Tag Archives: Sony

SCUF Omega Adds 11 Buttons to the PS5 Controller and One Fewer Excuse

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The PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller is genuinely excellent for most kinds of gaming. Haptic feedback and adaptive triggers have added a new layer of immersion to mainstream titles, and the ergonomics are comfortable enough for long sessions. But competitive gaming operates by a different set of priorities, where fractions of a second matter more than vibrating triggers, and the standard pad wasn’t designed with that crowd in mind.

That’s the gap SCUF has been filling for 15 years across multiple platforms, and the Omega marks the first time it’s done so with an officially licensed PS5 controller. Built on feedback from professional players and championship-level esports teams, it doesn’t try to replicate the DualSense so much as rethink the PS5 controller from the ground up for a very specific type of player.

Designer: SCUF Gaming x Sony

The most immediately striking feature is the sheer number of additional inputs. Beyond the standard button layout, the Omega adds four remappable rear paddles at the back, two SAX (Side Action) buttons on the sides of the grip, and five G-Keys near the bottom of the controller, all fully programmable. That’s 11 extra inputs, each of which can be mapped to any action through the SCUF Mobile App.

The rear paddles are the most critical of these for shooters. The whole point is to keep your thumbs planted on the thumbsticks while still executing jumps, crouches, or reloads through the paddles. In a close-range firefight, lifting a thumb to reach a face button even briefly can mean losing the engagement. The SAX buttons expand on this idea further, accessible without shifting your grip even slightly.

Adjustable Instant Triggers give the Omega another competitive edge. Each trigger toggles between a hair-trigger click mode designed for rapid FPS inputs and a full analog range for games that use throttle or feathered inputs. Swapping between those modes takes seconds and doesn’t require a tool. This alone makes the controller feel meaningfully different from the DualSense, not just cosmetically different.

There’s a notable tradeoff, though. The Omega drops adaptive triggers and haptic feedback entirely. Sony’s DualSense Edge made a similar call, only with the adaptive triggers. For SCUF, removing vibration also reduces weight and eliminates the buzz that can subtly disrupt stick control mid-game. The face plate is magnetic and swappable, and the controller connects wirelessly via Bluetooth or USB-A dongle, or wired via USB-C.

The SCUF Omega retails for $219.99 in the US and £209.99 in the UK. It works across PS5, PS5 Pro, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, so the investment follows you across platforms. It costs more than the DualSense Edge’s closest equivalent, but the extra inputs, swappable face plate, and TMR sticks make a reasonable argument for the premium.

The post SCUF Omega Adds 11 Buttons to the PS5 Controller and One Fewer Excuse first appeared on Yanko Design.

Stop Chasing Shade: Sony REON Pocket Plus Brings the Cold to Your Neck

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Staying comfortable outdoors during a heatwave has always been a matter of seeking shade, chasing air-conditioned spaces, or resigning yourself to a slow, sweaty defeat. Portable fans help somewhat, but they cool the air around you rather than you directly. As wearable technology continues to push into everyday life, the idea of a personal climate device that goes wherever you go no longer feels like science fiction.

Sony has been quietly building exactly that kind of device since 2017, and the REON Pocket Pro Plus is its latest and most capable version. Rather than blowing cold air, it absorbs heat from the base of your neck using the Peltier effect to chill a metal plate against your skin at precisely the spot where blood vessels run closest to the surface.

Designer: Sony

The headline upgrade this generation is a pair of independent thermo-modules that alternate in intensity rather than running together at a fixed output. One ramps up as the other scales back, sustaining cooling without burning out quickly. The result is an advertised 20% improvement over the previous model, amounting to about a two-degree Celsius reduction at the point of contact, a modest number that feels surprisingly significant in practice.

Supporting that is an updated algorithm that reads both skin temperature and environmental conditions in real time. In Smart Cool mode, the REON Pocket Pro Plus reacts on its own as you step from an air-conditioned office into the afternoon sun, or vice versa. A quiet internal fan keeps heat dissipating efficiently, and an automatic shutoff steps in before the device gets too warm.

Fit has also been rethought. Sony’s Adaptive Hold Design uses new neckband fins to press the cooling surface consistently against your skin even as you walk or shift position, reducing the contact interruptions that were a known weak point of earlier models. The air vent that pokes above your shirt collar is now tiltable too, so it doesn’t snag on tighter or thicker fabrics.

