Not to be left out of the wireless earbuds conversation, given that Samsung’s beans have been the talk of the town these last few weeks, Huawei has announced and launched its own top of the range series of earbuds.
From the press release sent around this morning, the Huawei Freebuds 3i sound like they could rival the Galaxy Buds that Samsung has been putting out but we’ll reserve judgement for when we actually get our hands on them. That’s the thing about press releases, they’re like that half-eaten bowl of pasta you left in the fridge a week ago. They might look good on the outside but you really have to test it to figure out if it’s actually good.
So let’s talk a little more about the Freebuds 3i, shall we? These new buds feature active in-ear noise cancelling, achieved with “two outward-facing mics and one inward-facing mic”. To really block out outside sound, the “outward-facing mic detects ambient noise to actively counter with anti-noise, the inward-facing mic picks up the other noises in your ears for further cancellation, actively lowering background noise by up to 32dB.”
The Freebuds will also offer seamless pairing and integration with Huawei devices, something which should be expected at this point. You’ll be able to control playback with the usual tapping of the buds to activate music and calls while a long hold will trigger the noise-cancellation. Nothing really new or exciting there, that’s pretty standard functionality at this point.
What about that battery life? Well, the Freebuds 3i will reportedly last for 3.5 hours, with continuous playback, on a single charge. “With the battery inside these earphones’ charging case, the HUAWEI FreeBuds 3i can provide up to 14.5 hours of uptime for everyday use,” reads the press release.
The Freebuds 3i is currently available on the Huawei online store and will set you back R2 000, which is half the price of the new Samsung Galaxy Buds Live and a grand and a half cheaper than the basic version of the Apple AirPods, which is some damn competitive pricing.