Beats Solo Pro lacking comfort
THE two things I was looking for using the Beats Solo Pro were performance and comfort.
It excels in one and not the other.
The latest entry from Beats has only improved in performance, with a noise-cancelling feature that removes background noise at the touch of a button.
Tested against the harsh winds of the beach and blaring music at the gym, these headphones cancel the background noise and surround you in an audio bubble.
The thumping bass previous versions were renowned for has been toned down to provide a more balanced, high-quality sound.
Other impressive features include powering off by simply folding it and the 10-minute charge to three-hour playtime ratio.
These features are fantastic; the only issue is how it feels.
The sturdy arch and smooth extensions are undermined by the pressing against the top of your head and against your ears.
After listening for over an hour, a small pinch emerges at the top of your head before being reminded about your squished ears.
The soft, moisture-resistant ear pieces feel clean at first, but in the sun or during a workout your ears feel sticky.
If you have a smaller head it may be fine, but whether it is worth the $400 price tag will depend on how well it fits you in the end.
James Allen
A WORRYING location tracking feature on Apple’s latest flagship iPhone has users concerned about their privacy, but the company says it doesn’t see a problem.
Cyber security researcher Brian Krebs revealed the tracking issue on his website KrebsOnSecurity, as well as the response he received after alerting Apple last month.
According to Mr Krebs, the new iPhone 11 Pro intermittently tracks your location and sends the data to Apple, even if you have your location services turned off.
Mr Krebs said the company told him it was designed to do just that but he added it didn’t match Apple’s privacy policy.
“Location services allows
LOCATION: Does the iPhone 11 Pro have too much tracking?
Apple and third-party apps and websites to gather and use information based on the current location of your iPhone,” the location services privacy policy reads.
“If location services is on, your iPhone will periodically send the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hot spots and cell towers (where supported by a device) in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple to be used for augmenting this crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hot spots and cell tower locations.”
Mr Krebs said the company didn’t see any problems with it.
“We do not see any actual security implications,” an Apple engineer wrote to Mr Krebs.
Mr Krebs said he tried to replicate the tracking on an iPhone 8 but was unable to, pointing to a possible issue with the iPhone 11 Pro devices.
Jack Gramenz