Samsung’s revamped IconX earbuds may just be cutest earbuds for 2017
One fine rain-swept afternoon, a friend of mine that I had not met in a while dropped by the office for a visit. She waltzed past reception bearing gifts that any journo worth his salt would find welcome: an extra large cup of coffee and a box of doughnuts bedecked in decadently frosted sugar and icing. In the trade – there’s no such thing as enough coffee. Or doughnuts for the matter. I accepted the proffered delights with gratitude as I ushered her towards another seat in the office opposite mine.
She cupped her own beverage in both hands, savouring the warmth of her cup of tea as we talked over old times. While we talked, she took in the plethora of hardware scattered on my desk awaiting or in different stages of testing.She turned her nose up at most of them but her eyes lingered over one item. It was also the only thing in pink on my desk amidst a sea of gray, mirrored steel, matte black and gold phones, notebooks, slates and the like. She cooed in delight as she put her tea down and cradled the item with both hands.
She held up a smooth device in the shape of a giant sized pill in baby pink to eye level like one would hold up a newborn. “Ooh, what’s this cute thing you have on your table?” she asked, “It’s the cutest thing I’ve seen.” That item in question? Samsung’s revamped IconX wireless earbuds.
New year new buds
Designed as an effective successor to last year’s IconX earbuds in a number of significant ways, the revamped variants externally look somewhat similar. Like its predecessor, it’s wireless with each earbud able to work independently of each other. It’s also been beefed up in two major respects – battery life and functionality. Where its predecessor enjoyed less than two hours of battery life per juicing, the revamped IconX earbuds sport a whopping seven hours of battery life each before you need to deposit them back in its, as my associate puts it, ‘cute’ charging case which resembles a giant-sized pill in pink. The case itself holds enough juice for another recharge so that’s another seven hours per earbud. Opening it is simply a matter of pressing a discreet button at the base that flips the lip open to reveal both IconX earbuds.
The case itself sports a USB Type-C connector and, as mentioned, has its own battery to charge each IconX individually with the case away from the mains and each IconX earbud sporting an indicator light to show if it’s charging or fully juiced. It even has fast charging support with an hour of music even if you charge it for ten minutes or so in the case. If pink is a bit too eyebrow-raising,more staid users can opt to get it in gray or black. The pink option, barring the shock factor, does allow you to easily find it if you happen to misplace it though. After all, how hard is it to lose a giant-sized pink pill?
Up close, the ear buds are mostly similar to their predecessor with a triangular panel on the side that acts as a touch control via a series of taps to control playback and to take calls. Like many wireless earbuds, they’ll pair up to your phone via Bluetooth to let you take calls and stream music off them though you can also use them offline and play tunes straight off the built in 4GB of memory on each earbud. You can use both in tandem or one at a time. Of note is that the IconX buds are smart enough to detect if you’re using a Samsung device and helpfully suggest if you want to pair it with the phone.
Another feature of note on the IconX earbuds, especially for outdoors runners is that it has an audio passthrough mode that lets you hear ambient sound for better awareness on the road. The earbuds also feature a modicum of fitness functionality too that pipes in helpful exhortations into your ears to get you to pound the pavement in a more motivated fashion while tracking basics like duration of the run and the like. It’s certainly an interesting feature to have around to be sure though we have yet to fully put it to the test.
Since they’re meant for fairly strenuous activity, the earbuds come with a wing tip that ensures it stays firmly lodged in your ear along with a selection of alternative ear buds and wing tips for larger or smaller sized ears. In initial field tests, the IconX proved surprisingly comfortable to wear for several hours at a stretch and was discreet enough that few noticed it despite the design’s rather eye-catching colours.
Our initial field tests, as well as a quick whirl by my associate found it comfortable to wear after swapping out the ear and wing tips to accommodate our differently sized ears. Music played off it was pretty good as wireless ear buds go with call quality being clear and crisp with both sides being in relatively quiet environments. With the extended battery life and a modest design that doesn’t look like a pair of toothbrushes stuck into your ears, it certainly looks like it’s off to a good start.
Iconic Design
The IconX isn’t exactly a radical departure in design from the original IconX but it is certainly taking steps in the right direction to address the classic problems of wireless earbuds in terms of endurance, design and functionality that make them look very promising indeed. They’re not available yet in Malaysia though Samsung says they’ll be coming soon. Stay tuned when we put this pair of earbuds through its paces.
