Hey guys, it’s Greg with Apple Explained and today we’re gonna take a look at these
tws-i7 earbuds, essentially knockoff AirPods, that I ordered from Amazon: first, we’ll
do an unboxing and review, second, we’ll compare them to the official Apple AirPods,
and lastly I’ll give you guys my final thoughts so you can decide whether or not these earphones
are right for you.
But before we begin I’d like to thank EaseUS for sponsoring this video.
They offer several desktop applications for your iPhone like MobiMover, which is totally
free and compatible with iPhones, iPads, as well as Windows and Mac computers.
MobiMover has some cool features that really come in handy when you buy a new iPhone:
First, you can transfer all your files from your old iPhone to your new iPhone or even
iPad really quickly and easily.
What I love is that I can choose exactly what files are transferred so I don’t have to
waste time deleting unwanted photos or messages from a new iPhone I’m setting up.
Second, let’s say you traded in your old phone so you don’t have it anymore to transfer
its files.
Well you can use a backup of that device from your computer to restore everything you had
onto your new iPhone.
You can also transfer individual files from your computer straight to your iPhone so you
don’t have you to deal with transferring through iTunes which isn’t very convenient
for these tasks.
Lastly, you can use MobiMover to backup everything on your iPhone to your computer so you can
rest assured that your data is safe and sound.
So if you’d like to try these features for yourself, you can download MobiMover for free
today by clicking the link in the description.
Let’s start with the box.
Now these were only $26 from Amazon so I’m not expecting too much out of the packaging
but it is made from a nice study cardboard and showcases the products features like a
rechargeable battery, phone call and music support, a built in microphone, and I’m
guessing this symbol represents wireless bluetooth connectivity.
On the back we find some specifications like battery capacities, which is 65MAh for each
earbud and 950MAh for the charging case.
They say this will get you about 3-4 hours of music playback on a single charge, and
it’ll take the earbuds 1-2 hours to fully charge inside the case.
It also mentions that the furthest you can walk away from your device for reliable bluetooth
connectivity is 12 meters, without any obstacles.
There isn’t much going on around the sides of the box but on the bottom we see different
color options for this product.
And the colors appear to be trying to match those of the iPhone with black, red, gold,
and rose gold.
Now the outside of the box may appear similar to the AirPods, but things start to look much
different once we lift the lid.
First we see the charging case itself held in place by a couple of foam and cardboard
inserts and as you can see these are not easy to get out so it’s probably better just
to lift the charging case out by the plastic.
So the charging case slides right out of its plastic bag and it is quite bulky but we’ll
take a closer look at that in a minute.
Also in the box is a micro USB charging cable for the case, and a very narrow single pin
power cable for charging each earbud individually.
We also get an instruction manual to help us pair these things with our iPhone.
Now let’s take a look at the charging case itself.
It’s quite large in the hand but it’s also unexpectedly light for its size.
There are two LED indicators along with a power button on the front, and that’s just
to tell us the battery level of the charging case.
On the back we find the charging port and the bottom of the case is flat so you can
stand it upright on your desk.
You can hear some rattling while shaking the case which probably means the earbuds are
a little loose inside.
I also noticed scratches and some staining on the case right out of the box.
Opening the case one-handed takes quite a bit of effort but once it is open we find
two earbuds and you really have to tug to get them out.
They look almost exactly like AirPods except for this button which is what we use to put
the earbuds into pairing mode.
They’re also fairly large but definitely manageable.
On the bottom we can see the charging port and that’s where you plug in the power cable
to charge the earbuds individually, but only one cable is included which means you can’t
charge both earbuds at the same time without the charging case.
Now these are compatible with any device that has bluetooth capabilities which includes
iPhones, Androids and computers.
To pair we just hold down the pairing buttons on both earbuds at the same time until we
see flashing blue and red LEDs.
Then we can check our device where tws-i7 should appear in the list of bluetooth devices.
Now I should mention that the pairing process for these earbuds is surprisingly simple.
I’ve seen AirPod knockoffs that are incredibly complicated to set up in order for both earbuds
to be synchronized.
But these were as easy to connect to my iPhone as any other 3rd party bluetooth headset.
Once connected, I immediately noticed beeping and buzzing noises coming from the left earbud,
and while the noise wasn’t particularly loud, it was definitely noticeable.
The noise only stopped when I played music, and this may have been a defect since it was
only happening with the left earbud, but it definitely revealed this products lack of
quality.
