The OwnPhones come in truly sophisticated, highly detailed shapes

Jul 17, 2014 08:49 GMT  ·  By

Custom-fitting earbuds by means of 3D printing have been done before, but a company called OwnPhones wants to go above and beyond what has been achieved so far, so it has introduced the OwenPhones.

So far, 3D printing technology has been pegged as the best way to make sure that earbuds perfectly fit the ears of people who order them. Basically, you just need to send a photo or two of your ears and the buds will be shaped in such a way that they will be still and comfortable.

Not many companies offer this yet, which is why OwnPhones may very well succeed if the Kickstarter campaign pans out: the market is very fertile and young, with a lot of room to stretch and carve out a spot.

So what do the OwnPhones offer than the few others custom-fitted buds do not? Good looks. Great looks even. Sure, you can opt for a minimalistic outer shell, but you can embellish it with flowers, coral-like patterns, faces, skulls, pretty much anything really.

Admittedly, OwnPhones has a limited selection of shapes, but that's to be expected of an item that is still trying to build a launching ramp for itself, and the shapes do count thousands already. Once retail availability ramps up, the variety should widen as well, and you might even provide your own.

The ones already offered are quite interesting though, so you might want to make a pledge now, as the price during the Kickstarter campaign, or any crowd-funding campaign, is a fair bit lower than the retail tag.

Also, you are at an advantage if you like to pay things in Euro. While retail prices in the EU tend to be of as many Euro as the US price is in dollars, the same cannot be said for situations like this.

In other words, exchange rates do matter here. So, since the minimum pledge is of $149, that means you can get away with sending just €110, instead of $299 / €299 as will be the case later this year (essentially, Kickstarter backers get to pay half the intended price). Making this even more amazing is that the OwnPhones are wireless.

There are only 1,000 of these early-bird offers though. Then again, the next monetary pledge level is still not even close to the expected order tag. Do make sure to include a picture of your ear when making an order though (a special mobile app is used to do it with your phone).

Here are the four kinds of buds you can choose from: Fit (normal custom fit earbuds, with no exterior design), Designer Fit (choose one out of thousands of different designs), Smart Fit (these have the ‘OwnStatus,’ an LED that says if you're available – red for busy, yellow for busy but approachable, green for available) and Jewelry Collection (where metal plated OwnPhone designs are added on top of the buds).

3D Printed OwnPhones (4 Images)

3D Printed OwnPhones
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