Galaxy Buds have arrived to replace the successful Gear IconX and bet on a lighter, compact design and powerful sound. Do they compete with Apple's EarPods? Check out our analysis
The Galaxy Buds only the new bet of Samsung for the wireless headphones market. This is not the first attempt by the South Korean to grab that market share that was introduced and sequenced with the AirPods of Apple, since she had already made two generations of the well-received Gear IconX. The Galaxy Buds they bet on compact design, high quality sound and complete interaction with the new Galaxy S10 family. O Showmetech received the gadget and now you can see the complete analysis.
Strengths
- Beautiful and compact design, its lightness stands out;
- Sturdy and small charging case;
- Bluetooth 5.0 connection stable and uninterrupted;
- Batteries together guarantee optimum autonomy;
- Resources complement the experience, such as Som Ambiente.
Negative points
- Microphone produces metallic and ill-defined sound;
- Bixby gets in the way more than it helps.
Beautiful and compact
Overall, Galaxy Buds they are very beautiful, with an all white design that includes two headphones and a charging case. The headphones come with a rubber tip for a better fit – which can also be replaced by others included in the box.
In the first instance, when placing Galaxy Buds in the ear, there is the feeling that it will fall or move, but the perfect fit and surprisingly stable and comfortable even in many hours of continuous use. Sportsmen and lovers of a race in the late afternoon will not be at hand.
The headphones have a pearly part that works by touch. There you can play / pause the music, skip tracks, answer and end calls, start the Bixby, voice assistant of Google and listen to the ambient sound, all this is configurable in the application Samsung Wearables.
Touch controls are fine, but accuracy is essential. In several situations when changing the music (which needs to be touched twice), I did not play exactly in the center and the music ended up pausing. something uncomfortable in the first few uses, but the user gets used to it.
The charging case is very compact and can be stored anywhere. It is very resistant and smaller than the case Gear IconX, and it makes a lot of difference when putting it in your pocket because it doesn't bother you. The case also has an LED that shows the remaining amount of battery in the Galaxy Buds and also a USB-C port on the back for charging.
Connectivity and Battery
The Galaxy Buds connect via Bluetooth 5.0, and the initial connection is very simple and quick. During the execution of music, the sound in no time choked or decreased the quality, but bluetooth, the distance that the user must stay from the smartphone is still a problem, since any wall or distance greater than 3 meters already makes the connection encounter some barriers.
The battery of Galaxy Buds has a good durability. O gadget it has a 58mAh battery in each of the headphones and the case has 252mAh, which guarantees around 6 hours in the headphones themselves and another full charge of the case, giving 6 more hours of playback. more than enough until the user finds a charging source.
It is worth mentioning that, in addition to standard charging via the USB-C connection, Galaxy Buds have wireless charging, so it can be charged directly from the back of a Galaxy S10 with the PowerShare, for example, or any other device compatible with the technology.
Battery information is displayed directly from the application Samsung Wearables, however, only the duration of the headphones is shown, leaving the case independent from its own LED. During our tests, the battery of the Buds proved to be very durable. Its charging speed, despite not having fast charging technology, was a positive surprise.
Sound good, but could be better
The sound experience is one of the most important questions when looking for a headset, and until the Galaxy Buds do not disappoint. They have excellent frequency separation, powerful and deep bass. They also impress in the sound quality and music with many elements are well distributed, making details that are imperceptible in cheaper headphones stand out here.
However, the headphones sin a little in the middle and treble, they seem retracted and need a direct adjustment in the equalizer to highlight these frequencies.
The big problem is precisely in the standard equalization of the headphones by the application Samsung Wearable. The Galaxy Buds fail to shine in their entirety with the presets present in the app, requiring an understanding of the cell phone's equalization system to increase desired frequencies and decrease unwanted frequencies. For the most demanding, even the use of an equalizer from another developer for finer adjustments in ears more sensitive to details is necessary here.
The size of the rubbers greatly influences the bass perception of the phone, but as the Galaxy Buds accompany rubbers of different sizes, just look for those that most isolate the ears from the external sound for the headphones to show what they are capable of.
In general, music addicts will be very satisfied with the quality coming from Galaxy Budseven if they do not have noise isolation from more expensive headphones, but for wireless headphones, the sound quality is impressive.
