Sony Ericsson makes motion-sensitive headphones official

(Credit: Sony Ericcson)

The rumor mill chalks up another point for getting it right.

Sony Ericsson has just announced, via a Webcast event, what it claims are the world first motion-activated headphones. Plugging in the pair of earbuds starts music playback automatically, while removing one of them will pause the track. For example, if you are listening to Nobody by Korean all-girl group Wonder Girls and someone interrupts you, removing an earbud will temporarily stop music playback so you don't need to press the pause button on the headset or phone.

While this is far from revolutionary, the MH907 headphones do provide some convenience. So this may turn out to be very intuitive (we'll have to find out more when we get our hands on a unit). Sony Ericsson apparently achieves this via capacitive sensing technology; i.e. it makes use of your skin (ears in this case) as an electrical conduit. Aside from music playback, you can perform the same actions for answering and ending calls.

The MH907 works with most Sony Ericsson handsets with a Fast Port connector and comes in Yellow/White and Titan Chrome shades. No word yet on when it will hit the markets.

(Source: Crave Asia)

[lil-yankee]

Omg sonyericsson pulled another flawless prank. "change the way we listen to music" hardly .....

[fleurya]

So what if you just fidget with them to adjust the fit in the ear? Will it pause the music even though I didn't remove it, then I have to adjust it again just to get some playback? <br /><br />It goes without saying that is is as far from revolutionary as they can probably get, but it also seems a little lame to me. Usually if I'm listening to music and someone tries to talk to me, I'll just pull one out and keep listening while they talk. I can't think of many songs that I would be so into that I want to pause it as to not miss a single beat.

[jagdeepb]

Did Sony Ericsson contacted you directly to buy and use the Phones or otherwise they will go out of business. <br />Well.....If you don't like them, don't buy them - its that simple <br />there will be lot innovative stuff which somebody in this world will not like, that means the company should not make it........... <br />stop complaining.

[molotov]

What if someone is shaking their head 'rigorously', seriously now; what if?

[frobation]

Wow arnt you dumb... <br />it pauses when it is outt of the ear. if there are any conductivity which im pretty sure still stands when ur headbanging then it shall workk.

[Nfuego]

Frobation, I love it when someone replies obnoxiously to a post and calls the person they are replying to "Dumb" or <br />"Stupid" or something like that and then in the exact same sentence that they are calling the poster a name, they can't even spell a simple, everyday word like AREN'T. I mean for crying out loud, it is the combination of TWO THREE letter words with a hyphen.

[cpearlm]

@Nfuego<br /><br />Actually, it is a combination of two three letter words with an apostrophe.

[Nfuego]

You are absolutely right cpearlm!!!

[molotov]

My answer was still not questioned

[NervClaX]

Whether or not these particular headphones are perfect is besides the point. I'm more interested in the patents relavent to the technology behind them. This tech could have many applications in more than just headphones. I wish my bluetooth earpiece would shut off when I remove it. Instead I have to find the tiny button and hold it for 5 seconds.

[Rod Roddy]

Oh no!,...you just didn't admit to listening to the Wonder Girls did you?...repost.

[prince_f_swords]

people writing comments are smarter then research team at Sony Ericsson, they should be looking at cnet boards for future hiring.

[GHeroHero]

wow so the wonder girls are getting popular here now huh

[Jose_Carvajal]

i have to say, the whole line of changing how we listen to music was a bit much. <br />but as a person who listens to music very often while walking around at school or breaks at work, this would be a really cool and useful feature. <br />im sure im not the only one who thinks this...<br />i usually have people who come up to ask me something or to chat,and if you can simply pull these out to stop your music playback without searching for your mp3 player or phone that would make things faster in that sense. <br />one thing though, price wise, sounds like it might cost quite a bit, but it could be worth it.

[dylanger]

While the technology is quite interesting, I think this use of it is excessive and will present more buggy issues than its worth. I mean really, how far away is the pause button? If you hit pause, you can hear too, so it doesnt really take a step away...

[Vepar_S]

Cool, soon we will get cars that pull over when you text and drive and if your drunk it will haul you over to the police station. LOL<br /><br />Nice tech, I might try one out. Then voice my opinion later.

[jonathan_a]

This is actually a pretty good new innovation for head phones! How many times do I pull out my headphones cause someone is talking to me, only to put back my headphones and I have to press "back" on my MP3 player to return to the song I just missed.<br /><br />Or even worst, struggle to find the pause button as someone is talking to me, half the time I'll press Stop rather than Pause, the other half of the time I'll press another button like the next song, or previous song, etc.

[ikjadoon]

But wait!<br /><br />If you use your HANDS (which also conduct a current) to remove it, it won't pause because there will still be a current.....<br /><br />I guess it depends where you hold it. And if you ever touch that portion again with your hands, it will start to play. :(

[TyDiz]

Now what would be really useful, on top of the current application in which these are useful, would be pressing them towards your ears to increase and decrease the volume(one side increases, the other side decreases). <br /><br />It would make sense that it would be possible. Increasing the "pipeway" by decreasing the amount of air around the headphone, should allow be detectable. Make it happen Sony! :)

[shaunak2512]

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