Amazon is launching new lens options today for its Echo Frames smart audio glasses: two types of polarized sunglass lenses for use outside, and blue light-filtering lenses for staring at bright screens. The blue light and blue mirror sunglass options will ship on May 18th, and the “Classic” dark sunglass lenses will arrive later on June 9th. All three varieties will be available in the black version of the Echo Frames for $269.99.
Echo Frames are far simpler in comparison to other smart glasses, like Google Glass. Essentially, they’re a glasses frame with Amazon’s Alexa assistant built-in, along with some microphones and downward firing speakers. In our review of the Frames, we found Alexa’s abilities to be pretty limited (especially on the iPhone) because the assistant defaults to Amazon’s services. Frames are much more compelling as a straightforward audio device, which is where these new lens options seem to come in.
Echo Frames with blue light filtering lenses.Image: Amazon
Take the sunglasses variety. Echo Frames might not make sense as a smart assistant you interact with all day, but for a bike ride or hike, it could be very helpful to have your sunglasses pull double duty as headphones for music or podcasts.
You could use the same kind of logic for the blue light-filtering lenses. Say you’re going heads down on a long project and you know you’re going to look at screens for an extended period of time. Having a way to listen to music or take calls while still keeping your ears free could be handy. (Keep in mind blue light might not be as damaging or eye-straining as some headlines suggest.)
Echo Frames with mirror blue sunglass lenses.Image: Amazon
The limit on either of these use cases is the battery life of the Echo Frames. When we originally reviewed the Frames we weren’t able to make it through a full day, despite Amazon’s more open-ended battery life claim of 14 hours of “mixed use.” For an afternoon outdoors, it seems like the sunglasses should last, but using blue light glasses inside, listening to music all day, you might have to keep a closer eye on the Frames’ battery.
Good news: Apple Music is adding lossless audio. And not only is it significantly upping the audio quality, offering high-resolution audio right up to 24-bit/192kHz, but it is also doing so at no extra cost to subscribers. Over to you, Tidal, Qobuz et al.
However, it’s not all plain sailing for those of us wanting to benefit from the very best possible sound quality using Apple products. Neither the iPhone 12, AirPods Max, AirPods Pro or either of the HomePods will play Apple Music’s ‘Hi-Res Lossless’ offering (which Apple defines as above 24-bit/48kHz, up to 24-bit/192kHz).
Apple makes that (relatively) clear itself, saying, “Due to the large file sizes and bandwidth needed for Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless Audio, subscribers will need to opt in to the experience. Hi-Res Lossless also requires external equipment, such as a USB digital-to-analog converter (DAC).”
While Apple plays its cards close to its chest over certain specs, the iPhone’s output maxes out at 24-bit/48kHz, which is fine for Apple Music ‘Lossless’ but not good enough for ‘Hi-Res Lossless’.
The AirPods Max, AirPods and HomePods, meanwhile, use the AAC Bluetooth codec, which doesn’t support the Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) that Apple Music uses for its lossless audio streams (since confirmed by Apple to T3).
AirPods Max owners might reasonably hope that their headphones could be wired to an iPhone to unlock Apple Music lossless, but this doesn’t appear to be the case either. Apple told The Verge: “When you play a 24-bit/48 kHz Apple Music lossless track from an iPhone into the AirPods Max using both the cable and Lightning dongle, the audio is converted to analog and then re-digitized to 48kHz. That re-digitization step is the reason that Apple can’t say you’re hearing pure lossless audio; it’s not an identical match to the source.”
So, what’s the solution? If you connect a compatible external DAC to your iPhone and use a wired pair of headphones, you should be able to listen to Apple Music lossless audio. Check out our guide for how to listen to hi-res audio on an iPhone. You will also be able to listen on a Mac this way.
Of course, the other big Apple Music update, spatial audio via Dolby Atmos, is much more widely available across Apple products. By default, Apple Music will automatically play Dolby Atmos tracks on all AirPods and Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip, as well as the built-in speakers in the latest versions of iPhone, iPad, and Mac. In fact, Apple Music Dolby Atmos will work with all headphones.
One thing’s for sure, Apple lossless audio sounds like a good excuse for Apple to upgrade its next generation of audio hardware. Might the AirPods 3 be lossless audio compatible? That would require Apple to come up with a hi-res-supporting Bluetooth codec. Or could we get an upgraded version of the AirPods Max? Is there a new HomePod HiFi in the works? We shall see.
Apple spatial audio: what is it? How do you get it?
Astell & Kern’s digital expertise comes good in this entertaining USB-C cable DAC
For
Notable improvement to audio
Clean, precise character
Nicely made
Against
No iOS device compatibility
No MQA support
For a relatively simple product, Astell & Kern’s first portable DAC has a rather convoluted moniker. ‘Astell & Kern AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable’ isn’t something you’d want to say out loud (or type) often but, to the company’s credit, it sums up the product perfectly: it’s a USB-C cable with two DACs inside.
Thankfully, the name doesn’t attempt to further explain its purpose, so let us fill in the gaps.
Features
(Image credit: Astell & Kern)
Portable DACs – compact DACs that don’t rely on mains power – have arrived in force in recent years with the mission of conveniently improving the sound quality between your phone or computer and wired headphones. That’s because the digital-to-analogue converters and analogue output stages of these do-all devices are generally pretty poor.
Though wireless headphones connected to a device may be the portable audio preference of many nowadays, a wired set-up generally still offers the best performance-per-pound value, particularly if you want to play hi-res audio.
Astell & Kern AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable tech specs
(Image credit: Astell & Kern)
Input USB-C
Output 3.5mm
Hi-res audio PCM 32-bit/384kHz, DSD256
Weight 27g
While there are a number of traditional box or USB stick portable DACs in existence, the AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable is one of an increasingly common group of DACs designed to enhance on-the-go or desktop sound quality in cable form. This Astell & Kern, like the Zorloo Ztella and THX Onyx, is essentially an extension of your headphones cable; the discreet middleman between them and your source device.
At one end is a 3.5mm output, and at the other is a USB-C connection for plugging into any device with that output, such as an Android phone, Windows 10 PC, tablet or MacOS computer. For the bulk of our testing, we use it with a Samsung Galaxy S21 and Apple MacBook Pro.
Some portable DACs, such as the multi-Award-winning Audioquest DragonFly Red, have a USB-A connection instead, but now that USB-C is becoming more prevalent it makes sense for a portable DAC like this one to adopt it. You can always buy a USB-C-to-USB-A adapter to cater for devices with such ports.
Portable DACs can often be used with Apple’s camera adapter to make them compatible with iPhones and iPads, but Astell & Kern says that isn’t the case here “due to the dual DAC incompatibility and power restrictions of iOS devices”. So iPhone users will have to look elsewhere.
