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Huawei is increasingly focusing on sectors other than telephony. From notebooks to televisions, Huawei is demonstrating its full strength and willingness to stay in the consumer technology market outside of China, despite US limitations. Among the devices on which it focuses most there are certainly the True Wireless earphones, a type of headphones that is increasingly in demand. After reviewing the FreeBuds 3, let's move on today to the latest model presented by the Chinese house, the FreeBuds Pro , which are going to modify everything seen in the past.
So far, Huawei has focused on an open design for its True
Wireless earphones, which offers greater comfort but also less isolation from
external sounds. Now with the FreeBuds Pro, Huawei has decided to create in-ear
headphones equipped with silicone rubber pads , the only way to obtain
effective noise isolation.
A renewed design
The sales package is accurate and with a decidedly marked
"vacuum effect". The bundle includes, in addition to the headphones
and the charging case, also a USB Type C cable and three sets of rubber pads of
different sizes, to better adapt the earphones to different types of ears. The
sales pack is very well made and immediately conveys a clear feeling of
quality.
The charging case has a different design than the previous
models and the dimensions also grow, without being annoying during transport.
The shell is made of good quality plastic, a shame about a certain sensitivity
to fingerprints, which remain impressed on the polycarbonate. The only visible
element is the USB Type C charging connector, while on the right there is a
button that is used to start the pairing procedure with the smartphone. Once
the lid is opened, the headphones are set in the special supports, which use
magnets to make it easier to put them back in the correct way. A small status
LED instead shows the charge level of the battery present in the case.
As for the two earphones, the lines are more cropped than in
the past . The temple that goes downwards now has the shape of a
parallelepiped, to immediately differentiate itself, as far as possible, from
Apple's AirPods. The contacts for charging and microphones are installed in
this area.
Technical characteristics, installation and ergonomics
At the base of the FreeBuds Pro we find the Kirin A1
processor and two 11 mm drivers. Thanks to this chip, which brings Bluetooth
5.2 as a dowry, it is possible to connect two devices to the headphones , a
convenient function in everyday use.
The installation differs depending on the type of device.
With a Huawei smartphone just open the case to immediately see the headphones
recognized, we tested it with a P40 Pro and the system works very well. With
other Android smartphones, on the other hand, you must first download Ai Life,
a Huawei application for managing many of the devices in its ecosystem. Too bad
that by downloading it from the Play Store this is not yet updatedto a
compatible version, so it must be done manually or by installing the App
Gallery, in this way you can proceed with the pairing. As inconvenient as it
is, however, it is a temporary setback , as soon as the new version is released
on the Play Store it will no longer be necessary to download it manually.
On the ergonomics front, those used to in-ear headphones will
be perfectly at ease, indeed, the FreeBuds Pro are smaller and lighter than
other models we have tested and allow a large number of tactile interactions.
By pressing with two fingers on the arm you can start - pause a song, or answer
a call.
With a double tap with both fingers you can instead forward
a song or reject a call. With a long press the voice assistant is activated
and, finally, by sliding on the body, you can raise and lower the volume. It
take some practice to become familiar with these commands, but once you get the
hang of it, it's easy to control calls and music playback. All gestures are
also customizable from the AI Life application.
Application and listening experience
The Ai Life application can be exploited from all Android
terminals, even from different brands, without particular sacrifices, as well
as with iOS. Earphones have recently arrived, such as the OnePlus Buds that we
have just reviewed , which significantly castrate the user experience when
associated with a phone from a different brand. Just think that in the case of
OnePlus it is not even possible to update the firmware of the headphones.
This is not the case with the FreeBuds Pro, which can also
be updated by smartphones of other brands. We tried them with a Huawei P40 Pro and
with a Note 20 Ultra from Samsung, obtaining a practically specular user
experience, even if with the top of the Huawei range you can count on the HWA
loseless audio codec,
The main function of the application is to regulate the
active cancellation of noise , also seen in the past in the Huawei home but
never so effective. This can be deactivated, or activated by choosing the
preset that best suits your case, including a dynamic mode that uses the
microphones to adjust the cancellation automatically.
Another mode available is the Aware mode , in which the
microphones are used to reproduce environmental sounds through headphones. The
application then allows you to customize the gestures, to activate the
automatic detection of the actual use of the headphones and also provides a
test to understand if the rubber pads used are of the right size.
Returning to noise cancellation, this is much more effective
than that seen in the past, the credit goes above all to the rubber pads, which
better isolate the ear from the external environment. Huawei has taken a
significant step forward , managing to eliminate above all continuous and low
sounds, such as those heard on means of transport. The voices manage to get
through but are muffled. Ultimately, the noise cancellation offered by the
FreeBuds Pro is very good, although not reaching the level of the Sony
WH-1000XM3, which however cost more than the Huawei proposal.
The feedback on audio quality is also positive, despite the
word "Pro" we are not faced with headphones for audiophiles, the
lion's share is made by low frequencies, present in large quantities in the
sound spectrum. A choice that meets the tastes of most of the current audience
and that still allows an excellent musical listening experience, especially with
the most popular genres today. On the input lag front, Bluetooth 5.2 does its
job, while watching videos there is no delay between images and speech.
Even in call the FreeBuds Pro defend themselves well and
allow you to talk in moderately noisy environments. The autonomy can count on
55 mAh batteries installed in the two earphones and on the charge guaranteed by
the case, from 580 mAh. With active noise cancellation you can do just over 4
hours of listening to music, an average result for this category of products.
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