RPT-02 SOL, The First Solar-Powered Headphones By Addidas

Addidas is about to release its first solar-powered headphones that have infinite hours of playback time, theoretically. Continuation of their previous RPT-01 sports headphones, the new RPT-02 is at a whole new level of excellence and merit. RPT-02 can be charged on sunlight and even artificial light, so no expense or frustration of charging is associated with it.

RPT-02 gives a playback time of 80 hours even in the dark or artificial light, which does not match with any headphones ever made. And even after 80 hours of use, you don’t have to plug in any cables and leave them there for any number of hours, you just need to take them to your roof for a bit and they are good to go.

Addidas, however, claim that it is impossible for anyone to completely finish the battery of the RPT-02 as they can charge themselves even in artificial light and you don’t even need to turn them off in order to charge them. If you are taking a walk down the street or you are in your gym where there is a brighter light, they will start charging themselves even when you are listening to the music.

Technology

The Powerfoyle technology is used in the RPT-02 headphones. This technology is made by the Sweden green-energy products manufacturing company Exeger. Exeger makes nano-cells that can turn natural or artificial light into electricity. Last year, they collaborated with another audio product manufacturing company, Urbanista, and made wireless, solar-powered headphones, but due to poor marketing and a huge price tag, the product didn’t go well. But this new product, RPT-02 have more potential for success as the name combined with Exeger, Adidas, knows what they are doing. During the announcement ceremony of the headphones, the CEO of Exeger, GIOVANNI FILI said;

“At Exeger, we’re passionate about developing technologies that benefit both users and the planet.” He continued, “We’re so excited to partner with Adidas Headphones and see our Powerfoyle technology come to life through consumer electronics that will be used by people in their everyday lives. This partnership marks yet another step towards bringing Powerfoyle to the masses through sustainable audio products.”

Features

As it is the first solar-powered headphones released from Addidas, there were some of the elements that are found in modern headphones that are missing from RPT-02. The headphones don’t have an active noise cancellation feature in it as well as the additional audio codecs are also not available.
Although there are some good features too, like a good microphone, a set of buttons to change the track or volume, and the fact that it is entirely wireless is also a decent feature to get. The headphones are powered with the IPX4 water protection system, which does make the headphones waterproof by any means, but it can protect your headphones from gym sweat and some sprinkles of water if you are riding a boat or jet ski.

A light sensor indicator is also given on the headphones to detect the maximum amount of light in a given area for charging. If there is something wrong with the nano-cells and they fail to charge headphones, a backup of C-port is also available for charging.

Price and Release

The price of the RPT-02 will be $229( Approx PKR.50,000) and it will be available for online buying on the 23rd of August. As of now, it is unknown when it will come to the retail stores and markets, and if the product does well on the online store, the retail supply could be more delayed.