The number one rule for technology in 2015: if you wear it, it will track you.
Parrot's Zik Sport is the first in-ear headphone in the company's luxury headset lineup. Designed by Philippe Starck with running in mind, the Bluetooth 4.0 headset weighs just 70g — less than a third of the futuristic Zik 2.0. The prototype we tried was still very early, with none of the luster seen in its press photo, but still held to my head as I ran in place and hopped around a small conference room.
The Zik Sport will have its own companion app for tablets and smartphones, and it's here that you'll see just how much the device is tracking: heart rate, pace, vertical oscillation (e.g. how much your head bobs up and down), and which will let you know if you favor one foot over another. Similar to Zik 2.0, the new Sport has adaptive noise cancellation that you can adjust through the app. The two extremes are full cancellation (for blocking the world around you) and "street mode," which lets you hear the nature and / or moving cars around you while you jog.
It tracks heart rate, pace, vertical oscillation, and whether you favor one foot over another
The Parrot rep we talked to said the audio quality in Zik Sport will match that of its over-the-ear predecessor, but I won't pretend I can assess a prototype headset in a noisy conference room. The new Zik Sport will be out late this year. No word on price, but the Zik brand so far has only made luxury-priced audio equipment. I imagine the Zik Sport won't be any different.
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