New Balance PaceIQ review: Affordable sports earphones are outpaced by rivals

New Balance is no stranger to fitness, with sports gear and footwear already established, but gadgets are a newer complement to its product rosta.

In 2017 we’ve already seen the company’s RunIQ Android Wear smartwatch to assist fitness and workouts – a product which we had some reservations about – and now there’s the Jabra-powered PaceIQ earphones to fill such workouts with music to your ears.

The PaceIQ offer plenty of positives for an affordable pair of workout-friendly in-ears, but do these hook-design earphones perform well enough to keep you away from the competition?

New Balance PaceIQ review: Design

• Over-ear hook design
• Weigh 21.6g
• Inline remote
• IP54 water/sweat/dust resistant

As design goes, the New Balance PaceIQ earphones are pretty basic, even for the budget end of the earphone market. To compare them to a more popular product, they almost look a little like stripped back versions of the Powerbeats 3 wireless earphones.

Pocket-lint

Except, unlike the Powerbeats, the New Balance feature a plastic ear hook on each side which leaves the internal cable almost entirely exposed. Combined with the rather plain plastic ear hook material, and lack of any soft/grippy coating, it feels like a compromise.

However, there is one huge upside to having less physical material: weight. The New Balance only weigh 22 grams. The last thing you want when bursting your lungs and sweating from your eyeballs is a pair of earphones that feel heavy and tug on your ears. These don’t do that at all, their lightness ensures they move with you easily, with no resistance. This, in turn, means they stay in your ears without any effort.

What’s more, the ear hooks are incredibly durable, thanks to being strong and flexible. We twisted and pulled them every which way, and they returned to their original position every time.

Also on the upside is that the cables hang towards the back of your ear, unlike from the front like with the Powerbeats, which makes a lot more sense.

Pocket-lint

The PaceIQ ships with three different sizes of ear tip – or EarGel, as they’re officially called – which are more of a squashed, round shape than the usual style. They fit onto the protruding disc-shaped earbud very snugly, which itself protrudes from the plastic casing again, in a similar design to the Powerbeats.

This means all the internal components and battery are housed inside the plastic casing, featuring a round edge one side and flat, angled edge on the other. On the left ear’s housing, there’s a dedicated sports button for performance prompts – which only works if you have a RunIQ smartwatch paired – and the Micro-USB port which is sealed under a rubber flap on the underside.

For those worried about sweat destroying your earphones, you’ll be pleased to know these are rated against water and dust ingress, so it should survive all your sessions, regardless of levels of sweat, or rain.

New Balance PaceIQ review: Performance

• 5-hour battery per charge
• Fast charging
• Reliable Bluetooth connection

Where the New Balance sports earphones fall down compared to much of the competition is in battery life. This is where the small, lightweight design forces a compromise. While a pair of Powerbeats 3 can deliver almost 10-hours of use, and Sony’s ExtraBass pair offer seven hours, the PaceIQ max out at five hours in our experience.

In our testing, we easily managed more than four hours per charge, which means even your longest training sessions are covered. It would be nice to have a longer use time, as five hours feels like the bare minimum a pair of wireless earphones should offer.

Pocket-lint

On the plus side, the earphones charge pretty quickly, offering a full hour’s use from just 15-minutes plugged into a power outlet.

Another consistently good area of performance is the Bluetooth connection. Being powered by Jabra you’d expect as much, as the connection between earphones and paired device was always rock solid in our use, regardless of what exercise we happened to be doing at the time.

As a bonus, using a technology the company calls Advanced Multiuse, the PaceIQ can stay connected to two different sources at once. In real life use, that means you could have it connected to your smartphone for music and have it connected to your smartwatch for prompts during a running session. We tested this and found that it retained two such connections (as long as we connected the smartphone first and, in this instance, RunIQ smartwatch second in that scenario).

