Powerbeats 3 Wireless review: Beats and bass

There’s a lot to consider when buying a pair of sports earphones. You can either opt for the “cheap as possible, don’t care if they break, buy new ones if they do,” approach, or spend a bit more money on something that will sound good, work well and is capable of outlasting even your most vigorous workouts. 

In the latter category, you want something that will stay in your ears, that’s waterproof, and with enough bass to drive you through your sessions. If that’s what you’re after, the Beats Powerbeats 3 Wireless might just be the right solution for your needs. 

Beats Powerbeats 3 Wireless review: Design

• Ear hooks for fit
• Black & red colour
• Carry case included
• Three ear tip sizes included
• Water/sweat/weather-proof

It must be said, the latest Powerbeats were clearly designed with function in mind, rather than looks. They’re not the most elegant of earphones we’ve ever seen. It’s an all-plastic affair, but well finished for the most part. 

The main housing which plays home to the batteries and components is a little blocky, although the corners and edges are well fitted and assembled. Likewise, the ear hooks won’t win any beauty contests, but they offer just the right amount of grip when hooked over the ears. They don’t feel too tight, and they hold well enough that the earphones never felt like they would fall out.

Pocket-lint

Because of their light build, they’re not a pair of earphones that become a burden during exercise. They don’t pull on your ears, or press so hard into the canals that they get uncomfortable. They’re enjoyable to wear, even for longer periods of time.

If the pre-fitted ear tips don’t feel comfortable or don’t fit well, there are three other sizes packaged with the earphones.

The adjustment built into the flat cable ensures that you can make the earphones fit snugly around the back of your head, meaning you don’t have loose cable jumping up and down, which can be annoying you while you pound the miles out of a treadmill. And as there’s no weighty neck-positioned cable, like with the Beats X, you can comfortably get away with wearing a collar too.

• Beats X review: Bass marks the spot

During our test workouts, if tightened to be really snug, the Powerbeats cable had an annoying habit of tugging on our ears if we moved our head a little up or down. Our advice in this case is to leave as much slack as you’re comfortable with, since the ear hooks do a good job of keeping the earphones in your ears, regardless of the exercise you’re doing. 

What’s more, the entire product is built to deal with the sweatiest workouts and roughest outdoor conditions. They’re water, sweat and weather-proof.

Pocket-lint

In terms of ports and buttons, things are kept minimal. There aren’t tonnes of tiny buttons everywhere on these in-ears, nor a touch-sensitive panel of any kind. There’s a single power/pairing button on the top edge of the left earbud and a micro USB port underneath. That’s it. 

As with most earphones, the Powerbeats 3 come with a carrying case, although not the usual canvas or cloth pouch. Instead, it’s a pill-shaped case made from a rubber of sorts, with a slot in the top.

Beats Powerbeats 3 Wireless review: Features and performance

• W1 chip for easy iPhone pairing
• 12-hour battery life per charge
• Inline remote and mic

Undoubtedly one of the biggest draws to the new wireless Beats earphones is Apple’s W1 chip inside. For Android users, that’s not an important a feature, but for Apple users, it’s a brilliant piece of proprietary technology that adds so much convenience when pairing. It’s one of the few real benefits we’ve seen since Apple bought Beats. 

The W1 chip is the wireless equivalent of being able to just slot a pair of Lighting-equipped earphones into the bottom of your iPhone. Switch on the headphones, then press “connect” on the pop-up window that appears on your iPhone screen. There’s no having to switch “pairing mode” on, going hunting through your Bluetooth menu, hoping your phone will actually find them.

Switch on. Connect. Done. It’s really that simple. 

Pocket-lint

Once connected you can control the volume simply by clicking on the inline remote control which – it has to be said – is delightfully clicky. The middle button doesn’t quite offer the same tactile response, but is easy to find blind thanks to being indented. This is used for playing or pausing tracks, and can be used to bring up Siri for voice control too.

Beats claims that the Powerbeats 3 can last up to 12-hours on a single charge. Our testing suggests that real-life use with an iPhone won’t be far off. The battery level was down by 24 per cent after around three hours of use. 

Beats Powerbeats 3 Wireless review: Sound 

• Bass-heavy sound profile

Sports earphones aren’t designed to offer studio quality, flat, audiophile grade sound. As such, it would be foolish to expect it from the Powerbeats. What you get instead is loud, immersive and bass-heavy audio with plenty of oomph to get you through a tough workout. 

Thanks to the powerful dual drivers, bass levels are impressive. Even songs with loud, chest bursting bass are captured well from the tiny earphone speakers. Low-end bass-heavy tracks are perfect for these sports headphones.

Pocket-lint

That does means while middle and treble levels are present and accounted for, they don’t ring with the clarity or brilliance you’d get from a high-end studio IEM.

For us the Powerbeats 3’s sound profile wasn’t exactly to our preferences for general listening: but the extra bass and the clear connection were brilliant during runs and workouts. 

