Pushing the limits of exoskeleton technology at the Cybathlon

Andre van Rüschen has no memory of the day he lost all feeling in his legs. After a car accident in Germany, he had a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down. When he woke up from a coma in a hospital in Hamburg, the doctors told him he would never walk again.

But now, thirteen years later, van Rüschen is back on his feet, and he is training to compete as a pilot in the Powered Exoskeleton race at the Cybathlon in Zurich this month.

In a high-rise office building on Leipziger Platz in Berlin, he slides out of his wheelchair onto a black leather pouf where a ReWalk exoskeleton sits folded. The black metal frame of the robotic machine, which has two powered legs and a control box that sits above the hip, mimics the lower half of the human body.

Van Rüschen positions himself between the legs of the exoskeleton. He straps on the sensor-laden motors at three points along his own legs: below the knees, above the knees and around his upper thighs. He then secures the control box on his lower back with velcro belts. With the machine clasped around the key joints needing support, he slowly slips his hands into a couple of black crutches and hits the “stand” button on the round remote strapped around his left wrist. A couple of beeps later, he leans his upper body forward as the machine makes a whirring sound as it pushes him into a standing position.

Moments later, when van Rüschen hits another button on his watch-like remote, his right foot moves forward, followed by the left. He uses his upper body strength to shift his weight between his feet as he walks out of the building onto the streets of Berlin.

Van Rüschen was one of the first European testers of the exoskeleton from ReWalk, a company that builds robotic systems to enable people with spinal cord injuries to stand, walk and even climb stairs again. He applied to receive a personal ReWalk machine three and a half years ago and has tested every iteration of the exoskeleton since then.

He uses the ReWalk every day in Oldenburg, Germany, where he lives with his wife and 13-year-old son who was born five months after his accident. “When I had my first system at home, my wife immediately burst into tears,” says van Rüschen. “Of course, my son had only ever seen me in a wheelchair…He looked up at me and the first thing he said was: “Daddy, you’re so tall!”

Before his accident, van Rüschen worked as a car painter in his family-run business, but now he works for ReWalk and is often invited to demonstrate the strengths of the company’s exoskeleton technology at corporate conventions and fairs.

The history of the company that van Rüschen now represents echoes his own experience. Founded in 2001, the ReWalk exoskeleton was invented by Dr. Amit Goffer, an Israeli scientist who became a quadriplegic after an ATV accident in the late ’90s. The machine that he devised not only allowed him to step away from a wheelchair but is now actively used by 264 people across the world. While a number of studies that gauge the overall health benefits of the technology are now slowly taking shape, the company has already set up operations in the U.S. and Germany in addition to Israel, where the exoskeleton is developed and manufactured.

The company’s sixth-generation exoskeleton, which is on the market and will be used for the Cybathlon race, has the battery life for about eight hours in an office setting, where a user might sit, stand or walk at various intervals, or it can be worn for up to four continuous hours of walking.

While the technology got van Rüschen out of his wheelchair, it does not work the same way for all spinal cord injuries. To qualify as a ReWalk user, each individual has to undergo medical screenings that determine the extent of the injuries. One of the main requirements to become a “ReWalker” is to have enough upper body functionality and control to be able to use the arms and shoulders to maneuver the crutches that accompany the exoskeleton.

Beyond the impact of the injury, factors like age, height and weight help ReWalk’s physical therapists determine the right fit for the exoskeleton. At present, the machine can assist a user who is between 5’3″ and 6’3″ in height and weighs a maximum of 220 pounds.

At about 6’3″, van Rüschen was a perfect match even for the very early, bulkier iterations of ReWalk. And now, years later, as one of their most experienced users, he is the clear choice for the exoskeleton race at the Cybathlon. The obstacle course that he will tackle will have pilots sit on and stand up from a couch, walk on stones immersed in water, go over and down a ramp, and walk on an inclined slope before climbing stairs at the end.

