As previously rumored, Apple's Beats brand officially unveiled its first sports earphones that can measure heart rate, Powerbeats Pro 2, and improved its sound quality and battery life, and added active noise reduction function.
The appearance of the Powerbeats Pro 2 earphones is similar to the design of the previous generation, but the processor has been upgraded to the H2 chip. It also adds active noise reduction function and supports transparent listening mode, so that users can still hear external sounds while wearing them. In addition, it also corresponds to the IPX4 level of sweat corrosion resistance, and the battery life of single-sided earphones for continuous music playback is increased to 10 hours. With the charging box, the overall battery life can be increased to 45 hours. The size of the charging box is 33% smaller than the previous version.
Sound quality is optimized through a customized acoustic architecture, while dynamically balancing the overall frequency curve to fully reproduce the rich characteristics of the music. Like Apple's AirPods, Powerbeats Pro 2 detects the fit and tightness of the earphones when worn, adaptively adjusting the audio to provide the most appropriate sound quality. They also support personalized spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, allowing for a richer surround sound experience.
The biggest feature of this time is the addition of sports heart rate measurement function. It also claims to have recruited 1000 athletes to conduct more than 1500 hours of testing to make the earphones fit more in line with wearing needs. The ear hook design adopts an ultra-lightweight nickel-titanium alloy structure to maintain wearing stability through shape memory and higher flexibility. It also claims to reduce the weight by about 20%.
The heart rate measurement function uses a green LED light that pulses more than 100 times per second to measure blood flow by measuring the reflected light, and then calculates the current heart rate. The same technology is also used in the Apple Watch, and it has been shrunk to 1/16 so that it can be placed in headphones. The heart rate measurement function can be enabled through the headphone settings on the iOS device, or used through the Beats App on the Android platform. It can even be connected to specific fitness equipment via Bluetooth. The recorded data can also be used in sports-related apps such as "Nike Run Club", "Open", and "Runna".
Compared to the launch in April 2019Powerbeats ProThe updated Powerbeats Pro 2 still maintains the same suggested retail price of US$249.99. The price in the Taiwan market has increased slightly to NT$8790 due to factors such as exchange rates. It is available in four colors: Extreme Black, Quicksand, Dynamic Purple and Electric Orange.
