Samsung Gear IconX: Battery life

As already hinted at, battery life is where the IconX really fall down. We get that wireless earbud technology is in its infancy, and battery life is sure to get better, but it really stinks at the moment. Samsung estimates 1.5 hours of power for a workout with your phone, and we found that's about the maximum we ever get with these, and sometimes it was a bit less when there was a lot of stop-starting. We also found that the "primary" earbud drained faster than the other.

Without the handset, you'll go a greater distance, and while the fact the case can give them another full charge is a nice feature, it's not much use if they battery goes flat halfway through your run. If you're only using them for music, however, you can push the use time up by another hour or so. That's still poor compared to most over-ear cans, but then we wouldn't recommend you buy these for the sole purpose of listening to music with.