The dual DACs (specifically, two Cirrus Logic CS43198 MasterHIFi chips) support native high-resolution audio playback of PCM files up to 32-bit/384kHz and DSD256. However, due to the AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable’s lack of MQA file support, Tidal HiFi subscribers won’t be able to benefit from the (MQA-encoded) hi-res Tidal Masters that are part of the tier’s offering. It’s also worth noting that the DAC has been built for sound output only, so it won’t work with headphones with an in-line remote.
A portable cable DAC is new territory for Astell & Kern – the company is most renowned for its portable music players but also makes headphones and desktop audio systems. But digital-to-analogue conversion technology is something the company is well versed in. And that shows.
For the AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable, Astell & Kern says it developed a circuit chip on a six-layer PCB just 14 x 41mm in size, featuring bespoke capacitors found in its music players, and optimised to prevent power fluctuations. The analogue amplifier (with a 2Vrms output level), meanwhile, is designed to drive even power-hungry and high-impedance headphones.
Sound
(Image credit: Astell & Kern)
We use a range of headphones, from high-end Grados to more modest Beyerdynamic on-ears and Sennheiser Momentum earbuds – and the Astell & Kern doesn’t struggle to power any of them. However, we would be wary of your playback device’s volume output level when you first connect the DAC and plug in your headphones (especially if you’re using more than one pair) to avoid getting an unexpected earful. It’s something Astell & Kern advises in the manual, too.
Adding the AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable between these headphones and our source devices (which provide power to the DAC) makes the world of difference. As the likes of the Zorloo Ztella and Audioquest DragonFly Black have shown, even a modest outlay can make a significant improvement to your portable sound.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 is by no means the worst-sounding smartphone out there, and yet the Astell & Kern makes music come through our wired headphones much clearer, cleaner and punchier than with just a standard USB-C-to-3.5mm dongle. This little DAC doesn’t just do the basics by amplifying the sound and beefing up its tone, it also goes the extra mile to open up music and let you in on more of its detail.
Considering the increasing competition in the portable DAC market, you could say it’s a necessary mile. One of our favourite portable DACs, the Audioquest DragonFly Red, proves to be a notably more insightful and rhythmically entertaining performer – but then it is significantly pricier at £169 ($200, AU$280). For this modest amount of money, the AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable is a very attractive proposition indeed.
We play Lesley by Dave ft Ruelle and the rapper’s poignant storytelling is all the more compelling for the boost in clarity and vocal insight delivered by the DAC. The melodious synth chords, which twinkle with clarity against the contrasting backdrop, are planted with precision on either side.
It’s a similar story as we plug the Astell & Kern into our MacBook Pro and settle into Big Thief’s Shoulder, the presentation pleasantly opened up and generously populated with definition aplenty around Adrianne Lenker’s pleading vocal delivery and the warm textures of the band’s hallmark folksy guitar licks.
Build
(Image credit: Astell & Kern)
So, it sounds good. But what’s it like to live with? After all, this is an everyday device that’s likely to sit in your pocket or on your desktop during the 9 to 5. Perhaps most crucially for a device of this nature, the AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable is compact, lightweight (27g) and well made – to the extent that we feel comfortable tossing it in a bag or shoving it down trouser pockets before long.
The twisted cable between the USB-C output and main body – made up of Technora aramid fibre at its core, wrapped by copper layers and finished with shielding treatment – makes it easy to manipulate the device into a jeans pocket when connected to a phone, and feels built to last. It also helps absorb the shock of accidental knocks, unlike USB stick designs.
While we would expect a device like this to last years, in the weeks we spend in its company we feel confident of its durability. Even when we accidentally yank the device out of our playback source with the cable a number of times, it proves hardy enough to withstand it.
While made to fit nicely into a pocket, some consideration has also clearly been taken to make the AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable look nice when it’s not hidden away – when it’s on a desktop, for example.
The metal casing at the end of the cable – comparable with one of the more compact USB sticks in our collection – has a polished finish and angled surface that resonate with the aesthetic of the company’s premium music players. Design niceties on products like these are only ever going to be the small touches, but they’re here at least.
Verdict
Before Astell & Kern announced its AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable, it wouldn’t have been a stretch to imagine the company making such a product. It has been in the portable digital audio game for years and enjoyed much success.
That know-how has been put to good use in offering USB-C device owners an affordable, practical way to soup up their smartphone or desktop sound through wired headphones. It’s such an appealing option that we can almost forgive the unwieldy name.
Apple is working on a new pair of Beats true wireless earbuds, according to images found in the latest tvOS and iOS beta codes by MacRumours and 9to5Mac.
Referenced as ‘Beats Studio Buds’ in the tvOS 14.6 and iOS 14.6 codes, they will reportedly feature noise cancellation and, courtesy of an Apple chip, “Hey, Siri” voice control.
As suggested by a MacRumours mock-up image (above) and an animation of the earbuds tweeted by the publication’s Steve Moser (below), they embrace the more familiar rounded form as adopted by the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Pro Buds, Google Pixel Buds and Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2, without the fitness-friendly ear hooks of the Beats Powerbeats Pro. We can expect them to stick with silicone eartips and come in a choice of black, white and red finishes.
Animations of Beats Studio Buds: 🧵 pic.twitter.com/XYVvYP7ez3May 17, 2021
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Rumours have been circling the launch of the AirPods 3 is imminent. That may still be the case, however Apple has already dropped a bombshell this week by announcing it is adding lossless audio and Dolby Atmos-powered Spatial Audio tracks to Apple Music for free next month.
Could the Beats Studio Buds be released before the next-generation AirPods? Considering that iOS 14.6 is expected to arrive in the coming weeks alongside the new Apple Music features, we should expect the launch of the new wireless earbuds to coincide with, or shortly follow, that.
MORE:
All the AirPods 3 leaks: release date, price, design and news
The lowdown on the heavily rumoured Google Pixel Buds A-Series earbuds
Check out our pick of the best true wireless earbuds you can buy
Apple Music Dolby Atmos will work with all headphones
Today, we learned that Apple’s ultra-premium $550 AirPods Max headphones aren’t ready for the new lossless audio catalog coming to Apple Music next month — and they’re not alone. Apple confirms to The Verge that the HomePod and HomePod mini won’t support lossless audio, either. (MacRumors confirmed the same thing with sources earlier this afternoon.)
The good news is that the HomePod and HomePod mini will indeed support the company’s new spacial audio experiences, which are supposed to provide more immersive audio than a standard stereo or virtual surround mix — we were fairly intrigued trying spacial audio on the AirPods Pro, and it’s also coming to Apple Music next month in a bigger way.
And, Apple says, it’s not like any of these devices will fail to play back lossless tracks completely. They simply won’t be playing them at lossless quality.
Still, it seems like one more reason that Apple should really strongly consider having a fire sale for the original HomePod, which is somehow still available for a increasingly hard-to-justify $300 months after officially being discontinued.
