A wireless technology specifically geared towards exchanging data over short distances, Bluetooth is a staple hardware feature for many Apple products, such as those in the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac lineups. Bluetooth is also incorporated in many Apple peripherals, such as the Magic Keyboard, and Magic Mouse.
Bluetooth is adding support for a new mesh networking specification that will improve Bluetooth LE devices across various categories, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced in a briefing with press today.
All four products in the announced Apple W1 lineup of wireless headphones and earbuds are now available: the Beats Solo3 headphones, the Powerbeats3, the BeatsX and the truly wireless Apple AirPods.
Wireless headphones are becoming the defacto choice for Apple users, with the iPhone 7 dropping the analog headphone jack. Apple Watch can also only pair with wireless music devices.
We don’t know what the future holds for the W1 chip, perhaps more manufacturers will be allowed to use it, but the product range is already diversified with what’s available today, spanning different form factors, audio quality, convenience, innovation and price points.
The highly anticipated BeatsX are the latest pair of wireless earphones to feature Apple’s W1 wireless chip, which makes it easy to pair and switch between eligible iOS devices.
First revealed at Apple’s fall iPhone event, the BeatsX have experienced a few delays on their way to last Friday’s release. The white and black versions are currently available for in store pickup and shipping, while the newly-revealed grey and blue versions are scheduled to ship in 2-3 weeks.
How do the BeatsX stack up to the similarly-priced AirPods? Are they a good option for users looking for a pair of Bluetooth earbuds? In this hands-on video walkthrough, we’ll take a look at some of the top BeatsX features in our quest to answer those questions.
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Earlier this year, it was announced that Bluetooth 5 would be the new wireless standard, replacing Bluetooth 4.2 and now, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group has officially adopted the platform and made it available to manufacturers to use in devices…
It appears that the iPhone 7 is going to eliminate the 3.5mm headphone jack but headphone manufacturers aren’t waiting for Apple to make an announcement before hitting the market with some great solutions to this so-called “problem.”
I’ve been living with the new $349 Bose Quiet Comfort 35s for the past week and not only are they amazing, but I can honestly say they’ve changed my life.
That may sound like hyperbole but let me explain…
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New in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, Apple’s AirPrint is getting some welcomed improvements including ‘AirPrint Bluetooth Beacon’, the ability to create PDFs from the print panel in iOS, and support for multi-user and password-only printing.
Late last year we got an early look at improvements coming to the next version of Bluetooth, and now the Bluetooth Special Interest Group has revealed the name of the upcoming version plus more specifics about the new standard. Bluetooth 5 will be the successor to Bluetooth 4.2, which was released at the end of 2014, suggesting a notable release this year. The new standard will be announced next week, and this is what we know so far.
The Ultimate Ears (UE) division of Logitech has been making some of the best Bluetooth speakers out there for quite some time. When I reviewed the waterproof UE Roll last year, it became the no-brainer summer music purchase, especially as 9to5toys caught it dipping down to $50 a few times in the past few weeks.
The UE Roll is super-portable, mostly flat, rugged and so waterproof you can bring it into a pool with its own little floatie. The sound quality is amazng for the small form factor and the battery lasts between 5-10 hours. This is the speaker I take with me on most trips because it is small in the backpack yet still sounds great, pairs easily with multiple devices and even has iOS/Android apps for creating alarms and checking battery. Obviously if you are throwing a house/pool party, you’ll want something more substantial like UE Boom and Megaboom.
Today UE upgraded the Roll with 15% better sound and 100-ft wireless range (up from 66-ft) along with some new color/designs (pictured above). Here’s the full official specs update …
I’m not going to blow smoke … and say that this is a big upgrade. It isn’t. In fact, at at least a $30 premium over the original UE Roll, I’m going to do something I rarely ever do – recommend you buy the old model for $30 less at Amazon (Verizon and Best Buy too). You really won’t notice any difference and that $30 bucks you save can go almost halfway into purchasing another original UE Roll to pair up for stereo sound (for 200% the sound).
Update: Best Buy has the UE Roll down to $49.99 shipped
If money’s no object and/or you need the extra 15% sound and range/color options/newest thing, head below for the full low down/video on the new $99.99 UE Roll 2.
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I’m not a major believer that Apple’s iOS devices can quite fully replace the PC and Mac in most scenarios, at least not for me, and not quite yet. I’m a keyboard fiend, using shortcuts on the keyboard almost more often than I use my mouse. These doubts were ready to be tested when I saw the progress that iOS 9 brought for third-party developers within the iOS ecosystem. With the new SDK, developers were getting the chance to integrate keyboard shortcuts into their iOS apps just like a Mac app. It was then that I knew it was time to start looking for a portable keyboard to take around with me.
This presented a new problem for me. There’s a vast amount of Bluetooth keyboards out there, and I didn’t want to just carry Apple’s bulky Bluetooth Keyboard around. I needed something with a full keyboard size, good battery life, and durability. After a few months of searching, and reluctance on spending money on what I considered an unknown, I gave up my hunt.
I nearly forgot about my keyboard journey until a few months when iClever reached out to me asking if I wanted to take a look at their iOS compatible Bluetooth accessories. I gladly accepted the offer, and began by taking a look at their Tri-Folding Bluetooth Keyboard. Everything I read online from the listing on Amazon made it seem like it could fit neatly into everything I had been previously searching for, so I was excited to get my hands on it.
