Samsung has just locally launched an updated version of the Gear IconX wireless earbuds, which were first unveiled a few months ago at IFA 2017. While it remains very much similar to the original version, it does come with one huge improvement, which we will get to later.
Do note that we only had limited time to check out the earbuds at the local launch, therefore we were not able to test out the audio quality.
The Gear IconX earbuds are nice and compact. The outside portion has a touchpad that uses gestures for controlling the different functions.
Naturally, it has an accelerometer and connects to your device with Bluetooth 4.2. You do need to connect to your smartphone to access Spotify, but you can actually opt to leave it behind since the earbuds have 4GB of internal storage, which is enough to fit a few hundred songs.
It also has a standalone fitness tracker and real-time voice guide for motivation during your workouts. Additionally, it comes with an ambient sound mode so you can still hear your surroundings while listening to music, as well as microphones in each earbud for hands-free calling.
There’s no more heart rate monitor like the previous generation, but this means that Samsung was able to increase the battery life of the earbuds to 82mAh, which they claim will last you 5 hours of music streaming, or 7 hours of offline music playback. This is a huge leap, as the previous Gear IconX only lasted about 1-2 hours per charge.
The small capsule case not only serves as storage, but also doubles as a charger and power bank for the Gear Icon X. It has a capacity of 340mAh, and it’s nice to see that it uses a Type-C port.
There is no actual specification listed, but Samsung says that the earbuds are splash and sweat resistant.
It’s nice to see that Samsung has given us a nice update to the Gear IconX, solving what was probably the biggest issue with the original.
Samsung Gear Icon X 2018 specs:
5.8pi Dynamic Driver
4GB (per earbud)
Bluetooth® v 4.2
USB 2.0 & Type-C
Audio Formats: MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV, WMA (WMA v9)
Audio Codec: Samsung Scalable Codec, SBC
82mAh (earbud)
340mAh (charging case)
18.9 x 21.8 x 22.8 mm (earbud)
73.4 x 44.5 x 31.4 mm (case)
8.0 g (per earbud)
54.5 g (case)
Black, Gray, Pink
The Samsung Gear IconX (2018) is priced at Php8,490, and is now available at Samsung Concept stores.
Hi Joey. Great insights and overview of the product. I wanted to asked where I can buy the Samsung Gear Icon X 2018 at P 8,490.