The goods: What we like about the Huawei FreeBuds
Huawei has taken a big swing with its FreeBuds, incorporating a similar design to the Apple Airpods, an IPX4 water-resistant rating, voice assistant controls, some very decent noise-cancelling tech in the microphone and, most importantly, an attractive sub-$200 price tag. FreeBuds Lites are bundled with select Huawei smartphones, which is appropriate because “oh cool, free headphones” is about the strongest reaction they inspire.
The charging case is discrete
Let’s go back to the beginning. The thing that first drew me to the FreeBuds was the pill-shaped charging case. It’s a compact case that takes up minimal space in any pocket. If you had to, you could easily sneak these past prison security. Huawei claims you can get 12 hours total playtime from the charging case (and 3 hours of playtime each charge). That’s close to what I’ve been getting day-to-day. I usually go about 2 days without charging the case, which is fine but it’s got nothing on the competition. A smaller battery is the price you will pay for a more discrete charging case and a great price. On the upside, it only takes about an hour to completely recharge the case. On the downside, the charging case connects with micro-USB, even though most Huawei made phones use USB C cables. Which means you need two power plugs and two free spots on your favourite power boord. Seriously, what are we doing here Huawei? It’s 2019 for cryin’ out loud.
The FreeBuds are incredibly comfortable in-ear headphones
Besides the Huawei branding, you could easily mistake the Huawei FreeBuds for the Apple Airpods if it weren’t for the in-ear plugs. Apple Airpods (and its wired Earpods) can hardly be considered in-ear headphones. They sit on the edge of the ear canal. In-ear headphones use a silicon or foam plug that’s inserted further into the ear canal, blocking out more ambient noise. The Huawei FreeBuds are in-ear and sit quite deep in the canal, similar to, but even more so, compared to the Sony WF-1000XM3 Earbuds. I’ve always favoured in-ear plugs over earbuds but the Huawei FreeBuds are particularly comfortable. The FreeBuds are light enough (5.5g per earbud) that they don’t feel too intrusive but the plug is deep enough to make them feel secure. Unlike the WF-1000XM3s I recently reviewed, I never managed to lose a Freebud while running or riding.
The FreeBuds are exercise-friendly