Beats Flex are a good pair of headphones and a decent choice if you’re picking up an iPhone 12 and don’t want to spend more on AirPods. The smarts that come from the W1 chip are great to have at beats flex review this price, and the sound quality is ok, if a bit flat. Beats Flex is a good pair of headphones and a decent choice if you’re picking up an iPhone 12 and don’t want to spend more on AirPods.
The new Beats Flex rock out of the gate at just £49, a significantly lower entry point and makes them a really affordable set of wireless earphones. I half wondered if Apple mistakenly underpriced these when I saw the price, or perhaps had compromised them to get a lower price, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that it isn’t the case. I’ve yet to see another pair of earphones at the price point that offers such a balance of features and respectable audio. I’ve been using the Flex for close to a week now for a couple of hours each day, listening to jams while I work out and podcasts while on long walks or watering the lawn. I just hit the 20% mark, which mean the Flex can easily last a week on a charge.
The left side of the neck band has most of the controls, plus the USB-C port for charging and the microphone for calls. There’s a volume rocker and a multi-function button, which you press once for pause/play, twice and three times to skip track or press and hold for the voice assistant. As our Beats Flex review explains, inconsistent audio performance theatens to put a downer on things, though at this price it would be foolish to look past altogether. The Beats Flex look very similar to the Beats X, which have now been discontinued. As with the Beats X, you can magnetically attach them together — and this time, your music will automatically pause whenever you do so. Four sizes of ear tips come in the box, and while the Flex fit me well, I did notice that their passive noise isolation leaves something to be desired.
Without the H1 chip, you also won’t get hands-free “Hey Siri” support, so you’ll have to press the voice assistant button on the left-side neckband housing in order to access Siri. With nearly identical neckband housings on each side, it takes a little bit of practice to remember which functions are located where, but once you learn that it’s easy to control things by feel. Unlike AirPods Pro, Beats Flex don’t have active noise cancellation, but I still found they did a pretty good job shutting out background noise and letting me focus on what I was listening to. There’s some added thump to the drum loop, and the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with power and depth—these earphones will not disappoint lovers of boosted bass. The vocals are delivered cleanly and clearly, though some sibilance is added to the mix.
They’re mostly made of silicone and plastic, which makes them very flexible. They also feel durable enough to survive a couple of accidental drops. However, the ear tips seem like they could easily rip, and they don’t have an IP rating for dust and water resistance. Thanks to their flexible design, you can easily fold beats studio3 them up to fit into most pockets or bags. Since they have a neck cable design, you can also wear them around your neck when you’re on the move. They have a very comfortable fit and should stay in place during workouts, although, unlike some sports-oriented headphones, they don’t have stability fins or ear hooks.
Read on to find out more about the Beats Flex budget wireless earbuds. The left-side housing includes a pair of buttons, but they’re easy to distinguish between by feel. Along the edge is an elongated volume rocker, while a raised, round button on the face of the housing offers playback control.
Here’s our thoughts on whether the Beats Flex are worth your money. The Apple W1 headphone chip seamlessly integrates Beats Flex into your world of Apple products. If you have an beats flex review Android phone or tablet, you can do it in two different ways. First, you can simply turn on your Bluetooth and then press and hold the power button on the Flex for 1 second.
Battery life is important for wireless headphones, and doubly so for banded headphones like these that don’t come with a charging case. Apple claims on its website that you get up to 12 hours of listening time, and our own testing mostly matches up with those claims. We got a little less than that on average, but we’re also usually listening to music at full volume because we hate our eardrums.
Apple’s easy-pairing feature gets you instantly connected to any iPhone or iPad linked to your iCloud account. It’s a shame, because while the Beats Flex in-ears still offer a foot-tapping sound and an agile, taut bassline, there’s an extra ounce rolling off through the top end. They’ve been tuned as earbuds you can wear around your neck throughout the day and pop in your ears as needed, and they’re perfectly good for casual listening.