Samsung Gear IconX Review: Great hits, Greater misses

With the launch of Apple's AirPods, arch-rival Samsung's IconX was inevitable. For long these techno giants have been locking horns and this legendary rivalry is not biting the dust anytime soon.

Priced considerably higher than Apple's offering, Samsung's Gear IconX offers much more than wirefree auditioning. There is a fitness tracker with heart rate monitor. In a way this is a Jogger's delight. From the music keeping him entertained to the health tracker keeping him informed, its a nifty trick. No doubt Samsung is moving in the right direction but is its latest offering the right way? Lets find out

The minimalstic IconX comes packed in a rather simplistic rechargeable case which is much smaller than a specs case and very convenient to carry around. The built in LED indicates the charging status and remaining juice. The earbud does away with physical buttons for a (hit & miss) touch control while connecting a new device is fairly straight forward. These buds fit perfectly with the help of bundled small, medium and large ear tips and fins. It makes the handsfree calling quite comfertable.

When it comes to sound, IconX is mightier than its size. Its surprisingly loud despite crippled by a subpar audio codec. It offers decent dynamic range topped by a punchy bass. However there is the usual bluetooth evil of latency specially while watching videos. These delays and occasional cutoffs do hamper your aural experience.

Though 4 Gb of onboard storage is sufficient enough to cover all your music moods. With this trick Samsung forays into the future of gadgets independent of smartphones. This is specially a value addition for the built in fitness tracker. Although it doesn't offer all the features of an attached smartphone, it does free you from carrying a smartphone while you jog and slog.

Unfortunately most of IconX's good work is failed by its dismal battery that dies much before its claimed 3.4 to 3.8 hours of continuous on-board music and between 1.5 and 1.6 hours when streaming from phone.

IconX ticks many rights but the few it misses matters the most. Iconic, its not yet.