The course is designed to push the limitations of existing exoskeletons. While van Rüschen uses the exoskeleton on stairs and a variety of surfaces on a daily basis, tasks like walking on a slope and on slippery stones are expected to be challenging not just for him but for the exoskeleton as well. The algorithms required to keep the machine stable on varying surfaces are complicated and far from perfect. But, the technical team at ReWalk is working to optimize the existing software in their commercially available exoskeletons. In preparation for the race, they are testing and tweaking the settings to switch up the pace, the leg extensions and the time gaps between steps so that the exoskeleton can take on all the challenges of the Cybathlon.

Outside, on the streets of Berlin, van Rüschen slowly makes his way up and down the stairs at a S-Bahn stop. “I have to get used to different surfaces,” he says. “When I want to go a bit further, I try to walk over cobblestones or a gravel track. You have to constantly try to go one better. It’s the same with the Cybathlon as well because you have to walk on different surfaces and try to get as far as you can. It’s just all about going beyond your boundaries.”

This is the fourth episode in a five-part video series called Superhumans, which follows the Cybathlon from start to finish. Watch out for the finale on Tuesday, Oct. 18th, right here on Engadget.

New Apple Patent Describes Fingerprint Sensor That Could Work Through Display

The United States Patent and Trademark Office today granted Apple a patent that describes a Touch ID sensor which could effectively detect and read a user’s fingerprints through other components of the smartphone, “such as display stacks and touch screens” (via AppleInsider). While going unspecified, the technology aligns with the current rumors for the iPhone 8, which is expected to eliminate the Home Button for good and integrate various pieces of the smartphone directly into the display, including Touch ID.

Described in the new patent, there are many reasons Apple is looking to integrate Touch ID into the iPhone’s screen, “not the least of which is an interest in avoiding assigning valuable surface space exclusively to an component that may only be used briefly during the process of identifying the user.” But the company still had to face multiple issues when building the new technology, namely a “blurring of the electric field” that brought about a loss of resolution of the fingerprint images as they were being transferred through the space between the Touch ID sensor and the iPhone’s screen.

To combat the gap between where the user places their finger, and the technology reading the fingerprint data under the display, Apple’s patent proposes the use of electrostatic lenses, which are described as including “one or more patterned conductive layer(s).” In an example laid out by the patent, the position, relative voltage, and shapes of the patterned conductive layer or layers can be altered to shape the electric field specifically associated with the user’s fingerprint, and the information can be held “in the region between the contact surface of the capacitive fingerprint sensor and the array of capacitive sensing elements.”

Apple’s patent aims to reduce the spread of a fingerprint’s electric field using electrostatic lenses
The collected data would help improve the resolution of the user’s fingerprint, despite the distance between the Touch ID sensing module and the place on the iPhone display where they place their finger. In the patent, Apple notes that the specific setting and location for these electrostatic lenses depend on the “geometry of the consumer electronics device and the effects of any intervening components,” but touchscreens and display stacks are mentioned by name multiple times.

As is usual with patents, it is unclear whether the electrostatic lens technology will show up in any future Apple device at all, much less one set to debut in less than a year, but its descriptive ability to fuel one of the iPhone 8’s biggest rumors is interesting all the same. Apple appears to have been working on the patent for a few years now, since it was originally filed on September 9, 2014, with inventor credit going to Jean-Marie Bussat.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8 (2017)
Tag: patent
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Adobe Unveils Photoshop and Premiere Elements 15 for Mac

Adobe today released new versions of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, its affordable photo and video editing software aimed at consumers. Both Photoshop and Premiere Elements include new tools and enhancements to existing capabilities to make the photo and video editing experience even more streamlined and simple.

Photoshop Elements includes a new Transform tool that’s able to turn frowns into smiles, adjust squinting eyes, and make other quick, easy adjustments to photos in a matter of minutes. Filters have been improved and can be layered and edited more simply, and there’s a new Smart Tags system that scans images for content and makes it easier to find them based on subjects like cats, dogs, sunsets, birthdays, people, and more. Search using multiple terms is also available.

For those who are new to the photo editing process, Photoshop Elements has a range of new Guided Edits to do things like add text elements to photos, layer multiple effects, add motion blur behind subjects, turn photos into paintings with texture and color, and create custom frames.

