The one thing I have been hearing again and again is that life will go back to normal after the pandemic ends. Now as much as I would love that to be true, society has changed after the year and some change of mask-wearing and hand washing.
More so, public health measures are going to be around in one shape or form for some time. One of these measures is, of course, wearing masks. Now, masks at present are more of a tool than anything else. We need them to protect those around us and ourselves from those droplets that hang in the air.
But that doesn’t however mean that masks don’t have to be (for a lack of a better term) “cool”. Enter, Black Eyed Peas frontman, will.i.am and his new product the XUPERMASK (pronounced supermask).
Now I am guessing you all want to know what you’ll get for the US$299. The first and most important thing is that the mask supposedly has HEPA (high-efficiency particulate absorbing) Filters and 2 small 3 speed fans. Additionally, It will have Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, earbuds with active noise cancellation, and a microphone to answer calls with.
The Xupermask will have a battery life of around 7 hours. Now, I don’t know about you but that’s quite a lot to pack into a mask. Especially when it comes to battery life.
When using the filtering system along with the earbuds, I have some serious doubts that you will be able to get to 7 hours on that battery. Also, the position of the battery is unclear. As Techzim’s resident paranoid sceptic, the last thing I would want is a battery anywhere near my face.
I still remember the Samsung battery explosion back in 2016 and I have been very wary of where I put my phone. Again this is just me being a little extra. I’m pretty sure they have done some test on them, in case I scared of anyone with US$299 plus tax to get one of these.
WIll the Xupermask catch on?
To me, this looks like one of those novel items that people with more money than they are able to spend will invest in. They will, admittedly, look pretty cool wearing it, as well as clean have air with the HEPA filters.
One thing to note, if you’ve already gotten your USD Prepaid card out, is that the Xupermask according to CNN hasn’t yet passed FDA’s approval process (but has emergency use authorisation). So to err on the side of caution, you might want to wait till it has been rubber-stamped before you make plans to purchase one.
