New Bose earbuds let you snap photos with your voice, cost way less than AirPods Pro
By Simon Cohen
Bose has added a new set of noise-canceling wireless earbuds to its lineup, and they’re surprisingly affordable at $179. Simply known as the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, the company says they’re for folks who want everyday earbuds with great sound and noise cancellation. The new model comes in three colors (black, white, and lilac) and can be ordered starting September 18 at bose.com.
Bose’s QuietComfort lineup of noise-canceling wireless earbuds have traditionally been pretty expensive, with prices that exceed what Apple, Sony, and Sennheiser charge for similar features. This makes the QuietComfort Earbuds something of a radical departure for the company and a welcome change for Bose fans.
Despite their lower price, Bose says the new buds possess the “best-in-class noise cancellation” the brand is known for, along with a “high-quality listening experience,” 8.5 hours of playtime on a single charge (about 30 hours in total), and wireless charging. That last feature shouldn’t be noteworthy — it’s practically ubiquitous these days — except for the fact that Bose’s flagship $299 QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds don’t have it.
The earbuds share a similar design in terms of fit to Ultras — you get three sizes of silicone eartips and stability bands — though the QuietComfort Earbuds aren’t as sleek.
Bose has also given the QuietComfort Earbuds a feature it calls VoiceID: hands-free voice control similar to the AirPods’ Hey Siri feature. It’s not quite as capable as Siri, which can execute a wide variety of commands on the iPhone, but for simple tasks like playback and volume control, you can say, “hey, headphones” and follow that with a command. There’s also a new “remote selfie” feature that lets you trigger your phone’s camera (once the camera app is open) with either a tap gesture or the voice command, “hey headphones, take photo.”
Wear sensors will let you auto-pause your music when you remove an earbud, and with Bluetooth 5.3 they’ll support Bluetooth multipoint, a feature that was only recently added to the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. Codec-wise, you’ll get support for SBC and AAC, however despite the inclusion of the new LC3 codec, Bose says it doesn’t have any plans to supprort Bluetooth LE Audio or Auracast. At launch, there’s no support for Bose’s version of spatial audio — which it calls Immersive Audio — but the company says it’s coming with a future firmware update.
The QuietComfort Earbuds don’t use the same Bose Music app as the rest of the QuietComfort lineup. Instead, Bose says users will have to download a new Bose QC Earbuds app, which offers EQ and touch control customization.
The new buds are rated IPX4, which means they should be water and sweat resistant — just don’t shower with them or immerse them in water.
Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…
Dyson’s new headphones are less controversial and way more colorful
It’s not a stretch to say that the Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones weren’t for everyone. They launched with a nearly $1,000 price tag and the included “visor” — the detachable bar that directed the flow of air into your mouth/nose area — proved to be one of the internet’s favorite things to mock at the time. And yet, while the air-purifying system was met with skepticism, reviewers were generally impressed by the quality of the headphones themselves.
It seems Dyson has taken this feedback to heart. The company best known for its line of high-tech vacuums is back with a new set of wireless, noise-canceling headphones called the OnTrac. At $500, they cost half of the Zone’s original price. Gone is the visor and its air induction system, but the OnTrac will still stand out in a crowd thanks to Dyson’s versatile color customization options.
Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro are like AirPods with AI smarts
Thanks to what were clearly very accurate leaks, we already knew that Samsung was planning to release a new generation of Galaxy Buds wireless earbuds with a strong resemblance to Apple’s iconic AirPods Gen 3 and AirPods Pro. What we didn’t know at the time was just how closely Samsung had stuck to Apple’s formula.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Apple should be feeling very flattered indeed. The new Galaxy Buds are as close as it gets to Apple’s designs, right down to the price: $180 for the Galaxy Buds 3 and $250 for the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro (one dollar more expensive than Apple’s pricing). The two models are available for preorder today and will be in stores starting July 24.
Samsung’s next Galaxy Buds are basically AirPods clones
Well this is vaguely embarrassing. If a recently leaked render — purportedly of the as-yet-unreleased Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 and Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro — is accurate, the company’s next wireless earbuds basically look like Apple’s AirPods Gen 3 and AirPods Pro with USB-C, except with trapezoidal stems instead of Apple’s iconic tubular ones. The image above comes to us courtesy of Evan Blass, via his Substack.
If it proves to be what we see when Samsung hosts its Unpacked event on July 10, it’s a bizarre and unexpected change of direction for a company that has steadfastly stuck to stemless designs for all of it wireless earbuds so far. Unexpected, but possibly part of a larger move toward a more Apple-esque design language if Blass’ additional leak of the next Samsung smart watch is also accurate.
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