Verdict

The Powerbeats 3 aren’t the best in-ears around from an audio perspective, but the fact they keep going and going, stay securely in your ears thanks to those ear hooks and pump the bass will be a huge draw to many. As will the W1 chip’s pairing sequence, for iPhone users at least.

Being sports headphones, it’s a good job these Beats are equipped with sweat- and weather-resistance, but it would be better still to see Beats make use of Apple’s experience and expertise in the fitness tracking field. With Apple Watch being one of the best smartwatches around for fitness fanatics, it’d be great to see a heart-rate monitor, or step-counting incorporated into these earphones. Although that might see a huge price bump.

Simply put, the Powerbeats 3 are some of more capable sport-centric earphones we’ve tested in 2017. Beats, bass, bold looks, a solid fit and the best connectivity going all add up to a powerful whole.

The Powerbeats 3 are available now for £151 from Amazon UK or $150 at Amazon US.

Alternatives to consider…

Pocket-lint

Bose Soundsport Pulse

They’re a similar concept, in that they’re wireless sports headphones connected by a short cable. While they’re the same price as the new Powerbeats, they do have a built-in heart rate monitor which is genuinely useful during workouts. They also opt for an in-ear fin rather than an over-ear hook for keeping them secure. What’s more, the sound profile is a little more balanced than Beats’. 

Read the full review: Bose Soundsport Pulse: Fine sounding sports earphones

Pocket-lint

Jabra Elite Sport

If you want a completely wire-free experience in a headphone that’s built for sporty types, the Elite Sport by Jabra offer a secure (if slightly uncomfortable) fit, great sound, a solid connection and no wires at all. They cost £50 more than the Beats, but that’s to be expected from a wire-free pair of earphones as good as these. 

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

Pocket-lint

JBL Reflect Aware

They cost the same as the Beats, and they’re not wireless, but they’re supremely comfortable to wear and offer a secure, snug fit. While wireless would be convenient, the lack of it does mean that you don’t ever need to worry about running out of battery, ever. It also means you get louder audio, and you get some nice cone-shaped tips that fit really nicely without feeling like an ear canal invasion. 

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

Ruark Audio MR1 MK2 desktop speakers are redesigned for the digital age

The Ruark Audio MR1 desktop speakers are now four years old, so the company has decided it high time to give them an update. Much of the acoustic performance has been left the same, as Ruark believes they’re already nigh-on perfect.

The drivers for example are the same as before, but Ruark has made changes to the crossover to help give the MK2 version a bigger sound than before, and one that “belies its modest size”.

• Ruark Audio MR1 Bluetooth speakers review

The new model also comes with an added digital optical input so you can connect external devices such as a Chromecast Audio or even your TV to help improve the sound. The optical input is available alongside apt-X Bluetooth for CD-quality streaming from compatible devices and an analogue input for connecting legacy devices including turntables.

Ruark Audio has made some style changes, too. Gone are the removable grilles of the MK1 model and in their place are fixed versions covered in British fabric, chosen for its aesthetic and acoustic properties.

The intuitive controller on top of the right speaker now features three LEDs to clearly display system status and the input currently selected. A new Soft Grey colour option is also available alongside the traditional Rich Walnut.

• Best speakers 2017: Best wireless and Bluetooth speakers for your tunes

An optional BackPack II power pack is available to free the MR1 MK2 from the shackles of mains power and if the left stereo speaker is disconnected from the controlling right one, the latter can operate as a standalone unit. The Ruark Audio MR1 MK2 is available now for £330

Latest version of iOS solves iPhone 6’s shutdown issues

Some iPhone 6 and 6s devices have been randomly shutting down over the past several months. iOS 10.2.1 was designed to fix the issue, and Apple says it has successfully solved the problem for most people who’ve already installed it. Cupertino told TechCrunch that 10.2.1, which has already been downloaded by roughly half of all iOS users, has led to an 80 percent reduction of unexpected shutdowns in iPhone 6s and 70 percent reduction in iPhone 6. TC says the affected phones unexpectedly shut down due to sudden spikes of activity in older iOS versions that cause older batteries to malfunction.

A spokesperson told the publication:

“With iOS 10.2.1, Apple made improvements to reduce occurrences of unexpected shutdowns that a small number of users were experiencing with their iPhone. iOS 10.2.1 already has over 50% of active iOS devices upgraded and the diagnostic data we’ve received from upgraders shows that for this small percentage of users experiencing the issue, we’re seeing a more than 80% reduction in iPhone 6s and over 70% reduction on iPhone 6 of devices unexpectedly shutting down.”

Apple also told TechCrunch that it has given the older iPhones the ability to restart without needing to be plugged in. Before the fix came out, people had no choice but to plug in their phones whenever an unexpected shutdown happens. In addition, the tech titan will roll out another feature in the next few days. If the latest version of iOS deems your battery to be too old and worn down, you’ll see a notice in settings telling you that “your battery needs service.”

Apple didn’t give an advice on what to do if version 10.2.1 doesn’t fix the problem for you. But if you’ve been experiencing the same issue, try installing the platform update first before getting your battery replaced.

Source: TechCrunch

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.