After causing a stir last summer when they were first announced, Urbanista's potentially game-changing solar-powered Phoenix true wireless earbuds are finally available for purchase.
Originally unveiled in August, the first such buds can be powered via a Powerfoyle solar cell panel in the charging case.
The panel was developed in partnership with the Swedish company and solar energy specialist Exeger, and can be continuously charged by sunlight and ambient light.
The headphones themselves offer a similar design to the well-received Urbanista London headphones that launched in 2020.
They also share a similar feature set to its predecessor, with the Phoenix also offering hybrid active noise cancellation and noise-cancelling microphones to filter out ambient sounds allowing for a transparency mode similar to Apple's AirPods Pro 2 earbuds.
The Phoenix offers eight hours of battery life with the headphones alone and a total battery reserve of 32 hours when the case battery is included; both are good numbers compared to the best true wireless earbuds.
The release of the Phoenix buds marks the second time Ubanista has released a set of headphones that utilize solar technology, with its Urbanista Los Angeles over-ear boxes from late last year featuring Powerfoyle light source panels on its band for head.
Priced at €149 / £139 (around AU$250), the Phoenix can be purchased direct from Urbanista's website (opens in a new tab) as well as from select retailers.
(Image credit: Urbanista)
Analysis: Green features could add the ultimate in wireless convenience
Aiming to free listeners from power and audio cords, the Phoenix's (in theory) convenient self-charging form factor means we hope Urbanista's latest headphones aren't the last buds to use a XNUMX-inch solar panel. this way, assuming they say as expected (We'll bring a fix as soon as we can).
What's particularly encouraging about them, and something that will likely set them apart from future competitors, is that no corners seem to have been cut to accommodate the solar feature. There's noise cancellation and Bluetooth 5.2 on board and pretty much all the key features we've come to expect from midrange wireless buds.
That solar quality and impressive list of features won't matter unless they sound great, of course, but if their loyalty matches their durability credentials, we're sure they'll make our list of the best headphones. They're more expensive than many of Urbanista's other offerings, though, so they'll have to bring in game audio to satisfy us.
For more Urbanista-related goodness, check out our reviews of the Urbanista Miami and Urbanista Stockholm wireless headphones.
