TWS Earbuds – Take your pick !

What do we do when we go to the restaurant for lunch or dinner? We skim through the complete menu card for a couple of minutes, and then except for the foodies, the rest of the people order the same favorite food they have ordered in the last few yea₹ But, we can not apply this logic when we're looking for a nice pair of earphones, earbuds, or headphones . The confusion starts from there and we will stick to True Wireless earbuds which are all having some great deals going on on Amazon and Flipkart around the world. I have kept a few parameters in mind while choosing these, such as:

  •  Great Battery life , it’s a must and all of them have 20-30 hours of juice.
  • Water & sweat resistance. Don’t need to go swimming underwater but anywhere near a pool is ok.
  • Descent to great sound quality.
  • Should work with Android and iOS both.
  •  All of them have magnetic properties and won’t fall off accidentally while
    opening.
  •  All of them have C type Charging and a wireless charging case to hang
    around with.

OPPO Enco W51 True Wireless Headphone

Good:
Premium Design
Wireless Charging Support
Excellent Call Quality
Bad:
Audio Lacks Refinement
Customization Is Limited To Oppo Smartphones
Oppo has been contributing to the Indian market with some excellent audio
products and W51 is one of them. These headphones are available in two colors, one in starry blue and another one is in floral white; the price of these earbuds is ₹4,999, but now have deals going on in e-commerce sites.
Just 15 minutes of charge can entertain you for 9 hours of music playback/calls with ANC (active noise cancellation) on. Connect them once with your device, and then you don’t have to repeat that ever. Open the case, and the buds will connect with your device automatically, and they’ll disconnect when you put them back to the case.

The Enco W51 earbuds are half in-ear buds with soft silicone tips. The buds feel comfortable in the ears and offer a reliable fit. They stay at their place and do not fall off even while running or cycling. Weighing only 3.95 grams, these earphones are professionally designed and are certified IP54 dustproof and waterproof. The sound quality is not so refined, but at this price range, they are one of the best and can pass off as Apple buds.
Verdict: It's going to be my pick at sub 5k level and is the only one amongst these five which comes with wireless charging and is light in your ears.

OnePlus Buds

Good:
Looks good especially the Nardo blue.
Bad :
No advanced Bluetooth codec support
The sound quality is below the oppo w51
Does not have rubber tips , and it might just slip out of your ears.

OnePlus is like that excited teenager who wants to try his hands at everything; First, they started with smartphones, then they moved on to accessories and audio products, and then last year, they launched their television sets. Launched alongside the OnePlus Nord smartphone, these OnePlus buds are priced at ₹4,990, and are the company’s first true wireless headset.

Giving a loud and clear output, they are equipped with a unique noise cancellation algorithm and three microphones to improve clarity. They have a powerful sound and allow you to enjoy up to 30 hours of listening time. The case we get alongside these buds work like a power bank. Charge it for 10 minutes and you can enjoy up to 10 hours of listening. You can experience 3D stereo with Dolby Atmos or stunning sound quality with Dirac Audio Tuner support. I quite liked the Nord blue colour buds that were sent for review, but you also have another option for buying the OnePlus Buds, they are also available in white. These buds are said to work best when used with an OnePlus smartphone, but to our surprise, they work just fine with other devices too. The charging case is tiny and easily pocketable. The USB Type-C port for charging is at the bottom, and the pairing button is at the back.
Verdict: Once paired, it’s easy to connect and reconnect and the same silicon tip might just work best for some ears If you are a OnePlus user its best
recommended.

Creative Outlier Air TWS

Good:  IPX5 water resistance
Almost 50% discount on the e-com sites now.
Bad:
Slippery charging case
Poor isolation
The cylindrical shape is a little bulkier to tug along and not pocketable.

The Creative Outlier Air earbuds and its charging case are lightweight and compact, making it easy to transport them in a purse or pocket. Like their name their manufacturing is also a little creative, they come with IPX5 certification, they are sweatproof, water-resistant, and can handle all that hard-earned sweat, accidental splashes, and even rain very easily.

