store them, but, even if you lose one earpod, the company offers a purchase of individual earpods so you are able to get a replacement earpod.

And finally, we should mention the price of the TicPods Free. Mobvoi released them on Indiegogo crowdfunding website from where you can order your pair. Prices vary from Early Bird offer at $79, all the way up to $149 and $179 which are the prices for bundles of TicPods Free and TicHome Mini or TicWatch, respectively.