New Balance PaceIQ review: Sound quality

Given the pricing, the sound quality from the New Balance PaceIQ is surprisingly decent. It’s bassy and punchy, definitely immersive enough to keep you entertained while your running shoes pound the Tarmac. It’s not with audiophile-grade cleanliness, but it is loud and only distorts ever so slightly when high frequencies peak at maximum volume (which is far too loud for comfortable listening in any situation).

Pocket-lint

As an overall soundscape, the audio seems a bit more balanced and slightly clearer than the similar-price Jaybird X3 we tested, although unlike Jaybird you can’t adjust it to suit your preferences. There’s no dedicated app with an equaliser, so you’re pretty much stuck with the default – unless your favourite music app happens to have a built-in EQ.

Despite the lack of adjustability, we were happy with the overall quality of the sound. The PaceIQ handle treble, mid and bass levels well, with a slight preference for the bass – just as expected from a pair of modern sports earphones.

Verdict

As an overall package, the PaceIQ is promising, especially at its £100 price point. Lightweight, durable, and with decent sound that stays connected consistently, they sound almost unbeatable.

The problem is battery life. With just five hours of play time, that sees the PaceIQ sit noticeably behind virtually all of the big players. That’s three hours less playback time than the Jaybird X3, or two hours behind the Sony XtraBass. As a more extreme comparison, this is half the battery life compared to the Powerbeats 3 wireless.

In short, the New Balance earphones are good, but there’s plenty of competition, and it’s only real sports-beneficial function – that dedicated hardware switch – only works if it’s connected to the RunIQ smartwatch rather than anything else (which is some distance from being the best sports watch around).

The alternatives to consider…

Pocket-lint

Jaybird X3

They’re roughly the same price as the New Balance, and don’t feature as clean a sound, but they are lightweight, easy to wear, and really versatile. With their customisable EQ that’s easy to change through the intuitive app and the ability to wear them below, or over your ears, there’s a lot to like about the X3. They’re also really easy to charge and last three hours longer than the PaceIQ. 

Read the full article: Jaybird X3 review: Affordable sports earphones without the compromise

Pocket-lint

Beats Powerbeats 3 wireless

Without meaning to direspect New Balance, the Powerbeats 3 wireless are essentially the earphones that the PaceIQ are trying to be. They cost £69 more, but last twice as long, are more durable, arguably better design and their W1 chip makes them really convenient to connect. 

Read the full article: Powerbeats 3 Wireless review: Beats and bass

The Morning After: Friday, May 5th 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

It’s Friday, everyone. Rejoice. Google’s offering voice assistants to your next DIY computing project, we review the new BlackBerry phone (yes, it is 2017), and test-ride an electric dirt bike. Vrmm vrmm.

Voice commands on your home-made computerGoogle turns Raspberry Pi into a dirt cheap Home competitor

Raspberry Pi has teamed up with Google to bring voice integration to the Pi with a clever combination of hardware and software. Packed with the same tech that powers Google Home, the companies have released a kit that transforms a regular Raspberry Pi 3 into your very own virtual assistant. The collaboration marks the first time that Google has produced something for hobbyists. The initiative is called “Artificial Intelligence Yourself” (AIY), and Google’s project director said that he wants to create more hobbyist uses for Google software.

The ride-hailing firm has received a subpoena from a California grand jury.Uber faces criminal probe on ‘greyball’ software it used to evade authorities

Uber has to tell the feds how its “Greyball” software worked to hide cars from regulators checking to see if the ride-hailing company was operating in areas without permission. The Department of Justice has reportedly issued the ride-hailing firm a subpoena from a Northern California grand jury. Uber confirmed the questionable tool months earlier after it a New York Times report revealed the scheme.

Lots of changes and disagreements.Splitting up with Apple is a chipmaker’s nightmare

Back in March, Imagination publicly announced that Apple was ditching it in favor of its own graphics silicon. Now, the chipmaker has revealed that it’s going to take Apple to dispute resolution, maintaining that the iPhone maker used its IP without permission. It gets worse: Imagination is going to have to sell off MIPS and Ensigma, two parts of its business that aren’t as profitable as PowerVR. Now, without iPhones to make chips for, the latter will now form the base of its business.

