OnePlus has made a name for themselves over the last few years by creating great products
at affordable prices. And today we’re going to be checking out the new OnePlus Buds…
OnePlus’s first pair of truly wireless earbuds. And over all I do gotta say, that for $80
bucks these earbuds really do over deliver.
Now first off lets address the carrying case here cause im really pleasantly surprised.
The OnePlus buds has a decently small case that you’re really not going to notice all
that much when its in your pocket. It is a little larger than both the AirPods and Pixel
Buds case… but its still an acceptable size in my opinion. Cause if we were to compare
this carrying case to the $130 Sony WF-XB700’s case… you can definitely see that OnePlus
has the leg up here cause Sony’s case is much bulkier and you really notice it when
you’ve got it in your pocket. But also from a build quality stand point this case feels
fairly premium as well. Most noticeably this case has a slate finish to it similar to the
slate finish that you’ll find on the Pixel Bud’s case except its not as dense. But
also the lid on this case has a really satisfying snap to it when ever you open and close it…
and the magnets inside this case are fairly strong as well which make putting your earbuds
away very easy as well. The only thing that I do wish about this case was that it was
a little thinner… cause this case is noticeably chunkier than both the Pixel Buds and AirPods
case.
But I do think the OnePlus Buds makes up for it slightly chunky carrying case by having
a slightly above average battery life. The one plus buds have a combined battery life
of 30 hours… the earbuds themselves can go for 7 straight hours and the case can supply
an additional 3 full charges. And a combined battery life of 30 hours is up there cause
both the AirPods and Pixel Buds have a combined battery life of 24 hours.
Now just as you’d expect this carrying case charges via a USB C Port but it also has some
really decent fast charging numbers. If you charge up the case for ten minutes from a
dead battery you’re going to get 10 hours of power…. And if you drop you dead ear
buds into the case for ten minutes then you’re going to get 2 hours of playback time.
But now lets talk about the earbuds themselves. Obviously these earbuds are very similar to
AirPods… but the sculpt on these earbuds is a little different. The OnePlus Buds are
a little larger than AirPods, so when it comes to fit I can’t help but feel that the AirPods
feel a little more natural when they’re in my ears when compared to the OnePlus. Now
personally I do have rather small ear canals so maybe the OnePlus Buds being a little larger
than AirPods might be a good thing for you. But nonetheless the OnePlus fit fine but just
as you’d expect these earbuds do let in a lot of ambient noise.
Now when it comes to bluetooth connectivity… personally with my Pixel 3a ive had a flawless
connection. My bluetooth connection is stable, and there’s zero latency whenever im watching
movies or video on my phone. And these earbuds also have AAC support.
But more importantly, each ear bud establishes a connection with your phone… so if you
just want to use one earbud at a time you can use either one it doesn’t matter. And
personally im surprised that the OnePlus Buds can do this cause usually sub $100 truly wireless
earbuds use a hero and sidekick set up… meaning that one earbud actually establishes
a connection with your phone and then relays that connection to the other earbud. So if
you want to use one earbud at a time you would have to use the correct earbud or the hero
earbud.
But something thats really cool about these earbuds is that yeah they can only be connected
to one device at a time… but if you press and hold on these touch pads for 3 seconds
you can actually switch from one device to another. So you can go from using these earbuds
with your phone and then press and hold and switch over to lets say your tablet all from
the earbuds themselves. And this could be a big deal for power users.
But now lets talk about listening to music with these earbuds… these earbuds sound
decent enough for a pair of sub $100 earbuds. Now they definitely get the job done, they
get more than loud enough and more importantly distortion isn’t an issue with these earbuds.
But these earbuds do have a lot of bass to them to help hide that they don’t have all
that great clarity and instrument separation. All you really hear with these earbuds is
a whole lot of bass and vocals… and everything else is just jumbled up in the back ground.
But this is the same thing going on with AirPods. Now when it comes to controlling your music…
unfortunately if you’re not using these earbuds with a OnePlus device all you can
do is double tap on either touch pad to skip a track. Single or triple tapping on these
touch pads doesn’t do anything else on my pixel 3a. Where as if you were using these
earbuds with a OnePlus device you would be to change what double tapping on these touch
pads does. But thankfully, the proximity sensors on these earbuds work whether you’re using
these earbuds with a one plus device or any other android device. So when you take these
earbuds out they’ll automatically pause your music. But now I want to quickly address
the touch pads on these earbuds… yes they’re accurate but I kind of wish OnePlus would
have just opted to use haptic touch pads like on what’s found on AirPods. Sometimes it
does take me a few seconds to find the touch pads on these earbuds. And finally, even though
these earbuds don’t have a stand alone android app so that you can customize these earbuds
with like a different EQ setting… you can however see the battery life of these earbuds
through the Bluetooth menu and you can also use find my device to ring either earbud if
you ever lose one.
And finally here’s the microphone test… and I gotta say im very impressed. I actually
have this AC unit turned on and these earbuds are doing a really good job of blocking out
that AC unit. Cause if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly
hear that AC unit. But if we switch back over to the OnePlus Buds you don’t hear it as
much. But also my voice sounds great.
I’ll even go as far and say that the microphone on the OnePlus sounds better than AirPods
cause my voice sounds more natural and they do a better job of blocking out that AC unit.
Now no the Microphone on the OnePlus Buds isn’t as good as Pixel Buds… but it is
up there.
So over all, for $80 the OnePlus buds over deliver. These earbuds tick off all the right
boxes for a pair of everyday carry truly wireless earbuds. They have a decently sized case that
isn’t all that noticeable when its in your pocket. They have an above average battery
life… And they have a great sounding microphone for phone calls that does a really impressive
job of blocking out ambient noise pollution. They have a stable Bluetooth connection with
zero latency for when you’re watching videos on your phone and being able to switch from
one device to another straight from the earbuds themselves is pretty cool for power users.
The only real trade off on these earbuds are their one board media control buttons they
are fairly limited. I do hope OnePlus fixes that through future software updates. But
other than that if you’re on a tight budget you really can’t go wrong with
these earbuds.