On touch screen devices, which pertains to Windows machines, there are new options for using the Organizer and Quick Edit with touch-based gestures, an improvement also included in Premiere Elements. Both Premiere and Photoshop Elements also include integration with Facebook, YouTube, and other social networks to make it faster to share videos and photos.

Premiere Elements features a simplified search tool to quickly locate video content you want to work with, and there’s a new tool for clearing haze from landscape shots for clearer video. As with Photoshop Elements, Premiere Elements includes new Guided Edits, including one that allows users to apply effects across multiple clips or an entire movie.

Face detection allows Favorite Moments to automatically locate the people in your videos to bring them to the front and center, a feature that’s also new to Pan and Zoom and Smart Trim, enhancing the functionality of these tools. A new music remix feature lets users pick a music file that can be automatically rematched to the length of the movie, and there’s a tool for creating dynamic collages from photos and videos.

Photoshop Elements 15 and Premiere Elements 15 for Mac and Windows can be purchased from Adobe’s website for $99.99 each. Bundles are available for $149.99, and existing users can upgrade for $79.99 for one product or $119 for the bundle.

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Moto Z Play lands in India for ₹24,999; Moto Z debuts at ₹39,999

Lenovo has launched the Moto Z Play and the Moto Z in India. Both phones will be available starting October 17 on Amazon India and Flipkart, with the mid-range Moto Z Play set to retail for ₹24,999 ($375) and the Moto Z for ₹39,999 ($600).

Lenovo is also bringing several Moto Mods to India, including the Hasselblad True Zoom, which will retail for ₹19,999 ($300). You’ll be able to buy Moto Mods for a discounted price when bundled with the Moto Z or Z Play. Here’s the breakdown of the pricing:

• Moto Style Shell (Wood and Ballistic Nylon) – ₹1,099 ($16) – ₹899 bundled ($13)
• Moto Style Shell (Leather) – ₹1,599 ($25) – ₹1,299 bundled ($20)
• Incipio power pack – ₹5,999 ($90) – ₹4,999 bundled ($75)
• JBL SoundBoost – ₹6,999 ($105) – ₹5,999 bundled ($90)
• Moto Insta-Share Projector – ₹19,999 ($300) – ₹15,999 bundled ($240)
• Hasselblad True Zoom – ₹19,999 ($300) – ₹14,999 bundled ($225)

As for the phones, the Moto Z Play sports a 5.5-inch Full HD display, 14nm Snapdragon 625 SoC with eight Cortex A53 CPU cores clocked at 2.05GHz, 3GB of RAM, 32GB storage, microSD slot, 16MP rear camera with PDAF and 4K video recording, 5MP front shooter, NFC, and a 3510mAh battery.

Moto Z Play preview

With a thickness of 5.19mm, the Moto Z is one of the sleekest phones available today. The phone’s thinness is what prompted Lenovo to ditch the 3.5mm port, with audio routed through the USB-C charging port. Customers will get a 3.5mm to USB-C dongle to connect their audio gear to the phone. In contrast, the Moto Z Play has a traditional 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Moto Z features a 5.5-inch QHD display, and is powered by the Snapdragon 820 SoC along with 4GB of RAM. There’s 64GB of storage as well as a microSD slot, 13MP camera with 4K video, 5MP front camera, and a 2600mAh battery. Both the Moto Z and Moto Z Play come with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box, and feature a fingerprint sensor at the front.

Moto Z review

Best Android Phone Under $900

Getting the best sometimes costs a lot. If you’re looking for the most premium (and expensive) phone out there, the Galaxy Note 7 is the one to go for.

Best Overall

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

See at AT&T
See at Verizon
See at Sprint
See at T-mobile

Forget the drama for a second: The Galaxy Note 7 is well worth its high price tag precisely because of everything that’s bundled with it. Not only does it run on the latest processor, it also offers expandable memory, compatibility with two wireless charging standards, and two different mobile payment technologies. And for those of you who are serious about your smartphone photography, it features one of the best smartphone cameras on the market: a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera equipped with OIS and a f/1.7 aperture, as well as full manual controls and RAW file support. You can then edit those photos with the precise, water resistant, pressure sensitive S-Pen that comes in tow. Now do you see why this phone costs so much?