The Bluetooth 5.0 earbuds have a 10-meter wireless range, and the 380mAh
charging case it comes with provides an additional two charge cycles, carrying you through nearly a full day of listening. Charging takes up to two hours, and the same applies to the USB-C charging case. They have stunning 30 hours of battery life and graphene-powered audio excellence, and dual voice calls along with controls. One can hear audio out of both earbuds when making a call and enjoy convenient access to Siri or Google Assistant with Outlier Air.
They are said to be graphene drivers, but I’m not sure these drivers are completely built from graphene. I found the sound output to be playful and more tuned towards bass response. It prioritizes the bass response over clarity, but still, the sound output is appreciable. It has a decent design with IPX5 certification but also fragile in terms of the structure of the case.
Verdict: Not the best bet; If the charging case was not so bulky, it would have
made a perfect cut.

Jabra Elite Active 75t True Wireless ANC Bluetooth Earbuds

Good :
Fantastic Carrying Case.
More comfortable, smaller design.
Good sound quality with thumping bass.
Easy to pocket, looks premium
Bad :
Average Jabra ANC.
Controls can get confusing

At ₹13,999 Jabra hits the second place in our list. They are claimed to be the best-fit earbuds yet in the market. Jabra says they have scanned thousands of ears to create these best-fitting sport earbuds with a special grip coating to make sure they stay in while you work out, and I guess Jabra is right. You can run, jump, you can do any physical activity while wearing them, and they will stick with you all the time like they are one of the parts of your body. Although entirely plastic, the earphones look and feel good. The Jabra Elite 75t is available in a single color – titanium – and is IP55-rated for dust and water resistance. This is the biggest difference between the Elite 75t and Elite Active 75t; the latter is IP57-rated for better water resistance. That said, the Elite 75t will be able to handle reasonable amounts of exposure to sweat, water, and dust, making them appropriate for standard everyday use.

The earphones each have a physical button, an indicator light, and a motion sensor. The sensor is used to automatically pause music when either earphone is removed, and resume when it is worn again. The buttons can be used to control everything on the earphones, including volume, playback, hear-through mode, and the voice assistant on a paired smartphone. However, the button-press combinations are a bit complicated, and I often pressed the wrong button because to remember each function with the tap will not be easy and anyways our memories are all gone to surf the internet.

The headset uses Bluetooth 5 for connectivity, with support for the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs. 6mm dynamic drivers power the earphones, with a frequency response range of 20-20,000Hz. Up to two Bluetooth source devices can be actively connected to the earphones at a time, and up to eight devices can be remembered. The earphones have four microphones (two on each earbud) for calls and noise reduction on calls.
Verdict: It’s the best premium TWS earbuds that you can buy and has practicality, style , quality all mirrored in. And through the Jabra Sound App you can customize controls and hear through.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless Earbuds

Good:
Excellent sound Quality, best in its class.
Customizable controls.
Solid ANC performance.
Bad:
High price
Unintuitive default controls
No wireless charging on the case
Charging Case bulky
Weight of the buds is on the heavier side.

Now, it’s time to know about the last one but the best one in our segment, when it comes to sound quality: The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless in-Ear Bluetooth Headphone with Multi-Touch Fingertip Control. With these advanced headphones, you can control your music, calls, and voice assistant simply through intuitive touchpad technology built into both earbuds.

It doesn’t come with many accessories, but they cover the basics. You get the
earbuds, the charging case, a piddly 20cm USB-C cable to charge the case, and four different sizes of silicone ear tips, ranging in size from extra small to large. There are no extra little wings to hold the earphones in your ear’s cartilage, but thankfully, I didn’t find them necessary. I popped the MTW2s in my ears, and they fit snugly the first time.

