Huawei FreeClip 2, earring-shaped technology also sounds good

Huawei decides to stop looking inside our ears and start looking outside. Literally. Here are the FreeClip 2: at first glance they look like a genetic experiment between a Vermeer pearl earring and a Star Trek gadget. They don't stick in the ear canal - thank goodness, stressed eardrums would say - but clip into the lobe.Also on the open-ear clip-on ball are Bose, Shokz and JBL.

In the case of the Chinese from Huawei, the technology that holds the game together is the C-bridge Design, an elastic nickel-titanium shape memory alloy headband that links the acoustic sphere to the bean-shaped battery. It weighs 5.1 grams, which is less than a two-cent coin. The result is that you forget about them: you shower, go into a meeting or go for a run and only when they look at you funny do you realise you still have those tech earrings on. There is also the left-right self-recognition: there is no correct direction, you wear them as they happen and the accelerometer reverses the audio channels automatically. It's the end of ear-cup discrimination.

The battery life is excellent: 9 hours on a single charge, rising to 36 with the case. In calls, artificial intelligence and bone conduction come into play. I tried to make a call while cycling at 30 km/h against the wind between tram tracks and the caller heard my voice as clear as in a recording studio, despite the primordial chaos of Milan all around me.

To explain how they sound is like being in a club at night: you hear the background music perfectly crystal clear, but if someone speaks to you, you don't have to take anything off to answer. There is no active noise cancellation because the aim is the exact opposite, to stay in the world. If you're looking for the absolute silence of an Egyptian tomb, buy yourself some bulky over-ears; if you want to avoid being stretched by a scooter while listening to Pink Floyd, that's the whole point.

The list price of €199 - which often drops to €159 with the various coupons from the usual commercial dance - is the ticket to pay for a piece of design that borders on the illegal for convenience. Of course, if you're a fan of teeth-rattling bass, you'll be left high and dry, and the app on Android still requires the usual waltz out of the Play Store due to known geopolitical limitations.