The progressive disappearance of the 3.5 mm jack of some smartphones (Apple, HTC, Motorola, Xiaomi and even it is rumored that the next Google Pixel) reveals that we are in a trend in which the wireless sound will be gaining whole during the next years. Samsung is still committed to wired headphones, and a good sign is that the Note 8 includes not only 3.5 mm jack, but even high quality AKG headphones.
Even so, Samsung does not usually turn its back on these trends and has also renewed its wireless reference headphones to be used with the smartphone, both to listen to music and to make calls and even to play sports. They are the new Gear IconX, which also release compatibility with Bixby if we have a Galaxy S8 or a Note 8, the only terminals that currently have it.
| GEAR ICONX (2018) | |
|---|---|
| Colors | Black, gray, pink. |
| Dimension | Headset: 18.9 x 21.8 x 22.8 mm. Case: 73.4 x 44.5 x 31.4 mm. |
| Weight | 8 grams per headset, 54.5 grams the box. |
| Memory | 4 GB per headset. |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 4.2, USB 2.0 and type C. |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, infrared, touch control. |
| Battery | Headset: 82 mAh. Charge box: 340 mAh. Autonomy: up to 7 hours in stand-alone mode, up to 5 hours using Bluetooth, up to 4 hours in call. |
| Speaker | 5.8pi Dynamic Driver |
| Compatibility | Android 4.4 or higher with RAM of at least 1.5 GB. |
| Audio | MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV, WMA (WMA v9). Samsung Scalable Codec audio codec, SBC. |
Thought, above all, for sport
The new Samsung Gear IconX automatically monitor the routines in the race and include the Running Coach function, which is activated by pressing the headset and lets you listen to the progress of the exercise. That is, parameters such as the distance traveled or the average pace.
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The battery, perhaps the weakest point of the previous generation, has been improved – from 47 to 82 mAh per headset – without compromising the design, which is practically identical. In addition, it also has fast loading, so running out of autonomy will be a problem, but at least it will be an ephemeral problem.
Another good point of the new IconX is the tactile recognition, which allows you to perform several actions using short, long, double or even triple keys, which are used to pause the song, resume it, go to the previous one, advance to the next one, etc. Something that maybe we expected to see was Bluetooth 5.0, but it has not been and we will have to settle for Bluetooth 4.2.
And on connectivity, one more point worth mentioning: the passage of microUSB from the previous generation to USB-C with USB 2.0, although it does not have the fastest protocol it could (with it it will synchronize the songs from a computer) at least it does give the jump to type C.
To provide greater consistency with the rest of the company’s devices, the Gear IconX 2018 box goes from microUSB to USB-C with USB 2.0, which is the transfer protocol used to copy songs from the computer.
Versions and prices of the Gear IconX (2018)
The versions in which we can find the new Samsung headphones are those of the three colors in which they are marketed: black, gray and pink. For the rest, there are no variations in terms of storage capacity or other differences. The prices are not confirmed yet, we will update them as soon as they are public. They should not be very different from the last prices of the previous version, 199 dollars.