If Android users are looking on wistfully as iPhone users strut around with AirPods hanging from their ears then Huawei is here to help out.
The company has just unveiled FreeBuds 3, a pair of all-white (or black) wireless earbuds that look suspiciously like Apple’s famous earphones. Don’t worry if you missed the first two iterations of the FreeBuds – we did too.
At £169, the FreeBuds 3 are a fraction dearer than Apple’s standard AirPods but way less than the £249 AirPods Pro that have just been announced. Unlike the basic AirPods, the FreeBuds 3 boast noise-cancellation technology – putting them also up against the likes of Sony’s £220 WF-1000XM3.
However, the FreeBuds 3 are an open-cup design, meaning they don’t employ silicone tips to give an airtight seal around your ears. The benefit is they’re easier to slip on and slip off and will suit a wide variety of ear types. The downside is that even with the noise cancellation engaged, background noise is inevitably going to seep in around the edges.
If you use a Huawei phone, then the FreeBuds 3 pair up in exactly the same way the AirPods’s do. Move them near to the phone and open the hockey puck case and a bubble will appear on the phone screen. Tapping it will pair the headphones in a couple of seconds and they’re ready to use.
If you’re not using a Huawei phone, then you’ll need to go to your phone’s Bluetooth settings and add the FreeBuds manually. There’s a small white button on one side of the case that requires a long press to put the buds into pairing mode.
Once you’re up and running, the sound is pretty decent from these little white headphones. The low-end frequencies don’t hold up too well and I found them better suited to electronic and pop music over fuzzy acoustic guitar or older R&B. The FreeBuds 3 seem to give more credence to treble and vocals (podcast listeners and spoken word fans may well approve) but it’s not what I’d call a particularly ‘rounded’ sound.
What I will say is they don’t lack for volume.
Part of the strength of these earbuds rests on the noise-cancelling ability – and it can be a bit touch and go. Active noise cancelling (ANC) analyses the environmental noise with a mic and produces counterbalancing noise to nullify it. If you double-tap the side of the left FreeBud you can enable and disable the ANC. There is a difference, but it’s not as pronounced as I’ve heard from more expensive buds. It works well in a moderate environment like a coffee shop or an office, but you’re not going to drown out the sound of a screeching Tube carriage or a pneumatic drill.
Some may argue that it’s useful to be able to hear some of the surrounding noise – what if someone’s trying to get your attention? And on that note, what would be great is if you were able to pull them out of your ears and automatically pause whatever you’re listening to a la Apple’s AirPods.
Wait – but you can! As long as…you have a Huawei phone running the latest EMUI 10.
I was testing the FreeBuds 3 out on a Google Pixel so this feature wasn’t available to me. Naturally, Huawei wants you to go all-in on its ecosystem but withholding this feature from other Android devices stings a little. Similarly, if you download the Huawei AI Life app, you can reconfigure the double-tap on each bud to different functions, like activating a voice assistant.
The lack of silicone tips and a snugger fit mean there’s more of a chance of these headphones falling out of your ears during exercise. Althought to be fair – despite my best efforts I couldn’t shake them out. They have been given an IPX4 water resistant rating (the same as the AirPods Pro) which means they’ll stand up to splashes, rain and sweat. Probably won’t survive being dropped in a puddle, though.
The FreeBuds 3 will give you around four hours of listening on a single charge but you’ll get a further 16 hours from the charging case itself. When it’s time to recharge you can use either wireless charging or plug in to the USB-C port on the underside of the case.
Although it might be easy to pass these headphones off as a cheap imitation of the AirPods, the more I used them the more impressed I was with them. They’re light (4.5g per earbud), well-built and simple to use even without the Huawei phone or Huawei apps.
There are better-sounding wireless earphones out there but you’ll be paying considerably more for them. I had the FreeBuds 3 attached to an Android phone and a couple of Windows machines and loved being able to flip between them.
If you’re a Huawei user then the FreeBuds 3 should certainly be at the top of your list of which wireless earbuds to buy. Amazon’s Echo buds look like they could provide a decent alternative but I haven’t been able to try them out yet. One thing to bear in mind is that the FreeBuds 3 aren’t shipping in the UK until November 14, at which point they’ll be available from the likes of Amazon, Currys and Argos.
In closing, the wireless earbud market is becoming a crowded space, but Huawei has produced a solid pair that exceeded my expectations. Although, it might have been nice to have a few more colour options.
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