Transsion’s continued shift from Africa to India is even more evident with their latest launch: the TECNO HiPods H2. These are the companies first True Wireless Earbuds and they decided to launch them first in India as they have been doing with a couple of their products lately. The retail price in India is 1,999 Rupees – about KES. 2,800. Should they launch in Kenya, TECNO may price them much higher than that – as they do with their phones too.
Why they call them the HiPods H2 isn’t clear. Because the H2 branding suggests the second iteration of something. However, TECNO is keeping the “Hi” name from HiOS which of course is a wordplay of Apple’s iOS.
The new HiPods H2 have a similar design we’ve seen from a couple of earbuds over the past few months. To me, they’re a blend of both Samsung’s Galaxy Buds and Xiaomi’s Airdots. The Buds themselves look almost like the Galaxy Buds. But the charging case borrows from Xiaomi’s, I feel.
TECNO says that the buds can do 6hrs of continuous listening without the case. With the case, one can get up to 30hrs, the company claims. These are pretty good numbers for true wireless buds. Especially at this price range. The only issue for many people will be that you’ll need to carry the included MicroUSB cable because TECNO still doesn’t believe in USB Type-C for some reason. Maybe it was cost-saving. Maybe it was something else that influenced the decision.
They’re touch-controlled, and TECNO has listed a couple of ways one can play/pause, skip or call up the Google Assistant. You can see the full controls in the table below. That’s a great addition. Because such small buds would be so uncomfortable if they had buttons. I used the Airdots from Xiaomi, and each time you press the buttons, you’d be pushing them deep into your ears. Touch controls are good. Hope they work pretty well on the new HiPods H2.
Something else pretty good at this price point is that there’s IPX4 rating – which means you can use them while sweating, or when it is raining lightly.
TECNO says the paring process is pretty easy, as there will be a pop-up menu – like with many earbuds these days – to help you connect and also quickly show battery life.
We may see the HiPods H2 in Kenya as earbuds from TECNO, or we may see them branded as some other buds and sold by Infinix, another of Transsion’s companies. Let’s wait and see.
TECNO HiPods H2 Specifications:
Price:
Expected KES. 2,800
Weight and Dimensions:
4.54 grams – 2.3 x 1.8 x 2.2 cm
Bluetooth Version
Bluetooth 5.0
Controls:
Pop-up Pairing – Presumably on TECNO devices
Touch Controls on Each Bud: Double Click either – Play/Pause Content Single Tap Right – Volume + Single Tap Left – Volume – Long press – Google Assistant
IP Rating:
IPX4 splash and spill proof
Supported OS:
Android, iOS, Windows
Charging:
Micro-USB Port. Cable included 2hrs Charging Time from 0 to 100%
Special Tech:
Environmental Cancelling – Which works on Phone Calls, and also with just normal noise reduction from the rubber tips.
Battery Life:
30hrs – With Case 6hrs Playback time – Without Case