Grado has taken one of the most celebrated open-back headphone designs in What Hi-Fi? history and improved it once more. The Brooklyn-based brand has announced the Prestige X Series, successor to the Prestige E range from which the multi-Award-winning SR325e and SR80e belong.
This new generation of the Prestige Series is a model for model replacement, comprising the SR60x (£109.95, $99), SR80x (£129.95, $125), SR125x (£189.95, $175), SR225x (£249.95, $225) and SR325x (£329.95, $295). Prestige remains the company’s entry-level range, sitting just beneath the Reference Series, and is historically notable for Grado for having spawned its first-ever pair (the SR80) and its first metal model (SR325).
(Image credit: Grado )
So, what has changed to warrant the ‘X’ upgrade? First and foremost, Grado has introduced a new, fourth-generation driver, which utilises both a new magnetic circuit (for improved efficiency) and a newly designed voice coil and diaphragm (to further reduce distortion). Grado says the result is a headphone that’s easier to drive “across a variety of portable devices”.
There’s a new and improved cable design too – an 8-conductor one for the SR125x, SR225x and SR325x, and a 4-conductor one for the SR60x and SR80x. As a surprise to absolutely no one, Grado has stuck with its legacy aesthetic, although the pleather headband (leather in the SR325x) has been redesigned to enhance comfort.
Considering the consistent success of the Prestige Series, we can’t help but await these new models with sky-high expectations. For the benefit of anyone after an excellent pair of reasonably priced open-back headphones, our fingers are crossed that they deliver.
MORE:
Check out the very best headphones on the market
We interviewed John Grado on his humble beginnings, ‘why headphones’, and finally going wireless
Apple’s just announced that it’s adding lossless, hi-res and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos tracks to the Apple Music service. Not only are these benefits being added without the subscription price going up, we’ve also now discovered that you won’t even need to use Apple’s own headphones in order to listen to tracks in Dolby Atmos.
In a post-announcement briefing, Apple’s Buddy Judge explained that the new Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos feature will work with any headphones – as long as you manually enable it.
Once the update goes live next month, if you go into Settings on your iPhone or iPad and then to Music, a new Dolby Atmos option will be available. This is set to Automatic by default, which means Dolby Atmos tracks will play correctly when you’re listening via any W1- or H1-enabled pair of Apple or Beats headphones (the AirPods Max, AirPods Pro or standard AirPods, for example), but not when you’re using third-party headphones. However, if you switch this option to Always On, even these non-Apple headphones will play back the Dolby Atmos tracks correctly.
It’s worth noting that this setting only applies to Spatial Audio Dolby Atmos tracks in Apple Music and not to Spatial Audio content in other apps such as TV. Spatial Audio in the TV app is a slightly different beast in that it also utilises the sensors in Apple’s own headphones to enable head-tracking. It seems to us that this does open the door to more simplified, non-head-tracking Spatial Audio movie support coming to third-party headphones in the future, though.
As has been rumoured for the past week or so, Apple Music is adding support for lossless audio, as well as and Dolby Atmos-powered 3D audio (aka Apple’s Spatial Audio).
The service’s 75 million-strong catalogue will be available in CD quality (16-bit/44.1kHz) or hi-res (24-bit/48-192kHz). There will be 20 million songs in lossless audio at launch, with the full 75 million available by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, “thousands” of tracks will be available in Apple’s Spatial Audio tech (as previously featured in its AirPods Pro and AirPods Max headphones). Spatial Audio adds “multidimensional sound and clarity”, making the audio sound much more immersive.
Both features will launch in June and won’t cost Apple Music subscribers any extra money. The monthly subscription cost remains £10 ($10, AU$10).
Apple has described the new features as Apple Music’s “biggest advancement ever in sound quality” – which we’d have to agree with.
Read all about: Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos and hi-res audio
It’s not the first streaming service to support lossless, of course – Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer and Amazon Music HD all offer lossless listening. But it has pipped Spotify to the post, with the green giant not launching its own lossless tier, Spotify HiFi, until later in the year.
As expected, Apple’s lossless streams use ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) to offer more detail and informationion in a recording. That should mean higher audio quality, albeit also bigger file sizes – estimates put it at around 36MB of data for a three-minute track.
There are three tiers of lossless audio to accommodate different files sizes and situations in which you can play them: CD quality (16-bit/44.1kHz), 24-bit/48kHz, and 24-bit/192kHz. You can choose which quality you would to stream or download in through the Settings > Music > Audio Quality section of Apple Music. While music up to 24-bit/48kHz can be played natively on Apple devices, playing anything above that – 24-bit/96kHz or 24-bit/192kHz streams, for example – requires connecting an external DAC. Apple is calling these highest-quality streams ‘Hi-Resolution Lossless’.
Apple’s Spatial Audio, meanwhile, is enabled by Dolby Atmos for Apple Music. By default, Apple Music will automatically play Dolby Atmos tracks on all AirPods and Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip*, as well as the built-in speakers in the latest versions of the iPhone, iPad and Mac. Compatible devices, therefore, include the iPhone 12 family, AirPods 2 and Beats Powerbeats Pro. Playing from an Apple TV 4K into a Dolby Atmos device will work too.
What’s more, Apple’s Buddy Judge has now confirmed to us that Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos will also work with all headphones. If you’re using non-Apple headphones you’ll simply have to switch the new Dolby Atmos setting to ‘Always On’ rather than the default ‘Automatic’.
At launch, there will be “thousands” of tracks available in Spatial Audio, and Apple says it will be adding new tracks “constantly”. It will also put together a set of Atmos playlists so you can easily find something to listen to. Albums available in Dolby Atmos will sport a badge on the detail page to make them easy to spot.
Apple says it’s working with artists and levels to produce more songs in Spatial Audio.
Now all we need is the heavily rumoured, suspiciously imminent AirPods 3 to drop this week…
Austrian Audio is a relatively new kid on the headphones block, and it has already made a great impression with its debut Hi-X50 on-ears and Hi-X55 over-ears. Both models, which we awarded five stars to earlier this year for their precise, analytical sound, are closed-back designs. And now the company, which is made up of ex-AKG employees, is entering the open-back headphones market.
The Austrian Audio Hi-X65 over-ears are essentially open-back versions of the Hi-X55, also sporting a 44mm driver, as well as a ring magnet system that includes “the strongest magnetic field in its class” and has been designed to improve airflow.
This, combined with a copper-clad aluminium voice coil, Austrian Audio says, reduces the weight of the membrane (and the voice coil connected to it), allowing it to move and change direction faster.
(Image credit: Austrian Audio)
Austrian Audio has designed the Hi-X65 to be used for long listening (or, owing to their professional suitability, long mastering) sessions, with soft memory foam earpads and headband padding promising to provide plenty of space for the ears and prevent head pressure. Both the earpads and headband can be replaced down the line.
