There’s something to be said for a pair of wireless earbuds that deliver crystal-clear voice calls and excellent active noise cancellation, both of which the FreeBuds Pro excels at. So, while the Pro’s sound quality & music playback aren’t the finest you can get for the money, they might be the ideal buy for you. However, Huawei’s companion app, which controls a few of the buds’ essential features, is only accessible for Android.
Huawei has leaped from a smartphone manufacturer to an electronics behemoth. It has computers, speakers, wearables for days, and a tiny army of earphones covered. Huawei’s audio offering has been constantly improving since entering the true wireless earphones market in 2018 with the initial FreeBuds. By the time the FreeBuds 3 was released, it was evident that it knew exactly what it was doing.
Design and controls
The huawei freebuds pro is the first FreeBuds with ANC and a closed in-ear fit. They have a distinctive ‘Cubic Iconic’ design with an angular stem. The buds’ in-ear components, on the other hand, are curved, with soft silicone earplugs that fit snugly in the ear. Three tip fittings are included in the box: small, medium, and large, as well as a USB-C cable.
The FreeBuds Pro comes in three colors: Carbon Black, Ceramic White, and Silver Frost, the latter of which is a distinctive, prominent option that helps to distinguish them from the rest of the bloated black and white buds on the market.
The curved oblong charging case is made of matte plastic in Silver Frost or polished plastic in Black or White, with a metal hinge bearing the Huawei logo. For charging, there’s a USB-C plug on the bottom, although Qi wireless charging is also possible. When you open the case, you’ll find an awkward fiddle to pull the buds out, as well as useful magnets to guide them back in.
Audio and noise cancellation
Large 11mm super duper dynamic drivers are used in the FreeBuds Pro, and the sound quality is impressive right away. Podcasts, audiobooks, & movies are clear, well-rounded, and provide an immersive listening experience when combined with noise cancellation (which we’ll discuss later).
The FreeBuds 3 set a high standard for call quality, and the FreeBuds 4 follows suit. Three microphones & bone conduction work together to provide precise noise cancellation and voice pick up when on the phone. The speech quality is excellent, even in windy situations and with the cacophony of background traffic, so if you’re looking for a set of earbuds for calls, they are at the top of your list.
There’s a considerable bit of passive noise-canceling going on thanks to three sizes of earpieces included with the FreeBuds Pro. Depending on the ambient noise in your area, the 40DB ANC works on three levels: Cozy, General, and Ultra. With Dynamic noise cancellation, you may choose to switch between them manually or let the buds decide.
Battery and app support
The case, which supports Qi wireless charging, is said to provide 30 hours of battery life, which is a reasonable estimate. During our week with them, we were getting six to seven hours of phone battery life per charge case-free while the noise-canceling was turned up to eleven. The FreeBuds Pro earphones charge quickly as well, taking only 23 minutes to get from zero to 100 percent.
The FreeBuds Pro’s biggest flaw is that the AI Life companion app, which unlocks the three levels of noise cancellation as well as software upgrades, isn’t accessible for iOS. While you can get them for your iPhone or iPad – they do pair with those — you’ll only get restricted functionality, which isn’t ideal.
