LG’s latest battery is also a phone

The problem with having a smartphone that you want to use all the damn time is that you’ll spend a big chunk of your day wedded to an outlet. LG believes that nobody should have to suffer such an indignity, and has launched the X power2 as a remedy. The smartphone is designed to operate for an entire weekend on a single charge thanks to the 4,500mAh battery tucked inside. It’ll also recharge nice and quick, too, taking just two hours to go from flat all the way back up to 100 percent.

Unfortunately, like the first-generation LG X power phone, the capacious battery is the only noteworthy thing about it. The 5.5-inch display has a HD resolution, and is using an off-brand 1.5Ghz octa-core chip that we’re guessing is made by MediaTek. In addition, there’s either 1.5GB or 2GB RAM paired with 16GB storage, which will hardly pull up any trees when most flagships are packing twice that amount.

Rounding out the spec list is a reasonably-decent 13 megapixel primary camera and a five megapixel wide-angle front facer. You’ll also get barebones LTE connectivity along with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2, so nothing much of interest here. On the upside, the device runs Android 7.0, and shouldn’t be too expensive, since it’s one of LG’s mass-market devices, although there’s no word on actual pricing. For comparison, the first-generation X power cost just $150, making it a decent backup device for road warriors.

The LG X power2 will launch in March in Latin America, and will subsequently roll out to “key markets” in the US, Asia and Europe soon after.

ZeniMax wants to stop Oculus from selling VR headsets

Despite being $500 million richer than it was a few months ago, ZeniMax still isn’t happy about the outcome of its Oculus Rift lawsuit. Reuters is reporting that the video game company behind id Software and Bethesda has filed for an injunction blocking Oculus from using ZeniMax code in its products. Given that the contentious code is apparently at the heart of Oculus’ devices, this could be even more contentious than the original lawsuit.

When ZeniMax sued Oculus for $4 billion, it did so by claiming that Oculus had leeched ZeniMax’s research into VR technology. In addition, it suggested that ZeniMax code had been used to build the Rift, and that John Carmack stole a bucket-load of trade secrets as he switched sides. The jury upheld the former complaints, leading to the $500 million settlement, but exonerated Carmack.

Oculus told the newswire that it was continuing to contest the verdict, calling it “legally flawed and factually unwarranted.” The site has spoken to third parties who believe that it’s likely that ZeniMax will continue to attack its rival until some sort of settlement is offered. Then again, can you blame ZeniMax for pursuing Oculus and its founders so aggressively, given how much money its parent company has.

Source: Reuters

Initial thoughts on ‘Zelda: Breath of the Wild’

Unlike my New York-based colleagues, I didn’t get a Nintendo Switch early enough to give some thoughts on the hardware. Mine arrived yesterday, along with Just Dance 2017 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. For obvious reasons, the former is still in its plastic wrapping, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. I’ve since put five hours or so into Zelda, though, and I’m really enjoying it… when I can stay alive.

Five hours isn’t long enough to really make a substantial call on a game of this size’s merits, but I can say a few things with certainty.

‘Breath of the Wild’ doesn’t hold your hand

Perhaps my fondest video game memory is playing through The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. I was eight years old at the time, and the Game Boy was my first console. Sure, my elder brothers had a NES and a Genesis, so I’d played games before, but this was my console, and Link’s Awakening was the first game to truly absorb me.

I got stuck in the Mysterious Woods for hours. I worked tirelessly to solve the game’s riddles and dungeon puzzles. In a pre-internet world, I worked out every one of its secrets alone, and was spirited away by its storytelling.

In the 24 years since, though, something has happened to the franchise: It’s gotten easy. Majora’s Mask was probably the last (home console) Zelda that was offered any real difficulty. Since then, linearity and simplicity has been a hallmark of a series that once offered challenge at every corner; a series that once treated you like you were intelligent, rather than holding your hand. The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword are all fantastic games, but I can probably count on one hand the times I died or was confounded in each. And I’ll be the first to admit that, despite playing more than most people, I’m pretty terrible at video games.

I’ve already run out of fingers to count the number of deaths that have been inflicted on me in Breath of the Wild. I’ll probably soon run out of toes, too. I’ve played through the game’s first area, and have just made it to a safe location where the main story looks set to kick off.