Bottom line: The Galaxy Note 7 is simply the best, especially if you’re willing to put down the cash for it.

One more thing: We recognize you may be feeling hesitant about the Note 7 because of its massive recall, so read up on what happened before you commit.

Why the Galaxy Note 7 is the best

It’s big, it’s beautiful, and it’s worth the upgrade.

It may seem like the Galaxy Note 7 was just a rehash of its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 5, but it’s not. This phablet manages to stand out on its own, precisely for the reasons that our very own Andrew Martonik pointed out in his initial review:

The Galaxy Note 7 has immaculately designed and crafted hardware, an industry-topping display, top-end internal specs to satiate all but the most avid enthusiasts, and it’s all wrapped up in a water-tight enclosure. Even with all of that, Samsung still absolutely nails the biggest parts of the daily use experience — the software is quick, smooth and powerful, the camera is lightning fast and produces great photos, the battery offers ample longevity, and the S Pen is still the best smartphone stylus experience available today.

The good news is that even though the Galaxy Note 7 is comparatively expensive, it’s available at most carriers through financing, spreading the cost of the phone over a couple year’s worth of monthly payments.

And when you finally get the phone in your hand, with its beautiful edge screen and superb brightness, you’ll understand why it’s worth the cost: it’s just a stunning device. Every aspect of the phone has been improved over not just the Note 5, but its immediate predecessor, the Galaxy S7 edge.

Better for battery

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

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Yes, I know—we’re not being very original here by choosing another Samsung device, but we can’t ignore the fact that the company launched more than one stellar smartphone this year. Since it’s essentially a slightly trimmed down version of the Note 7, the Galaxy S7 Edge is the next best smartphone in the sub-$900 category. Inside, it’s practically the same as the rest of its Galaxy family, but on the outside it sports a curved metal-and-glass chassis and a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display that’s big and bright. It also offers the largest battery of the three widely available Galaxy variants, so you’ll get more usage from it throughout your day.

Bottom line: The Galaxy S7 Edge is the second best choice if the Note 7 and its stylus are too much for you.

One more thing: The AT&T exclusive (Galaxy S7 Active)[http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s7-active/home] is another worthy consideration if you’re in the market for something more durable.

Conclusion

The Galaxy Note 7 is one of two phones we recommend between $700 and $900 because, frankly, most other phones in that price range aren’t worth considering. It almost singularly justifies its high cost in a sea of devices that call themselves premium but offer mainly compromise. The Note 7, and to a lesser extent the Galaxy S7 edge, are nearly perfect Android phones, held back only by their slow Android updates.

Best Overall

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

See at AT&T
See at Verizon
See at Sprint
See at T-mobile

Forget the drama for a second: The Galaxy Note 7 is well worth its high price tag precisely because of everything that’s bundled with it. Not only does it run on the latest processor, it also offers expandable memory, compatibility with two wireless charging standards, and two different mobile payment technologies. And for those of you who are serious about your smartphone photography, it features one of the best smartphone cameras on the market: a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera equipped with OIS and a f/1.7 aperture, as well as full manual controls and RAW file support. You can then edit those photos with the precise, water resistant, pressure sensitive S-Pen that comes in tow. Now do you see why this phone costs so much?

Bottom line: The Galaxy Note 7 is simply the best, especially if you’re willing to put down the cash for it.

One more thing: We recognize you may be feeling hesitant about the Note 7 because of its massive recall, so read up on what happened before you commit.

How to set up a new Google account

Google Play, Chromebooks, Gmail … all these wonderful services start with (and require) a Google Account. And whether you’re setting up a professional account to help field headhunters and job offers, or finally offloading one of your tweens to their own account, setting up a Google account is simple and quick, but there are a few tricks to it.

Let’s open the door to the wonderful world of Google.

While you can set up a new account on a computer using this link, if you’re on an Android device, Google has baked the Google account setup right into the Settings menu, making things much easier. Here’s how to set it up.

