If your main complaint about wearable tech is that it’s too bulky, there’s a new crowdfunded project just for you. The Lumia 2 claims to be the world’s smallest wearable. Since it fits inside a pair of earrings, the company behind it might be right.
Given the product design (and all of the promotional images), the Lumia 2 is aimed predominantly at female users. The earrings can be worn with pierced ears, but there’s also an attachment that’ll stick the sensor onto one’s ears, the same way clip-on headphone buds function.
Lumia 2, too?
The Lumia 2 ships, depending on which option you select when backing the project, in a range of styles and metals. But it’s more about what the integrated tracker, which sits behind the ear, can do. The Lumia Core is the technical unit. This bit houses tracking sensors, a battery, and the processing hardware. It’s a slick setup, but it does mean that users will have to charge their earrings at some point.
The earrings track blood flow, specifically to a user’s head, as well as sleep and cycling tracking. If you don’t know what that last one is, these earrings aren’t for you. There’s also a daily readiness metric included in the software analysis. Battery life for the dinky little sensors should give users between five and eight days between charges.
Lumia reckons that the basic price for the Lumia 2 is $250 (R4,200), but there is a catch. There’s also a monthly subscription needed to use the accessory. The cost? At least R165 ($10) a month. It’s not clear whether the device will work without handing over your monthly instalment.
The Lumia 2 smart earrings are currently being funded on Kickstarter. With a starting goal of $10,000 (which means they were launching either way), the project now sits at just under $1 million in funding. The tricky bit will be getting a pair (plus the extras) to South Africa. So far, the smart wearable is only available to Canadian and US backers. Pity.