The first quest you’re tasked with involves finding Shrines (a kind of mini-dungeon) to retrieve some items within. Rather than giving you a waypoint, you’re told to discover these structures by heading to a good vantage point and surveying the land. Only a couple of these were easy to find — the others required some exploration and problem solving.

I expected the journey to these buildings to be fairly simple. It wasn’t. The path to each took me past numerous groups of enemies, some of which were easy to deal with, and others that totally wiped me out, even one-hit-killing me on some occasions. You can’t really approach any encounter head-on. You need to use stealth, and powers granted to you as you progress, to have a chance of succeeding. You’ll occasionally come across an enemy that you simply don’t have the right equipment to defeat, and need to find a path around them.

The game also uses its environment to guide you. Several times I came across obstacles I couldn’t get passed, whether they be weather conditions or giant rivers. Each time, I looked around, hoping to see a building or something of interest to explore. And each time, my exploration uncovered an item or a skill that allowed me to progress.

As I said, I’ve only really played what you could call the game’s prologue (or, if you’re feeling unkind, tutorial). But this short section of the game already perfectly encapsulates what made the Zelda series so beloved: that sense of a solitary adventure. The sense that, while there is a safe path forward, you will have to use logic (and a fair amount of trial and error) to find it.

Nintendo has learned from its rivals

Perhaps making a comparison to Skyrim is unfair, but I’m going to do so anyway. The very first Zelda game put you in a lovely open world, and implored you to explore, and in a way Breath of the Wild is an extension of that philosophy. But as I stood atop a mountain in the game’s first area, scanning the horizon, I saw my future unfolding. Rich canyons, lands covered in shadow, dense forests, volcanoes, rivers, lakes — a whole world laid before me, and a sense that everything I could see, I would one day visit. That feeling of impending adventure was so memorable in Skyrim, and it’s got me truly excited to throw myself into this game.

The links between Zelda and other games are easier to draw. There’s a big focus on food. Ingredients are everywhere, and you can combine them in various ways to create cooked meals that will not only heal you, but also increase your stamina or make you impervious to extreme temperatures. This mechanic feels totally at place in Zelda, and it’s one Nintendo learned from other series like Monster Hunter.

Speaking of action-RPGs, Nintendo borrows from Dark Souls when it comes to managing your gear. Weapons and shields degrade with use, and you’ll constantly be on the lookout for new ones. Saving your best weapons for the toughest enemies, and switching between them on the fly, is vital.

Performance isn’t perfect

This is a truly beautiful game, but with less than a week to go till launch, it still has problems. First, the good: Load times are very fast. From the Switch’s home screen to the main menu is almost instant, while loading up your save typically takes less than 10 seconds. Certain areas like Shrines require a couple of seconds to load in, but typically the experience is a breath of fresh air compared to hard-drive or disc-based gaming. It’s worth noting that I’m playing Zelda with a Game Card, rather than loaded onto a microSD. If you plan on downloading the game, load times will vary massively, dependant on how fast the card is.

Playing in tablet mode, performance was solid. I don’t have the frame-rate measuring magic of Digital Foundry to give firm figures, but after playing for a few hours it seems there’s a near-perfect 30 frames-per-second lock. Plugged into my TV, things weren’t quite as smooth. The vast majority of gameplay was at 30FPS, but I definitely noticed some frames dropping in forested areas, and a couple of times during busy combat. It’s no deal-breaker — I’d go so far as to say this is even fairly common for modern console titles — but Nintendo is a company almost unrivalled in polish, and the drops surprised me. Of course, there’s a chance we’ll get a patch to paper over these issues before long.

The Switch’s screenshot capture tool is junk

This doesn’t have much to do with the game, but if you were looking forward to sharing beautiful images of your gameplay anytime soon, curb your enthusiasm. The Switch’s built-in screenshot tool outputs full-resolution images (1080p when you’re docked, 720p in tablet mode) but for some reason they just suck. They’re being saved as very lossy JPGs, typically weighing in at between 150KB and 300KB, making them soft and generally nowhere near as pretty as the game itself.

This is a system-seller

There can be no doubt that the Switch’s initial lineup is weak. But this is a challenging, engrossing and truly beautiful game. Five hours in, it feels like a contender for the strongest game Nintendo has launched a console with since Super Mario 64. If you weren’t thinking about playing it before now, I implore you to reconsider that thought.