A big question up in the air for iPhone 7 is what Apple will do with its bundled headphones. If this is the first year Apple is to remove the headphone jack from the device as rumored, that means one of a few things for the bundled EarPods that usually come with its iPhones…
The iPhone 7 had been rumored to be dropping the analog 3.5 mm headphone jack, in favour of wireless Bluetooth or Lightning cable headphones for audio output. However, a new iPhone 7 component leak posted on Weibo disagrees with previous reports, depicting a board that includes a 3.5mm jack (in the top right of the photo above).
The 3.5mm jack is large (relative to the thinness of the phone), dates back more than a hundred years and has been superseded in terms of signal quality by the modern digital solutions, so it is plausible that Apple would want to abandon it. However, the idea of removing the port has been controversial (with complaints about existing accessory compatibility). This Chinese leak indicates it is sticking around …
If there was one thing I would have sworn you could never interest me in trying, it was yet another Bluetooth earpiece. There are about a zillion of these available (well, 45,322 according to Amazon), and for the most part my view has always been that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ’em all. Stick them in your ear and get tinny, one-eared sound that is hopeless for music but does the job for hands-free phone calls when you don’t have access to an installed setup in your car.
But I had to admit that the Schatzii Bullet is rather smaller and more stylish than most, with a cute charging system that goes some way toward making up for the somewhat limited battery-life that inevitably accompanies such a small device. It seemed worth a try …
If you’re looking for a pair of inexpensive wireless earbuds for workouts, then Aukey’s EP-B20 Bluetooth Headset is worth a look. These aren’t the most prestigious earbuds that you can pick up, but they sound decent, feel great in ear, and come with a reasonable $27.99 price.
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That’s probably because the majority of users probably don’t miss it with the top number row suffice for occasional number input, so it’s understandable why Apple doesn’t pay much attention to it. But I personally like and miss the speed of using a keypad for quick commands in pro apps like Logic and punching in numbers in spreadsheets (it’s tax time…), so I’ve been testing Satechi’s new Aluminum Wireless Keypad that recently arrived.
Apple yesterday officially released tvOS 9.2 to the public. The update includes a variety of new features, such as folder support, Siri Remote dictation, iCloud Photo Library, and more. One thing that was added, however, that was originally expected to be included when the fourth-gen Apple TV initially shipped is support for Bluetooth keyboards. With tvOS 9.2 users are now able to pair Bluetooth keyboards with their Apple TV to more easily make search queries and the like. Read on as we tell you how to go about setting this up..
I’ve always been slightly torn when it comes to headphone choice. While I make no claims to being an audiophile, sound quality is my number one criterion when it comes to selecting headphones. I like neutral sound characteristics that faithfully reproduce what the musicians intended us to hear. I also like high-quality, traditional materials with understated looks. That tends to leave me choosing from the traditional hifi brands.
At the same time, though, I’m a gadget guy. I loved the touch-panel controls of the Parrot Zik. The only thing that put me off those is that, plane journeys aside, I’m not a fan of noise-cancelling cans. I like to be able to hear just a little of what’s going on around me – enough to hear when an announcement is being made on a train, or that I’m about to step in front of a bus – and the Zik headphones don’t sound good in passive mode.
So when Phiaton announced the BT 460, which has a similar touch-and-swipe interface, I thought I’d give them a try. These also have one further claim to fame on the gadget front: they automatically pause music when you take them off, and auto-resume when you put them back on …
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HomeKit-certified devices are the slickest way to control your technology, but if you have any dumb technology powered by AA batteries, you can now remotely switch it on and off using your iPhone.
The Tethercell AA Smart Battery Adapter is a really simple idea. Replace one of the device’s AA batteries with this adapter, which takes a smaller AAA battery, and you can then switch it on and off from an app on your iPhone.
It’s Bluetooth LE rather than Wi-Fi, so range will be limited (the company claims 50-60 feet), but if the device is close enough, it’s a cheap and easy way to add remote control functionality. It’s compatible with all iPhones from the 4S onward.
The adapter costs $20 for two from Amazon.
Via BGR
Popular accessory maker Kanex today announced a new lineup of Bluetooth keyboards for Mac and iOS users that allow easy switching between up to four wirelessly connected devices, as well as two products aimed specifically at iPad users.
My cheap headphone jack-less iPhone mockup
While it’s widely rumored that the iPhone 7 will drop the headphone jack when it launches later this year, known Apple audio supplier Cirrus Logic may have hinted about how Apple plans to handle this transition. Speaking to analysts and investors during the company’s latest earnings call (via BI), CEO Jason Rhode made a few interesting comments about what might be planned for later this year.
Apple kicked off the week by releasing a major new beta for each one of its platforms including tvOS 9.2 beta for the new Apple TV. While the software update isn’t available to everyone just yet, the pre-release software brings the 4th-gen Apple TV up to parity with older Apple TVs and even makes it work more like iPhones and iPads. For example, tvOS 9.2 beta finally adds Bluetooth keyboard support to the new Apple TV after first shipping at the end of October without the feature; previous Apple TVs worked with wireless keyboards from the start. The new update also adds a new built-in app and some iPhone-like features as well. Check out the details below:
If all the recent reports turn out to be true, it looks like Apple might actually ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack for the next-generation iPhone later this year. It’s been a long-time coming, not just since Apple started preparing for the transition with audio over Lightning for headphone makers a couple years back, but also since wireless Bluetooth headphones have become good enough in recent years to replace wired solutions that rely on the 3.5mm jack we’ve used for the last century or so.
Apple is no stranger to being first to ditch old technologies while ushering in the new (think floppy drive, optical drives, and everything on the new 12-inch MacBook, as a few examples), but how do you feel about this particular transition?