In fact, whether I was exercising or out on a cycle ride (with noise-cancelling turned off, naturally), the earbuds stayed snugly in my ears The only time I had to take them out mid-exercise was when I couldn’t remember if they were IP rated high enough to deal with my sweat. I needn’t have worried; they’re IPX4 rated, meaning they should survive light splashes. They protrude a little more from your ears than the smallest of earbuds like the Jabra Elite 75ts.But the important thing was that they still felt snug, and they didn’t feel like they were dangling at all. I tried wearing them while eating, and they held firm.

I think that everyone should customize the controls of the MTW2s when they first get them because, out of the box, the controls are wildly unintuitive. By default, you tap the left earbud once to play/pause, twice to skip to the next track, three times for the previous track, and you hold it to turn the volume down. The right earbud summons your voice assistant, turns on transparent hearing, turns on ANC, and raises the volume using the same commands. It feels oddly one-sided. The transparent hearing keeps you aware of your surroundings, allowing you to easily listen and chat without having to remove your earbuds.

Their premium price (and, for some, the touch controls) mean they won’t be for everyone, but if you’re after a pair of truly wireless earbuds that come close to matching the quality of a premium pair of noise-cancelling over-ear headphones, then Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 2 are easy to recommend. You can experience the good quality sound of these headphones which are made for every environment with durable, tough, splash-resistant materials.

Verdict: If it was not the weight of the earphones and the beautiful but bigger
charging and carrying case. I would have put my money on it. But If you are an audiophile it’s the closest you can come in TWS. Period.

QUIBI | QUICK BITES, BAD STORY

From the day Quibi was launched, I had my eyes fixated on it. Firstly because it was Meg Whiteman who raised an eye popping USD 1 Billion, secondly it was trying to enter a space where the grand daddies like Apple, Google, Netflix, Amazon are heavily invested and willing to lose billions for their share of eyeballs. Literally this time. Back in India, I used to get these OTT platform startup pitches and my reply was simple: it is the airline business which will make you a millionaire from a billionaire. There is no way under the sun that any new OTT platform without any strategic bundle can be a profitable and sustainable business. Case in point, Netflix – Early mover advantage and the man Reed Hastings is simply outstanding. Let’s look at Amazon- Its prime membership and e-commerce play is big to keep churning content and throwing it for free. Imagine in future while you are watching an Amazon original and a pop up comes selling you any of its products. They are building their own advertising audience ready to be monetized in a few clicks Disney + Hotstar – For them the stakes are too high not to be in this space and even MX player for The Times of India is backwardly integrated with their own production jungle and their media muscle. Zee5 – Similarly if they don’t have their own OTT they will not be relevant any more, and if you are still not tired of all the above then there’s YouTube with billions of hours worth of free content which you can keep watching with your next generations ahead.

Coming back to Quibi, with its 10 minute – 5 USD service, on the face of it is a great idea. We want smackable content and just like 20/20 cricket matches, they are the need of the hour. But how many will pay for it? 10 minutes is a free spot served by YouTube. At first, the idea of mobile-first content, 10 minutes content and a great team led by Meg Whitman who has been associated with HP, Procter & Gamble, Walt Disney and that this will succeed was a no-brainer. But having attempted many startups myself and failed in many I can vouch that what looks on the surface as a brilliant idea, sometimes does a somersault once it goes on the floor. The project faced skepticism from the beginning, but there was a Hollywood heavyweight of Katzenberg’s reputation involved. As former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and a co-founder of DreamWorks Animation, it seemed that if anyone could disrupt the OTT shape in mobile viewership patterns, as Quibi was trying, it would be Katzenberg.

It’s easy to blame the present times for any failed business, but OTT and streaming apps have seen a huge uptick. But possibly, for Quibi dearth of content production since they were new in the business and the content factory was slammed with hard “Covid brakes.” In spite of shows like 50 states of fright and a dream team with 1.7 billion dollars in funding , streaming is a complicated space to disrupt. It’s almost like the e-commerce business after Amazon, Flipkart. That is where your search ends.