I’m now going to spend the 160 hours or so before March 3rd attempting to avoid non-essential tasks like sleep and work in favor of more Breath of the Wild time. I’ll hopefully have some more detailed thoughts for you in time for the game’s launch.

Huawei announces a 360-degree VR camera for smartphones

Huawei is joining the 360-degree camera war. The Chinese electronics company has revealed that it created a 360-degree clip-on for smartphones called Honor VR Camera in collaboration with Insta 360 at an event in Beijing. Huawei is keeping its pricing and release date a secret, but it’s obviously part of the company’s online-focused line. The phonemaker also said the device is capable of 3K photography and seamless livestreaming. Plus, you can capture and share photos and videos as well as do livestreams through its companion app.

This might be Huawei’s first 360-degree camera, but it’s definitely not Insta360’s first. It has other phone clip-ons that plug into a phone’s micro-USB port on the market for both iOS and Android devices. Huawei’s could have a similar quality and pricing, so expect to shell out roughly $200 or more. We’re bound to learn the details in the near future: the company says the accessory will be available “soon” around the world.

Source: Insta360

The ResiConnect is an IoT mousetrap that’ll set you back $1,600

Why it matters to you

The Internet of Things craze is upon us, and its latest manifestation comes in the form of a connected mousetrap that retails for $1,600

Who knew getting rid of such a plebeian problem could be so … expensive? Of course, it doesn’t have to be, but if you want to rid your home of rodents the high-tech way, you’ll need to spend an impressive $1,600. It’s all thanks to a new connected mousetrap from Rentokil called the ResiConnect. It certainly does away with the more icky parts of pest control, but you’ll have to decide for yourself if it’s worth the hefty price tag.

What differentiates the ResiConnect mousetrap from your run of the mill trap is its interconnectivity. By tapping into the Internet of Things, the company is convinced it has something worth about 700 times more than your average trap. As Berwyn Evans of Rentokil told the BBC, “This is a trap that’s connected to the internet, essentially. Whereas there are other standard traps on the market that just catch and kill the mouse, that mouse can be caught in that trap for several weeks or several months. What this does is sends us a signal to notify us the trap has been activated, which allows us to respond.”

More: Analysis of internet-connected devices reveals millions are vulnerable to attack

Of course, if you have a rodent problem, it doesn’t seem as though you’ll have any trouble remembering to check your traps every once in awhile, though perhaps you’re less squeamish than we are. “ResiConnect brings mouse control into the 21st century,” Rentokil’s David Cross told the Independent. “We know that finding mice in the home can be traumatic for many people, and ResiConnect takes all the hassle out of managing pests for the resident. Technology has an increasingly important role in the pest control business, as it helps us to spot a pest problem and helps to provide a more effective and humane treatment.”

The connected mousetrap uses neither bait nor poison, and instead releases carbon dioxide to administer the fatal blow once the rodent has been trapped. So hopefully, the only thing that will be squeaking in your home is … you … when you think about how much you’ve spent to get rid of your pests.

Is your Razer Blade’s fan too loud? Never fear, a fix is on the way

Why it matters to you

If you’re frustrated with excessive fan noise on your 2016 Razer Blade, never fear: a fix is on its way.

We expect gaming notebooks to have aggressive — and often loud — cooling systems to keep those powerful processors and GPUs from melting down. That’s particularly true for thinner gaming machines that cram the same components into svelte frames that force fans to work overtime.

What we don’t expect, though, is for the fans to keep running even when the system isn’t working hard, and even worse when it’s just idling. Apparently, that’s exactly what owners of 2016 Razer Blade notebooks have been suffering from, and fortunately Razer is working on a fix, as Windows Central reports.

More: Razer Blade (2016) Review

As is often the case, the issue was identified on Razer’s Insider community, where a number of users have reported that their fans work constantly and far more loudly than necessary when their Razer Blades are at rest. The affected systems are 2016 models that use sixth-generation Intel Skylake processors as opposed to the newer Kaby Lake models.

As one user put it, “I got my Blade yesterday and I noticed fan noise right away even when idled. I set the fan to low in Synapse but still would randomly turn on even when I wasn’t doing anything. I called customer support and the agent told me that this was “normal” because it meant the fans were doing their job.”

