Headphones have become inseparable companions for many users both during public transport travel through leisure or work and when it comes to sports, but they have barely evolved over the last decade compared to changes in the mobile phone segment or even that of camera cameras.
Innovation comes this time from the Samsung Gear IconX headphones that in these lines we have carried out for analysis and that are profiled as very recommendable headphones for running lovers.
Of course, doubts are piled on such a device, are they really comfortable? How long does the battery last? Do you offer high-quality sound? What mobiles are they compatible with? Is it worth buying? These and other questions will try to answer in this review of the Samsung Gear IconX.
A very attractive design
Analysis of the Samsung Gear IconX headset starts with one of its strengths. Not for nothing is it a device that seeks to attack the mid-high range since its price exceeds 200 euros, although if you are usually used to use helmets you will know that in the audio universe the quality is always paid.
To begin with we have a small capsule where our headphones rest, which is much more than a case. It is a kind of cylindrical tube with the Samsung seal on the outside that opens with a small button and has two LEDs that will clarify whether or not the headphones are charged.
This small capsule is the time of charging base: it has a 315 mAh battery and has a conventional microUSB port to connect to the mains.
On the other hand we have the headphones themselves, which are quite elegant at first glance and surprisingly light. They have a fairly soft surface to the touch surrounded by a kind of ring -blue in the version we have tested -, which is actually a touchpad.
And these Gear IconX do not have any kind of button or of course cables but we will be able to control the playback of music – or the training mode – interacting with this touchpad.
At the technical level we are talking about earphones in ear or earbuds that are inserted into the external ear canal. Usually this type of helmets offers a superior quality compared to button headphones and are good at isolating from ambient noise, something we’ll talk about later.
At all times we will know which earpiece corresponds to each ear as they are marked on its inner side, in which stand out the charging pins that will serve to connect them to the base. On the side we have the heart rate sensor that in addition to controlling the heartbeat detects the moment when we put and remove the headphones to turn them on or off.
We finish the review with the clamping fin present on the top of the headphones that will serve us to guarantee its stability.
In short, the Gear IconX are headphones that have a very careful design, in line with its price and the segment of the public that it aims to reach, with an enormous degree of practicality.
Comfortable… if you don’t get confused
One of the fundamental elements when choosing headphones should be ergonomics, a feature that unfortunately many overlook even though not everyone attaches the same way to our ears.
If you’re not used to earphones, they may seem a little strange for the first five minutes, but you won’t have much trouble getting them. In this analysis of the Gear IconX we have seen that it is a fairly comfortable headset, as long as you wear them correctly.
In total we have three pairs of clamping fins of different sizes with their corresponding pads, so you will always find a model that fits your ear correctly. When putting them in your ear, you should always take into account an obvious maxim: if it does damage they are not well placed.
Synchronization
Good news and bad news, so we’ll start with the second ones. Samsung Gear IconX headphones are not compatible with iPhones, at least at the time of writing this analysis, so its functionality if you have an Apple device will be quite limited.
The story changes radically if you have an Android mobile, especially if you have a Samsung terminal. The minimum requirements will force us
to make sure that our device runs on at least Android 4.4 KitKat and has 1.5 GB of RAM.
The first thing you have to do is download the Samsung Gear app through this link with which you can pair your headphones with your smartphone. During the process it is quite likely that we will have to download another application -Gear Plugin- but the whole process will not take more than 3 minutes.
Once linked, you can select in the application which you want it to act as the main headset – it will receive the audio of the calls and record the data of your physical activity – or configure different parameters, such as selecting which notifications we want our Gear IconX to read aloft.
Among all the options stands out the choice of music playback source, since we can use these headphones to listen to our favorite playlists from Spotify with our mobile or select the playback directly from our headphones, equipped with 4 GB of internal memory.
We also have the possibility to activate ambient sound, which is always recommended when running in urbanized sites since we will hear in the background everything we have around us.
Finally, if the maximum sound of the headphones seems too low try to open the Samsung Gear app, which has the master control of the volume with which we can put the IconX at a level not recommended for our hearing health.
Functionality and sound quality
The main conclusion of the Analysis of the Gear IconX is that these are extremely practical headphones. After linking them to your mobile as soon as you buy them, you won’t have to worry about turning them on or off as they automatically turn them on and off as soon as they come in – or not – in contact with your ears: magic potagia.
The real potential of the headphones is discovered at the time of putting on the sneakers, since we will take advantage of the heart rate sensor that they incorporate. It is not a novelty but however strange its reliability seems to you is remarkable, above many smart wristbands equipped with optical sensor since the device suffers less interference during physical activity, although professional chest bands will always be more accurate.
To start the training mode, you simply have to press and hold the touchpad on the headset for a few seconds until you hear an acoustic warning. To download it we will repeat the operation and the data will automatically go to the S Health app in which we can review the speed, distance, duration, pulsations or calories burned.
The bad news is that these Gear IconX headphones are almost exclusively focused on running, without providing reliable data for example on bike rides: that’s what you have the Gear Fit 2 smartband for. And even if they are resistant to sweat and splashes they are not suitable for swimming as they are not submersible.
On the other hand, the sound quality of the Gear IconX is quite good, powerful and crisp, above the cheap bluetooth headphones that are usually seen on the streets, although if we play from the mobile the quality of components of our smartphone will come into play.
The good news in this section is completed with the possibility to play music files with the IconX in all kinds of formats, including the highest quality ones – we have tried songs in M4A, FLAC and WAV – for audiophile breeding.
Direct playback from mobile-free headphones is profiled as one of the best features of the Gear IconX headset, which leave us around 3.5 GB of free memory to store our songs.
If you have a Samsung smartphone you can pass the songs directly from your mobile with the adapter included in the box, but otherwise you’ll have to do it by connecting the charging dock to your computer with a USB cable.