The HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear II has officially been launched in Malaysia, and we couldn’t pass on the opportunity to review a wireless audio device, despite being in a spectacle form. This is the successor to the original HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear, let’s find out what’s changed and what’s been upgraded?
HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear II – Specifications
| COLOR | Black (rim) + Black (frame temple) |
| BATTERY | Battery capacity: 85 mAh (min) | Battery type: Lithium-ion polymer battery |
| DIMENSION | Sunglasses: 65mm (frame size) x 18mm (nose bridge size) x 158mm (lens leg size) |
| WEIGHT | 48.1 g |
| CHARGING PORT | USB-C port |
| BLUETOOTH | Bluetooth 5.2 |
| MICROPHONE | Two micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) microphones on the primary arm support uplink noise cancelation for voice calls |
| PLAYBACK TIME | Music Playback Duration: up to 5 hours | Voice Call Duration: up to 3.5 hours |
| WATER AND DUST RESISTANCE LEVEL | The glasses are resistant to water and dust, with an IP54 rating |
| IN THE BOX | Glasses (with built-in battery) x 1, Charging case x 1, USB data cable (USB Type-A to USB Type-C) x 1, Quick Start Guide (multi-language) x 1, Safety information (multi-language) x 1, Warranty card x 1, Fiber cloth x 1 |
Design
As you can see, the HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear II looks just like any other pair of glasses out there. But what’s special about this particular one is that it plays audio. You don’t see any earbuds, because it transmits audio through a tiny speaker on both sides of the temple. The lens piece and nose pads are made of metal, while the temples are made of solid plastic. This is to secure the glasses from any overflexing, and to protect the internal audio hardware.
When I first held it in my hands, I immediately noticed how thick the temples were, but it reassured me that it was durable, and durable it was. There’s also a rattling sound, which came from the nose pads. It’s meant to be that way, so that it can adjust to the user’s nose. The lens frame was a bit too small for me, so my vision had a large bezel on the edges of my field of view. It’s also a little heavy, but I didn’t feel any discomfort even after wearing it for long hours.
User Experience
The pairing process isn’t as easy as connecting to a pair of TWS earbuds, because there is no physical button on the glasses. You’ll need to keep the HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear II in the charging case, and press and hold the pairing button on the back of the case till the indicator light flashes white. Only then, will your Huawei device detect that the eyewear is activated and will prompt you for connection.
If you want to pair it with any other devices, you need to pinch the top and bottom parts of the temple to enter pairing mode. From there, just connect your device manually to the eyewear in your device’s Bluetooth settings. However, during my testing, the pinch to connect feature didn’t seem to be available on the glasses and in the AI Life app’s settings. This feature may only be added in the future, as it may be locked to Android devices that can download the Huawei AI Life app for now. Sorry, Apple users.
The HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear II’s end pieces have just the right amount of flex in them, and they feel secure when you wear them. They don’t fall off at all, and stay in place most of the time. It occasionally drops a little like any other glasses, just a simple push upwards on the bridge will do.
Another thing I like about the HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear II is its voice and tone prompts, and wear detection. You can even change the language of the voice prompt, between Mandarin, English, and Korean.
When you put the glasses on, it will automatically turn on and play a greeting to let you know it’s turned on and ready to be used. When the volume is at a maximum, it will also let you know that there’s no further increasing the volume. There’s also wear detection, so when you take off the glasses, your audio will be paused and resumed when you put the glasses back on.
This time round, the charging case uses a rectangular box-ish design instead of the flip pouch design on the original HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear. It feels more sturdy and firm, but one thing I don’t like about it is the zip. The slider runs smooth, but the pull tab is just too short and it often gets locked into a weird position, making it hard to grasp and pull. There is fast wireless charging, but you’d have to place the back part of the case face down, which means you can’t see the charging indicator light.
Equipped with Bluetooth 5.2, when it comes to range, the audio starts stuttering when I walk closer towards my bedroom’s toilet door, which is about 8 meters away with a 20cm wall in between.
Audio Quality
When it comes to audio quality, you should keep your expectations low. The HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear II has great volume and you can definitely crank the volume to the max to get maximum enjoyment, without any distortion. However, if the volume is too loud, the people around might be able to hear what you’re listening to if they’re close enough.
It has a little too much treble, but the mids are great making it really suitable for music that focuses on vocals, instrumentals, as well as voice or video calls. Lows? There’s none, at all. But with this design, it’s quite hard to implement any bass, so don’t expect any epic bass drops from this.
Call Quality
Where call quality is concerned, I can hear the person calling clearly, which really impressed me. But, the person calling did describe my voice as “clear, but can sometimes sound muffled. And, I can sometimes hear myself.” This is probably due to the speakers being quite close to the microphones on the temple, as I had to turn the volume to the maximum to hear the call loud and clear.
Touch Sensors
The touch gestures work relatively well on the , you just need to make sure you’re actually tapping/swiping on the center path of the temple. Apart from that, it works fine and responds rather fast.
You can manually change the actions on each temple through the Huawei AI Life app, or disable them altogether (but why would you do that?). You can also set an action to summon your connected device’s voice assistant.
Battery Life
When it comes to battery life, the HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear II could last me for about 4 and a half hours of music listening. As for calls on Discord, it lasted me about 3 hours and 13 minutes.
The charging case does feature fast wireless charging, so just place the charging case on a wireless charger to have it charged back to full. When your glasses’ battery are low, just pop the glasses back in to the charging case according to the grooves, and you’ll be back to wearing it in about an hour’s time.
Conclusion
The HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear II is a comfortable pair of glasses that looks stylish, yet functional with its call and music and capabilities. Priced at RM1,799, it’s RM200 more expensive than its predecessor, and a little hard for me to recommend it. But, if you’re already using the Huawei ecosystem, the HUAWEI X GENTLE MONSTER Eyewear II could be a great addition as it works well with the Huawei AI Life app.
Overall, the novelty of listening to music and answering calls with a pair of glasses is still great. The sound is decent, and it’s comfortable to wear at home, or even when you’re out and about.