The good news is, Razer is aware of the problem and eventually posted a response on the forums:

“We know we have been quiet in regard to all of the feedback, and wanted to openly clarify that we are looking into this and that our engineering team is working hard on a firmware update to finetune the fan-temperature curve which will reduce the noise when the Razer Blade is at idle. We understand that although this noise you’re experiencing is an annoyance, there are no functional or performance issues as a result of this.”

Razer didn’t provide an estimate on when the issue would be addressed, but Razer Blade owners can at least take some solace in the knowledge that a fix is underway. For now, the company stresses that there’s no harm in running the systems as is, other than the annoyance at having a system that’s louder than it should be.

LeEco update marks the debut of an app drawer for two of its smartphones

Why it matters to you

LeEco addressed one of the faults we found with the Le Pro 3 and Le S3 and introduced some further improvements.

Android fans in the West seem to enjoy their app drawers, seeing how the likes of LG and Huawei were criticized for having exorcised the drawers in their Android overlays. Digital Trends knocked Chinese manufacturer LeEco for this purposeful oversight on the Le Pro 3 and Le S3, but an upcoming software update for both phones will patch that right up.

It is a bit comical to have a highlight feature of an update be the inclusion of an app drawer, but that is where we are with LeEco, which wants to expand into the U.S. with its fleet of products. With the update, an app drawer is now prominently featured in the center of the dock. That area used to be occupied by LeEco’s Live app, which has been shifted to the right on the dock, though you can now move it anywhere you would like.

More: LeEco’s 2017 plans? Cracking open the brick-and-mortar space in the U.S.

The other major feature is camera improvements. For the Le S3, pictures taken in low-light environments will now appear a bit brighter, while the Le Pro 3’s camera will take HDR photos at a faster clip.

Other features include a change to the fingerprint sensor that will only make it vibrate once if your fingerprint is not recognized, parental control functions for the Le app, an improved Live apps interface and streaming quality, and improved Bluetooth functionality and Wi-Fi download speeds on the Le S3 when both are used simultaneously.

Finally, the update includes bug fixes for NFC and the gallery app, among others.

Unfortunately, the update does not bring Android 7.0 Nougat to the Le Pro 3 and Le S3 — both phones are still stuck at Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. The security patch level does get bumped up to January 2017, with the update itself being pushed out to Le Pro 3 and Le S3 owners over the next three days.

Samsung’s Secure Folder creates a private space for your apps and files

Samsung’s Secure Folder is now available for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.

Samsung has officially released the Secure Folder app for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge on the Galaxy Apps store. Secure Folder relies on Samsung’s Knox security platform to set up a secure encrypted zone on your phone. Anything you store in the Secure Folder — apps, files, documents, or images — will be hidden behind an added layer of authentication, which can be accessed by a PIN, pattern lock, passcode, or biometric verification.

Apps that run in the Secure Folder are sandboxed, which provides an added layer of security while making it convenient to run two instances of an app on the same phone. You can customize the name of Secure Folder, or hide it altogether from the home screen for added privacy. Samsung also allows you to backup the contents of the Secure Folder and restore the data when switching to a new phone, with the data tied to your Samsung account.

You’ll need to be running Nougat on the S7 and S7 edge for Secure Folder to work, and Samsung mentions that it will add support for other devices soon. Phones in the Galaxy A 2017 series already offer the feature, and it should be rolling out to the Galaxy S6 once it picks up the Nougat update.

Bragi The Headphone review: The One?

It could be argued that Bragi is the company that started off the whole revolution of completely wire-free earphones. Before Samsung and Apple brought their respective Icon X and AirPods to the table and, with them, a larger audience in the audio market, there was Bragi’s Dash. 

The Dash promised to not only give you fully untethered stereo sound, but also fitness-tracking. It’s an ambitious and fairly expensive product that has some interesting points going for it – but, as we pointed out in our review, has shortcomings. 

With The Headphone, Bragi has essentially released a stripped-back, more affordable pair of earphones which, for us, are the better suited pair. Here’s why.

Bragi The Headphone review: Design

• Completely wireless design
• Charging case with magnetic docks

If you’ve seen the Bragi Dash, The Headphone will seem immediately familiar. Bragi has kept many of the same design choices, just without some of the seamlessness, finesse and shine of the more premium set. Oh, and the name isn’t exactly thoughtful either.

