HUAWEI FreeBuds 3 - Black

I am so glad I bought these Huawei Freebuds 3.I am very impressed with the design and function of the product,I bought these to compliment my Huawei phone and laptop and have always used wired earbuds before. I listen to audio books in bed while I drop off which is problematic with cabled earbuds - no more will I wake up with a wire wrapped tightly around my neck slowly choking the life out of me! I also used wired buds with my laptop and have often gotten up forgetting the buds are still in ear and sent my laptop flying. So for someone as careless as me the mere fact there are no wires is ... liberating (never thought I'd use that word in an Amazon review). I am liberated!* Comfy to wear, easy to clean, ear friendly.On first use I thought the Freebuds would fall out of my ear, they do not form a air tight seal so do not *feel* as secure as rubber booted buds. However, I have yet to have a Freebud fall out although I do remain slightly weary of wearing them while going to the loo. I find them very comfortable, they exert no pressure on either the ear canal or cartilage. The solid (hard, smooth) plastic is very well shaped and I forget they are there within a minute of popping them in. They are very easy to keep clean.Coming from rubberised tight fitting buds I have noticed a lot less ear discomfort than normal.*The Bluetooth connection is seamless.Connection is achieved by opening the case lid while BT is enabled on whatever device you are connecting to. My Huawei Phone just connected to them without further intervention (I did not install the Freebuds App first). My Huawei Laptop (win 10) and desktop pc (also win 10) connected to the buds without issue. I can happily connect to any machine by selecting Freebuds as the audio output device (one click on volume control). Swapping between devices is no issue at all. I was expecting connection problems when swapping between machines. So I am very happy that the Bluetooth implementation is well executed and not at all fussy.*Battery, Charging and charging cues.I seem to get about 4 hours of listening before the battery runs out (a voice warns you battery is low). Charging the buds is as simple as popping them back in the case. A small LED indicates the charge level (of the buds) by colour, smoothly going from red, though yellow to green as charging occurs. This is a lovely design feature, open the case look at the LED colour and you know what charge they have. This same LED indicates Bluetooth pairing as well.The case is charged via USB type C (USB A -> USB C cable supplied) so any usb device can charge the case battery. There is another LED located by the charge port to show charge state. I have not timed flat to full charge time for the case, probably less than an hour. The buds charge at least 4 times per case charge.I really love the way you never have to think about whether the buds or case are charged, the LEDs give you a cue when you open the case. Finally, a product that used RGB LED's to actually inform and provide good user interface while remaining subtle. When listening the LEDs are not lit, they respect dark lovers! Love it!*Sound QualityI find the sound quality to be excellent. I am not one of 'those' HiFi buffs who know everything about nothing and claim to have superhuman hearing that defies anatomy so will limit myself to saying... perfect for calls, great for audio books and music sounds like music should. To be fair to the 'Bose Brigade', I'm an 80's child so a stretched C90 tape of a taping of a taping recorded from the crackly AM radio might still be my benchmark.*Noise Cancelling - gimmick?Personally, I think noise cancelling is not suited to ear buds - especially ones that do not form a tight (noise isolating) seal in ones ear. The Freebuds do not provide a lot of physical noise isolation - you can still hear the environment so the noise cancelling is pretty pointless. In fact, I would say Huawei have let themselves down making this claim - the rest of the product feels well designed and capable and gives one a sense of a quality product from a honest company. The noise cancelling *feels* a bit like putting tomato ketchup on a beautiful homemade meal or go faster stripes on a Bentley.*App, Controlling calls etcI downloaded the App on my phone (Android) and suspect it is for the Freebuds version 2. I uninstalled it after trying to update the firmware and receiving errors. I'll try in a month or two as I suspect the app will be updated.Calls can be answered by taping the right bud, simple. There are no other controls on the buds that I am aware of. Again, I do not use the companion app.It would be nice to have volume controls on the ear buds (might be available on the app).5 stars all round.

