amazon HUAWEI FREEBUDS 3 reviews
The design is both familiar and strange, with clear voice calling quality
At a glance, Huawei FreeBuds 3 looks like “one-siblings” with Apple AirPods because of the “stick” design, when worn on it is like a pair of “earrings” with momentum. Not to mention the legendary ear housing from the EarPods era. It is hard to deny that Huawei has learned from Apple’s highly successful earbud design, but if you look closely, it can be seen that the Chinese technology company has made adjustments and not only merely “copy paste”.
The first thing to notice is the color. Instead of having only one white option like AirPods, FreeBuds 3 comes in a black version. This color will help the device look cleaner and will likely have a more durable appearance by not being “yellowing” as well as difficult to expose dirt.
The next and biggest difference is when Huawei uses a circular charger and Apple is a rectangular box, though almost the same size. The box of FreeBuds 3 is beautifully smoothed out and looks like a box … dental floss and the opening and closing methods are also very close. The advantage of FreeBuds 3’s box is that besides the USB Type C wired charging port (6W – 5V1.2A), there is also a Qi 2W wireless charger. While with AirPods 2, you will have to spend about $50 more to have this convenient wireless charging feature.
FreeBuds 3’s box is made of solid, easy to open and close with one hand and have a “click” is quite fun when closing the lid. Moderate box size, round shape so it fits easily into a pocket or diagonal bag. The box has a magnet inside and keeps the earphones very solid. Even when it turned upside down and shook hard, FreeBuds 3 remained still and showed no signs of moving at all.
A closer look at FreeBuds 3 can see the body, instead of connecting to the ear canal like AirPods, the body of FreeBuds 3 is longer, straight up the ear canal and form a small notch. This makes getting the earphone out of the box easier. At the same time, if necessary, can take both earsphone at once instead of one ear at a time like AirPods. However, the smooth glossy plastic material of the casing that works for FreeBuds 3 becomes difficult when the hands sweat a lot.
The earpiece of FreeBuds 3, the part containing the microphone mic is also plump and larger, which according to Huawei is to prevent wind blowing, reduce wind noise more effectively, making calls clearer in windy environment or when running or riding at 20 km / h. In addition, Huawei also claims that FreeBuds 3 has a ear bone sensor for better voice recognition. In fact, when riding a motorbike at a speed of over 20 km / h, I can still talk well with FreeBuds 3 with clear call quality.
The connection was confusing at first, but then completely fast and stable
Overall, the impression of the FreeBuds 3’s design and carrying case is very good but unfortunately the initial connection experience made me a bit disappointed. When you open the box for the first time, there are no signs that the headset is on or waiting for connection. Plug in the charger and see the green light show, the battery is still full, I luay huay for a while and for the first time in many years I had to fumble through the manual to find out how to use a technology device.
Turns out, to start FreeBuds 3 the first time you connect, you’ll have to press an almost “invisible” button on the carrying case. Perhaps, the intention of Huawei when designing this “invisible” button is to make the box seamless, not distracting. Even so, I can assure you that without reading the manual, hardly anyone will know its existence. Thinking, Huawei should make this button more prominent and put a small symbol such as the Bluetooth symbol next to it so that users can identify it better.
Anyway, thankfully, this only happens during the first use, only in subsequent times, FreeBuds 3 for very fast connection speed. And once I got used to it, I found it to be very convenient, especially when it came to pairing with a new device. Just press and hold the button above the box, FreeBuds 3 will be put into Pairing mode. For devices running EMUI 10 like Huawei Mate 30 / Mate 30 Pro, there will be a Pop Up window similar to iOS when connected successfully.
where can you get a HUAWEI FREEBUDS 3 online
HUAWEI FreeBuds 3 – Wireless Bluetooth Earphone with Intelligent Noise Cancellation (Kirin A1 Chipset, Ultra-Low Latency, Fast Bluetooth Connection, 14mm Speaker, Quick Wireless Charging) (White): Bụy it now
Wear comfortable all day, hold on even when jogging, jumping
Due to the earbud design, which only fits slightly into the ear (instead of being inserted into the ear like most other true wireless in-ear headphones), similar to the AirPods, FreeBuds 3 wears very comfortably, almost without feeling ear pain, confusion, heat, or any uncomfortable even for hours. This is the superiority of the earbud headphones compared to in-ear.
The ruggedness of FreeBuds 3 is quite impressive. Even when shaking head vigorously, jogging, jumping, or riding a motorbike with a speed of 50-60 Km / h on the bumpy road, the ear does not loosen at all. However, the headset will most likely fall when you wear or remove … muffler.
Another note is that like the AirPods, FreeBuds 3 is not water resistant, so you should be careful when wearing in the rain and even at the gym, jogging, sweating.
Active noise cancellation ANC only works well in environments that aren’t too complicated
Of course, in exchange for comfort, the earbud headphones have a critical weakness is noise resistance. To overcome this drawback, FreeBuds 3 is equipped with ANC (Active Noise Canceling), which is powered by Kirin A1 dedicated chipset developed by Huawei itself.