The kit includes a second-generation Pocket Tag, a compact sensor clip that monitors ambient temperature and humidity separately from the main unit. That extra layer of environmental data helps the device make smarter adjustments than it could by reading the skin alone. A companion app lets you dial in personal preferences manually, though the REON Pocket Pro Plus doesn’t depend on your phone to function.

It isn’t strictly a hot-weather gadget. Smart Warm mode provides four adjustable heating levels, making the device a reasonable companion tucked under a winter coat as well. Battery life holds up to 10 hours on the second-highest cooling setting, which comfortably covers a full day of outdoor commitments. For longer stretches, the lower cooling levels push that figure considerably further.

The REON Pocket Pro Plus retails for £199 in the UK and around €220 across Europe, with a US launch expected in summer 2026 through Sony’s online store. It’s the sort of gadget that sounds impractical until you’re stuck on a packed commute in July with no airflow. At that point, a small metal plate on the back of your neck starts to sound rather genius.

The post Stop Chasing Shade: Sony REON Pocket Plus Brings the Cold to Your Neck first appeared on Yanko Design.

Most Phone Cameras Flatter Your Shots, Sony Xperia 1 VIII Doesn’t

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Smartphone photography has come a long way, but there’s always been a tension between what these cameras can do and what serious photographers actually want from them. Most flagships rely on heavy computational processing that smooths, brightens, and sharpens images into something generically appealing. For photographers who value accuracy over flattery and real control over automated guesswork, the gap between phone cameras and dedicated hardware hasn’t entirely closed.

Sony’s Xperia lineup has always tried to bridge that gap, offering manual controls and ZEISS optics where others defaulted to automation. The Xperia 1 VIII continues that approach while adding an AI Camera Assistant that draws on the company’s Alpha mirrorless camera heritage. It doesn’t take over the shooting process; it reads the scene and offers Creative Look suggestions, which the photographer can accept or ignore entirely.

Designer: Sony

The most significant hardware change is the telephoto camera, now carrying a 48MP sensor measuring 1/1.56 inches, four times larger than the Xperia 1 VII’s. A bigger sensor catches more light, which translates to sharper, cleaner shots when zooming in at dusk or across a crowded room, the kind of situations where previous phone telephoto cameras would typically struggle.

Picture trying to photograph a performer on a dimly lit stage from the back of the venue. On most phones, that means noise, blur, and a lot of guessing about which lens to reach for. The AI Camera Assistant analyzes the scene in real time and recommends the right telephoto setting, a tone profile that suits the mood, and the ideal bokeh depth. You just compose and shoot.

Under the hood, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 advertises a roughly 20% performance boost over the previous generation, helping the phone stay responsive under demanding workloads. Paired with up to 16GB of RAM, storage options reaching 1TB, and a rare microSD slot supporting up to 2TB more, there’s no shortage of headroom for anyone accumulating large RAW files and 4K video footage.

The 6.5-inch LTPO OLED display uses Sony’s BRAVIA processing alongside both front and rear ambient light sensors to calibrate color for wherever you happen to be. It’s a feature borrowed from Sony’s television lineup, and it makes a real difference when reviewing footage outdoors. The 3.5mm headphone jack stays, and a Walkman-tuned circuit design improves wired audio quality noticeably beyond what most flagships manage.

Battery life is rated at two days, backed by a 5,000 mAh cell and a Processing Optimization mode that dials back power use during intensive tasks like navigation. Sony also commits to four years of battery health, a meaningful promise for a device at this price. Charging maxes out at 30 W wired and 15W wireless, with three color options: Graphite Black, Iolite Silver, and Garnet Red.

At £1,399 in the UK (roughly US$1,890), the Xperia 1 VIII isn’t an impulse buy, and Sony isn’t pitching it as one. It’s built for people who shoot deliberately, edit with intention, and want a phone that keeps pace with that mindset rather than working against it. For those who fit that profile, there aren’t many phones currently offering this level of thoughtful integration across camera, display, and audio.

The post Most Phone Cameras Flatter Your Shots, Sony Xperia 1 VIII Doesn’t first appeared on Yanko Design.

Sony’s PS6 Could Triple the PS5’s Power. It Could Also Cost $800 and Land in 2029

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Seven years is a strange unit of time. Long enough to finish a PhD, short enough to remember an event vividly, and apparently, exactly long enough for Sony to build, test, manufacture, and ship a new generation of PlayStation hardware. PS3 to PS4, PS4 to PS5: seven years, twice, with the precision of a Swiss movement. The console industry built its entire release calendar ecosystem around that cadence. Publishers scheduled their biggest titles around it. Retailers planned inventory cycles for it. Analysts forecast revenue curves based on it. So the news that Sony has not yet decided when the PS6 will launch, with Bloomberg and MST International both pointing toward 2028 at the earliest (if not 2029), carries weight well beyond a single product launch.

