“Charge while you listen to Music”
PUGZ is tiled the World’s smallest wireless earbuds (as of 2015) which can be charged through your phone or any electronic device that you are carrying!
The Designers specify PUGZ to have minimal size & shape which allows perfect fit and music experience!
PUGZ was started its production officially in 2014 and started their distribution form 2015 through 2016.
We are looking at a specific model of PUGZ for this assignment which is the PUGZ Leaking .
The PUGZ leaking is manufactured with “ear gel design” that directs the audio into your ear but lets you hear a bit of your surroundings.
OTG Charging
The power backup for PUGZ is said to be very sustainable it uses 3% of your smart phone battery capacity to charge your PUGZ you get 4.5 hours of music and 10 days of standby. You can also plug into your phone and listen while charging, often called ‘OTG’ On the go charging.
The USP behind PUGZ is in the Go charging facility. Apart from this the designers’ were solving also for these issues :
- Generic earphones are too Big
- Bluetooth earphones run out of batteries
- Lightweight, minimal in size.
- Sweat proof – IP64
- Microphone – 6th gen dual-mic cVc® advanced audio enhancements and noise suppression
Teardown
The Integrated Bluetooth ROM is part of the Qualcomm CSR8645 series.
The CSR8645 is a dual-mode (Audio output and microphone input) ROM Chip is designed to offer extensive voice and music capabilities in a ROM-based package, including
aptX [aptX is a proven technology that compresses and then decompresses audio as it travels from a source device like a phone, to a receiving device like a wireless speaker, in a way that it can be transmitted over Bluetooth without damaging the quality. ] and
cVc [clear voice capture) noise echo cancelling and noise suppression technology is designed to transmit crystal clear voice quality when making calls.]
Making it ideal for a variety of wireless audio products with support for voice and music. The CSR8645 has a range of silicon platforms for wireless audio applications which integrate a dual-mode Bluetooth radio, an application processor, a battery charger, memory and various audio and hardware interfaces into a single-chip solution. The CSR8645 is an easy and cost-effective platform for developing …more
Typically This model is chosen for 3 reasons :
– High performance Audio
– single-chip designs
– 2-mic audio technology
OTG Functionality
The OTG – On the Go charging is made available by “open circuit” system that is completed using magnets. The switch system is built using 18k gold and is connected using gold wires to a copper wiring system.
The charge plates on the charger and the earphones are connected using a magnet.
The product in itself it made of plastic, rubber, wire, circuit boards, and gold.
The entire circuit system and speaker is enclosed in a thermoplastic casing which is is given a gloss finishing. The sound filter is made up of metal.
The wires are as most wires made up of copper. The wire system has 4 wires consist of a common ground and; left earphone +, right earphone +, and microphone.
When dismantling the product I did misinterpret a lot of the parts in terms of how the were manufactured or what the part was attached in the system. May be this will give you a an idea of how it was
Here are some honest Customer reviews
When I connected it to my phone as well I faced the below 2 issues
– The Bluetooth connectivity was very poor, and
– The earphones did not work unless connected to the charger
Why did the designers do it this Way?
2 design Elements that absolutely Boggle me are :
1. Standard Vs. Sports Earbuds – What really confused me or kept me thinking was when I used the earphones the standard earbuds kept falling off the ear, whereas the sport earbuds were intact despite jumping or running. When inspected closely the standard earbuds had a flat base which was to be inserted into the ear. We all know our ears are not hat simple. So the flat base did not hold still against the protruding ear walls and kept sliding off.
The Sports model also had the same design for the “in-ear” part – it was flat too, but what kept it in position was that there was is extra “grip-bit” on the outside. It acted like a counter force to against the ear somewhat like a lever system, which put pressure from the outside while the in-ear piece was pushing it out, a perfect push-pull scenario!
2. The “SQUIRCLE“ – The designers have on multiple posts and videos mentioned the unique shape they have used for designing – the Squircle – neither a square nor a circle.
if we speak in terms of design this shape just confuses me!
The shape to my eyes in not very satisfactory to look at and feels asymmetrical
in terms of conducting electricity. Square shaped conductors have sharp corners and Electric field is not uniform when we consider any shape with corners e.g. square, rectangle etc., and negative charge accumulates at corners.
In circular shape have their own advantages and disadvantages – advantages being more!- from what I have read about them, depending on may factors such as the amount or charge they are holding material type and thickness circular objects have more usability in electronics. So unsure of why Circle was not considered?