In Conversation with Ms. Devita Saraf – Chairman & CEO of The VU Group

We talked about the idea behind the transition from lifestyle products to work style products & the response on their new launch of Meetings by VU.

Kingston launches refreshed ‘Canvas’ Card Series and ‘MobileLite Plus’ Readers in India

Kingston Technology announced today the refresh of its ‘Canvas’ series Flashcards to Canvas Plus. The new SD and microSD lineup include Kingston’s first UHS-II cards. To keep up with Canvas Plus, new MobileLite Plus UHS-II readers have been engineered to support blazing fast read speeds. Canvas Plus represents the next generation of SD and microSD cards with increased performance for DSLRs, 4K/8K video production, Android devices, action cams, and drones.

Canvas Plus offers three different variations for both SD and microSD cards: Select Plus, Go! Plus, and React Plus. Canvas Select Plus, which began shipping in Q4 2019, is joined by Canvas Go! Plus and Canvas React Plus. They support not only the latest advanced cameras that are capable of 4K and 8K video capture, React Plus and MobileLite Plus are also backward compatible with UHS-I and conventional SD bus standards. MobileLite Plus readers will be available on their own or as a bundle with React Plus cards to ensure optimized speeds.

The Canvas Plus card series include:

Canvas Select Plus:

Designed for recreational/amateur Full HD and 4K DSLR cameras (SD), and Android mobile devices (microSD).
Class 10 UHS-I speeds1 up to 100MB/s read.
MicroSD supports the A1 app performance class to expedite workflow on tablets and smartphones.
SD and microSD in capacities2 up to 512GB.

Canvas Go! Plus:

Ideal for shooting 4K UHD video and burst-mode photography on your DSLR (SD), or using with your 4K action cameras and drones (microSD).
Class 10 UHS-I U3 speeds1 up to 170MB/s read3, 90MB/s write.
MicroSD supports the A2 app performance class to expedite workflow on next-gen tablets and smartphones.
SD and microSD in capacities2 up to 512GB.

Canvas React Plus:

Top-of-the-line UHS-II performance to capture professional-grade 4K/8K videos and high-resolution photos on industry-standard cameras.
Class 10 UHS-II U3 speeds1 up to 300MB/s read, 260MB/s write4 (SD) and 285MB/s read, 165MB/s write4 (microSD).
The first UHS-II microSD to support the A1 app performance class to expedite workflow on tablets and smartphones.
SD and microSD in capacities2 up to 256GB.

MobileLite Plus Readers:

Built to increase workflow efficiency with incredible UHS-II speeds for faster file transfers and processing time.
USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds with backward compatibility support for UHS-I cards.
Designed for optimal performance with Kingston microSD and SD cards.

Toshiba 50U5050 4K TV | First Impression

Here is a very honest first impression of the newly launched Toshiba 50U5050 4K TV, which has all the Smart TV features but is it really serving the qualities of a 4K TV, let’s find out in this video.

Leadership Series | Asim Warsi – SVP, Samsung India

Episode 2 of our Leadership Series where we connect with the ‘Top Leaders in Tech & Auto’ to give you all the insights on the journey behind the big brands. Get inspired by the ideas, hard work & ambitious future.

Leadership Series | Sunil Nayyar – MD, Sony India

Welcome to our Leadership Series where we get candid with ‘Top Leaders in Tech & Auto’. Mr Sunil Nayyar, young MD of Sony India has a huge responsibility on his shoulders in motivating his entire team while working from home and managing growth and challenges.

Motorola Razr 5G I Unboxing & Review

Sleek just got sleeker and the already sharp Razr is back in a sharper avatar. Tough body, good looks, smart & stylish. No, we are not describing Chris Hemsworth but this is what we feel about the Razr. Know more about the phone in our video & comment below which feature did you find the most interesting.