The culprit is DDR7 memory, or more precisely, the catastrophic shortage of it, as AI data centers absorb the global supply of high-bandwidth RAM faster than Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron can produce it. One year of delay sounds manageable until you zoom out. GTA6, announced in December 2023 for a 2025 launch, has been publicly delayed three separate times and is currently targeting November 2026, with bettors still skeptical. Beyond the Spider-Verse slipped from March 2024 to June 2027, a three-year crater in the release calendar of one of the most acclaimed animated franchises in history. Apple is formally retiring the single annual iPhone event in favor of a split premium-then-standard cadence. The PS6 delay is a symptom of something structural, and the structure is bending.

Image Credits: Latif Ghouali

The memory crisis at the root of Sony’s problem is unlike previous supply chain disruptions in one important way: it is being driven by a competitor class that simply outclasses consumer electronics on every financial dimension. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have made a calculated pivot toward high-bandwidth memory for AI accelerators, with demand expected to grow 70 percent year-over-year in 2026 alone. Meanwhile, Alphabet and Amazon have announced capital expenditure plans of roughly $185 billion and $200 billion respectively this year, among the largest in corporate history, further intensifying competition for advanced memory. Sony is not losing a bidding war. It is sitting in a market that has structurally reorganized around different priorities, and the PS6 is waiting at the back of a very long, very expensive queue.

Sony President and CEO Hiroki Totoki addressed the uncertainty directly at the FY2025 earnings briefing, saying through a translator: “We have not yet decided on at what timing we will launch the new console, or at what prices. So we would like to really observe and follow the situation.” That is an extraordinary statement from the head of one of the most strategically disciplined hardware companies on the planet. Sony does not typically observe and follow. It plans, announces, and executes. The fact that Totoki’s language sounds more like a macroeconomist reading a volatile market than a product chief managing a launch calendar tells you everything about how abnormal this moment is.

The hardware itself, when it arrives, looks genuinely transformative. Leakers and supply chain sources indicate Sony awarded the PS6 chip contract to AMD back in 2022, with the console expected to feature a custom Zen 6 CPU and RDNA 5 GPU architecture, targeting roughly triple the PS5’s rasterization performance with 4K gaming at 120 frames per second and advanced ray tracing. A companion handheld codenamed Project Canis is reportedly riding alongside the main console as part of a unified two-device platform strategy, which would represent the most significant structural shift in PlayStation’s hardware philosophy since the PS3’s disastrous Cell processor gamble. The specs, in other words, are not the problem. The atoms are.

The delay also arrives at a peculiar competitive moment. If supply chains stabilize by 2027, Sony could target a late 2028 launch with multiple SKUs and the handheld companion. If shortages persist, the PS6 could slip to 2029 or beyond, risking market momentum loss to rivals. Microsoft has been conspicuously quiet about its own next-generation plans, and a scenario where Xbox gets to market first, even with a smaller install base, would hand the competition a narrative advantage that Sony has not faced since the PS3 era. As of early April 2026, prediction markets showed only about 25 percent probability that Sony would announce the PS6 before 2027. The crowd is not optimistic.

What the PS6 situation actually exposes is the fragility of product cycles that have been treated as laws of nature rather than engineered outcomes. GTA6 has been delayed not once or twice but three times since its December 2023 reveal, bouncing from a 2025 window to May 2026, then to its current November 19, 2026 target, with Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick deploying identical “we feel really good about it” language each time a new date was announced. Beyond the Spider-Verse, a sequel to a film that grossed $690 million and earned a near-universal critical consensus as a generational achievement in animation, has been pushed from March 2024 to June 2027, a three-year gap that would have been unthinkable for a franchise at that level of commercial and artistic momentum. And Apple, the company that arguably invented the modern product launch as cultural event, is now formally splitting its iPhone releases across a fall premium window and a spring standard window, with Mark Gurman reporting the expectation that this pattern continues for years to come. Clockwork, everywhere, is slipping.