Open Settings.
Scroll down to Accounts.

Tap Add Account, the plus icon in the top right corner of your screen.

Tap Google.
Tap Or create a new account.

Type in the name associated with the account. While you do not have to use your real name, if this is going to be your main account, using your real name is recommended.

Tap Next
Enter the birthdate associated with the account. Note: Google requires all account users to be at least 13 years old and some countries have even high age requirement, but in order to have an account that can use Google Wallet (or use a credit card in Google Play), the account holder must be 18 years old.

Pick a gender. If you do not wish to be identified by your gender, you can decline to state. There is also a custom gender option for those who identify outside the cisgender binary.

Tap Next.
Type in your username. This username will become your Gmail address as well as how you log into Google.

Tap Next.

If your desired username is taken, you’ll be told to pick another and given suggestions. Either select one of the suggested usernames or type in a new one.
Tap Next.

Type in a new password for your account. The password has to be at least 8 characters, but thankfully is not required to have a number or special character, if you want to stick to plain old letters.

Re-type your new pasword in the Confirm password box. You’ll be told how strong or weak the password you’ve selected is.
You’ll be prompted to Add a phone number. This phone number can be used to verify your identity, help log into your account and help people find you if they have your phone number. If you want to add a phone number, type it in.

Tap Next to verify your number or Skip to skip putting a number in.

Google will present their terms of use. After scrolling through and reading the sections that interest you, tap I agree.
Your core Google Account is now set up, and your username and the length of your password will be shown.

If the birthdate associated with your account is over 18, you can add a credit or debit card to your account to use for buying apps or paying for subscription services like YouTube Red, but you’re not required to set one up this moment.

Your turn

What are your stories about opening a new Google account? Problems? Good experiences? Let us know in the comments below!

Best Honor Phone

The Honor 8 is the best phone by Huawei’s youth-focused, online brand, thanks to its excellent combination of build quality, performance, camera quality, and battery life.

Best overall

Honor 8

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See at Honor

No surprise — the best Honor phone you can buy is the newly launched flagship Honor 8. This 5.2-inch handset hits a sweet spot in terms of size and price, at the $400 mark, while delivering speedy performance thanks to Huawei’s homegrown Kirin 950 CPU and 4GB of RAM. The dual camera setup from the Huawei P9 also makes it across to to the new Honor phone, although without the Leica branding.

And on the outside, the Honor 8’s glitzy metal-and-glass body stands out from the crowd, and battery life from the fixed 3,000mAh cell is easily enough to last a full day.

Bottom line: The Honor 8 is an excellent $400 phone with a few software quirks that may take a while to adjust to.

One More thing: European and Asian Honor 8 phones support dual-SIM via Huawei’s hybrid slot, which can take a microSD or a second nano SIM.

Why the Honor 8 is the best

A whole lotta phone for 400 bucks.

With U.S. pricing just shy of $400, the Honor 8 delivers excellent value for money. And if you can deal with Huawei’s EMUI 4.1 interface — it’s something of acquired taste, but sure to get better once Nougat lands — there’s an awful lot to like. The display — a 1080p LCD panel — is bright and vibrant, and the fact that you’re not pushing a 2K panel means there are power savings to be had.

Meanwhile the dual camera setup uses a full color 12-megapixel sensor and another black-and-white sensor combined, to produce clear daylight shots and photos with more detail in low light. EMUI’s camera app also includes super night mode for getting the most from stabilized shots in the dark. And all that in an attractive glass-backed package.

Best value – U.S.

Honor 5X

See at Honor
See at Amazon

Honor’s first phone to launch in the U.S. is its only budget offering in the country to date. The Honor 5X packs a Snapdragon 616 processor and 2GB of RAM into a metal body, with a surprisingly good 1080p LCD display. There’s 16GB of storage built in, and the recent Android 6.0 Marshmallow (and EMUI 4.1) upgrade brings welcome performance improvements.

What’s more you’ll also get a great rear-mounted fingerprint scanner for biometric security — a feature that’s usually missing from phones at this price point.

Bottom-line: $199 gets you a decent phone with metal construction and a fingerprint scanner.

