CES 2011 - Android Headphones for the Masses - The UpStream

CES 2011 - Android Headphones for the Masses

posted Thursday Jan 6, 2011 by Scott Ertz

CES 2011 - Android Headphones for the Masses

CES is always about new and interesting technology and this year is no exception. One piece of truly interesting tech I had the pleasure of experiencing today is the Admiral, a truly wireless all-powerful headset from NOX Audio.

The headset looks similar in style to any Logitech computer headset - that is until you get closer. Upon further inspection you will discover that the Admiral has a retractable microphone, bluetooth, WiFi and a 2.4" touchscreen LCD running Android.

Why is a headset running Android? Hit the break to find out.

Well, the simple answer is - simplicity. That might sound crazy that a wireless headset is simpler with touchscreens and Android, but it actually is. This device can connect to several devices, such as a phone, PS3, Xbox 360, entertainment center or any number of bluetooth-enabled devices, plus straight to the Internet to allow wireless, deviceless Pandora streaming, along with any other Android media app.

I had the opportunity to use their headset while paired with a bluetooth-enabled Blu-ray player and it is fully capable of simulating full 7.1 surround sound, which was demoed with a standard surround sound system setup program.

I also got to see how the Android interface has been implemented. They have scaled down the standard abilities of Android to allow easier navigation via the tiny screen. Impressively, it works very well for such a small screen. Much better than, say, some new tiny touchscreen MP3 players out there. In addition to the normal navigation, they have also added gestures, which seems to be a merge between old PalmOS handwriting recognition and new webOS gestures. Draw a ^ on the screen to turn up the volume, draw a v to turn it down, swipe across to change tracks or tap to play/pause.

All-in-all the product is a really well executed and thought-out. We can expect to see these headphones on the market later this year for an undetermined price point.

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