Sony will ship the PS6. The hardware is real, the AMD partnership is locked, and the performance targets are serious enough to make the wait feel justified when the box finally lands on a shelf. But the seven-year cycle, that beautiful, reliable, industry-organizing drumbeat, is not coming back on its original terms. The PS6 will arrive when the memory market allows it, which is to say when AI infrastructure spending pauses long enough for consumer electronics to get a turn. That is a sentence that would have read like science fiction in 2020, when the PS5 launched on schedule into a pandemic and sold out globally within minutes. The world has reorganized itself around different priorities. The PlayStation, for the first time in a long time, has to wait in line like everyone else.

The post Sony’s PS6 Could Triple the PS5’s Power. It Could Also Cost $800 and Land in 2029 first appeared on Yanko Design.

The PlayStation Portable Gets an Incredibly Detailed LEGO Remake Complete with Working Disc Tray

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Before smartphones killed the dedicated handheld, before the Switch made portability synonymous with Nintendo again, there was a brief window where Sony owned mobile gaming’s premium tier. The PSP launched in 2004 as a technical powerhouse wrapped in sleek industrial design, a device that felt expensive in your hands and looked like it belonged in a gadget enthusiast’s bag. It ran PlayStation 2-era games, played movies, supported WiFi multiplayer, and became the go-to modding platform for tinkerers who wanted every emulator ever made on one device. The PSP’s legacy is complicated, but its design has aged remarkably well.

This LEGO interpretation, shared on Reddit, proves that good hardware design translates across mediums. Reddit user Embarrassed_Map1072 has captured the PSP’s essential character using bricks: the wide landscape format, the glossy black shell, the satisfying asymmetry of controls flanking a dominant screen. The printed XMB interface behind transparent elements brings the build to life, while the removable UMD disc adds a playful interactivity that feels right for a gaming device. Small touches like the curved edges, the recessed shoulder buttons, and the memory stick door’s yellow tab demonstrate real attention to the source material. This thing looks like it could slide into a PSP case and nobody would notice until they tried to boot up Lumines.

Designer: Embarrassed_Map1072

The build’s proportions are spot-on, capturing that distinctive wide-bodied stance that made the PSP feel substantial without being bulky. The face buttons render Sony’s iconic shapes (circle, cross, square, triangle) in rounded LEGO elements, while the D-pad on the left maintains its classic cruciform layout. The analog nub sits where your thumb expects it, a small circular detail that any PSP veteran will immediately recognize. Up top, smooth tiles create the volume controls and power switch, with printed detailing that suggests the original’s labeling. The headphone jack makes an appearance at the bottom edge, because what’s a portable gaming device without a way to plug in your earbuds during a commute?

My favorite detail is the UMD disc itself. The builder recreated the distinctive white-and-gold casing that held your games, complete with the circular window that let you glimpse the tiny disc inside. It slides into the back of the unit just like the real thing, a mechanical function that elevates this from display model to something tactile and engaging. The memory stick slot retains that pop of yellow that broke up the PSP’s otherwise monochrome palette, a small design flourish that Sony used to signal where your saves lived. This is LEGO building that understands its subject, translating not just shapes but the experience of holding and using the actual hardware.

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Sony’s Latest PlayStation Patent Turns a DualSense and Your Phone Into One Gaming Controller

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Back in 2014, Sony shipped a small piece of plastic that clipped a phone onto a PS4 controller. It was limited to certain Xperia handsets, relied on Remote Play at a point when Remote Play was barely holding itself together over most home Wi-Fi networks, and it quietly disappeared without much fanfare. The idea of physically fusing your smartphone with your PlayStation controller got filed away as one of those concepts that sounded reasonable on paper and fell apart in practice. Sony moved on, and for a decade, so did everyone else.

A patent circulating this week suggests the concept never fully left. Sony’s new filing describes a smartphone mounted directly onto a DualSense controller, with the phone functioning as a live secondary input device. Its touchscreen, motion sensors, and hardware would all be available to developers as genuine control surfaces, feeding into the game in real time rather than simply mirroring it. That positions this as a meaningfully different idea from Remote Play, from the PS Portal, and from anything Sony has formally put in front of PlayStation players before.

Designer: Sony

The PS Portal, Sony’s dedicated remote play device launched in late 2023, is essentially a DualSense controller sliced in half with an 8-inch 1080p LCD placed in the middle. It streams games from your PS5 over Wi-Fi and does nothing else. You don’t own a PS5 running at home, the Portal becomes a paperweight. The patented phone mount concept flips that logic. Your smartphone becomes an extension of the controller’s input vocabulary, giving developers access to touch zones, gyroscope data, and potentially camera input without Sony needing to manufacture, stock, and sell another dedicated piece of hardware. Third-party phone mounts already exist for the DualSense and sell for as little as the equivalent of $10, so the mechanical attachment problem is solved. What Sony would be adding is first-party integration at the software and developer level, where the phone is recognized as part of the control scheme and games are built around it.

