If the name Palm doesn’t sound familiar to you, it’s probably because you’re too young. Way back before the emergence of Blackberry, iOS, and Android, Palm has long been considered the brand that ushered in the smartphone age with its own lineup of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Now, two years after the launch of its self-titled Palm phone, the company is resuscitating itself with the launch of its own true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds.
They’re called the Palm Buds Pro and if we’re honest, they are the most generic-looking pair of earbuds we’ve ever seen. On its landing page, Palm promotes its earbuds as having studio-grade sound and is even equipped with active noise cancellation (ANC), both for its audio delivery and all six of its built-in microphones.
Specs-wise, the Palm Buds Pro are fitted with 10mm dynamic drivers that reports say lean heavily towards the bass side. Further, the earbuds are also IPX4 water and sweat resistant, while the battery life with ANC on is rated around 5.5 hours of continuous listening on a single charge. while its casing houses enough power to allow for “over 24 hours” of total playback.
An important point that Palm seems adamant at pointing out is the price of the Palm Buds Pro: the earbuds are currently up for preorder at US$99 (~RM410) from now until 9 November, at which point, the price will jump up to US$129 (~RM535). At the time of writing, there is still no word on local availability and pricing.
It should be pointed out that The Verge’s writer also found a pair of earbuds that look identical to the Palm Buds Pro, sans the Palm logo on the casing. The brand itself also goes by another name, Hengyuan, though at this point, it wouldn’t be wrong to say Palm isn’t shying away from using an OEM reference design, but tweaking their earbuds so that it stands out ever so slightly from the crowd.
