Bragi intros cheaper wireless Headphone earbuds days before 'iPhone 7' launch
Audio gear maker Bragi on Monday announced the Headphone, a new set of fully wireless earbuds being marketed as less expensive than the Dash, and ideal for people buying smartphones without a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, like Apple's impending "iPhone 7."
The Headphone deliberately removes the Dash's fitness tracking and built-in storage, also swapping out touch-sensitive phone and media controls for buttons. The tradeoff is that until Nov. 1 the Headphone can be preordered for just $119, a full $180 less than the Dash. After that date the price will go up to $149, which is still some $50 cheaper than Apple's Powerbeats2 Wireless earbuds.
Bragi is promising 6 hours of battery life for audio playback -- twice the amount on the Dash -- and up to 250 hours of standby time.
Shipments of the Headphone should begin in November.
In the meantime the company has released a new firmware update for the Dash, Bragi OS 2.1, which can be downloaded through the similarly new Bragi Updater. The code adds support for Apple's HealthKit and Google Fit, as well as four new languages for audio feedback, namely Chinese, French, German, and Spanish. Bragi is also offering better Bluetooth connectivity, a Touch Lock feature, shuffling for onboard music, and on-demand heart rate tracking.
The Headphone deliberately removes the Dash's fitness tracking and built-in storage, also swapping out touch-sensitive phone and media controls for buttons. The tradeoff is that until Nov. 1 the Headphone can be preordered for just $119, a full $180 less than the Dash. After that date the price will go up to $149, which is still some $50 cheaper than Apple's Powerbeats2 Wireless earbuds.
Bragi is promising 6 hours of battery life for audio playback -- twice the amount on the Dash -- and up to 250 hours of standby time.
Shipments of the Headphone should begin in November.
In the meantime the company has released a new firmware update for the Dash, Bragi OS 2.1, which can be downloaded through the similarly new Bragi Updater. The code adds support for Apple's HealthKit and Google Fit, as well as four new languages for audio feedback, namely Chinese, French, German, and Spanish. Bragi is also offering better Bluetooth connectivity, a Touch Lock feature, shuffling for onboard music, and on-demand heart rate tracking.
Comments
Good luck.
With that.
"Enjoy six hours of continuous music + calls on a single charge" — Under $100
The same goes for their older model, which is now much cheaper from other sources since it's no longer their latest model, or you can save even more buy purchasing bone conducing BT headphone from other vendors that also have a 6 hour battery life.
PS: By far, my favorite headphones and worth the low price I paid. If you go for walks, jogs, biking, or simply need quick access to phone calls while also needing to have your ears open to listen to the surrounding environment, then bone conducting headphones are the way to go.
I also love how people use the word "legacy" about a port that is still be far the standard. Another factor is cost. Someone can buy a fairly nice pair of wired in-ear headphones for the same prices as a set of garbage skullcandy wireless headphones. BT has its place but I don't think in three years there is going much of a change in BT marketshare. People will simply use the adapter.
Like I have said before this isn't the same as removing an optical drive where the advantages were clear. Making the iPhone thinner is useless as long as most people still have to put a case on it which negates 1-2mm reduction in phone thickness.
2) How is legacy not the perfect word to describe the 3.5mm jack? Here's the definition: "denoting software or hardware that has been superseded but is difficult to replace because of its wide use."
3) What's wrong with using a simple adapter you keep connected to your headphones, or buying an adapter that lets you use your headphones in the car (which is silly) and also charge whilst charging, or use the Smart Connector to charge while still using the Lightning port for your headphones without buying any additional items?
4) With the ODD there was no included dongle that let you use your CD and DVDs. You had to buy an external, ODD drive for this to work. This was a much larger "shock" to people because many were still using this legacy method for reading and writing data and the only solution for them was to buy an external ODD if they wanting to keep all their optical media. With headphones, we're talking about 1 or 2 pairs, for nearly all users, an included adapter so they can still use their old headphones, and at a time when over 15% of headphones are already being sold as wireless and accounting for more than half the revenue. This is not a trend that will be ending.
5) Don't start making this solely about making the device thin. It's about making the device better. Without that very long and low-data port interface having to be inserted into every device and with a good selection of the top or bottom used for the port opening, Apple saves significant internal space for other components. if they could have don't his last year we could have gotten 3D Touch without the battery having to shrink my 10%.
2. Okay I'm not sure I have bought into the fact that is has been superseded by lightning or BT because BT isn't a physical connection. However no need to split hairs.
3. Nothing is wrong with using a simple adapter. In fact if you read my post that's what I said most will do. I made the comment that I don't believe BT marketshare will increase much that most will simply use the adapter. However many get annoyed when Apple removes a port only to make people carry around a dongle. Removing a port only to add a dongle, the average consumer may not want to be pushed in that direction. Just like every consumer didn't want to be pushed into carrying a bigger phone.
4. We have yet to see how the device is actually going to be made better. Right now we have no clue if the trade off will be worth removing the 3.5mm jack. However it's safe bet because Apple is always trying to make their devices thinner that is at least part of the reason, water resistant could also be a reason which would be at least in my opinion worth the change.
Any company making stuff like this need to think about long haul flights and how their bits of kit can be used on them.
10-12 hour flights are not exactly new. The LAX-LHR route has been flown non-stop since around the time of the first 747 came into service.
LAX-Auckland is another long one.
I have some wired noise cancelling headphones (over the ear) which I don't see being replaced for a good few years headphone socket or no headphone socket in phones.
Seriously people, these comments trying to argue that, "Bluetooth headphones are a joke because I can't I take a 13 hour International flight without having to charge my headphones for a couple minutes at some point means that they are completely useful for the entire flight" are absolutely foolish reasons to avoid natural and expected advancements in technology.
Besides, having to stop watching a movie in mid stream to charge the BT phones is a faff. Not all airlines provide USB (or anything else) charging points in Cattle Class (or as the americans say, Coach).
It is all about ease of use. Something that many software designers have forgotten about.
Making the device work for the duration of a 12 hr flight would be a great selling point. 6 hours is a cop out IMHO.
I fly at least 100,000 miles a year and not having to charge stuff at the airport or on the plane is a big plus to me. YMMV.
You're just inventing problems that don't exist. If you're still ready to move to BT headphones then stick wth wired headphones, but you still won't get more than 10 hours of video playback from your devices. You should like someone that would buy a shitty WinPC with a 3 hours battery life while complaining that BT headphones such because they can't last indefinitely the way your wired headphones can.