J the microphone of Buds disappointing. The audio sent and recorded were of very poor quality, even though the headphones have a technology that identifies the sounds of the ambient sound and reduces them so that your voice can stand out – in fact, it makes the voice more metallic and robotic, and the outer noise, which should disappear, it is still present.
Samsung Wearable App and Touch Funes
The application Samsung Wearable mandatory for the use of Buds, because through it we configure all the touch functionality of the headphones and monitor how much battery is left.
The interface is pleasant and very easy to handle: right away we already have information on the remaining battery in Buds, the equalizer with 5 presets, the function Find My Earbuds and options to configure notifications, ringtone and surround sound.
The resourceFind My Earbuds very interesting. Upon activating, the Galaxy Buds emits a sound of birds humming to help the user find their headphones, but unfortunately the sound produced by Buds very low, so nothing to lose them in a noisy place or under the pillow.
Notifications via Buds they're kind of uncomfortable. You can select which application you would like to receive such notifications, but in our tests I selected Whatsapp and every time I received a message, the current music I was listening to was paused and the Bixby spoke the name of the application that had received the notification. What really bothered me was the fact that the current music or playback was paused for about 3 seconds. If the warning was something more subtle or the music didn’t need to be paused for the user to be notified, the function would be much more interesting.
However, the touch and hold functions of the Galaxy Buds they are very interesting: if you keep the touch button pressed for 2 seconds, the phone activates an extra command that is configurable by the application, such as activating the voice command, listening to the ambient sound, decreasing and increasing the volume, among others.
In the old Gear IconX the volume control was like a standard gesture when sliding your finger up and down, and I wish it had been maintained, since even if the volume control is configurable in the touch options, the user will open two commands for one us Buds.
However, of the extra commands available, what caught my attention the most and which I used avidly was the Ambient sound. By holding down the touch button, you are able to hear what's going on around you without having to take your headphones off.
this function is very convenient and even if the sound captured is half metallic and sometimes it doesn’t capture the voices of the environment that you really want to hear more clearly, something that the owners of Buds I will not be able to use it on a daily basis. It is worth remembering that the Ambient sound can be configured to be always active by the application, set volume and clarity in the surrounding voices, so the user can continue listening to their music and the ambient sound at the same time, which is not recommended as it affects the quality of the music being played .
Completed
The Galaxy Buds they are a good choice for those who want wireless headphones to be their faithful partners on a daily basis. With good sound, interesting functions and great drums, the owners will not be dissatisfied. Initially, Galaxy Buds were given as gifts to those who pre-sold the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10e smartphones, but can already be found in retail with values ​​around R $ 1,000.00.
As a gift they stand out for providing a better experience than the headphones that come in the cell phone case, but as an accessory to be purchased separately, the Galaxy Buds they are more expensive than they can provide. For those looking for a higher quality sound experience, several other headphones and headphones Cheaper ones bring a much superior experience in this regard.
Galaxy Buds technical specifications
Model | Galaxy Buds |
Processor | BCM43014 |
THE | RTOS |
Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.0 Profile: A2DP, AVRCP, HFPCodec: Scalable (Samsung), AAC, SBC |
Drums | Buds: 58mAhCase: 252mAh |
Sensors | Proximity, accelerometer, ambientetoque |
Dimensions and weight | Buds: 17.5 x 22.5 x 19.2mm 5.6g Case: 70 x 38.8 x 26.5mm 39.6g |
Colors | Black, white, yellow |
Price | R $ 999.00 |
Samsung Galaxy Buds
- Construction – 9/10
- Design – 9/10
- Connectivity – 8/10
- Sound – 7.5 / 10
- Drums – 7/10
- Microphone – 5/10
- Funes and features – 8.5 / 10
7.7 / 10
Samsung Galaxy Buds
Samsung's Galaxy Buds are the company's bet to compete with Apple's EarPods. Its construction is very decent and the design fits the ears perfectly. The sound is also competent, even if sinning in the middle and high frequencies. What disappoints the microphone, which has a robotic voice and poor quality. Overall, Buds is a good wireless headset, but for the price, there are better options on the market.
Pros
- Beautiful and compact design, its lightness stands out;
- Sturdy and small charging case;
- Bluetooth 5.0 connection stable and uninterrupted;
- Batteries together guarantee good autonomy;
- Resources complement the experience, such as Som Ambiente.
Cons
- Microphone produces metallic and robotic sound;
- Mid and treble are poorly defined.