My Yellow Plate | Top 100 | Influncex’20

Ex: Tell us about a change you’ve seen in the digital blogging space since you started out your journey? How has this space evolved?

Himanshu: I started back in 2015 when it was less crowded, more meaningful and more engaging. Over the last five years, I have seen more creators joining the space, getting more crowded and becoming less engaging for the audience.

Ex: Can you give us an insight into social media platforms that only an Influencer can know?

Himanshu: I don’t know such platforms which only an influencer would know as social media isn’t just for influencers but for masses to interact with friends, family, neighbours, community and influencers.

Ex:  If you were stranded on an island, what are the 3 gadgets you’d take along?

Himanshu: Mobile first, headphones second and a JIO sim

Ex: A technology you wished you’d invented?

Himanshu: To smell and taste the recipes online and rate them!

Ex: What’s been your favorite encounter with a fan so far? (DMs included!)

Himanshu: At my first meetup years ago, there was this one guy who turned up and he was so happy about it and motivated me to continue.

Ex: Social Media is known to expose vulnerabilities, with influencers being at the epicenter. How do you deal with the dark side that comes with the medium?

Himanshu: I take it as two sides of a coin and understand that I am not RAJMA CHAWAL and that everyone will like me! 😛

Ex: Social media trolling is seeing an upward rise. Do you think this only increases with the popularity of an Influencer? How does one tackle this situation?

Himanshu: Certainly it has increased and it does get worse with popularity but again that’s part of every influencer’s journey/career. You need to take it lightly and don’t judge yourself on the basis of someone else’s opinion. No one is PERFECT like Rajma Chawal.

Ex: What does success mean to you?

Himanshu: Living on my own terms and doing what I planned to do and love to do. Money, fame, name and rest everything else is a bonus.

Ex:  Which is that one dish or cuisine that you haven’t tried yet but are looking forward to?

Himanshu: Any dish from Gordon Ramsay’s Menu is what I am looking forward to.

Ex:  What do you do to make your content unique from others?

Himanshu: The Yellow Plate is the USP and makes it stand apart from others.

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Debasree Banerjee | Top 100 | Influncex’20

Ex: Tell us about a change you’ve seen in the digital blogging space since you started out your journey? How has this space evolved?
Debasree: Social media keeps changing constantly, one major change I’ve seen is that the audience has become more aware and the kind of content that’s appreciated more is more raw.

Ex: Can you give us an insight into social media platforms that only an Influencer can know?
Debasree: Topical content does best and you need to figure out what kind of content your audience mostly consumes and most importantly it should be something you’re extremely passionate about.

Ex: What would be your calling in a parallel universe? (Alternate career options)
Debasree: Bio- Technologist

Ex: If you were stranded on an island, what are the 3 gadgets you’d take along?
Debasree: My phone, apple watch and camera.

Ex: A technology you wished you’d invented?
Debasree: It’s still not invented, I will invent it!

Ex: What’s been your favorite encounter with a fan so far? (DMs included!)
Debasree: There are so many but the best one was the first one when someone recognized me at a mall and clicked a picture with me. Cause firsts are always special.

Ex: Social Media is known to expose vulnerabilities, with influencers being at the epicenter. How do you deal with the dark side that comes with the medium?
Debasree: Yes, sometimes it can be really stressful and get to you but I try to distract myself and concentrate more on the positive than feeding onto the negativity.

Ex: Social media trolling is seeing an upward rise. Do you think this only increases with the popularity of an Influencer? How does one tackle this situation?
Debasree: Like I said to concentrate more on the positives and don’t let things demotivate you.

Ex: What does success mean to you?
Being happy

Ex: When was the first time you bought your dream makeup product and which one was it?
Debasree: Morphe Palette x James Charles from London gave me a lot of happiness because of the colours.

Ex: What would you tell young girls when it comes to ideals of beauty that our society has set up?
Debasree: Be comfortable in your own skin, makeup should always enhance your beauty and should never be something your beauty depends on.

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