- When Apple's Air Pods first came out
I kind of thought they looked stupid.
Actually I still kinda
think they look stupid.
I mean they look like the heads
on an electric toothbrush.
I feel much cooler wearing the new
Bose Frames which work
like a pair of headphones
but look just like any
ordinary sunglasses.
And best of all, not at
all like toothbrushes.
Here's how they work.
They have speakers and
microphone on the inside
which play music or
podcasts or whatever else
which sounds like it would end up
playing everything so loudly that
anyone around you could hear you,
like you're the monster who listens
to music on speakerphone in public.
But Bose has some really clever
noise canceling tech that actually
manages to mask the
sound that emanates out.
It doesn't kill everything,
but unless I really crank the volume
the most it'll sound like is the sort of
leaky headphone audio you
get from Apple's Air Pods.
Basically don't use these in the quiet car
but out in the world you
won't disturb anybody.
I'm so intrigued by these Frames
because it turns out I
wear my actual Air Pods
for hours, basically every single day
and I do way more than just listen
to music on my headphones.
I listen to podcasts, I make phone calls,
and especially with these new models,
I'm using the Air Pods to talk to Siri
throughout the day.
It's so much easier to use Alexa
or Google Assistant or
Siri to say, "call Anna,"
or "remind me tomorrow morning to
pick up the dry cleaning"
then it is to dig out my phone
and try to do it that way.
Air Pods and all these other truly
wireless headphones I've been testing
are designed to offer
the same kind of utility
but in your ears all the time.
But the problem with headphones is
that they're headphones
and I really, really don't wanna
live in a world where everyone
wears headphones 24/7.
How will you ever know if anyone
is listening to you?
We need a way to have digital
and real world audio at the same time,
but shoving giant hunks of plastic
deep into your ears is not the solution.
That's what works so
well about these frames.
Right now, for instance,
I'm listening to the new Taylor Swift song
but I can also hear the world around me
and anyone who might wanna talk to me.
It just makes sense.
You have real headphones for when
you wanna shut everything else out
and something like Frames for when
you want your podcasts or notifications
but still wanna be part of society.
Along with the Frames,
Bose is also doing some really interesting
augmented reality stuff that I think
is the future for all
these headphones too.
I can get audio walking
or driving directions
which isn't particularly novel,
but I can also get directions with
an app called Naviguide.
- [Woman] Head north on Front Street.
- And if I double tap on my sunglasses
while I'm navigating,
it'll use the GPS in my phone
plus the sensors in my sunglasses
to figure out if I'm looking at
any of the interesting
landmarks in its database
and tell me about it.
It'll even look for
popular restaurants nearby
and read me Yelp reviews.
- [Woman] Mixed is currently open
and has a rating of 3.0 stars with
75 reviews on Yelp.
- There's also some AR games like this one
where a super computer is trying
to take over the world and you can talk,
type, or even communicate just by shaking
or nodding your head.
- [Man] Do you understand?
- All these features are
pretty primitive right now
but they're really cool
and Bose is opening up the tech
that powers it all to
lots of other developers.
The real beauty of Frames is that,
well they're not headphones.
I have to say I thought these would
be kind of ridiculous,
but I find myself wearing
them all the time.
It's great to have a computer in your ear,
but it's even better when it doesn't
block out the real world
and it's even better still when
instead of making me look ridiculous,
they make me look awesome.
(upbeat music)
