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These are the Huawei FreeBuds 3 wireless handphones, packing ANC, wireless charging and impressive battery life into a package which undercuts the second generation AirPods as well as the AirPods Pro.
It's clear that Huawei has used the Apple product for inspiration in its design department, but there is a lot more here if you can look past the derivative design. I have the black buds here, which look somewhat distinctive, the white ones are hard to tell from a 'real' pair of AirPods - especially when you have them in your ear.
It's clear that Huawei has used the Apple product for inspiration in its design department, but there is a lot more here if you can look past the derivative design. I have the black buds here, which look somewhat distinctive, the white ones are hard to tell from a 'real' pair of AirPods - especially when you have them in your ear.
That's an interesting design choice and I believe not accidental at all. The Chinese market in particular, is driven by products which look like Apple's because there's a cachet to using something which is seen as premium and expensive.
Outside of China I would strongly recommend sticking to the black option, unless you want to be accused of being a bit of a fraud.
Outside of China I would strongly recommend sticking to the black option, unless you want to be accused of being a bit of a fraud.
So, onto the technologies. The FreeBuds 3 have Bluetooth 5.1 and Bluetooth Low Energy, a bone sensor for improved voice pickup, wireless charging and active noise cancellation.
That last one seems incongruous, given that the FreeBuds 3 are open ear style headphones, unlike the AirPods Pro which use foam tips to seal the ear canal to create a passive seal and ease the task of the ANC. Clearly there's something different going on here.
That noise cancellation works very well - within clearly defined limits. If you're in a busy office it will not do much to the general noise level you hear in that environment. However if you're on a train to plane they do take the edge off the constant droning noise which fills the background.
It's quite impressive when you turn it one and hear the background noise fade, not entirely but enough to notice.
The open ear design also means that you aren't cut off from your environment, people can talk to you and you can hear things like flight announcements or street noise - the latter a definite safety benefit.
Right now I'm sat in my office on a typical autumn day - lots of wind and periods of heavy rain. Without ANC it's a noticeable backing track to everything I do, but with ANC enabled it fades away, without actually disappearing. The downside of ANC is the impact on battery life - dropping run time from a solid three and a half hours to a less useful two hours.
It's quite impressive when you turn it one and hear the background noise fade, not entirely but enough to notice.
The open ear design also means that you aren't cut off from your environment, people can talk to you and you can hear things like flight announcements or street noise - the latter a definite safety benefit.
Right now I'm sat in my office on a typical autumn day - lots of wind and periods of heavy rain. Without ANC it's a noticeable backing track to everything I do, but with ANC enabled it fades away, without actually disappearing. The downside of ANC is the impact on battery life - dropping run time from a solid three and a half hours to a less useful two hours.
Music playback is acceptable, not at the same level as in-ear buds which seal the ear canal but, to my uncultured ears, music and video sound very good indeed. For calling they are exceptional, callers commented that the quality was a big step up from my Sennheiser PXC550 over ear headphones and audio at my end was top notch. There are no controls for call handling on the FreeBuds - in fact the controls are limited full stop. There's a double tap gesture on each one the left enables or disables the ANC, whilst the right starts music playback or skips to the next track if it is already playing. A good choice for the defaults but being limited to two interactions is disappointing. Android users can customise the actions for each tap; iPhone users are stuck with the defaults.
The FreeBuds are very comfortable to wear, there's no weight to them and they sit in the eat without creating any pressure. Wearing them for a long period doesn't cause any discomfort. There's no chance of them coming dislodged unless you tip your head upside down - for example grabbing something from under your desk. The only other time I've had one come out is when I've taken my sweater off over my head.
So do I recommend the FreeBuds 3? Well I've found them to be comfortable, to sound good, have a good battery life and useful noise cancellation. As wireless buds go, you can't ask for much more. For Android buyers, a definite recommend; for iPhone owners I'd probably stick with a pair of AirPods - or the AirPods Pro once Apple sorts out the multitude of problems it is having with them.
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