(Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)
BARCELONA—I love sparkly things, so when I walked into TCL's media preview event ahead of Mobile World Congress, one product immediately caught my eye: the CrystalClip. Amid a room full of different gadgets to check out, the CrystalClip beckoned me, and I could not look away.
It's a pair of Swarovski crystal-adorned headphones featuring a white-and-silver clip-on design that looks like earrings at a glance. One end sits inside your ear, and the other on the outside, connected by a stem with a flower charm in the middle.
(Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)The flower charm features a large central crystal surrounded by smaller ones on the petals. The charm is removable if you want a simpler look for certain occasions.
Figuring out how to properly put the CrystalClip on my ears took a couple of tries, but that's a learning curve I'm willing to overcome given the stunning design. Once I finally figured out how to put them on, they felt comfortable and secure.
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Speakers are situated on the inside piece, directing audio into your ear. I listened to some music through the headphones at TCL's event, and it sounded clear. The open-ear design does not block the ear canal like Apple AirPods Pro, so you can easily stay aware of your surroundings. At higher volume levels, however, it was difficult to hear what someone talking to me was saying.
The headphones promise up to 8 hours of battery life on a charge, or 36 hours with the charging case. They feature on-device controls for music playback and calls, tap gesture Siri or Gemini activation for virtual assistance, and can even do real-time language translation.
A TCL spokesperson says the CrystalClip may come to the US in the future, but no timing or pricing has been set yet.
When it comes to wearable tech devices, design is just as important as performance. It could be the best product in the world, but if nobody wants to wear it, it's a fail. The CrystalClip is a product I want to wear, so I hope it launches in the US.