Enhance your run with mobile functionality
At CES 2015 today, Parrot introduced their latest pair of wireless sport headphones — the Parrot Zik Sport. These are not your normal bluetooth headphones, these come packed with all types of sensors and electronics to help make your run even better and more enjoyable.
Parrot built the Zik Sport to fit comfortably so that the user could go running without worrying about the headset falling off. The Sport is constructed on a metal band with temple sensors on either side and earpieces on the ends. Built into the earpieces are intra-auricular biometric sensors that measure the user's heart rate. With the use of a companion application, the user will be able to analyze their heart rate, ground contact time, and cadence and vertical oscillation. The companion application will be available for both phones and tablets so that information can be communicated between the headphones and your gadgets — even though running with a tablet seems as crazy as taking pictures with one.
Of course all of the fitness technology is great but the main point to buying headphones is for listening to music — so how do they sound? We were not able to try the Zik Sport on but Parrot says that there is 32bits DSP sound with adaptive noise cancellation. Additionally, so that you can hear noise around you if you are running or exercising outside, there is a "Street mode" that allows external noise in so that you are not completely blocking all surrounding sound out.
With Bluetooth 4.0 the headset should work with any device as a simple bluetooth headset for listening to music but it will depend on Parrot which devices it develops the companion app for so that you have the full functionality of the headphones. The Parrot Zik Sport will go on sale later in 2015 but a price and an exact date have not yet been announced.