‘Donkey Kong.’ ‘Halo.’ ‘Pokemon.’ ‘Street Fighter II.’The Video Game Hall of Fame basically inducted your childhood this year

The National Museum of Play announced the four titles it’s inducting into the World Video Game Hall of Fame this year, and they’re all pinnacles in the industry: Donkey Kong, Halo: Combat Evolved, Pokémon Red and Blue and Street Fighter II. But if you think they were all shoe-ins compared to the competition, prepare to get your nerd hackles raised. The games that didn’t make the cut this year include Final Fantasy VII, Myst, Portal, Resident Evil and Microsoft Windows Solitaire.

The third time really is the charm. Review: BlackBerry KEYone

BlackBerry’s early Android phones may have felt generic, but the KEYone is an impressive device that channels the style and functionality of classic models. Even better, the KEYone is a respectable performer with solid battery life. Throw in an excellent camera plus a satisfying keyboard and you’ve got the best Android-powered BlackBerry out there. (There’s not much competition, mind.) Ultimately, the KEYone is a great choice for BlackBerry fans and keyboard nuts, but just about everyone else can look elsewhere.

Say goodbye to noise and hello to torque.The Alta Redshift MX brings electricity to the dirt track

Say hello to the Redshift MX. Alta Motors is electrifying the race track and if you can handle the $15,000 price tag, the results are tremendous. Roberto Baldwin took one for a ride and was surprised that he didn’t miss the sheer noise of typical dirt bikes. The bike is meant to be the equivalent of a 250cc petroleum-powered engine. With 40 horsepower it’s right on par with offerings from all the major bike makers. But then there’s that electric torque. Read on.

Call my agent.17 real-life NBA franchises will field 2K eLeague squads

When the NBA’s eSports league kicks off in 2018, it will have more participants than expected. Commissioner Adam Silver was expecting around a dozen participants, but 17 teams including both the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are on the list. Now, we just have to practice and wait to hear how the draft process will work.

We’re so close.Take a look at Microsoft’s remastered ‘Phantom Dust HD’ for Xbox One

Three years after it was originally announced, we’re finally able to see the up-rezzed version of Microsoft’s 2004 card battler. Producer Adam Isgreen brought 19 minutes of footage to an interview with Polygon, as well as information that Phantom Dust HD will run at 1080p on Xbox One and 4K on PC. What we don’t know about so far is its pricing model, which will include some mix of free and paid DLC, and could see the game released via Games with Gold.

But wait, there’s more…

• ‘Blackout’ is a VR love letter to NYC’s subway riders
• ‘Titanfall Assault’ RTS is the series’ second attempt at a mobile game
• ‘Zombies Chronicles’ brings classic maps back to ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 3’
• The last Ringling Bros. circus will be streamed on Facebook Live

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t subscribe.

Terror attack victims claim social media enables extremism

Social media has allowed violent extremism to flourish, and the companies involved have done nothing to prevent it. That’s the claim being made by relatives of those murdered in the San Bernardino terrorist attack in a Los Angeles court. Reuters is reporting that families of some of the victims have launched a lawsuit against Facebook, Google and Twitter. The trio stand accused of providing “material support” to terror groups through omission, refusing to properly tackle the issue and shut down such online activity.

The internet’s power to connect people is undisputed, but there’s no barrier on what sort of people can be brought together. The question of what responsibility, if any, the companies enabling such connection bear is thorny and complex. Section 230 of the Federal Communications Decency Act offers a pretty broad immunity for online publishers, saying that these businesses are not responsible for their user’s actions.

That hasn’t stopped several other victim groups from attempting to force Facebook, Twitter, Google and others into action. Late last year, relatives of those murdered during the Pulse Nightclub attack filed a very similar lawsuit in Detroit federal court. As did the families of five victims of a Tel Aviv terror attack and the widow of Lloyd Carl Fields Jr, who was murdered in Jordan.

