It’s no longer enough to merely have a top-of-the-line smartphone — you’ve got to accessorize, too. After all, what’s a flagship handset without a tempered glass screen protector, or a Bluetooth-enabled pair of headphones that match your fannie pack? That’s where Zagg, creators of everything from iPhone cases and action cameras to battery packs and speakers, comes in. And last week at the IFA consumer electronic conference in Berlin, the lifestyle company announced a bevy of new companion devices designed to spice up mobile life.
The first is a brand-new line of Bluetooth headphones Zagg’s launching under its iFrogz brand of audio products. They come in four models which sport magnetic clips that secure easily to a breast pocket, jacket button, or belt loop. They’re “lightweight” and “comfortable,” designed to resist sweat and last up to 10 hours on a charge, and feature handy cord compartments for cable management. And they’re relatively affordable — the entire line is $40 or less.
Better still, every iFrogz wireless headphone model comes with a lifetime warranty called Earbuds Tip for Life. Zagg will replace earbuds lost, worn beyond repair, or damaged with “no questions asked.”
The selection’s a diverse one. The $30 Plugz pack 9mm drivers. The $30 “women-inspired” Charisma feature 6mm drivers and a “custom female fit.” The $35 Summit Wireless for sports and fitness features 8mm drivers and a “soft, secure-fit wing” that rests along the curve of your neck. And the $40 Impulse Wireless, Zagg’s top-of-the-line headphones, feature 11mm drivers “Reflective Acoustics,” an “internal chamber” the the company said delivers “tonal balance,” “even dispersion,” “natural clarity,” and a “rich, dynamic range.”
Zagg took the opportunity to introduce new designs to its Little Rockerz line of kid-fitted earphones — Ice Princess, Green Dragon, Teal Bow, and Red Robot! will join the selection of generously padded, colorful headphones in the coming months. U.S. pricing has yet to be announced.
Earbuds aren’t the only thing Zagg had on hand. Mophie, the phone accessory company with which Zagg merged in February, debuted a beefed-up line of portable batteries called powerstations. They’re new power packs that can rejuice devices via Qi wireless, USB Type-C, or Apple’s Lightning standard. They sport a sleek all-aluminum design, besides, and come in a variety of colors including space grey, rose gold, gold, black, pink, blue, and purple. There are three series, each with tiers of capacity: the powerstation series with 3,000mAh to 20,000mAh batteries; the powerstation plus series with 4,000mAh to 12,000mAh batteries; and the advanced series featuring the 10,000mAh charge force powerstation and powerstation USB-C.
Mophie powerstations are available now at prices ranging from $29.95 to $99.95
Finally, Zagg took the wraps off its its iteration of InvisibleShield products, tempered glass screen protectors that offer “advanced impact protection,” “scratch resistance,” and “reinforced edges” that minimize potential points of fracture. On the high end is the Glass+, a protector with multiple layers that’s designed to guard against “drops,” “scratches,” and even “smudges” without impacting touchscreen responsiveness or clarity. (That’s apparently thanks in part to Zagg’s Ion Matrix technology, a technology which not only protects the device’s screen but “polishes” and “eliminates” its imperfections, too.)
A step above the Glass+ is the Sapphire Defense InvisibleShield. It’s crafted from a proprietary combination of sapphire, glass, and traditional screen protection that Zagg called “virtually indestructible” — the company said it provides impact protection seven times better compared to an unprotected screen. It’s highly resistant to scratches, too, as you might expect, and features a self-healing surface that masks minor scratches.
The InvisibleShield Glass+ and Sapphire Defense InvisibleShield will be available later this September for $40 and $50, respectively.