Patent Drawing from Sony’s filing

The market conditions in 2026 are dramatically different from the failed 2014 attempt. Fibre internet is widespread, Remote Play latency has improved significantly, and players already treat their phones as natural extensions of their gaming sessions. Controllers with phone clips are common enough in mobile gaming circles that the form factor no longer reads as awkward or experimental. Sony’s job would be convincing developers to design around a hybrid input model, which is a softer sell than asking players to spend $200 on dedicated streaming hardware with a narrow use case.

Sony patents ideas constantly, and most of them never see retail shelves. This particular concept feels more grounded than some of the company’s weirder filings because the infrastructure already exists, consumer behavior supports it, and the barrier to entry is lower than building new hardware from scratch. Whether it ships is still a gamble, but the logic behind it holds together better than it did a decade ago.

The post Sony’s Latest PlayStation Patent Turns a DualSense and Your Phone Into One Gaming Controller first appeared on Yanko Design.

Sony’s Latest PlayStation Patent Turns a DualSense and Your Phone Into One Gaming Controller

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Back in 2014, Sony shipped a small piece of plastic that clipped a phone onto a PS4 controller. It was limited to certain Xperia handsets, relied on Remote Play at a point when Remote Play was barely holding itself together over most home Wi-Fi networks, and it quietly disappeared without much fanfare. The idea of physically fusing your smartphone with your PlayStation controller got filed away as one of those concepts that sounded reasonable on paper and fell apart in practice. Sony moved on, and for a decade, so did everyone else.

A patent circulating this week suggests the concept never fully left. Sony’s new filing describes a smartphone mounted directly onto a DualSense controller, with the phone functioning as a live secondary input device. Its touchscreen, motion sensors, and hardware would all be available to developers as genuine control surfaces, feeding into the game in real time rather than simply mirroring it. That positions this as a meaningfully different idea from Remote Play, from the PS Portal, and from anything Sony has formally put in front of PlayStation players before.

Designer: Sony

The PS Portal, Sony’s dedicated remote play device launched in late 2023, is essentially a DualSense controller sliced in half with an 8-inch 1080p LCD placed in the middle. It streams games from your PS5 over Wi-Fi and does nothing else. You don’t own a PS5 running at home, the Portal becomes a paperweight. The patented phone mount concept flips that logic. Your smartphone becomes an extension of the controller’s input vocabulary, giving developers access to touch zones, gyroscope data, and potentially camera input without Sony needing to manufacture, stock, and sell another dedicated piece of hardware. Third-party phone mounts already exist for the DualSense and sell for as little as the equivalent of $10, so the mechanical attachment problem is solved. What Sony would be adding is first-party integration at the software and developer level, where the phone is recognized as part of the control scheme and games are built around it.

Patent Drawing from Sony’s filing

The market conditions in 2026 are dramatically different from the failed 2014 attempt. Fibre internet is widespread, Remote Play latency has improved significantly, and players already treat their phones as natural extensions of their gaming sessions. Controllers with phone clips are common enough in mobile gaming circles that the form factor no longer reads as awkward or experimental. Sony’s job would be convincing developers to design around a hybrid input model, which is a softer sell than asking players to spend $200 on dedicated streaming hardware with a narrow use case.

Sony patents ideas constantly, and most of them never see retail shelves. This particular concept feels more grounded than some of the company’s weirder filings because the infrastructure already exists, consumer behavior supports it, and the barrier to entry is lower than building new hardware from scratch. Whether it ships is still a gamble, but the logic behind it holds together better than it did a decade ago.

The post Sony’s Latest PlayStation Patent Turns a DualSense and Your Phone Into One Gaming Controller first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Fan Made the Sony-Nintendo Handheld the Companies Never Would

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The retro handheld market has a strange problem. The hardware keeps getting better, the screens get sharper, the processors get faster, and yet most of these devices land looking like prototypes someone forgot to finish. Generic shells, forgettable proportions, and LED lighting as a substitute for actual design thinking. For a category built entirely on nostalgia, very few of these devices actually look like they belong to any era at all.