Setup:Setting up for an iPhone was easy, it is tailored towards android though. To get the best experience, I would recommend you download the AI Life app on Android phone, pair the headphones and update your software. This will ensure that if there are any bugs or fixes included within the headphones, you can get them right away. I’ve got an iPhone, so after that initial hurdle, I didn’t have to use my Android phone again. Having the ability to changing the functions of the double tapping is excellent to be controlled and managed, but honestly, apart from changing it from going to the next song and Play/Pause, there was no need for that app for myself.As the case is also a charger, you can get extend the time you need to plug in quite a bit as well.There is only one button on the outside shell, which is how you pair the headphones. The light initially to look for was a little tricky, but I found it near the bottom side of the charging port. When you are charging as well, the light stays on and changes colour between Red -> Yellow -> Green, showing that Green is where you want to be once fully charged. I like that are two lights shown, one for the outside(for the case) and one for the inside of the actual headphone themselves.The ANC(Active Noise Cancellation) is catered primarily towards Huawei phones, and not just any ones, instead it is targeted for the upper end of smartphones, so it did not yield any positive results on my Huawei Y7 2018. There are small microphones that are listening for the outside noise so they can block out specific frequencies(such as A/C noises, Plane noises, Underground noises).Aesthetically:Let’s not beat around the bush; it’s similar to a pair of Apple AirPods. As I’ve selected the black ones though it does stand out and makes a bold statement, so looks less like the Apple ones. Generally speaking, though, the design really lends itself well to my pocket, and I can always be sure to pull them out quickly without having to struggle on finding them.What I liked is that it doesn’t capture any dust inside which is what I was worried about, so it does prove that it’s built with being long-lasting as possible.The flip-open magnetic latch is excellent and gives a satisfying noise when you open and close it, something which makes the overall experience that little bit more unique.Another feature which I liked was that I could use my iPhone to tell me how much charge was left, which was great and saved me trying to guess how much battery was left on the headphones. I just had to swipe to the left from my home screen, and it showed me the battery percentage there!Technical:Using USB-C for charging means that I can use the same charging cable as my MacBook, so thankfully I won’t have to get another special adaptor which is what I need. Plus, as it does have wireless charging, I can use it in the comfort of my bed knowing that when I wake up in the morning, I don’t have to pull it out of some cord and worry about breaking anything in terms of connectivity.When watching Netflix/Youtube, it works well, and unlike other headphones, it is just as good for podcasts as it is for videos. Where it does struggle and a lot of headphones struggle is live-streaming apps like Twitch or TikTok where there is a significant delay between the noise heard on the headphones.The headphones work with rain, but it certainly cannot be used for swimming, so that’s a big plus if you are on the back on your commute home from work, for example.From an audiophile perspective:It’s great for the highs and mids but not so great for the lows. This is to say that it would not be as bass-heavy as you’d like which is one thing to be mindful.Range:I live in a flat, and knowing how well Bluetooth 5.0 is, I knew it would fair pretty well with the other interferences that would be going around. I even managed to get it working from my 3rd floor flat to the ground floor when I had gone out to get something from the car. That was a pleasant surprise there.Comfort:You can pretty much forget that sometimes you are wearing them at times and they are light, so they lend themselves to just being on your ear the whole time. The only downside which my wife noticed that it warmed her ears up, but she has had this issue with other wireless headphones as well.

Got these recently and I have to say I really love them.My requirements:Open fit (no silicone tips)Great comfort with no pressure in the earWould stay in during walk, jogging, or riding.Strong, stable and clear connectionClear and full sound, with at least medium bass.Well these provide all these requirements and more!!They are so comfortable and gentle in the ear, I kept checking they were still in.The setup and connection is seamless. Install Ai Life app and its done. They work perfectly with my P30 Pro (which I love by the way). The connection was flawless, even as I moved downstairs away from my phone playing music.You control them via tapping on them in the ear. You can adjust what the taps do per ear, in the app.The ANC (active noise cancellation), seems pretty good, but I have yet to really use it. Ill wait till I travel one day. The tones or sounds the ANC blocks, can be dialed in using the app. I played plane cabin ambient noise, loudly through my speakers, and by changing the settings, I was able to block out most of the sound, which was quite cool.The music or sound quality in general is actually very good, and surprised me. It has enough power and bass to satisfy me (I have a large subwoofer connected to my PC) whilst still providing clear sound, and not making anything muddy or unclear. Also, I can still hear the world around me with these in, which is important for safety reasons.Anyway, I highly recommend these. I'm very happy with my purchase.