Tag Archives: Urbanista

Urbanista reveals second generation headphones and earbuds that solar charge for infinite playtime

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When venturing out to buy wireless headphones or earbuds, the primary consideration is their battery backup. This one feature holds high merit for those who travel a lot. A pair of cans or buds that can be free from this constraint, or at best, have limitless battery power at their disposal is the way to go and solar-powered function makes this possible.

Urbanista hooked on to this idea with their impressive Los Angeles headphones and the Phoenix TWS earbuds. Then adidas followed suit with their solar-powered RPT-02 SOL headphones. For audio lovers who want to stay away from the hassle of charging their headphones or earbuds time and again, these products make complete sense.

Designer: Urbanista

Riding on the success of the over-ear headphones and the Phoenix earbuds, the Stockholm-based company has announced the second generation of both these audio products. Just for the record, both of them are currently in development and expected to launch sometime in mid-2024. The good news is, they are going to cost slightly less than the first-generation versions. Los Angeles headphones will carry a price tag of $179 (vs $199 for the original version) and $129 for the Phoenix earbuds compared to the $149 of the earlier version. For those who are eager to have a first look, the audio accessories by Urbanista will be demonstrated at CES 2024.

Similar to the predecessors (the current versions on sale), they employ the latest version of Powerfoyle solar charging material to charge the batteries. They absorb natural sunlight as well as light from artificial sources indoors to charge the battery. The amount of charge will depend on the intensity and duration of exposure to light but it will be impressive, offering at least a week of non-stop listening to infinite music if you live in places that have a good share of sunlight all year round. In case they run out of juice, the conventional method of charging them via the USB-C ports is also there.

The Los Angeles headphones typically will give ample juice for four hours of listening daily on a 10-hour low-light charge with 50 days before another charge is needed. The second-generation Phoenix on the other hand will offer around 16 days of playtime with similar parameters.

They come with better-designed components for improved efficiency, so we can expect them to stay charged for longer. The design of both is more streamlined and the Active Noise Cancellation is now adaptive meaning it applies the ANC depending on the amount of noise in the ambient environment.

The post Urbanista reveals second generation headphones and earbuds that solar charge for infinite playtime first appeared on Yanko Design.

These TWS Earbuds have solar panels on their charging case and it’s honestly an incredible idea

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While we’re all living with the fear of an impending ‘port-less iPhone’, one company’s got a clever workaround to the charging woe. Meet the Urbanista Phoenix, a set of TWS Earbuds with solar panels built into their case. Sure, the Phoenix comes with a USB-C port to conventionally charge your earbuds, but it also ambiently charges every time you leave the case on a table with access to sunlight. It’s a clever, elegantly-executed solution that works without cables, wireless chargers, or even human intervention!

Don’t you hate it when you pop your AirPods into your ears only to get a notification that you forgot to charge them? Well, the Urbanista Phoenix seems to have an unusually sensible fix. Equipped with a Powerfoyle solar panel on the charging case, the Phoenix just keeps charging your TWS Earbuds whenever it has access to sunlight or any bright light. This isn’t the first time that Urbanista’s incorporated solar panels into its audio solution, though. Just last year, the company announced the Los Angeles, a pair of wireless headphones with a solar panel built into the headband. The Phoenix builds on that rather clever idea by introducing solar panels onto the charging case instead (because the TWS earbuds themselves are too small to put solar panels on). This effectively allows the earbuds to charge in their case without you needing to physically plug them in or place them on a wireless charging mat. It’s incredibly convenient, quite literally effortless, and seems like the kind of idea that other companies should rapidly adopt too instead of pushing us to buy chargers, dongles, and expensive phones with ‘reverse wireless charging’ capabilities.

Designer: Urbanista

The earbud themselves are just like your average TWS earbuds. They come with a familiar stemmed design that’s practically a design archetype now thanks to the AirPods, but they also sport silicone ear-tips for a better seal. They even have touch-sensitive controls built onto ths stems that let you control the Phoenix’s features, including being able to summon and talk to your phone’s voice assistant. Unlike the AirPods, however, the Phoenix also has built-in active noise canceling and is even equipped with noise-canceling microphones for crystal-clear audio conversations and calls. Other features include IPX4 water resistance so you can wear it while sweating it up during workouts, onboard sensors for in-ear detection, a companion app, and a battery capacity of 8 hours for the earbuds, and 32 additional hours with the charging case. Combine that with solar charging and it’ll probably be weeks or months before you even need to find a USB-C cable to charge the Phoenix.

The Phoenix’s game-changing feature still remains its solar charging ability. The only minor trade-off is that as a result, the Phoenix has a slightly large charging case to fit the panel, but the benefit absolutely outweighs the con. The result is a pair of TWS earbuds that, at least in theory, never need plugging in. As long as you can keep the charging case near a source of light, the Phoenix will run perpetually without requiring a charging cable or a charging mat. Moreover, and this is the biggest win so far, you don’t need to REMEMBER to charge the Phoenix. Something most scatterbrained people like me will really appreciate!

The Urbanista Phoenix comes out later in the year, priced at $149.

The post These TWS Earbuds have solar panels on their charging case and it’s honestly an incredible idea first appeared on Yanko Design.