None of these cases have — yet — made any real progress in the courts, and it’s unclear if judges will be sympathetic to their pleas. For its part, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to hire 3,000 more moderators across the year. Those moderators, while principally engaged in preventing violent videos, will also be tasked with helping the company get better at removing “hate speech and child exploitation.”

For their part, a study does seem to say that Twitter’s efforts to tackle extremism have been more or less successful. In early 2016, researchers found that pro-terror debate on the social network had slowed down after Twitter began mass-banning upwards of 125,000 ISIS-sympathetic accounts. Similarly, Telegram has worked to shut down messaging channels that it believes are used to propagate violence.

Although that may now be too little, too late, as reports have emerged claiming that ISIS is developing its very own social media platform.

Source: Reuters

Where to buy the BlackBerry KEYone in the UK

The new BlackBerry KEYone won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. If you remember physical keyboards with a certain fondness, however, then the KEYone offers the latest version of Android, a respectable camera and the kind of battery life you want in a productivity machine. After launching exclusively at Selfridges last week, the KEYone goes on general sale in the UK today, not that you need to look much further than Carphone Warehouse, which is the only place selling the device on contact right now.

Contracts start at £42 per month if upfront payments aren’t your thing, or £26 per month if you’re willing to drop £100 then and there. Otherwise, you can always pick up an unlocked KEYone for £499 at Carphone Warehouse, Currys PC World or Unlocked Mobiles. See you on BBM, yeah?

YouTube to Spend Millions Producing Free-to-View Original Content

YouTube has announced plans to produce a raft of original programming beginning this year, as the Google-owned video site moves to counter the rising tide of premium streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu.

The difference in YouTube’s approach to original content is that its shows will be free to view on its website and apps through an ad-supported format, rather than being tied to the company’s ad-free $9.99 YouTube Red subscription service.

The company will make a multi-million dollar investment in more than 40 original shows and movies in the next year, according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg. YouTube hopes that high-profile stars will feature in the content and that this will in turn attract bigger advertisers to sponsor the programming.

“We’re working with YouTube stars and big celebrities that we know have global appeal, advertiser appeal and are largely established on the platform,” Susanne Daniels, YouTube’s head of original content, said in an interview.

YouTube has signed up comedian Kevin Hart and TV host Ellen DeGeneres as its first two high-profile celebrities. Hart’s show will be a workout-based series, while DeGeneres’ program will give fans a peak backstage into the making of her talkshow.

Katy Perry and Demi Lovato also announced behind-the-scenes shows with YouTube, while TV and radio personality Ryan Seacrest confirmed his involvement in a music competition called “Best.Cover.Ever”, which will debut on the site later this year.

YouTube’s original content plans were announced at the annual digital NewFronts conference in New York on Friday.

Tag: YouTube
Discuss this article in our forums

Bosch to Supply Up to Half of Motion Sensors in Future iPhones

Bosch has won orders to supply Apple with some of the motion sensors in its next range of iPhones, according to a report by Bloomberg, potentially loosening Invensense’s position as the primary supplier of the smartphone components.

California-based Invensense exclusively supplied the gyroscopes and accelerometers in the iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 7, but Apple’s new deal with Bosch could see the German firm supply as much as half of the motion-sensing components in Apple’s upcoming phones.

Bosch already supplies the barometric pressure sensors for the iPhone, but the deal could reflect Apple’s aim to source components from at least two suppliers to make it easier to negotiate cheaper prices.

Invensense is currently seeking to complete a $1.3 billion sale to Tokyo-based TDK Corp, which had hoped to strengthen its business with Apple as part of the deal. “We aim to become a strong player in the sensor business with InvenSense as our perfect partner,” TDK CEO Shigenao Ishiguro said in December, when the purchase agreement was first made. Shares in Invensense dipped more than 5 percent on Thursday’s news.

Apple has a major iPhone redesign planned this year, with a glass body and edge-to-edge OLED display that includes an integrated Touch ID fingerprint sensor and front-facing camera. The new iPhone is expected to be sold alongside standard “S” cycle 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhones.

