Earbud feature that will change your life

These earbuds have a feature that is an absolute game-changer – and could change the way we use all tech in the future.

Urbanista’s Phoenix Solar Powered Earbuds will change the way you see technology. Picture: Elly Awesome

REVIEW

How would you like to do away with charging cables? Or do away with charging your tech altogether? I say, “stick it where the sun does shine” because I just got a pair of solar-powered earbuds.

It’s time to meet Urbanista’s Phoenix Solar Powered Earbuds because they will change the way you see technology. Take a moment to think about the plausibility of infinite battery life, powered by our strong Aussie sun. Well, I’ve been basking in this luxury over the past week, while testing out this new audio product.

Phoenix Solar Powered Earbuds because they will change the way you see technology. Picture: Elly Awesome

Unboxing and design

The Phoenix Solar Earbuds are boxed with a bunch of accessories. You get the earbuds in their case, a small wrist strap, two pairs of additional eartips (small and large) and a USB-A to USB-C charging cable.

The earbuds themselves come with medium eartips already installed, and sit within their rather large charging case. In fact, it’s a palm-sized charging case because it houses a small Powerfoyle solar cell, which is able to charge the earbuds whenever it’s exposed to light. And I’m not just talking sunlight either. Yep – even indoor room lighting will charge up the buds.

The solar earbuds are boxed with a bunch of accessories. Picture: Elly Awesome

Personally, I’d usually avoid purchasing bluetooth earbuds with a large case, however, this one is surprisingly lightweight and still manages to fit in my (small) pockets so I’ve made an exception.

Features

Immediately I was impressed with the Phoenix earbuds as they are easy to pair with a device straight out of the box. All you need to do is open the lid of their case, and their battery indicator LED will flash, meaning it’s in pairing mode, and then it becomes discoverable on your device’s Bluetooth pairing list.

Conveniently, once they’re connected, the Phoenix earbuds will automatically reconnect to the device they last paired with every time they’re powered on.

Included in the box are additional eartips, small and large. Picture: Elly Awesome

Additionally, they have a multipoint connection, which means you can be connected to two different bluetooth devices simultaneously, such as your phone and laptop.

This means you don’t have to disconnect from one device to switch to get audio playback from another connected device.

And this process was fluid when I used them to watch YouTube videos on my laptop, closed it, and then switched to my iPhone.

Noise cancellation and audio quality

The solar-powered buds say that they have hybrid active noise cancellation but I found it difficult to notice how this performed. However, they definitely have passive noise cancellation by design, as they work like earplugs when you put them into your ears. I didn’t find a transparency mode, and if that’s missing it’s unfortunate, but the big plus is their excellent sound quality.

Whenever I try new earbuds I always compare them to Apple’s AirPods Pro Gen 2. These are my current favourite earbuds as they have excellent audio quality, and features all round.

Usually, if the sound quality of any buds I test don’t stack up well, they won’t last two minutes in my ears. However, the Urbanista Phoenix really surprised me.

This palm-sized charging case houses a small Powerfoyle solar cell. Picture: Elly Awesome

Although they’re no AirPods Pro Gen 2, there wasn’t a jarring difference with playback. The audio quality is really good, and they offered a balanced and nuanced high quality reproduction of my favourite tunes.

Additionally, I realised later that the solar buds have a dedicated app called The Urbanista Audio App. I’d definitely recommend downloading it for the built-in custom equaliser in case you want to tweak your audio playback.

Battery life

The buds boast an impressive eight-hour battery life on their own and another 34 hours of battery in reserve in the case. And you can even track the amount of juice they’re holding in the Urbanista Audio App, in real-time. This is really fun when you set the earbuds down in their case in a really sunny spot and watch your battery life increase.

Are they worth it?

I’ve been blown away by owning solar buds that charge whenever their case is exposed to light, indoors or outdoors. And it’s great to see more products that align with the growing trend towards sustainable living.

I can’t speak to Urbanista’s other products, and I know their solar headphones have had mixed reviews but when it comes to these Phoenix Earbuds I am really impressed. I haven’t needed to charge them using electricity yet and I don’t think I’ll have to for a long time coming.

If you’re interested in picking up a pair they’re stocked locally at JB HI-FI for $229.

Elly Awesome is an Aussie tech and lifestyle vlogger | @ellyawesometech | YouTube