A pair of wireless headphones are good to have in your possession but there’s one irk I wish goes away. The need to charge them again and again, especially if one is glued to music more than anything else. More so when you are an outdoorsy person and a passionate music listener.
Adidas wants to get over this jam with their newly announced solar-powered wireless headphones. Better yet, just in time to give the Urbanista Los Angeles self-charging wireless headphones a good run for their money. The reason, these are more suited for an active lifestyle since the Los Angeles ones are a tad bulky.
Designer: Adidas
The lifestyle brand has surprised us all with innovative performance gear all these years, and now these solar-powered headphones are perfectly in line with the visions of the present and near future. Dubbed the Adidas RPT-02 SOL, these pair of over-the-ear cans juice up with natural light or even artificial light. So, they’ll not need to recharge any time soon. These headphones are a follow-up to the RPT-01(not solar-powered) and promise almost double the playback time at around 80 hours. Not to forget that the RPT-02 SOL are solar powered, and the battery keeps topping up as long as you are exposed to good lighting conditions.
Another merit of these IPX4-rated headphones is their build – crafted out of recycled plastic and nylon. Now coming onto the solar charging capabilities Adidas has left nothing to chance. They’ve used a highly flexible light-cell material by Powerfoyle (a Swedish solar tech company) that brings to the fore superior energy capture and charging capabilities even in artificial light. This solar cell material is useful for a wide line of applications thanks to its ability to screen print onto plastic.
There are other underdog companies in the market offering solar-powered headphones but practically speaking they are not as good as Adidas or Urbanista offering. Adidas, however, takes the lead ahead with the advanced Powerfoyle technology and will turn out to be a very good option for Generation-Z.
RPT-02 SOL comes with a light indicator to keep the user informed about the strongest light conditions for maximum charge. The companion app tells about the charge levels and current battery status along with other familiar options for toggling sound output and connectivity. Just in case you have been in the dark trenches and the battery depletes, it can be charged via a USB-C port.
These cool pair of headphones are priced at $229 and will be up for grabs from August 23. Can I wait till then? I’m not sure!