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The body of the earbuds is curved nicely to ensure a comfortably fit in the ear, with the eartip and driver built into the end of a tiny arm that extends out of the main body. It is just a glossy plastic though, there’s no grippy finish on top like the Motorola VerveOnes+.

While The Headphone may not look or feel like a premium set of earbuds, each is still comfortable to wear for extended periods. They’re light enough that you don’t feel like you’re working hard to have them in your ears, and fit well, even without any of the provided FitSleeves applied. If you do find them a little loose, you can use different tips/sleeves to make them more snug.

Although The Headphone in-ears aren’t specifically designed for sports, we found the earphones did a great job of sticking in our ears – they didn’t fall out once during our testing; even a vigorous head-shake couldn’t dislodge them.

On the underside you’ll find tiny gold contact points and two miniature magnets which match those found inside the plastic carrying case. These, as you would expect, are to ensure the earphones stay secure inside the case, and charge up while they’re there. As well as keeping them securely connected while on the go, the magnets also ensure the earphones line up and snap into place when you go to stow them. You don’t have to fiddle to get the contacts lined up.

On the outside, the left ear features a slightly raised Bragi logo, while the right features three multi-functional buttons. The volume up and down buttons also switch audio transparency on or off, depending on whether you just press or press-and-hold. The power button also has multiple functions: play/pause, skip track, end call and voice-control activation. Which function it performs depends on whether you press it once, twice or three times, or press-and-hold it for one second or three seconds.

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In practical use, the buttons are generally easy to press, and you soon get used to the position of them. However, they are quite fiddly – especially if you want to launch the secondary features.

Once you’re done listening, you snap The Headphone earphones back into their carrying case, and then slip over the hard plastic sleeve and – if you want to – hang them around your neck using the built in strap. Unlike the Apple AirPods or Bragi Dash case, however, this one doesn’t have any built-in battery, so the earphones will only charge when you plug the case into its Micro-USB cable.

Bragi The Headphone review: Features & performance

• Six hours of playback
• Passive noise isolation
• Audio transparency feature
• Auto play/pause when removed

With The Headphone, Bragi has opted to keep things simpler compared to its Dash product, by not including the multitude of built-in sensors. The Headphone, therefore, stick with being just that – in-ear headphones. There are no sensors for measuring heart rate, no high-end gyroscopic sensors or accelerometers for measuring movement, and no touch sensitive surface.

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All of this stripped-back-ness should result in a few positives. Firstly, there’s the added bonus of The Headphone only needing one connection, rather than two. Secondly, The Headphone is much cheaper than Bragi’s original trendsetter Dash: at €169 it’s almost half the price.

Saying that, there are a couple of features that make them more than a bottom rung pair of earphones. Firstly, they pause automatically when you remove the right earbud from your ear, suggesting there is a motion sensor of some kind in the right earbud. Secondly, there are ambient noise mics designed to let in noise from the outside, but it must be said this second feature doesn’t work that well, only letting through high pitched noises rather than anything else.

Since The Headphone in-ears don’t have a battery-equipped charging case to fall back on, Bragi has blessed its more budget option with batteries that last up to six hours on a single charge. For the most part, they last well – comfortably enough to get you through your daily commutes for a few days. Once drained, they take two hours to refill.

Bragi The Headphone review: Sound Quality

• Knowles Balanced Armature Speakers
• AAC and SBC audio codec

Despite not having the most audiophile-friendly sound profile, The Headphone still provide a pleasant listen. It does require some work to get the best sound, however: we found that we couldn’t just stick them in our ears and have brilliant audio. The fit needs to be very snug in order for the bass and middle frequencies to shine. A number of times, before tweaking the position, the music sounded flat and a little lifeless. After adjustment, the balance was pleasant.

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Bass levels are fairly high, so clarity is a little lacking overall, but we had no real issues when listening to our favourite albums – especially considering that these cost around the same amount as the Apple AirPods.

While high-end frequencies don’t ring, as such, there are much worse sounding earphones, plus we don’t like overly sharp in-ears. Over all, The Headphone’s audio balance is rather good.

Verdict

On the whole, it’s important to look at the price point of The Headphone before being overly critical about its lack of high-end features versus the more expensive Dash. For the money, there’s very little else out there that will match its performance or reliability, at least not in this form factor.

