Portable Audio / Video
Latest Andru Edwards Videos
Meta’s Glasses Can Now Be a Hearing Aid, If You Pay $150 to Turn It On
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Wearables, Portable Audio / Video,
Meta's glasses can now work as a hearing aid. The feature is FDA-cleared for mild to moderate hearing loss, it held up in early hands-ons, and after a 30-day free trial it costs $149.99 on top of the glasses, a number Meta left out of its keynote.
Meta announced Hearing Enhancement at Connect on Wednesday night. Last year it showed Conversation Focus, which helps anyone pick out a voice in a noisy room. Hearing Enhancement goes further. The FDA cleared it as a self-fitting, over-the-counter hearing aid for people with mild to moderate hearing loss, so you don't need a prescription. It arrives in the US later this year on Meta Glasses, the line Meta launched with EssilorLuxottica in June starting at $299. The new Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) and the camera-free Ray-Ban Meta Audio get it after that.
Click to continue reading Meta’s Glasses Can Now Be a Hearing Aid, If You Pay $150 to Turn It On
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Ray-Ban Meta Audio Ditches the Camera, Keeps the Mics, and Costs $349
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Wearables, Portable Audio / Video,
The quickest way to stop people calling your smart glasses creepy is to take out the camera. Meta did that tonight. Ray-Ban Meta Audio, announced at Connect, is Meta's first pair of glasses with no camera at all: speakers, microphones, and an AI assistant in a Ray-Ban frame, starting at $349.
Meta says audio has been the most popular feature on its glasses since day one, and this pair is built around it. At 43 grams, Meta calls them its lightest and slimmest AI glasses yet. They're rated for up to 12 hours of music, podcasts, calls, and assistant use on a charge, plus up to 48 more hours from the included charging case. Pre-orders are open now, and they ship October 13.
Click to continue reading Ray-Ban Meta Audio Ditches the Camera, Keeps the Mics, and Costs $349
Apple’s Camera AirPods Were Supposed to Debut Today. Now They’re a 2027 Product.
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Portable Audio / Video, Rumors,
Somewhere in a version of today's Apple event that no longer exists, there are earbuds with cameras in them. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple planned to show off high-end AirPods with built-in cameras at the 10am Pacific keynote, and then took them off the schedule. They are now aimed at 2027.
This is Gurman's reporting, not an Apple announcement. Apple does not comment on products it has not shipped, and it has not commented on these. Gurman has been tracking the earbuds all year, though, and the story has held its shape even as the date kept sliding.
Sonos Bets on the Beam Ultra, Ace Ultra, and Sonos27 App Update It Can’t Afford to Botch
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio / Video, Artificial Intelligence,
Sonos showed up at IFA today with a $699 soundbar, a pair of $449 headphones, and a new version of the app that did the company real damage two years ago. The app is the one that will decide how this year goes.
The hardware is easy to like. The Beam Ultra is a mid-size soundbar with nine drivers, and for the first time in a Beam, two of them fire upward. That is the difference between Dolby Atmos your soundbar fakes with processing and Atmos with sound actually bouncing off your ceiling. Sonos is calling the result true 7.1.2. Pre-orders open today, and it ships September 29.
Spatial Audio in CarPlay Reaches the Volvo EX90, With a 25-Speaker Catch
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Portable Audio / Video, Transportation,
The car is where a lot of people still listen to music on purpose. Alone, on a highway, with nobody interrupting and nothing else competing for the speakers, you hear the bass line in a way you never do at your desk. It's the closest thing most of us have to a listening room, and audio companies have been circling it for years.
Volvo is pushing Spatial Audio in CarPlay, powered by Dolby Atmos, out to the EX90 through a software update, and confirmed it in a press release this week. Back in July it named the EX60, EX90 and ES90 as the three models getting it. There's a catch, and it's an expensive one. The feature needs the optional Bowers & Wilkins sound system.
Click to continue reading Spatial Audio in CarPlay Reaches the Volvo EX90, With a 25-Speaker Catch
Bose’s New QuietComfort Headphones Borrow the Ultra’s Best Trick for $359
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Portable Audio / Video,
If you wear glasses and you've ever noticed noise cancellation working worse than the review scores promised, you weren't imagining it. The arm of your frames breaks the seal on the earcup, and ANC that depends on a sealed cavity starts leaking. Bose says it finally built around that.
The new QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) arrive today at $359, the first real hardware update to the line since 2023. Preorders open August 8 and shipping starts August 13.
Click to continue reading Bose’s New QuietComfort Headphones Borrow the Ultra’s Best Trick for $359
AirPods Max 2 Review: Apple Fixed Everything (Except This!) (Video)
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Portable Audio / Video, Product Reviews, Videos,
Six years. That's how long we waited for a real AirPods Max update, and the AirPods Max 2 are basically the AirPods Pro 3 dressed up in a much nicer coat. Same H2 chip, same transparency mode, but now with 40mm drivers that finally have the headroom to breathe.
The short version: this is the best-sounding, most feature-rich pair of headphones Apple has ever made, and depending on what you were hoping for, it's either going to excite you or annoy you. At $549, I think you deserve to know which one you're going to be before you buy.
Click to continue reading AirPods Max 2 Review: Apple Fixed Everything (Except This!) (Video)
The ROG Xbox Ally: A Portable Xbox Dream, with a Windows Reality Check
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Microsoft, Portable Audio / Video, Video Games, Videos,
You know that feeling when you pick up a device and it just makes sense? Like someone finally listened to what you actually wanted. That is exactly what happens when you get your hands on the ROG Xbox Ally. Microsoft and Asus have finally answered a question we have been asking for years: what would a portable Xbox actually look like?
But this is not just another company trying to build an all-in-one handheld. This is a massive ecosystem play to let you take your Xbox library absolutely anywhere.
You can pick up the ROG Xbox Ally now!
Click to continue reading The ROG Xbox Ally: A Portable Xbox Dream, with a Windows Reality Check
Best Amazon Prime Day 2019 Deals!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Smartphones, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Hot Deals, Smart Home, PC / Laptop, Peripherals, Portable Audio / Video, Video Games,
It's Amazon Prime Day across the world, and as promised, here are some of the best Amazon Prime Day 2019 deals you can get! I will update this list throughout the day:
TECH DEALS
- Ecobee SmartThermostat $200 (save $50)
- Eero WiFi System $150 (save $200)
- 20% off Amazon Warehouse
- Braun Series 7 Smart Shaver $140 (save $60)
- SanDisk Ultra 400GB microSD card $44.99 (save $20.83)
- Microsoft Surface Headphones $189.99 (save $160)
- Oculus Go VR Headset $159 (save $40)
APPLE DEALS
- $250 off the latest iPad Pros
- Take $100 off Apple’s 128GB 9.7-inch iPad
- iPad Air $40 off
- iPad Mini $15
- iPad Pros 2017 $480 off
- Apple Watch Series 4 - $75 off
- Apple AirPods with wireless charging for $179
- Newly-released MacBook Air $200 off
- $50 iTunes & App Store Gift Cards for $40 (save $10)
Click to continue reading Best Amazon Prime Day 2019 Deals!
Geared Up: Apple’s big week of hardware releases, and Google’s vision for the future of gaming
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Wearables, PC / Laptop, Portable Audio / Video, Video Games,
This week Apple announced a slew of new hardware products with the return of the iPad Air, an update to the iPad mini, new AirPods, and spec bumps for the iMac. In addition, Google revealed their vision for the future of gaming - it's cloud-based, and it's called Stadia.
Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:
Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Apple and Google.