Available from a number of retailers, you can pick up a pair of Beats Flex wireless earbuds for as little as $39 in the US, £50 in the UK and AU$69 in Australia. Take a look at the widgets for the best deals on them across the web right now. The Beats Flex last up to 12 hours off a charge but, in our test Android at least, do not give you a battery level indication if you don’t use an iPhone.
Unfortunately, all these features are absent in Flex wireless earbuds. Flex wireless earbuds don’t come up with a carrying case or pouch. But you can fold and then keep them in your pocket without any worries, as they are flexible enough. Yet, they lack IP ratings for dust and water resistance. It is disappointing that the earbuds seem like they are prone to ripping. Right now, I am describing these two features of flex wireless headphones below.
Visually, the main difference is the company moved the on-board controls from the cable that attaches to the left bud down to the thin pod on the end of the neckband. That band that rests on your collar is where the Flex gets its name. Beats says this “Flex-Form” cable is made of nitinol, or nickel titanium.
It is inserted in the ear canal itself and blocks out a lot of environmental noise. It has stronger bass tones and is unlikely to fall out of the ear. Water-resistant devices can resist the penetration of water, beats studio3 such as powerful water jets, but not being submerged into water. These earbuds come with wingtips that can be attached for a more secure fit. Wingtips come in handy for sports and other physical activities.
Beats assured me that the Flex earbuds have passed the company’s usual set of reliability tests. Design is definitely a huge positive as these wireless earphones feature a loop which goes around the back of your head that means you can’t drop or misplace a ‘bud when you pop it out of your ear. Instead, they simply dangle around your neck on the thin cord.
Instead of placing the microphone and controls in an inline pod on the left earbud’s wire, these are now contained in the left housing. 3Testing conducted by Apple in August 2020 using preproduction Beats Flex and software paired with iPhone 11 Pro Max units and prerelease software. Another cool feature is Audio Sharing which lets you share what you’re listening to with other Beats headphones or Apple AirPods. By bringing them near your Apple device, you’ll just need to tap the pop up to activate it, and each of you will be able to control your own volume. But they are neckband buds, which means there’s a band that sits on your neck and cables to the earbuds, not the truly wireless design that’s become popular in the past few years.
The inside of the left pod has the mic and a multi-function playback and voice assistant button. Nick Pino is the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar and covers TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He’s written for TechRadar, GamesRadar, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he’s not using beats solo pro wireless if anyone wants it. Surprisingly, though, we didn’t find any of that to be a deal-breaker. The W1 Chip is less advanced than the H1 but it still gets the job done, and the semi-wireless form factor is manageable if a little unwieldy. Still, the overall performance the Beats Flex gives you should warrant a higher price, so consider these buds an uber-generous offer from the trailblazing audio brand.
If you’re using something else, then the pairing process is simple. All you need to do is hold down the power button, and wait for the headset to enter pairing mode. From there just look through beats studio3 Bluetooth settings in your source device, and select the Beats Flex. No matter what operating systems run your life, you won’t have any issues with playback or connection stability.