They’re comfortable to wear, sound decent and the connection is solid. What’s more, you don’t need to mess around setting up two different connections to the same pair of earphones like you do with some other more feature-packed earphones. 

Alternatives to consider…

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Apple AirPods

Apple AirPods are an easy recommendation for iPhone users, because they’re desinged to be super convenient. They come in a tiny case that’s barely noticeable in your pocket, and connect more easily to phones thanks to that W1 chip.

Read the full review: Apple Airpods review: Wire-free future or design disaster?

Available for £159/$159 from Apple. If you need them immediately, you can pay a £70 premium on Amazon.co.uk or $120 premium on Amazon.com. 

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Jabra Elite Sport

They might be bigger, but the performance and sound of the Jabra Elite Sport is probably better than most other earphones in this category as it stands. They’re a little uncomfortable to wear, but they’re super secure in the ears and have some great fitness tracking features. 

Read the full review: Jabra Elite Sport review: These are the AirPods you really want

They’re available for £229 from Amazon in the UK, or $249 from Amazon in the US. 

Motorola VerveOnes+ review: Bittersweet symphony

Now that completely wire-free headphones are a realistic product, many companies have jumped on board the bandwagon. Apple, Samsung and Jabra joined the likes of Bragi in the relatively new market, as has Motorola with its Verve Life lineup. 

Moto VerveOnes+ review: Design

• HZO water- and sweat-resistant coating
• Carrying case with built-in battery
• Black and orange colour finish

As designs go, the VerveOnes+ are eye-catching. The chunky two-tone black and orange teardrop is built entirely from plastic, with a circular button on the outside. Like almost all other completely wireless earphones on the market from the likes of Jabra, Bragi and Samsung, there are contact points built into the surface of the ear buds for charging the internal batteries when placed inside the carrying case. 

• Apple AirPods review: Wire-free future or design disaster?
• Jabra Elite Sport review: These are the Airpods you really want
• Bragi Dash review: The sound of the future?

Credit goes to Motorola for the design of the case as well. It may not be as neat and small as the Apple AirPods case, but the rotating action for opening and shutting it is pleasing.

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The same can’t be said of the insertion and removal of the earphones from their cradles though: rather than use magnets to keep the earphones in, Motorola has opted for tiny latches that clip onto matching indents in the sides of the earphones. While it’s not exactly difficult to place them in their spaces, or remove them, it’s not as easy and convenient as it could be. It can be fiddly.

Saying that, once the VerveOnes+ are placed in the ears, they’re easy to wear and relatively comfortable. The plastic casing is coated in a grippy finish to ensure that they won’t fall out easily, and despite them sometimes feel a little off balance, they don’t become dislodged at all.

If the initial fit isn’t right, there are small, medium and large silicone ear-tips in regular single form and with the popular double-flange design. 

As well as being easy to wear and secure, the VerveOnes+ are IP57 certified, meaning they’re water- and dust-resistant to high levels, their internals have also been treated with a special coating to keep them protected from moisture. In real life, that means you can use them on your sweatiest workouts, and the earphones survive through them. 

• IP ratings: What do these water- and dust-resistant numbers actually mean?

Moto VerveOnes+ review: Features and performance

• 12-hour battery
• 10m/33ft range
• Bluetooth 4.1 & A2DP

In theory, connecting the VerveOnes+ to your phone should be very easy. All that’s required from a user standpoint is to remove the headphones from their case, put them in your ears and go into your phone’s Bluetooth menu to pair them. Except, in reality, it’s not so simple. 

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In our setup process, we selected to pair the earphones with an iPhone and watched it disconnect and reconnect a few times every second. We then placed them back in their case, told the iPhone to forget the device, and started again. Thankfully, the second time, it stuck. 

Then came pairing the Hubble Connect app with the earphones, which was a separate process. With the app, you need to place the earphones in the case, slide it shut, then open. Once connected you can see the last known location of the earphones, adjust equaliser (EQ) settings and check battery levels for both earphones. 

The bizarre part here is that you can’t connect using the app while you’re using the earphones for listening to music. So you can’t adjust the EQ from the app and hear the differences in real-time. If you want to use the app, you have to put them in the case, open the app, choose a preset EQ balance, then put them back in your ears and listen to see if you like it.