Like its closed-back siblings, the Hi-X65 can fold compactly for easier storage. They come with a carrying bag, too, and not only is a 3m audio cable supplied in the box but also a 1.2m length (which is only an optional extra for the Hi-X50 and Hi-X55).
The Austrian Audio Hi-X65 headphones are available now priced at £319. So, have we finally found a match for the multi-Award-winning Grado SR325e open-back headphones? We look forward to finding out.
MORE:
The best over-ear headphones you can buy
The best headphone amplifiers for your wired headphones
(Pocket-lint) – The true wireless earphones market is getting pretty saturated these days. That means it’s becoming harder and harder for any audio company to stand out. So how does one make a pair that people will notice and care about?
Master & Dynamic’s approach for the past couple of years has been to build a pair of ‘buds that doesn’t look like the rest, while also delivering a very different, dynamic sound from the drivers. With the MW08 that continues, but the experience is a little more refined.
What came before?
Master & Dynamic launched into the true wireless market with the MW07, before following it up with the ANC-equipped MW07 Plus and sport-focused MW07 Go.
Pocket-lint
: MW07 PlusMW07 Plus
The non-Go editions were recognisable by their use of marbled acrylic. They looked like they were designed to match tortoiseshell sunglasses, but with the latest MW08 that has changed for more premium materials.
Best true wireless earbuds for wire-free Bluetooth audio
Master & Dynamic has also enhanced the MW08’s active noise-cancelling (ANC), sound quality and battery life, promising to be far better than any of the previous models.
Design
Ceramic design
9g weight per bud
IPX5 water resistance
Colour options: Black, blue, white, brown
With the MW08 it’s clear there’s a focus on design. You can’t go wrong with ceramic. It’s lovely, shiny and extremely durable.
These ‘buds are among the nicest looking we’ve tested. They’re also a little smaller than the MW07 Plus, which makes them more compact and less of an attention seeker when placed in the ears. That’s not to say they don’t still retain that M&D flavour. The shape is still that unique half-circle-half-square design – it’s just more restrained this time around.
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The internal design has been tweaked too, allowing each ‘buds design to be more ergonomic than before – and so better fitting inside the ear canal. They feel secure and comfy, without the need for use any in-ear fins or grips to keep them from falling out. These ‘buds are precision designed to comfortably fit inside the ear and just stays there.
Granted, we didn’t feel the fit was so secure that we’d risk wearing these ‘buds during a run or workout, but for most instances we can’t imagine them falling out and getting lost. It’s a nice, neat, compact shape.
Open the case and show them to someone for the first time and they may just invoke comparisons to cufflinks. There’s a precision and polished look. It’s more restrained than previous models, but the quality is easy to see.
The ceramic plate is built on top of an aluminium frame – which also acts as the external antenna for strong wireless performance – and the buds sit neatly in their stainless steel case when stowed away.
This case is one of the only elements that’s changed drastically from the previous versions. There’s still a polished steel option, but you also get matte black and polished dark grey ‘graphite’ options. Which one you get depends on which colour ‘buds you want: black, blue, white, brown.
Pocket-lint
More importantly, Master & Dynamic switched the lid to a new position, making it smaller, but more durable-feeling at the same time. By comparison, the large flip-open lid on the old cases feels quite flimsy now. The new case feels sturdier, while retaining its very portable size, and comes with a little carry pouch too – which you will probably need to use if you buy the polished steel version.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the tried-and-tested physical button layout. One earbud features the volume up/down buttons; the other features the multi-purpose key. That makes it simple to adjust the volume level and simple to play/pause. We prefer it to most touch-sensitive alternatives, which often trigger too easily when you want them to.
Battery life, noise cancelling, app controls
Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) and ambient modes
12 hours playtime outside case (42 hours total)
In-ear detection/auto pause
Free M&D app for control
Bluetooth 5.2 + aptX
So the design is sublime, so that usually means you compromise on performance somehow, right? Well, no, not this time.
Pocket-lint
Master & Dynamic’s latest pair of tether-free ‘buds has market-leading battery life. The manufacturer claims up to 12 hours of music playback from a fully charged pair (or 10 hours with the ANC switched on). In real-world use, you’re unlikely to get exactly those figures – we’ve been getting close but a little under – but there’s no battery anxiety here.
You can listen to music for three hours straight and barely even touch the battery. During testing we did this on a few consecutive days and didn’t manage to run out of battery, or need to plug the case in to charge it.
If you commute to work – or will be in the near future – this will comfortably get you through a work week without much trouble. With the battery in the case and battery in the ‘buds you can get up to 42 hours total, which is quite frankly astonishing.
Combine that battery performance with strong wireless performance and good quality calls and you have a set of ‘buds that’s not just pretty and well-made, but will keep up with the challenges of daily life.
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In all of our testing there’s only one area that we think needs improving: the ANC. The manufacturer’s take on noise-cancelling doesn’t quite perform as well as, say, the Apple AirPods Pro or Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. That said, M&D’s implementation does make a clear difference, handily cutting out most of the noise around you – it’s just less ‘strong’ than those rivals.
We found it worked well to cut out the noise of chatter around us while listening, but walking alongside busy roads, it still let in the sound of tyres rumbling over the asphalt, for example. Granted, it made such sounds quieter, but we could still hear them. And this was with the maximum level of ANC activated.
One feature that works well is the auto-pause – which activates when the ‘buds are removed from the ears. As soon as you take one earbud out, it automatically pauses whatever you’re listening to, thanks to an optical sensor on board. Sadly, it doesn’t then automatically resume when you reinsert the ‘bud, but pressing the play/pause button once resolves that.
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This is controlled in the all-new M&D Connect app, which lets you see battery level and adjust noise cancelling/ambient sound. This is also where you see if there are any firmware updates available. Sadly, there’s no equalisation (EQ) adjustment because – like any other company that has its own idea of what great sound is – it has already set that for you and doesn’t allow you to deviate from that.
Sound
11mm Beryllium drivers
There’s an unmistakeable quality about Master & Dynamic’s sound and – as the company name suggests – it’s dynamic. M&D doesn’t go for that studio clean and flat approach, or airy, breathy quality. Instead, you get lots of bass, lots of clarity and punch from the high-end, without losing the subtle details in a mix.
The end result is a sound that makes you want to get up and groove along to the bass and drums in any soundtrack. It’ll makes you want to go and listen to all your favourite songs again. It might even make you appreciate songs you didn’t think you liked before.
Saying ‘lots of bass’ often conjures up the picture of big, boomy sound that dominates the audio. In this instance, however, that’s not what it’s like at all. It’s well controlled and shaped bass that forms a big part of the sound profile, but without detracting from the impact of the vocals.