Related Roundup: iPhone 8 (2017)
Tag: Bosch
Discuss this article in our forums

Uber Facing Criminal Probe Over Software Used to Identify Driving Regulation Officials

Uber found itself in more hot water on Thursday after Reuters revealed that the ride-hailing service is facing a criminal investigation by the U.S. government.

The Department of Justice has reportedly begun an investigation over the company’s use of “secret” software that allowed its drivers to operate in areas where Uber was banned or restricted.

First reported by The New York Times, the so-called “greyball” software is said to have allowed the company to identify officials seeking to prevent the service from running. It is claimed the software was used in several areas including Portland and Oregon, where the service was still waiting for approval to operate.

Transport regulation officials regularly posed as passengers in those regions where Uber had yet to obtain approval, in an effort to prove that Uber was operating illegally. The software was used to work out who was an undercover official and would attempt to block them from booking rides in the first place.

Uber has already admitted to using the software. In a letter sent to Portland transport regulators last week, the company said it used greyball “exceedingly sparingly” in the city, but had not used it since April 2015 when it received permission to operate.

Uber has also previously defended its use of the software by claiming that it helped the company limit fraud and protect its drivers from harm. The company prohibited the use of the software for identifying officials shortly after the New York Times report brought the practice to light.

The nature of any potential federal criminal violation, and the likelihood of anyone being charged, remains unclear because the investigation is still in its early stages, according to sources. However, Uber has reportedly received a subpoena from a Northern California grand jury seeking documents concerning how the software tool functioned and where it was deployed. A subpoena indicates that an official criminal investigation is underway.

Uber has come under increasing pressure on several fronts in recent months following several controversies. Concerns were first raised late last year when users complained that the app appeared to track them for days or even weeks after they last used the ride-hailing service.

Recently it emerged that Apple CEO Tim Cook threatened to pull Uber’s app from the App Store in early 2015 after discovering that it was secretly “fingerprinting” iPhones that used the app. The revelation came in a New York Times article published last month that detailed the ride-hailing service’s history of controversial business tactics.

Tag: Uber
Discuss this article in our forums

Oculus shuts down its VR film studio

Oculus Story Studio won’t be making any more award-winning VR shorts. Jason Rubin, the company’s VP of content, has announced in a blog post that it’s shutting down the film division. It’s only been a bit over a year since the studio was launched, but the Facebook-owned company has apparently “decided to shift [its] focus away from internal content creation to support more external production.” Rubin says Oculus will focus on funding third-party filmmakers’ VR projects instead. It will even carve out $50 million out of the $250 million funding it promised to give out to developers for non-gaming virtual reality experiences.

Over the course of a year, Story Studio has produced various quality shorts like Lost, which debuted at Sundance, and Henry, which won an Emmy for outstanding Original Interactive Program. For Dear Angelica, the studio even created a tool called Quill that gives artists a way to draw directly within VR. Now that the studio has been dissolved, the company is reportedly encouraging its employees to apply for other positions within Oculus.

To show that the company hasn’t completely turned its back on non-gaming VR content, Rubin also promised to continue providing resources and programs for creators in addition to funding third-party projects. Oculus will keep releasing video tutorials, production and distribution tips, as well as best practices for VR development. It will also provide developers chances to connect with other creators and bigwigs in the industry.

Via: Variety

Source: Oculus

NHS trials body cameras for staff in mental health wards

An early trial has found that staff-worn body cameras can reduce confrontation and aggressive behaviour in patients suffering from mental health issues. The pilot ran for three months at Berrywood Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Northampton, England, and was primarily concerned with the “feasibility” of a large-scale bodycam deployment. Researchers wanted to know how comfortable the cameras were, how much training would be required for staff, and how difficult it would be to record and store the resulting data securely. As an aside, the team asked staff to rate the effectiveness of the cameras. The feedback was largely positive.