You can use the single button on either earphone to switch EQ presets as well. Just press-and-hold it to hear which preset it is, press-and-hold again to hear the next preset, then single click to choose that one. It’s not exactly intuitive, but it saves clipping in and removing them from the case multiple times. Both methods of choosing an EQ preset seem counter-productive. 

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Once in the ears and connected we found the Bluetooth experience was rock solid (tested when paired with an iPhone). Even going out for a run with our phone strapped around our waist it proved no problem for the VerveOnes+ – there wasn’t even the slightest glitch.

While other manufacturers’ earphones have multiple controls, the Motorola pair only have a single button on each ear, with both sides performing the same function. One press will start or stop the music, while a long press takes you to the EQ preset settings. 

Once you’re done listening, you place the VerveOnes+ back in to the carrying case, then they’re supposed to automatically disconnect from the phone, but sadly that wasn’t always the case. Even when clicked in to place, sometimes we found that the audio connection was still active and audio was still playing through the earphones. Most days, putting them away also meant going into the Bluetooth menu and manually disconnecting. You can set them to automatically stop the music as soon as they’re out of your ears, using the app to toggle that setting, although again it didn’t seem to work consistently. 

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As for the earbuds’ built-in batteries, we got down to 75 per cent after listening to about 30 mins of music, suggesting a playing time of around two hours without needing to be stuck back in to their cradle. 

Combined with the battery pack in the case that recharges the earphones, Motorola claims up to 12-hours of playback from the VerveOnes+. That’s around six full recharges then.

Moto VerveOnes+ review: Sound

• Six EQ presets
• HD speakers

Down to one of the most important features: sound quality. The VerveOnes+ are certainly decent enough to listen to for a few hours. They could be criticised for being a little bass heavy, but having a lot of bass driving the tunes while you workout isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Critical ears might find them a bit too muddy sounding.

The main sound issue we had was sometimes a hissing, or similar noise which we only noticed during quieter songs, or during the more sparse breakdowns in our favourite tunes. It wasn’t constant. But if you’re using the earphones for workouts, it’s not likely to bother you at all since you won’t notice it. 

As mentioned previously, there are some EQ presets to choose from which alter the profile of the sound. So if you want even more bass, you can select the “Bass” setting. Less bass, go for the “Balanced” setting. None of the EQ presets are especially clear though. The most balanced and clear setting is “Brilliant” which does a decent job removing the muddy tendencies of the other presets and is the only one with any ring. 

Verdict

The VerveOnes+ are the epitome of why Apple designed a custom chip to make Bluetooth pairing easy in its AirPods and new Beats X earphones. The Motorolas have a temperamental pairing experience, along with unreliable auto-disconnecting when placed in the case. However, the Motorolas also offer a more snug fit and better sound. 

At their original price point of £229 the VerveOnes+ are difficult to recommend, considering how solid our experience was with the similarly priced Jabra Elite Sport, but their current £179 price tag (on Amazon) keeps things competitive. Especially for wireless in-ears that are loud and bassy enough to help you keep driving on during those workouts.

Alternatives to consider…

Pocket-lint

Jabra Elite Sport

The Jabra Elite Sport have been the outstanding performers of the completely wireless earphones we’ve tested so far. They offer a rock solid connection, to each other and the phone, and sound good too. Perhaps the only thing to be careful of is to always keep the carry case battery charged, the Jabras don’t disconnect from your phone unless they’re placed in a non-depleted case. 

Read the full review: Jabra Elite Sport review: These are the AirPods you really want

You can buy them from Amazon UK for £229, or from Amazon US for $249. 

Pocket-lint

Apple Airpods

AirPods make the list of alternatives for being, without doubt, the most convenient pair of earphones on the market for iPhone owners. They connect without any of the usual old-school Bluetooth problems, thanks to the W1 chip, they’re small, light and reliable. 

Read the full review: Apple AirPods review: Wire-free future or design disaster?

You can buy AirPods from Apple in the UK and US for £159 and $159 respectively.

Pocket-lint

Bragi The Headphone

They may not be the most tech-packed pair of headphones around, but The Headphone by Bragi is both cheaper and more reliable than the more expensive pair from the same manufacturer. In fact, if you can live without the water and dust resistance, and without a battery pack in the case, The Headphone is a relatively safe, affordable recommendation. 

Read the full review: Bragi The Headphone review

The Headphone is available to buy direct from Bragi for €169 in Europe, or $149 in the US.