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Samsung’s new Gear IconX wireless earbuds have improved battery life and a half-baked virtual assistant

Earlier today, Samsung took the wraps off of its new Gear Fit 2 Pro and Gear Sport wearables. In addition to these two announcements, Samsung also unveiled an updated version of its Gear IconX wireless earbuds. The big feature this time around? Access to a voice assistant that likely won’t do what you want it to.

In other words, this latest version of the Gear IconX now comes equipped with access to Bixby Voice. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise seeing as Samsung likely wants to have its own assistant available on as many of its products as possible. However, as we’ve seen, Bixby Voice still has a long way to go before it can truly compete with the likes of the Google Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, and others.

In all fairness, Bixby should work just fine for controlling music playback and adjusting your volume. You’ll be able to prompt the assistant for a command by holding onto the side of the IconX, and like with Siri on Apple’s AirPods, you can also ask questions about the weather, answer incoming calls, and more.

Another big improvement to the IconX is the battery life. Samsung says that the new Gear IconX will be able to provide 5 hours of battery life when streaming music and 6 hours when listening to tunes that are saved to the 4GB of internal storage on the earbuds. And, just like the current model, you’ll be able to charge the earbuds by placing them in the included carrying case.

Samsung has also updated the overall ergonomics of the Gear IconX so that they’re more comfortable to wear and have a lesser chance of falling out of your ear. And, to match the fitness-focus for the Gear Fit 2 Pro and Gear Sport, the Gear IconX will also come equipped with a Running Coach mode that will provide real-time tracking and updates when you go on a run, jog, or walk with the earbuds.

We don’t have a release date for the new Gear IconX quite yet, but when they do, they’ll be available in Black, Gray, and Pink. Samsung also hasn’t talked about pricing, but we can probably expect them to cost either the same or around the suggested price of the current Gear IconX ($200 USD).

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Avatar for Joe Maring Joe Maring

Joe has been a writer and occasional video producer for 9to5Google since July 2017. Follow him on Twitter @JoeMaring1 and send all emails to joe@9to5mac.com.


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