That tension is what one Reddit user decided to address. Starting with a Retroid Pocket 5, a $199 Android handheld running a Snapdragon 865 and a 5.5-inch AMOLED display, the mod layers Sony and Nintendo branding onto the same shell. Vinyl decals, translucent polycarbonate, a 3D-printed volume rocker from Etsy, and a cable replaced in PS2 color. The result looks less like a sticker job and more like a concept render from an alternate 1999.

Designer: Mitchieyan

The translucent shell is doing most of the work. It pulls from the visual language of the N64’s Funtastic series, those clear and atomic-purple controllers Nintendo released in the late 1990s, where showing the circuitry was the design choice rather than concealing it. Over a piano-black grip body with PlayStation-colored face buttons, the frosted polycarbonate shifts from grey to near-white depending on the light. It shouldn’t feel considered. It does.

The branding placement is where intent becomes clear. The Sony wordmark sits centered on the upper face, exactly where it appeared on a PSOne. Below it, the PlayStation four-color logo. At the bottom bezel, the Nintendo badge mirrors its position on a Game Boy Advance SP. None of it is licensed, of course. These are adhesive vinyls placed by someone who grew up with both systems and wanted their coexistence on one device to feel inevitable rather than absurd.

Not everything here reaches backward. The analog sticks are translucent caps over hall-effect sensors, lit teal on the left and purple on the right, owing nothing to 1999. That generation didn’t have RGB anything. The lighting reads as a concession to the present; the one feature announcing this is still an Android device in 2025, not a prototype from some alternate Sony-Nintendo licensing meeting. Whether it sits comfortably alongside the retro shell is a fair question.

The rear view shifts the frame again. A large dual-grip body in smooth black rubber dominates the back, a clear plastic hinge connecting the screen to grip in full view, structural and unapologetic. The 3D-printed volume rocker at the top edge puts a physical control where fingers naturally land. The back half feels closer to a DualShock than a Game Boy, which is either the point or the problem, depending on what you wanted this thing to be.

Flip to the front screen, and the emulator grid makes the whole thing literal. DuckStation for PS1, Dolphin for GameCube, PPSSPP for PSP, melonDS for Nintendo DS, and a live PS2 wallpaper cycling behind all of it. This device runs both companies’ libraries simultaneously without asking permission from either. The branding on the shell, in that context, stops being a novelty and starts reading as a plain statement of what the hardware already does.

The retro handheld category is large enough now that sameness has become its default. The Retroid Pocket 6, the current flagship from the same manufacturer, drew community criticism for being indistinguishable from competitors: glass front, LED sticks, rounded edges, and no particular character. A fan mod building identity out of borrowed logos is one response to a problem the manufacturers haven’t solved. It’s also just someone enjoying a hobby and being honest about what they want.

The hardware to play PS1, PS2, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance all on one screen already exists and costs under $200. What the market hasn’t resolved is what that device should actually look like, or whose name should go on it. This mod doesn’t answer either question. It just makes the gap between what’s technically possible and what anyone has bothered to design feel a little harder to dismiss.

The post This Fan Made the Sony-Nintendo Handheld the Companies Never Would first appeared on Yanko Design.

The best wireless workout headphones for 2026

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Whether you’re lifting, running or squeezing in a quick session between errands, the last thing you want is a cable getting in the way or earbuds that won’t stay put. The best wireless headphones make it easier to focus on your workout, but not every pair is built to handle sweat, motion and long sessions.

Fitness-focused headphones put different demands on design and performance. Secure fit, water resistance and dependable battery life matter just as much as sound quality, especially if you plan to use them outside the gym as well. Some are tuned for awareness during outdoor runs, while others aim to block distractions during intense training.

We’ve tested a wide range of wireless headphones and wireless earbuds that are suited for exercise, narrowing the list down to options that hold up during workouts and still work well for everyday listening. Below, you’ll find our top picks, along with guidance to help you choose the right pair for how you train.

When it comes to running and working out, the edge that the AirPods Pro 3 have over the Pro 2, or even the top picks on our list, is built-in heart rate monitoring. That means you could go out with just your Pro 3 earbuds and your iPhone and still get heart rate information for your entire training session. But otherwise, the Pro 3 buds are just as capable as the Pro 2 when it comes to exercise. Some may prefer the soft-touch finish on our top picks to the AirPods' slick texture.

The Powerbeats Pro 2 are a good alternative to the Beats Fit Pro if you’re a stickler for a hook design. However, they cost $50 more than the Powerbeats Fit, and the main added advantage here is built-in heart rate sensors.

