Bluetooth jackets: gnarly
Wearable technology does not necessarily mean taping ZX Spectrum innards to your parka. In the case of Burton’s Audex jacket – a collaboration with Mo
Wearable technology does not necessarily mean taping ZX Spectrum innards to your parka. In the case of Burton’s Audex jacket – a collaboration with Motorola – it’s about taking the things you’d have with you on your daily stroll and giving you easy access to them on the slopes. And by jove, it works.
The Audex range integrates mobile phone and music player via the gift of a nifty little left arm-mounted control panel with Bluetooth connectivity. Your iPod sits in a padded pocket, and a rechargeable battery feeds a lapel microphone and a couple of removable speakers at the base of the hood. Pair a Bluetooth mobile with the system and you can make, take and break handsfree calls and control your music without recourse to the gadgets. This is particularly handy when you’re hurtling down the mountain with big, thick gloves on.
If you’re one of those crazies who considers themselves somehow above the iPod, you can still enjoy slope music via any Bluetooth headphone profile-equipped mobile (Moto’s V3x, say). And if you’re an iPod devotee, you’ll be pleased to hear the Audex’s rechargeable battery supplements that of your favourite MP3 player.
After a brief stint in the Swiss mountains, Stuff can exclusively reveal that soundtracking your board riding is a very good thing. It does make you go faster, look cooler and pull more radical tricks. Of course, as the Audex range is designed by Burton it’s more than up to handling the rigours of the terrible accidents you’ll undoubtedly have. And when you do, help is only a hands-free emergency call away.
Pop to www.audextech.com to check out the range – jacket prices start at £400.
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Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