“Patients have changed their behaviour when they were told it was being filmed,” one staff member said. “[It’s] useful to have a record in case of any complaints about restraint and it makes staff more aware of their body language.” Another added: “I have seen a few occasions where the incident had de-escalated and believe this to have been helped by the camera being turned on.” Of the people who wore a camera during the trial, 90 percent agreed it could prevent confrontational situations because patients often improve their behaviour once a recording has been started.

It’s hoped the technology will reduce instances of verbal abuse and violence. Physical restraint is a carer’s last resort, and can be a highly traumatic experience for patients. The body-worn cameras have the potential to improve patient behaviour before such a drastic measure is necessary. “We know that emergency restraint has physical health issues,” Dr Alex O’Neill-Kerr, Clinical Medical Director for Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust told the BBC. “Anything that we can do to reduce that would be very beneficial for patients, but also for staff, because staff can get injured when they perform restraint on patients.”

The pilot was not without issue, however. Incidents involving verbal abuse rose in three wards, stayed the same in one and dropped in another compared to the same period last year. Instances of violence rose in two and dropped in three. Staff’s use of emergency restraints fell in three and rose in two. Across all five wards, however, the number of restraints fell from 41 to 18. “This is a promising piece of research, as any measure that could help to reduce violent confrontation and restraint in inpatient units could have obvious benefits for both patients and staff,” Richard Colwill, a spokesperson for UK mental health charity Sane said.

Reveal supplied 12 ‘Calla’ body cameras for the project. They’re small devices that can be attached to a lanyard or magnet. The user slides a button on the side to initiate a recording, at which point the camera bleeps and turns on a red light and small, forward-facing screen. All of the footage is stored on the camera until it’s returned to a docking station, where the data is uploaded to a secure server. The company supplied hardware for a similar trial at two secondary schools earlier this year. It was hoped the technology would discourage students from disrupting their classes.

While the pilot in Northampton is encouraging to medical professionals, it’s being treated with caution. These are early findings and more investigation will be needed to deduce if the cameras can consistently improve staff safety, and why the technology has such a profound effect on patient behaviour. O’Neill-Kerr said the body cameras will soon be deployed at Kettering General Hospital and that meetings are underway so that “a proper research evaluation” can be carried out. “These things could be expensive, but in the long term I think they would improve patient quality, and that’s the most important thing,” he told the BBC.

Source: Mental Health in Family Medicine

SpaceX will start launching more than 4,000 broadband internet satellites in 2019

Why it matters to you

People that live in rural areas of the country may finally have a decent option for broadband internet service.

Detailed within a recent Federal Communications Commission filing, Elon Musk’s SpaceX wants to start launching thousands of internet-providing satellites during 2019. Structured in multiple phases through 2024, the 4,425 satellites would use advanced mesh networking to offer high speed broadband services in rural areas that still have to rely on dial-up or simply don’t have access to any Internet service options.

SpaceX is currently planning on launching the first prototype of the broadband-providing satellite into space by the end of 2017 and a second prototype during early 2018. If successful, satellites will be launched in batches over the next decade. The company is projecting a $30 billion revenue stream from the satellite network by 2030 and may increase the total number of satellites orbiting in space by an additional 7,500, if approved by the government.

This broadband distribution strategy is opposite of other internet service providers. Companies like Comcast and Time Warner have to invest heavily in fiber cable installation, which involves navigating property rights as well as digging trenches to install miles of fiber-optic cable. Of course, SpaceX will have infrastructure costs on the ground, specifically to help manage broadband resources in areas of high congestion.

The largest hurdle for SpaceX will likely be related to latency between the satellite network in space and the end user on the ground. It’s possible that internet speeds simple won’t compare to high-speed fiber connections. However, expanding into markets that don’t have any access to broadband Internet service may force competitors to also push into those markets, ideal for consumers in those rural areas.

SpaceX isn’t the only company investing in satellites that provide broadband services. Boeing has launched a satellite broadband project, which may attract an investment from tech giant Apple. Four years ago, Google launched Project Loon. That venture utilizes a balloon-based broadband network hovering in the stratosphere to provide much-needed internet service to remote areas of the world.