The Soundcore AeroFit Pro is Anker’s version of the Shokz OpenFit, but I found the fit to be less secure and not as comfortable. The actual earbuds on the AeroFit Pro are noticeably bulkier than those on the OpenFit and that caused them to shift and move much more during exercise. They never fell off of my ears completely, but I spent more time adjusting them than I did enjoying them.

The most noteworthy thing about the Endurance Peak 3 is that they have the same IP68 rating as the Jabra Elite 8 Active, except they only cost $100. But, while you get the same protection here, you’ll have to sacrifice in other areas. The Endurance Peak 3 didn’t blow me away when it came to sound quality or comfort (its hook is more rigid than those on my favorite similarly designed buds) and their charging case is massive compared to most competitors.

Before diving in, it’s worth mentioning that this guide focuses on wireless earbuds. While you could wear over-ear or on-ear headphones during a workout, most of the best headphones available now do not have the same level of durability. Water and dust resistance, particularly the former, is important for any audio gear you plan on sweating with or taking outdoors, and that’s more prevalent in the wireless earbuds world.

Most earbuds have one of three designs: in-ear, in-ear with hook or open-ear. The first two are the most popular. In-ears are arguably the most common, while those with hooks promise better security and fit since they have an appendage that curls around the top of your ear. Open-ear designs don’t stick into your ear canal, but rather sit just outside of it. This makes it easier to hear the world around you while also listening to audio, and could be more comfortable for those who don’t like the intrusiveness of in-ear buds.

Even if a pair of headphones for working out aren’t marketed specifically as exercise headphones, a sturdy, water-resistant design will, by default, make them suitable for exercise. To avoid repetition, here’s a quick primer on durability, or ingression protection (IP) ratings. The first digit you’ll see after the “IP” refers to protection from dust and other potential intrusions, measured on a scale from 1 to 6. The second refers to water resistance or even waterproofing, in the best cases. The ratings for water resistance are ranked on a scale of 1 to 9; higher numbers mean more protection, while the letter “X” means the device is not rated for protection in that regard.

All of the earbuds we tested for this guide have at least an IPX4 rating, which means there’s no dust protection, but the buds can withstand splashes from any direction and are sweat resistant, but probably shouldn't be submerged. For a detailed breakdown of all the possible permutations, check out this guide published by a supplier called The Enclosure Company.

Active noise cancellation (ANC) is becoming standard on wireless earbuds, at least those above a certain price point. If you’re looking for a pair of buds that can be your workout companion and serve you outside of the gym, too, noise cancelation is a good feature to have. It makes the buds more versatile, allowing you to block out the dull roar of your home or office so you can focus, or give you some solitude during a busy commute.

But an earbud’s ability to block out the world goes hand-in-hand with its ability to open things back up should you need it. Many ANC earbuds also support some sort of “transparency mode,” or various levels of noise reduction. This is important for running headphones because exercising outdoors, alongside busy streets, can be dangerous. You probably don’t want to be totally oblivious to what’s going on around you when you’re running outside; adjusting noise cancelation levels to increase your awareness will help with that. Stronger noise cancelation might be more appealing to those doing more indoor training if they want to block out the dull roar of a gym or the guy exaggeratingly lifting weights next to you.

All of the Bluetooth earbuds we tested have a battery life of six to eight hours. In general, that’s what you can expect from this space, with a few outliers that can get up to 15 hours of life on a charge. Even the low end of the spectrum should be good enough for most athletes and gym junkies, but it’ll be handy to keep the buds’ charging case on you if you think you’ll get close to using up all their juice during a single session.

You’ll get an average of 20 to 28 extra hours of battery out of most charging cases and all of the earbuds we tested had holders that provided at least an extra 15 hours. This will dictate how often you actually have to charge the device — as in physically connect the case with earbuds inside to a charging cable, or set it on a wireless charger to power up.

In testing wireless workout headphones, I wear them during every bit of exercise I do — be it a casual walk around the block, a brisk morning run or a challenging weight-lifting session. I’m looking for comfort arguably most of all, because you should never be fussing with your earbuds when you should be focusing on working out. In the same vein, I’m cognizant of if they get loose during fast movements or slippery when I’m sweating. I also use the earbuds when not exercising to take calls and listen to music throughout the day. Many people will want just one pair of earbuds that they can use while exercising and just doing everyday things, so I evaluate each pair on their ability to be comfortable and provide a good listening experience in multiple different activities.

