Looking and functioning a lot like Apple's AirPods, but working perfectly on both iPhone and Android devices, Mobvoi's TicPods Free wireless earbuds are a smart and simple way to get cord-free music and calls from your phone without breaking the bank.
Mobvoi has made a splash recently with some well made but relatively inexpensive smartwatches, and the TicPods follow that same formula. These are easy to use and good quality wireless buds, and at $199.99 present a decent — if a bit less slick — alternative to the AirPods.
In white the TicPods look a lot like AirPods, but they’re clearly bigger and flatter.
The buds are clearly reminiscent of Apple's design, with long stalks that hang out of your ears and help the units stay secure. They come in white if you'd really like to pretend you're wearing AirPods, but having them in that colour also highlights that they're a bit bigger, a bit flatter and a bit less elegant. I personally think they look best in the subtle navy blue, though they also come in an anything-but-subtle Jaffa red.
The tips are the rubber in-ear total seal types, which fatigued my ears a bit more than Apple's offering if I left them in for hours at a time, but it also makes the fit very secure and allows for decent isolation. Mobvoi's noise cancelling is fairly simple and can't be turned off, but it's good enough to cope with all but the noisiest trains and very little sound leaks out to annoy fellow passengers.
Predictably for less-expensive buds they don't support aptX for higher quality sound, but compared to other true wireless models I was impressed with the bass and clarity of the TicPods. Heavy hitters like the Jabra Elites and B&O E8s obviously sound a bit better, but the AirPods don't have much over the TicPods, especially when you consider the noise cancelling.
Overall I'd prefer a decent $200 set of over-ear headphones for close or long-session listening, but the convenience and pocketability of the TicPods makes them excellent for music and podcasts when you're getting from A to B and don't want any baggage.
Water resistance also means there’s no danger of sweat getting in during a workout.
Calls are also nice and clear, with the buds doing a good job of reducing background noise, and they're IPX5 rated so they'll survive a bit of rain.
The TicPods come in a neat charging case not unlike a very classy pill box, with the buds anchored magnetically inside. Pairing to your phone is painless, and once that's done the TicPods will connect instantly whenever you remove them from the case. They can also detect when they've been inserted into your ears, so if you were previously listening to something it will start up again once they're in. Remove a bud from your ear and the sound will pause, and returning them to the case shuts them off. I was pleased to find that you can remove just the right bud for one-ear listening, leaving the left in the case, but it doesn't work the other way around.
The TicPods case is small and pocketable, although not to the degree of Apple’s.
You can expect at least three hours of sound out of the buds, and I got close to four when I was intentionally pushing it. The case has enough juice to charge them up three times for a total of around 18 hours. Disappointingly the case uses microUSB to charge, but Mobvoi includes a Y-shaped USB cable that will charge your buds and a USB-C phone at the same time, so you can just put that in your regular phone charger. It takes around an hour and a half to charge fully.
While the broad, flat, textured stems on the TicPods might not be the most fashionable, they do make for sensible touch surfaces. You can double-tap to skip tracks or answer calls, or swipe up and down to adjust volume, and it works great. My only minor complaint here is that you need to hold down for two seconds on the left bud to play/pause, which becomes impossible if you're listening with the right bud only.
Touch controls work very well on the TicPods’ flat surface.
Holding down for two seconds on the right bud summons your device's smart assistant, and this is where the TicPods have a clear advantage over the AirPods. While Apple's buds do technically work with non-Apple devices they do so grudgingly, and you miss out on a few key features. Meanwhile the TicPods fully embrace Android devices, summoning Google Assistant and listening to your commands flawlessly. If you are on iOS, they work just as well with Siri. Regardless of which operating system your phone runs, you can use the Mobvoi app to download and install new firmware to keep the TicPods up to date.
There are a lot of true wireless earbuds out there, but the best can be incredibly expensive and the cheapest can be annoying and inconsistent to use. Mobvoi is aiming for a comfortable middle ground here — with clever tricks like ear detection, automatic connection, voice assistant summoning and touch controls paired with competent but not mind-blowing design and sound quality — and it nails it. Combined with the fact that they'll work with any phone and feature good noise cancellation, the TicPods are excellent wireless buds for the price.
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