Considering how Carrie Bradshaw doesn’t give a damn about technology ecosystems in her later years (she uses a MacBook Pro and dual wields an iPhone and BlackBerry Key2 in the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That), I’d say there’s a good chance she’d rock these Motorola Moto Buds Loop in “Pantone-curated French Oak” with Swarovski crystals.
If not for the bling embedded in each open-ear wireless earbud, she’d probably wear AirPods like every basic bitch walking around Manhattan. She definitely wouldn’t be caught wearing the non-Swarovski version of the Moto Buds Loop that come in “Pantone-curated Trekking Green” aka forest green.
© Raymond Wong / GizmodoI don’t blame you if you’ve never heard of open-ear wireless earbuds. They’re kind of a recent trend. Instead of the buds sitting snuggly inside of your ears, pumping sound straight into your ear canal, the Buds Loop clip onto your ears like oversized earrings and gently beam audio into them. They’re basically the same style earbuds as the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds. Unsurprisingly, the sound itself is engineered by Bose. Needless to say, there’s a lot more audio leakage compared to traditional wireless earbuds. The upside to an open-ear designs is that you can hear your surroundings without needing to turn on any transparency/ambient modes. A klutz like Carrie would appreciate this given her penchant to not pay attention to what’s happening in the streets.
© Raymond Wong / GizmodoThe Swarovski special edition is no doubt aimed at fashion-conscious consumers. I wasn’t about to get an ear infection trying them out at Motorola’s packed media pre-briefing so I can’t speak to how they sound. But in case you’re not turned off by the shininess and you’re curious about tech specs, here’s what Motorola has shared. They have 12mm “ironless drivers,” feature spatial sound for multi-directional audio, and battery life is up to 8 hours with a single charge and up to 37 hours with the case. And because you gotta throw in some AI support these days, Motorola says the buds can also do stuff like read you AI-summaries of your notifications, though you do need a compatible Motorola phone with Moto AI built-in.
© Raymond Wong / GizmodoI asked Motorola for pricing and release date on the Buds Loop (including the Swarovski version), and was told by a PR representative that they’ll share that information “closer to availability.” Hopefully the regular models are competitively priced with the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, which retail for $300. The Swarovski model—that’s gonna cost a pretty penny for sure!
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