Huawei FreeBuds 3 – Deviate from the class
True wireless earbuds, trend-led by Apple, has brought us something which was never imagined. The brands that had no distant history in the field of audio are now manufacturing or say following the footprints of Apple by developing a new design for truly wireless earbuds. These brands are not the new ones but are popular for other things; these brands include Amazon, Microsoft, and some other brands too. The sector still remains dominated by Apple via the latest Apple AirPods Pro. The Huawei in order to respond and makes it presence apparent to the mass recently launched Huawei FreeBuds 3 with advanced Bluetooth technology and in great outer-body design.
Huawei FreeBuds 3: Design and first impression
Placing Huawei FreeBuds 3 and Apple AirPods 2 side by side and seeing it from far will make the task of identifying difficult for the viewer. The Huawei did an egregious job by bluntly copying the design from Apple, although not just Huawei but many other brands too copied the design from Apple Airpods. Coming back towards the Huawei FreeBuds 3 design, the Huawei FreeBuds offers open fit, unlike Apple Airpods Pro. The Freebuds 3 just sit near to the hearing pathway but does not closely fit the opening like normal silicon tipped earbuds.
As these buds do not provide a close fit, hence are not advisable to be heard during vigorous physical exercise. For some, it may offer perfect fit but, to many, it may not. The openings on the side seem larger than those on the Apple Airpods.
Specifications: Huawei FreeBuds 3
The thing that produces sound in the Huawei FreeBuds 3 is the 14.2 mm dynamic driver. And operating the driver and other parts is the Kirin A1 chipset which houses the world’s first combo of BT/BLE – dual-mode Bluetooth 5.1 technology. The audio processor on these earbuds is clocked at 356 MHz. The synchronization of these earbuds is claimed to be far better than the rivals because of such technology.
The earbuds pack 30 mAh charge per earbud and the charging case can cover the charge of 410 mAh. The earbuds take 1-hr to get fully charged and the charging case itself requires 1-hr for getting fully charged from scratch. The Charging case can be charged through the USB type-c port (5V/1.2A ~ 6W) or through wireless charging (2W).
The earbuds offer noise cancellation technology and on complete charge offers playback of 4 hr while the fully charged case can offer a backup for 20 hrs of playback.
FreeBuds 3 is IPX4 certified.
Review: The FreeBuds 3 pairs-up easily with any device without any glitches and the process itself is hassle-free. The earbuds 3 lacks a physical button but comes with gesture sensors that can take inputs like double taps. The expert review suggests that the Freebuds 3 captures taps accurately most of the time but does not guarantees for all the time. With double taps on the left bud user can toggle active-noise cancellation and that on the right bud can switch tracks. The functionality of the double-tap gesture can be altered through the AI –life app on the paired smartphone. The app also provides the tool to adjust the magnitude of the active noise cancellation.
Coming toward the audio capabilities, the FreeBuds 3 are good at mid-frequencies but do not offer deep bass which to some may stand as a drawback. The amount of bass that these earbuds produce can be sufficient to most. The active noise cancellation is not up to the mark as claimed by the brand but however to some extent it does the task of canceling out noise.
Price and launch
The expected price of Huawei FreeBuds 3 in India is Rs.14,000/- and is currently available in China and Japan. The launch in India is expected to be around December 2019.