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Listening to the MW08 and we often felt like the higher-frequency percussive sounds – like shakers, tambourines and hi-hats – cut through the mix somehow and form a big part of the sound. This can sometimes lead to a little sibilance on high impact sounds like forcefully annunciated Ts, Ps, and Ses in vocals, but it’s not as bad as it was in previous MW-series ‘buds.
This sound seems a bit more balanced than the company’s older ‘buds – probably because of the new 11mm drivers. These new drivers also seem incredibly responsive. Short, staccato notes are punchy and tight, whether they be pizzicato strings in an orchestral piece or just finger clicking in the background.
The other great quality of the sound is that it has a sense of space. It feels almost like being surrounded by the sound, rather than having it pumped directly into your ears from a few millimetres away. The soundstage is impressively wide, and combined with the dynamic properties of M&D’s audio it makes for an unmissable experience.
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A really good example to hear all these elements is the orchestral version of Space by Biffy Clyro. There’s those clear lead vocals, and the prominent piano leading the instruments. But despite that piano, you still can clearly hear the plucked cello and bass strings in the background, while it all retains that real feel of being recorded in a big wide open space. Bowed strings then perfectly swell and drop in crescendos in the chorus, while the subtle percussion beats on somewhere in the distance. It’s sublime.
While call quality isn’t the foremost function of the MW08, they’re well-equipped with a six-mic array and offer clear calls even in slightly windy conditions. The external mics can filter out wind tearing noises, so there’s nothing to detract from any of that listening experience.
Best USB-C headphones for Android phones 2021
By Dan Grabham
·
Verdict
In a market full of plastic buds, the Master & Dynamic MW08 feel really special. The combination of ceramic, aluminium and a stainless steel case make them unlike anything else on the market.
We’ve long appreciated M&D’s unique take on sound too. It’s high-impact and exciting. It was never technically perfect, but it’s always a great fun listen. We’re glad that with the MW08 the company has retained what makes it M&D, but also focused on improving areas that make this a truly excellent product.
The 12 hour battery life is market-leading, while the ANC performance is decent enough – although not quite incredible. Plus, now the company has an app for controlling features.
The M&D MW08 is the MW series’ coming of age – and it makes pretty much every other pair of wireless earbuds seem boring by comparison.
Also consider
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Bose QC Earbuds
Bose’s flagship ‘buds are fantastic, although physically large. Sound has that typical spacious and breathy Bose quality with great detail and lift in the mids giving a full and balanced sound. The noise-cancelling is stronger than the M&D too.
Read our review
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Grado GT220
Grado’s approach to the true wireless in-ears market is very focused and measured. There’s no ANC here, but you do get truly stellar sound quality and the passive noise isolation is strong enough you might not even miss the ANC anyway.
The Sony Xperia 10 III (£399) is now available to pre-order in the UK, and it comes with a tempting freebie: a pair of wireless noise-cancelling headphones from Sony’s excellent stable.
The Sony WH-CH710N (£100) are the follow-ups to the four-star WH-CH700N. They boast advanced noise-cancelling tech that automatically adjusts based on how noisy your surroundings are. And when you do want to hear what the outside world has to offer, just use the Ambient Sound pass-through mode to let in external noise.
That aside, they’re very similar to their predecessors and serve as a more wallet-friendly alternative to the premium Sony WH-1000XM4. They have the same 35-hour battery life as the 700N, Bluetooth with NFC pairing, and mirror their predecessor’s design, voice assistant button and even same colour options. But considering how good the 700N are, that’s no bad thing.
So what of the Xperia 10 III? It’s a mid-range smartphone with a 6in 1080 x 2520 OLED screen. Inside, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 5G chip takes care of business alongside 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage. There’s also a triple rear camera system (comprising a 12MP main snapper, 8MP ultrawide and 8MP 2x telephoto), an 8MP front-facer, and a 4500mAh battery with 30W fast charging. Android 11 comes as standard.
It won’t be quite as impressive as the company’s flagship (and much more costly) Xperia 1 II, which currently tops our list of best smartphones. But the also excellent Xperia 5 II shows that Sony can do excellent phones at (slightly) cheaper levels, so we wouldn’t bet against it offering value for money at the budget end either.
The Sony Xperia 10 III will ship on 11th June, priced £399.
MORE:
These are the best smartphones for music and movies
The best noise-cancelling headphones of all styles, for all budgets
Find out how active noise-cancelling headphones work
Apple might have bigger plans for next week than initially thought. The new iMac, iPad Pro, and Apple TV 4K are all set to start shipping to early preorder customers on or around May 21st, but now it seems there could be two surprise announcements: a hi-fi streaming tier of Apple Music, and maybe even AirPods 3.
The Apple Music part seems extremely likely when you factor in a report from 9to5Google. Digging into the latest Apple Music for Android beta app, they discovered direct references to high-resolution audio that didn’t exist previously
These are the prompts found in the app’s code, though they’re not user-facing quite yet:
Lossless audio files preserve every detail of the original file. Turning this on will consume significantly more data.
Lossless audio files will use significantly more space on your device. 10 GB of space could store approximately: – 3000 songs at high quality – 1000 songs with lossless – 200 songs with hi-res lossless
Lossless streaming will consume significantly more data. A 3-minute song will be approximately: – 1.5 MB with high efficiency- 6 MB with high quality at 256 kbps- 36 MB with lossless at 24-bit/48 kHz- 145 MB with hi-res lossless at 24-bit/192 kHzSupport varies and depends on song availability, network conditions, and connected speaker or headphone capability.
It doesn’t get much more direct and clear than that, with Apple warning about both the higher data consumption of streaming lossless music and the added storage space that will be necessary to download it for offline listening. The fact that Apple has now added this data to its Android app suggests that this could all be happening sooner than later. I say that because Apple’s Apple One bundle showed up in Apple Music for Android just days before its public announcement.
The Android app code also reveals that Apple Music will offer two choices for lossless playback:
Lossless ALAC up to 24-bit/48 kHz
High-Res Lossless ALAC up to 24-bit/192 kHz
So it sounds like Apple has every intention of matching what Tidal, Amazon Music HD, and services like Qobuz currently deliver. It’s also worth noting that there’ve been recent references to Dolby Atmos spatial audio in Apple Music on iOS, according to 9to5Mac.
Apple has for years stuck to its customary 256kbps AAC files for both iTunes and Apple Music. When iTunes Plus debuted all the way back in 2007, that was a substantial upgrade over heavily compressed MP3s that people were downloading from peer-to-peer apps like Napster and Limewire during the height of music piracy. And it’s still perfectly adequate. Mastering of tracks has just as much influence on the listening experience as encoding details do, and Apple has tried to play to this aspect with its “Apple Digital Masters,” which aim to get the most dynamic range and detail from songs on its platform.