One more thing: The biggest trade-off for the Honor 5X is the lack of oleophobic coating on the screen, meaning it can get gunked up with fingerprints pretty easily.

Best value – Europe

Honor 5C

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See at Vmall

The Honor 5X is also available in Europe, but its little brother the 5C is arguably better value. For just shy of £150 you get a metal-bodied phone with a 5.2-inch 1080p screen, powered by fast and efficient Huawei’s Kirin 650 processor. That’s running Android Marshmallow on Huawei’s latest EMUI 4.1. There’s a little more plastic than metal here compared to the 5C, and you’ll have to make do without a fingerprint scanner. But what the 5C lacks in pizzaz it makes up for in performance.

Bottom-line: A solid £150 phone with a few missing features, but exceptional performance thanks to Huawei’s own silicon.

One more thing: The Chinese version of the phone includes a fingerprint scanner, but in Europe you’ll have to make do without.

Conclusion

All Honor’s phones are competitively priced, but the flagship Honor 8 is the one to aim for. You’ll get flagship-tier performance and build quality, an impressive camera and all-day battery life for considerably less than the bigger brands are charging. What’s more, it’s only going to get better once Android Nougat and EMUI 5 arrive in the months ahead.

Best overall

Honor 8

See at Amazon
See at Honor

No surprise — the best Honor phone you can buy is the newly launched flagship Honor 8. This 5.2-inch handset hits a sweet spot in terms of size and price, at the $400 mark, while delivering speedy performance thanks to Huawei’s homegrown Kirin 950 CPU and 4GB of RAM. The dual camera setup from the Huawei P9 also makes it across to to the new Honor phone, although without the Leica branding.

And on the outside, the Honor 8’s glitzy metal-and-glass body stands out from the crowd, and battery life from the fixed 3,000mAh cell is easily enough to last a full day.

Bottom line: The Honor 8 is an excellent $400 phone with a few software quirks that may take a while to adjust to.

One More thing: European and Asian Honor 8 phones support dual-SIM via Huawei’s hybrid slot, which can take a micro-SD or a second nano SIM.

Mastercard will now let you pay for things with your face

Mastercard has announced it’s now rolling out a new technology called Identity Check Mobile which should make it quicker and easier to pay for things on your phone. The technology has already been trialled in the US, Canada and the Netherlands and must have been successful since it’s now being rolled out to 12 European countries including the UK.

Identity Check Mobile uses your fingerprints and facial recognition to authorise payments instead of passwords and memorable data. You’ll first need to download the Mastercard app and take a selfie, from which the service will store a digitised version of your face on Mastercard’s servers. Mastercard will use the photo stored as a reference for when you make future purchases, so perhaps it’s best you don’t smile just incase you can’t match it exactly.

And don’t worry about someone using a photo of your face to authorise payments, as Mastercard will ask you to blink to make sure you’re human.

The company also reckons its new service will “dramatically speed up” online purchases, with Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk & security at Mastercard adding: “Shopping in person has been revolutionised thanks to advanced like contactless cards, mobile payments and wearables, and now we are making Identity Check Mobile a reality for online shopping in Europe, and soon, the world.”

JBL Reflect Aware review: Lightning earphones for sporty iPhone 7 users

With Apple having famously ditched the 3.5mm jack in the iPhone 7, we’re just on the cusp of audio companies rushing to flood the market. Among this first wave is JBL, with one of the first pairs of Lightning-equipped wired in-ear headphones.

They cost £170, but their feature list and design should ensure you don’t think you’ve thrown your money away… shouldn’t they?

JBL Reflect Aware review: Design

Although they look fairly standard on the surface, the design of the JBL Reflect Aware earphones is fairly unusual when you get up close.

Starting at the tip, instead of employing a bog standard circle outlet for the audio, the JBL’s are oval shaped and the tips have a fairly wide base. This gives them an overall look that’s similar to those shallow plastic cones your PE teacher would throw on the floor during football or rugby sessions.

More importantly, it seems to make them fit a little nicer in the ear. By offering this shaped tip, there’s a better chance it’ll fit individual ear shapes than a traditional circle tip, plus there are three different sizes included in the box.