Not only build quality, but also sound quality.
To put it plainly, these things sound bad.
Not absolutely awful, just bad.
Imagine the tinny quality of your typical smartphone speaker being fed directly into
your ears.
Its still possible to enjoy music with these earbuds, but it’s a clear downgrade from
the EarPods included with your iPhone.
Call quality on the other hand was not noticeably worse than other earbuds.
Mainly because phone call audio isn’t decent quality to begin with, so these earbuds do
just fine.
I also didn’t get any complaints on the other end of the call with the quality of
my voice.
And that means the built in microphones are sufficient for phone calls, but I wouldn’t
do any voiceover recording with these things.
Now I did experience intermittent disconnections with these earbuds, but it only happened while
idle.
So it always stayed connected while music was playing or while watching videos.
Also, I didn’t have any issues with them falling out of my ear but my ears were a little
sore after a few hours of use.
When you put these earbuds back into their case, they begin to charge.
And with this product red LEDs are used to indicate charging while blue LEDs are used
to indicate a full battery.
So now let’s compare these $26 tws-i7’s to the official $159 Apple AirPods.
The biggest difference just by looking at them side by side is their size.
The i7 charging case feels twice as big as the AirPods and the earbuds themselves may
be too large for smaller ears.
These larger earbuds may also cause discomfort after long periods of use.
Carrying this bulky charging case in my pocket was quite inconvenient since I’m used to
the AirPods compact size.
But if you keep it in a bag or purse, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Another big difference is how these devices pair to your iPhone.
You can connect AirPods with just one tap, and while the i7’s set up process could
have been much worse, it is still much more involved than the AirPods.
And this difference could be huge for people who aren’t tech savvy.
Next is opening and closing the charging case.
This may seem a like a detail that doesn’t matter too much, but it's something you’ll
do several times a day and it can be quite frustrating to deal with the i7’s lid.
It takes two hands to open reliably and requires quite a bit of force to pop open.
Compare this to the AirPods magnetic lid that you can flip open with one hand and close
effortlessly thanks to the magnets.
Similarly, there’s a big difference in taking earbuds out of their case and putting them
back in.
With the i7’s you have to yank them off their charging pin to get them out.
And when reinserting, you have to line up the charging pin with its port and then press
down to make the connection.
Now since the AirPods are held inside the case magnetically, we can simply lift the
earbuds out and drop them back in since the magnets actually pull them down into their
correct position.
When it comes to sound quality, AirPods are the clear winner.
They deliver a much cleaner, fuller sound than the i7’s with a good amount of bass
and sound great even at high volumes.
The i7’s are a different story.
Their thin, tinny sound leaves a lot to be desired and the quality only gets worse as
you raise the volume.
Let me try to give you a demo of how these things compare:
The i7’s use a MicroUSB port for power while the AirPods use Apple’s proprietary lightning
connector.
Now I should mention that the AirPods charge much faster than the i7’s.
In fifteen minutes you’ll get 3 hours of listening time, something that would take
the i7’s over an hour of charging to achieve.
The way LED lights are used on each product is also quite different.
The i7’s have a total of four LEDs, one on each earbud and two on the charging case.
They shine a very bright red or blue and permeate through the entire charging case which can
be really distracting at nighttime or in any other low light settings.
Compare this to the AirPods’ single LED indicator inside the case that glows a more
subtle green or orange, and the light is only there when you want to see it.
Now obviously the AirPods are a superior product, but are they 6x better to match a price tag
that’s 6x more than the i7’s?
I think that depends on how you’ll use bluetooth earbuds.
The i7’s are perfect for someone who’ll use them like an old fashioned bluetooth headset.
They can enjoy handsfree phone conversations and maybe even some light music playback without
needing their smartphone attached to them the entire time.
There may be some initial frustration with setup or even some technical difficulties
like popping sounds or disconnections, but those issues may not be enough to convince
some people to spend $159 on premium bluetooth earbuds.
But for anyone looking to use their wireless earbuds for music playback should seriously
consider spending the extra $133 to upgrade to the Airpods.
Not only do they offer much better sound quality but they’re unbelievably reliable and convenient,
which will save you quite a few headaches in the long run.
So that’s it guys, I hope you enjoyed this unboxing and review of the TWS-i7’s, if
you enjoyed the video don’t forget to leave a like.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.