But in terms of pure music fidelity, Apple has objectively been surpassed by companies like Tidal and Amazon over the last several years. My friend Micah Singleton has a great piece over at Billboard about how we’re entering the hi-fi era of the streaming music wars. Amazon Music HD is performing strongly, with subscriptions up 100 percent year over year. Spotify has also promised the launch of “Spotify HiFi” for later this year.
There’s money to be made, and the ingredients are all there: Apple now sells premium headphones in the AirPods Max, and wireless carriers continue to talk up the promise and speeds of their growing 5G networks. I can’t imagine 5G will be required for lossless Apple Music streaming, but it’s a nice flex of the technology right in the middle of the iPhone 12 cycle.
What about those AirPods 3, though?
There have already been quite a few leaks that revealed details about Apple’s next iteration of AirPods, but the real question has been around release timing. Yesterday, a report from a site called AppleTrack suggested that the new AirPods could be announced alongside this new lossless tier of Apple Music. I don’t quite follow the logic, myself; no one really thinks of regular AirPods as the right choice for audiophile listening, but maybe Apple just wants new hardware of some sort to launch in tandem with the new service.
Taken on its own, the AirPods rumor seems “sketchy” as 9to5Mac said. But the sudden discoveries about lossless audio in Apple Music for Android seem to add some fuel to the fire.
Google I/O, the company’s big developer conference, is back after being canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The keynote kicks off on Tuesday, May 18th, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT, and it will likely be packed with news about Google products.
In the keynote’s official description, Google is unsurprisingly coy about what might be announced: “Tune in to find out about how we’re furthering our mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” But we can make a few educated guesses about what could be shown off at the event. Read on to find out what to expect from the big show.
We’ll likely learn a lot more about Android 12
Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge
Google often uses its Google I/O keynotes to exhaustively detail its next major version of Android, and we expect the same for this year’s release, Android 12.
Google has already released a few developer previews of Android 12, which have mostly brought a lot of small tweaks and developer-focused features. But at I/O, Google will likely reveal some of Android 12’s biggest user-facing features — including some significant UI changes that are rumored to be in the works, like stacked widgets and a new lock screen with larger clock text.
Android 12 seems poised to be a big upgrade, and Google will likely share a whole lot about it.
Major Google services should get some spotlight, too
Google also likes to use I/O to showcase major updates to its services and software, and this year’s event will likely be no different. In previous years, we’ve seen Google use I/O to announce things like Google Maps’ incognito mode, new Assistant voices, and the Google Duplex demo, where the Google Assistant called a hair salon to book an appointment. Google could plan to take the wraps off some similarly exciting new features.
Maybe Google will announce the Pixel Buds A-Series for real this time
We already know the company is working on a new model of its Pixel Buds true wireless headphones — thanks in large part to a couple of huge leaks from Google itself — and perhaps they’ll make their debut (again) at I/O.
Here’s the timeline of what’s been revealed so far:
In March, two devices that seem very likely to be new Buds appeared in Federal Communications Commission filings — a sign that can indicate that a product will go on sale sometime soon
In April, Google included an image of an unreleased pair of olive green Pixel Buds in an email
Earlier this month, Google tweeted an announcement for the “Pixel Buds A-Series” from the Android Twitter account before quickly removing the post
Google’s official tweet about the “Pixel Buds A-Series,” before it was deleted.Image: 9to5Google
These leaks don’t tell us all that much about the buds, but the “A-Series” moniker seems to indicate they’ll be a more affordable model of the company’s true wireless headphones, similar to how the lower-cost Pixel models are identified with “A” names like the Pixel 4A. And speaking of “A” phones…
We likely won’t see the Pixel 5A, even though it has already been announced
Google officially announced the Pixel 5A 5G in April in reaction to a rumor that the phone had been canceled, but we probably won’t see more of it at Google I/O this year.
When Google announced the upcoming phone, the company said “it will be available later this year in the U.S. and Japan and announced in line with when last year’s a-series phone was introduced.” The Pixel 4A, 4A 5G, and Pixel 5 were all announced in early August last year, so it seems like we might be waiting until some time around then to see an official reveal of Google’s next midrange phone.
Google could share details about its custom processor for Pixels
Google is rumored to be developing a custom-designed system on a chip (SoC) for upcoming Pixel phones, the company’s first, and perhaps Google will discuss some of what that sea change could mean for Android developers and prospective Pixel buyers at I/O.
The so-called “GS101” chip may have a “3 cluster setup with a TPU (Tensor Processing Unit),” which could improve performance for machine learning applications and might also include an integrated Titan M security chip, according to XDA-Developers. And we might first see the chip on board two new Pixel phones that debut this fall, 9to5Google reported.
A Google-designed SoC could bring some major performance benefits to the company’s Pixel lineup, like what Apple sees with its custom A-series chips in iPhones. But there’s also a good chance that Google keeps this rumored chip under wraps until it unveils devices that actually have it on board, so don’t set your expectations too high.
And Google could always surprise us
Although Google has a reputation for being unable to keep its biggest products secret, there’s always the possibility that the company has some totally new and surprising things in store for this year’s I/O. Keep it locked to The Verge during the event to stay up to date on the latest.
(Pocket-lint) – Gaming phones have become something of a fixture in the Android space; while many flagship devices push their gaming prowess, for a select few, gaming is their raison d’être, their everything.
The ROG Phone is one such device, pushing Asus’ Republic of Gamers brand and weaving into that the experience Asus has gained from its regular phones. And in the fourth-generation of this phone Asus is more ambitious than ever.
Here’s why the Asus ROG Phone 5 is not only a great gaming phone, it’s a great phone outside of that too.
Design & Build
Dimensions: 173 x 77 x 9.9mm / Weight: 239g
Under-display optical fingerprint scanner
3.5mm headphone jack
ROG Vision rear display
Gaming phones often show their colours when it comes to the design. Aside from being large – which the ROG Phone 5 definitely is – you’ll often find more overt graphics and emotive finishes rather than just being a safe black or grey.
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The ROG Phone 5 doesn’t go to an extreme though: from the front it just looks like a normal phone. Flip it over and you’re treated to subtle design touches etched into the rear glass, which also gives some indicator of where the touch points are for the AirTriggers (which Asus describes as “ultrasonic sensor zones that can be customised to perform different functions, such as reproducing actions in specific games and launching specific apps”. We touch upon these in more detail in the last section of this review).
The thing that gives the game away is the ROG Vision display on the rear of the phone. There are two different versions of the display, with a dot display on the regular ROG Phone models and a slightly smaller but more sophisticated display panel on the Pro and Ultimate models – the Pro is shown in this review.
ROG Phone 5 comes in regular, Pro and Ultimate editions
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That blows the subtlety out of the water, allowing you to have RBG illumination on the back of the phone – with the Pro and Ultimate models offering a wider range of graphics and animations – all of which can be controlled through the Armoury Crate app on the phone, just like Asus PC components.