While I am also evaluating sound quality, I’m admittedly not an audio expert. My colleague Billy Steele holds that title at Engadget, and you’ll find much more detailed information about audio quality for some of our top picks in his reviews and buying guides. With these headphones for working out, however, I will make note of related issues if they stood out (i.e. if a pair of earbuds had noticeably strong bass out of the box, weak highs, etc). Most of the wireless workout headphones we tested work with companion apps that have adjustable EQ settings, so you’ll be able to tweak sound profiles to your liking in most cases.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-wireless-workout-headphones-191517835.html?src=rss

Stunning LEGO Sony Walkman Replica Features a Dockable Cassettes and Wearable Headphones

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It’s weird to think that Walkmans were literally in my lifetime but if I were to give one to a kid born after 2000, they’d wonder what the hell they’re staring at. Sure, an iPod still feels intuitive because it’s still a relatively digital interface, and MP3 files are still a thing. But a cassette? Having to rewind and fast forward? They’re all relics of an age youngsters wouldn’t even recognize anymore!

If anything, there’s hope that a kid who’s seen Guardians of the Galaxy would recognize this particular model of cassette player. Featured in the movie as the device that Star Lord operated to play his legendary mixtapes, the Sony Walkman TPS-L2 achieved something remarkable: it made cassette technology cool again for people who’d never touched magnetic tape. Enter Headlight Bricks, a creator who channeled that same Marvel-inspired obsession into a breathtaking LEGO Ideas project. Their 520-piece homage recreates every iconic element from the transparent cassette window to the individually adjustable volume controls, all wrapped in that unmistakable Sony blue. Three buildable cassette tapes let you craft your own mini mixtapes, while the poseable orange headphones complete the authentic 1979 experience.

Designer: Headlight Bricks

Each cassette measures maybe an inch and a half across but manages to pack in customizable label areas where you can swap colored tiles to create different “album art.” One of them references Awesome Mix Vol. 1 from Guardians, probably the one piece of pop culture that did more for cassettes than anything else in the past decade. The cassettes made from LEGO don’t look entirely like you’d expect. They’re missing the gears on the middle that are characteristic of a cassette tape. The reason is simple – making that out of LEGO is a headache, and it does little to add to the original build, which is the player itself. The cassette does its role of fitting into the player, and Headlight Bricks did detail spindles on the inside to complete the illusion. If you want impressive detailing, however, look at that headphone strap, which uses a LEGO Technic part to enable flexibility and movement.

That specific shade of blue paired with light gray side panels captures exactly what Sony’s industrial designers were going for in 1979. They weren’t chasing premium materials or trying to make the TPS-L2 look like jewelry you wore on your belt. It had this utilitarian confidence that said “I do one thing, I do it perfectly, and I don’t apologize for looking like a piece of equipment.” The LEGO version gets that completely right by keeping the form clean and the details purposeful. Besides, everything is perfectly to 1:1 scale, which means this MOC (My Own Creation) accurately captures every single aspect of the Walkman TPS-L2… including even functional buttons.

Volume buttons move independently, which means Headlight Bricks had to engineer two separate mechanical systems in a space probably no bigger than a couple of studs wide. The cassette compartment opens with a pressable eject button, and the spindles inside actually rotate when you turn them. Most builders would’ve faked it with printed tiles or stickers, called it close enough, and collected their upvotes. Instead, this thing functions like you could actually thread magnetic tape through it if you were small enough and patient enough.

Right now the project has 4,735 supporters on LEGO Ideas with 445 days left to hit 10,000 votes. Ideas works on a threshold system where fan designs need 10K supporters to get reviewed by LEGO’s actual product team. Getting reviewed doesn’t guarantee production, but it gets your build in front of the people making those calls. They evaluate marketability, licensing complexity, manufacturing feasibility, whether it fits the brand… which this one surely does, with its iconic, retro-throwback fun design. Whether Sony agrees to comply is an entirely separate issue.

You want to see this become a real product you can order? Go to the LEGO Ideas Website and hit the Support Idea button!. You need a free LEGO account to vote, takes maybe thirty seconds to set up if you don’t have one already. Hit the support button, leave a comment if you feel like it, and you’re done. At 4,738 supporters (me included), this build is inching towards the 10,000 vote mark needed to put this build into the ‘Review’ phase. LEGO managed to produce a working typewriter you can buy. A Walkman with rotating cassette mechanisms and pressable buttons feels like the obvious next move in that category.

The post Stunning LEGO Sony Walkman Replica Features a Dockable Cassettes and Wearable Headphones first appeared on Yanko Design.