IT House reported on August 27 that today NetEase Youdao will officially release OpenPods Youdao AI headphones, the first Agent headphones specially designed for iPhone users, and will simultaneously start pre-sale. The starting price after subsidies is 1,499 yuan. It will be officially released on September 10, available in black and white colors.
IT House notes that the core differentiation of OpenPods lies in its “Agent headphones” positioning. The product uses an Apple-authorized chip and has obtained MFi (Made for iPhone/iPad) official certification, realizing iOS native-level device interconnection, and can still call various functions stably even when the screen is locked. In response to the long-term pain point of iPhone’s lack of native call recording function, OpenPods supports “one-click call recording”, which allows users to achieve system-level recording without waiting or recording prompts. It also covers online meetings and other scenarios without screen recording or complicated permission applications.
OpenPods is equipped with an independent smart headphone capsule, which has the dual status of “portable recording card” and “portable translator”. The headphone compartment is equipped with a highly sensitive pickup microphone that supports one-click recording with physical buttons. It can clearly record multi-person conversations from a long distance, with a pickup distance of about 5-8 meters. It has a built-in speaker, and double-clicking the physical buttons can realize real-time translation of the sound, meeting the needs of cross-language face-to-face communication. The headphone compartment has a built-in 256MB storage space, providing hardware support for offline scenarios.
In office scenarios, OpenPods is equipped with an AI intelligent conference assistant that supports structured output of conference content. It can intelligently distinguish different speakers, accurately identify and correct professional terms, and generate conference summaries, to-do items and mind maps, realizing an “Agent office closed loop.” Its AI voice agent supports “Ask AI” in-depth consultation. Users can ask questions and communicate based on recordings and document content, and answers are accompanied by source annotations to ensure verifiability and no illusions. In addition, the system has built-in quick office commands, which can complete operations such as summarizing key points, generating to-dos, and composing emails with one click. It also supports personalized knowledge base management. All recordings and documents are automatically stored in the local database, and support custom labels and flexible export.
Translation capability is another core advantage of Youdao OpenPods. The product supports two-way simultaneous interpretation for calls/conferences, real-time audio and video translation (covering podcasts, live broadcasts, speeches, etc.) and face-to-face two-way translation. Transcription and translation cover more than 20 commonly used languages. It is worth noting that the headset translation function can be used independently. The current version gives priority to Chinese-English translation, and more languages and dialects will be continuously updated through subsequent OTAs.
In terms of sound quality and wearing experience, OpenPods adopts an open and lightweight design, a semi-in-ear sound cavity structure and an ergonomic auricle arc design. Each ear weighs only 7 grams, and the thinnest part of the earhook connection is only 3.2mm, taking into account the comfort of long-term wearing. In terms of acoustic configuration, the product is equipped with a 10.8mm dynamic unit, equipped with a highly elastic titanium-coated composite diaphragm and a dynamic bass enhancement algorithm, and uses a high-precision three-mic array structure combined with a bone conduction microphone to achieve ultra-clear call noise reduction and vocal enhancement.
OpenPods supports Bluetooth 5.4 and 2.4G/5G dual-band Wi-Fi, and can connect two devices at the same time to achieve “one-to-two” seamless switching. In terms of battery life, the headset can be used for up to 8 hours at a time, and the total battery life with the charging case is up to 32 hours; in recording or translation scenarios, it can be used continuously for 3 hours at a time, and can be used with the charging case for up to 12 hours. The product supports Type-C charging, has an IP55 dustproof and waterproof rating (headphone body only), and is available in black and white color options.
OpenPods adopts the “hardware + service” model, and standard members can use core functions such as call/meeting recording (Beta), 300 minutes of transcription time per month, intelligent speaker differentiation, 20+ language transcription and translation, headphone cabin recording, intelligent summary, to-do extraction, mind mapping, 50 Ask AI times per month (Beta), knowledge base management, and 60 minutes of simultaneous interpretation time per month for free. Premium membership (59 yuan/month or 599 yuan/year) increases the transcription time to 3000 minutes/month, the number of Ask AI times to 1000 times/month, the simultaneous interpretation time to 1200 minutes/month, and unlocks advanced benefits such as full scene recording.
It is reported that the core AI function of OpenPods currently only supports iOS systems, and Android and Hongmeng versions are under development; the voice interaction function of the AI voice agent will also be launched in subsequent OTA updates. Youdao said that product-related functions will continue to be iterated, and the actual version will prevail.
JD Youdao AI translation headphones OpenPods 1,499 yuan direct link
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