Pocket-lint

What’s more, the extra material to grip the inside of your ear is made from a grippy, soft rubber, and ensures it doesn’t slip out easily. Or, often, out at all.

As is common with sports earphones, they come equipped with detachable “fins” – the shape of which reminds us of a huge quotation mark – which add further grip, holding the earbuds onto your ears. Again, three sizes are available.

We tested the earphones on several runs and found that they fit so well, they felt comfortable in the ear… well, almost comfortable; as comfortable as anything shoved into your ears can be. Vitally, they didn’t once feel like they’d fall out on any of our runs. The grippy texture and design of the tips and fins ensures they stay in place.

The outside of the plastic housing which holds the drivers features a collection of small holes, used to let noise into the earphones when required. Water and sweat resistance mean you should be good to run in the rain, or do some intense work outs without worrying about ruining your precious buds.

Pocket-lint

There’s nothing remarkable about the cables attaching the earphones to the in-line control and Lightning connector, except to say it features painted-on reflective strips, presumably to help drivers see you at night. Sadly, it’s far too slim to make that much of a difference.

The in-line remote and mic unit, however, is impressive. It has four very easy-to-click buttons, which are also easy to find when running, walking or generally not having the freedom to look with your eyes. They protrude just enough to feel, and click reassuringly when pressed.

Those buttons include the volume up and down buttons, separated by the action button, which is used to answer calls, play/pause music, or activate Siri. The stubby pill-shaped button at the bottom is the ANC (Active Noise-Cancelling) activation button. So switching noise-cancellation on or off is as easy as just clicking a button.

JBL Reflect Aware review: Features

JBL offers an app for use with the Reflect Aware, which can be used to control a few different aspects of the earphones’ behaviour.

As you’d expect, part of it is the equaliser which includes three different presets as well as the ability to fully customise your own sound balance.

You can also use it to switch the noise-cancelling on or off, as well as adjust how much ambient noise you want to let through using the low, medium or high sensitivity. So when you’re running on the road, you can hear what’s coming and aren’t completely sealed off from the world. You can even have different sensitivity settings on each ear.

How useful this is depends very much on how loud your music is. At times we could barely hear cars driving past, even with high sensitivity selected. Still, when music was at a moderate level, any outside noise came through well, although it did kind of sound a bit muted and warped.

If you want complete silence, you can just switch off the ambient noise pass through and switch on noise-cancelling. This does a good job of cutting out low frequency background noises, but it doesn’t completely cut out all the noise – at least not when music is at a lower volume. However, with volume cranked up, the world outside soon disappears.  

JBL Reflect Aware review: Sound

There’s a full, warm and immersive sound from these small earphones. It’s certainly full enough that you can crank it up and pretend the world around you doesn’t exist.

Pocket-lint

However, as in-ear headphones go they’re pretty bass-heavy. There’s always the option to use the app-enabled equaliser if that doesn’t suit, but even with the bass set to low and treble pumped, the earphones do lack a little clarity.

The JBL Reflect Aware are seemingly designed to pump out tunes, and keeping you pumping on the treadmill, Tarmac, or wherever you like to get your move on. For that, you need the bass.

Perhaps the most noticeable thing about these earphones is the volume, and that’s one advantage of using a Lightning connector over Bluetooth or traditional 3.5mm jack. The audio can be pumped up really loud, in fact, so loud that even just getting the headphone volume to the halfway point is enough to drown out everything else around you. 

Verdict

As an overall package, the JBL Reflect Aware offer a great option for iPhone users who need good in-ear headphones that stay in during long runs or workout sessions.

For those who fit in to that category, it’s going to be a tough task finding many in-ears that do it better. The combination of materials and shape make for an earbud that not only feels comfortable and light, but secure. 

At the £169 full asking price, though, it’s a lot of cash for a product that you can only use with your iPhone and not plug in to your computer, or any other device sporting a 3.5mm jack. It only comes with a Lightning connector, which isn’t as versatile or platform agnostic as Bluetooth or the traditional jack.