Basically, the headset emits a special sound frequency to drown out the surrounding noises and you can feel pressure on the ear when used. The noise-canceling effect of FreeBuds 3 is quite good in an environment that is not too complicated like the office or the car when it can reduce up to 70-80% of the ambient noise. For more difficult situations such as when riding a motorbike, the effectiveness is reduced to about 10-20%.
FreeBuds 3 doesn’t have a hear-through feature so you can better hear environmental sounds without removing your headphones. This is a feature that often appears on true wireless in-ear models and the latest representative is the AirPods Pro model.
You can quickly turn the ANC noise canceling on and off by double tapping on the left ear, while double tapping on the right ear will play / transfer music. Show double typing is the only way to interact and control FreeBuds 3 as well as to receive calls. Sadly, this headset does not support 1-touch typing, 3-touch, hold or swipe, not for increasing or decreasing the volume, backing up the song on the ear, so the control is still limited.
Huawei has provided the Huawei AI Life app to manage FreeBuds 3 and offers a number of features such as detailing the time left, right and left earphones. Customize your double tap or adjust ANC active noise cancellation and firmware updates. In general, the features of AI Life just stop at the basic level. Huawei should refer to Samsung with the Galaxy Wearable app, which offers a variety of features such as audio tweaking, bass boost, treble, customizing app notifications, finding headphones or reading user guides and tips with product.
An important note is that AI Life is only available on Android. If you use FreeBuds 3 with iPhone, you will not have any support applications. Even so, you can still connect the headset to a certain Android phone of your friends and relatives and tweak the features. All settings will be saved from the noise level or the settings on the double command.
Impressive sound quality, deep bass and power, no delay
As one of the first devices in the world to feature Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, Huawei also claims that the signal on FreeBuds 3 is connected simultaneously to both sides with their own two-channel synchronization technology developed, reduced delay to only 190ms. Indeed when playing games, watching videos with FreeBuds 3, I absolutely did not encounter the situation of delay. During the experience, FreeBuds 3 also gives a stable connection, no connection loss, noise.
Regarding the ability to listen to music, FreeBuds 3 has quite impressive sound quality with deep bass and force, superior to the Galaxy Buds in-ear model. This bass is enough to satisfy most users with the current popular EDM mixes, such as “Go Swing”, even Hip Hop or R&B. But this headset is not for the bass head, you will not have tinnitus bass, otherwise the bass is just enough.
The mid and treble bands are also recreated separately, not sticking together. Singer sweet, clear, easy to hear instrumental music. In general, FreeBuds 3 is suitable for light music, lyrical music, bolero, with emphasis on the vocalist. FreeBuds 3 has a feature that automatically stops music when the headset is removed but works only for Huawei devices running EMUI 10.
The continuous use time when playing music of FreeBuds 3 is about 4 hours with the Huawei Nova 5T at a volume of about 60%, turn off ANC noise canceling. If noise canceling is turned on, the battery life will be reduced to approximately 3.5 hours. The overall usage time if including the charger is about 19 hours, this is the average battery life and you will have to charge quite often. In the course of use, I found that the left ear often runs out of battery faster than the right ear, maybe this is where the Kirin A1 chip should consume more power.
It takes about 1 hour to fully charge the case from a depleted level of 0%, and the time it takes to fully charge the headphones in a box from 0% to 100% is also about an hour. The convenient point is that the FreeBuds 3’s case supports wireless charging, so when the battery indicator is low, just put into the charging dock. However, it should be noted that when wirelessly charging, it is necessary to face without the Huawei logo down.
Summary
With what it shows, Huawei FreeBuds 3 is a true true wireless headphone model that is worth choosing at $200. Despite the AirPods design, Huawei has known to create its own features with ANC active noise protection, low-latency Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, a circular case with built-in wireless charging and especially sound quality from Apple, especially with the bass.
Earbud design helps FreeBuds 3 comfortable, long wearing does not cause heat. The case is solid and the Bluetooth 5.1 connection is stable, low latency, works well with all Android phones and iOS, but to fully use the features you will have to connect with Huawei smartphones running EMUI 10. Balanced sound quality with pretty impressive bass range, active anti-noise ability ANC suitable for office environment, call and listen well.
The drawback of FreeBuds 3 is that the control mechanism is not rich, only receiving double-tap commands, unable to adjust the volume on the ears. The original connection was cumbersome, difficult to understand without reading the manual. Battery life is low and not waterproof.
Advantages:
+ Earbud design wearing comfortable for a long time.
+ Tai sticking, can jog, dance, or ride a motor speed of 50-60 Km / h.
+ Round box is eye-catching, firm and Bluetooth 5.1 is stable, low latency.
+ Active anti-noise ability, ANC, works well in office environment.
+ Impressive sound quality, quite deep and dynamic bass range, mid and treble separated, clear voice call.
+ Integrated wireless charger.
Defect:
– The first time connection is cumbersome and difficult to understand because the buttons on the box are almost “invisible”.
– Limited control, only receive double tap, can not adjust the volume, back the song on the ear.
– Average battery life, no water resistance.