That control includes turning the Vision display off if you don’t want it – but you’ll soon forget it’s there until people mention it. It’s on the back of the phone and it’s rare to be looking at the back of the phone when you’re doing something, so let’s not dwell on it.
There are a couple of other quirks around the body: The USB-C on the base of the phone is offset to one side rather than central (and we don’t know exactly why), while there’s a secondary USB-C on the side of the phone. This secondary USB sits alongside the contact point to power the AeroActive Cooler 5 – the clip-on fan – and both have a rubber seal that presses into the side to keep out dust.
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This cover is probably the worst piece of design implementation on the ROG Phone 5. The fact that there are a couple of spares in the box tell you everything you need to know: you’re going to lose this cover, because it’s a separate piece of rubber.
Motorola’s new Moto G9 Plus is a stunner of a phone – find out why, right here
By Pocket-lint Promotion
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We’ve found it flapping off when pulling the phone from a pocket, and just when handling the device. We’re constantly pushing it back into place and a couple of times we’ve found it missing and then located it in the bottom of a pocket.
An out of box experience all phones can learn from
One of the great things about gaming phones is what you get for your money. There are a whole range of phones on offer and none are really expensive compared to flagships from brands like Samsung and Apple. The ROG Phone 5 starts at £799 in the UK – and that’s for a 12GB RAM model with 256GB storage, not the bottom of the range loadout.
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But it’s not just about the core device, it’s about the rest of the experience. Lavishly packaged, opening the ROG Phone 5 is an event. From the cool comic book graphics of inside of the box, that flow through into the startup process for the phone, there’s a sense of theatre. It’s a reward for your custom and it’s so much better than just sliding a phone out of a box.
You also get more in the box: the 65W charger that will deliver a fast charge; the case that brings some grip to what is, admittedly, a slippery phone given its massive size; and the clip-on AeroActive Cooler 5 fan, which integrates a kickstand, two physical buttons, and another RGB logo.
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Some might baulk at this as more landfill, but some companies will make you pay for the charger – and here you’re getting a powerful charger you can use with your other devices too.
Display
6.78-inch AMOLED panel
Up to 144Hz refresh rate
2448 x 1080 resolution
There’s a 6.78-inch display in the ROG Phone 5. It’s big by any standard, with Asus hanging onto the bezels top and bottom. The top bezel integrates the front-facing camera, so there’s no need for a notch or punch-hole.
It’s also a flat display, all practical design decisions made to give you the best gaming experience, ensuring that you get as much visual space as possible. Given how problematic we found the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra’s display, we’re just fine with the ROG Phone 5 going flat.
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The ROG Phone 5 models all stick to a Full HD resolution and while devices like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra can technically produce finer detail, generally speaking that makes little difference. We can’t fault the ROG Phone’s display for detail.
It also offers refresh rates up to 144Hz (if you have any games that support that, there’s a full list on the ROG website), with options to select 60 or 120Hz – or Auto, which will pick the refresh rate based on the content.
HDR 10+ is supported to bring pop to the visuals for high dynamic range content, while that AMOLED panel provides rich colour visuals, with the option to tune that to your preferences.
It’s a great display and about the only thing that separates it from the best displays on the market is the peak brightness. It offers 800 nits, which is still bright enough for most, but Samsung’s top-end offerings will outshine this model – most notable when outside in sunny conditions.
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Flanking the display top and bottom are dual stereo speakers, while there’s also a 3.5mm headphone socket for those wanting to go wired. The speaker performance is stellar, amongst the best you’ll find on a smartphone. It’s rich and immersive, with substantial bass and volume that means you don’t need headphones to get the most from your content.
Hardware & Performance
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 platform
8GB-18GB RAM, 128GB-512GB storage
6000mAh battery, dual USB-C 65W wired charging
The fact the ROG Phone 5 houses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 platform makes it especially good value for money – as you’re getting the latest flagship hardware that will embarrass some other phones.
Of course it comes in at different price points, with RAM and storage leveraging the price, although not all models will be available in all regions. We actually tested the 16GB/512GB model (the ROG Phone 5 Pro – a model that isn’t planned for the UK; although there’s a 16GB/512GB version of the standard ROG Phone 5, the only difference being the type of display you get on the back of the phone).
The performance is also exemplary. There are a number of elements to this. It’s got that great hardware and, as a result, we’ve found the gaming performance to be outstanding.
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This is a phone that eats hours of Call of Duty Mobile or PUBG Mobile, giving solid gameplay, combined with those design elements and some software enhancements that feel like they give you edge, or at least give you the opportunity to establish new preferences thanks to the bespoke gaming options offered.
We also didn’t find the ROG Phone 5 to get excessively hot under load, despite the option of the clip-on fan.
But the important point about performance is that the ROG Phone 5 also runs fast and smooth outside of gaming. We’ve seen gaming phones that drop the ball when it comes to simple tasks, because of poor software. The ROG Phone 5 is stable, which makes for a great experience.
There’s a huge 6000mAh battery, which is fitting for a phone of this size, again with Asus splitting the battery and enabling 65W wired charging. That makes for really fast charging, with the option to bypass charging – and just have the power used for the system rather than recharging the battery.
Again, this is an option for gamers, so you’re not charging (which produces heat) and loading the system (which produces heat) and could potentially lead to a drop in performance.
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A big battery means big battery life. In regular use the ROG Phone 5 will easily see you through the day and into the next. It’s not a charge every night type of phone. Even with a couple of hours of gaming thrown in – at top brightness and max settings – battery life isn’t a worry. That’s a great position not just for a gaming phone, but any smartphone.
There are power modes available, with X Mode firing up full power to let things rip, and a Dynamic Mode to keep things balanced. You can customise the power modes to suit your preferences with things like network, display, performance, and other controls all selectable.
There’s an under-display fingerprint scanner that’s fast to unlock, while calls comes through loud and clear too – with no detected problems with Wi-Fi or 5G connectivity.
The camera on any gaming phone is often something of an afterthought. The focus is on the experience of gaming – so the camera is seen as less of a focus. Despite that, Asus is pushing the ROG Phone 5 as having a triple camera system.
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The main camera is a 64-megapixel sensor, using pixel combining to produce a 16-megapixel image as standard. You can shoot in full resolution, but you have to dig into the menu to find that option, which no one is ever going to do.
There’s an ultra-wide lens, giving the equivalent of 0.6x, although the quality isn’t great, with visible blurring around the edges if there’s any detail there – but fine for open shots of expansive landscapes.
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1.0X MAIN CAMERA
The final camera is a macro camera, which we’re generally non-plussed about. As on other devices, macro cameras seem to be thrown in to make up the numbers – and that’s what it feels like here too.
So back the main camera and the performance is reasonable, producing naturally balanced pictures, although perhaps not getting the most out of scenes and not showing as much pop as other cameras we’ve seen can offer.
