Samsung Unveils "Gear IconX" Wireless Ear Buds

 

Samsung Unveils "Gear IconX" Wireless Ear Buds

Samsung is unveiling a second exercise-friendly wearable today the newly announced Gear fit 2 is a  pair of smart earbuds called the Gear IconX.

 Samsung says the IconX is meant for people who have a more casual relationship with exercise. Still, that doesn't mean Samsung skimped on the fitness tech here.

 Features

1. Each bud weighs 6.3 grams a hair or two heavier than a U.S. quarter. 
2. The device tells you how far you've run, how fast you're going and
3. How fast your heart is beating. Yes, there's a heart-rate sensor built into these things.
4. There's a voice coach feature, which is meant to help runners trim their lap times and surge into higher intensity zones. 
5. The IconX has 4GB of internal storage, like the Gear Fit 2, though it seems immune to the sort of sound syncing issues experienced with other tiny Bluetooth buds 
6. The IconX will last for 3.6 hours on a charge.

Only one earbud is connected directly to the phone; the other connects to the first bud to keep audio playing at the same time. The thing is, that bud-to-bud connection can be weak, leading to audio dropouts while moving. Samsung's approach cleverly puts a copy of each song on to both earbuds. From there, it just takes a little software to make sure they're playing at the same time.

Each bud has a sort of capacitive touch patch on it, and the gestures needed to use it are easy to learn. Need to change tracks? Double-tap to skip to the next one or triple-tap to go back. Changing volume can be a little trickier since you have to swipe up and down on such a tiny space, but the most important gesture is arguably the long press. That fires up the ambient-sound mode, which is crucial for urban runners: It lets you hear what's going on around you in the hope that you'll cross Broadway without violently intersecting with an ambulance.

 IconX is arguably more interesting than the Gear Fit 2, and we're really looking forward to its launch in Q3, later this year.