Low-light shooting offers that slow exposure so you can watch the image get lighter, which we like – and it will take those shots automatically in low light, which means people will actually use it.
There’s a portrait mode for blurring the background that works well enough, although it seems to soften the background with over-exposure which makes results look a little clumsy.
Portrait works on the front and back cameras and we generally prefer the results without portrait mode – and you can’t adjust the levels of blur after the fact, so it’s worth taking a few photos and figuring out what gives you pleasing results so you can change the settings before you take the picture. The selfie camera is generally good, although images quickly get softer in lower light conditions and aren’t good when it gets dark.
There’s no optical zoom on offer here, although you can pinch-to-zoom from the main camera out to 8x. It’s not an especially elegant system and the results are typical of digital zoom, with quality dropping as you increase the “magnification”.
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One of the reasons for the high-resolution sensor – apart from for the benefit of the spec sheet – is to allow 8K video capture, on top of the 4K 60fps option.
The important thing about the camera is that it gets the job done: while other phones will sell themselves on camera features above all else, that’s not really the ethos behind the ROG Phone 5. This phone is all about the power and the gaming experience. So, yes, there are more engaging cameras elsewhere, but at the same time, this Asus will give you perfectly good results in most situations.
Software and custom gaming options
Android 11
Armoury Crate
Custom gaming controls
As we’ve said previously, the software on the ROG Phone 5 runs smooth and fast. We’ve experienced no problems with the tweaks and changes that Asus has made over Google’s Android operating system, and it’s easy to swing in with Google versions of apps rather than supplied alternatives.
It’s running Android 11 too, so the latest version of Google’s OS – although Asus doesn’t quite have the update record that a company like Samsung now offers, so there’s no telling how long it would be before it moves to Android 12 once that’s released later down the line.
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What’s more relevant here is the gaming software and the options that controls. We’ve mentioned Armoury Crate, which will let you control things like the ROG Vision display on the back of the phone, and act as a launch pad for your games.
Within each game you can see how long you’ve spent playing that game, but more usefully you have a record of profiles for that game. You can, for example, restrict background CPU usage when playing a particular game, change the touch performance, turn off background network syncing – all designed to ensure you have the optimal gaming experience.
That you can customise this to each game is great. For something like a shooter where connection and touch matters more, you might want to restrict everything else. For something casual like Pokemon Go, you might be happy to have everything else on your phone happening. It’s freedom to choose, rather than one gaming mode fits all.
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Within games you have access to the Game Genie dashboard too, allowing you to perform essential things, like tweak the brightness, turn off alerts or calls, speed up your phone – and block navigation gestures so you don’t accidentally exit the game.
There’s the option to have stats always showing – CPU and GPU usage, battery, temperature, fps – and you can drag these to anywhere on the screen so they are out of the way.
But it’s the AirTriggers that are the biggest differentiator from other phones, giving you a range of touch zones around the body of the phone that you can customise. That also includes two physical buttons on the AeroActive Cooler accessory too – which might convince some people to use it, as those buttons feel more positive than the touch areas of the phone’s casing.
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The Cooler buttons are great for things like dropshotting in shooters, because you can hit the deck while still firing, and get back to your feet, all without having to touch anything on the screen – which is a real advantage during games.
There are two ultrasonic buttons on the top of the phone, like shoulder buttons, with haptic feedback. These can offer a full range of programmable options – taps, swipes, slides – and they can be divided into two buttons each side, or you can programme and assign a macro to that button for a sequence you might use in a game.
Then there’s motion support, which you can assign to controls in the game – like forward tilt to reload, or whatever you like.
There’s also (on the Pro and Ultimate models only) rear touch zones you can use for slide input for your fingers on the rear of the phone.
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The challenge is how you incorporate all these tools to make things easier for you during games – although setting them up is easy enough and each setup is unique to each game.
Even if you just find one thing that’s useful, then you’re a step ahead. That might be using an additional AirTrigger for an on-screen control you find hard to hit – or that you can then remove from the display so you have less UI in the way of the game.
Verdict
The thing that really hits home about the Asus ROG Phone 5 is that it’s not just a great gaming phone: it’s a great phone full stop.
Yes, you can’t avoid the fact that the majority of phones are now based around the camera experience – and that’s one area that the ROG Phone 5 doesn’t really go to town on. But with huge battery and display, this is a great media phone in addition to a gaming delight.
For keen gamers, there’s a market of phone choices out there – and the ROG Phone 5 should definitely be high up your shortlist. For everyone else, if you can accept that this Asus is designed for gamers first, it’s still an awful lot of phone for the money.
Also consider
Pocket-lint
Nubia Red Magic 6
This gaming phone attempts to steal the show with a 165Hz display. Despite being a powerful device that’s good value for money, it does oversell the cameras and also brings with it some software quirks you’ll need to work around.
Think you’re ready for the the Euros on June 11th? Best make sure you’ve got the right audio kit then, because LG has just unveiled the FA4, the official England football earbuds.
Not to be confused with the Tone+, LG’s first shot (sorry) at the true wireless in-ear market a year ago, which included UV lights for disinfection while charging, the new limited edition model also boasts sound performance tuned by Meridian in a more AirPods-esque, toothbrush-head design.
The FA4 isn’t shy of wearing the colours, either. ‘ENGLAND’ is proudly written down the length of the stems, in red on the left earpiece and in blue on the right. Under the hood, a custom-built driver unit promises to optimise how you experience Meridian sound.
(Image credit: LG )
And the buds boast good call clarity too (for calling friends to discuss the ref’s incompetence, perhaps) thanks to built-in dual microphones. The upper microphone takes care of what LG is calling “Echo Cancellation and Noise Reduction”, to detect and minimise unwanted noise, while the lower microphone aims to amplify your vocals even in crowded places such as beer gardens.
A simple tap on your FA4 earbuds promises to make you fully aware of your surroundings, too. This mode is useful when you need to have a quick conversation – that definitely was/wasn’t a pen or red card, for example.
The included ear gels are made with a non-toxic and hypoallergenic silicone in three size options, and LG’s FA4 earbuds are IPX4-rated, too, meaning they should see you through even the most sweat-inducing penalty shoot-out.
(Image credit: LG)
Battery life is 18 hours total: six from the buds plus a further two charges held in the compact case – which really is FA-branded with England’s three lions badge (above). And a quick five-minute jolt of juice will give you an hour of playback – more than enough time to charge up during half-time ready for the last 45 minutes of the game plus stoppage.
The LG FA4 is available now, priced £99.98.
No, you don’t need them to buy them to demonstrate your love of England and the Euros. But if you still see that tackle by Moore and when Lineker scored, Bobby belting the ball, and Nobby dancing…
MORE:
Read our pick of the best true wireless earbuds: the best AirPods alternatives 2021
See all our LG reviews
Check out the best headphones 2021
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