OnePlus Buds Review: new buds

Tell me that's what I think it is, tells me that's what I thought, new buds who dares? The next day. which one of these earbuds costs $20? Which one cost $80? Which one cost $160? The $80 ones are the OnePlus Buds and the point is OnePlus made an AirPod alternative, it looks just like every other AirPod alternative on the market and like, of course, they did. I mean, this stem design has proven to be hello functional. The mic is close to your mouth, the fit fits most people, and the amount of ambient sound that went through is just enough to still feel part of the world around you, but also be able to hear your music. Okay, so the question for the OnePlus Buds is not about to fit and form, but instead, it's did OnePlus make an AirPod alternative for half of the price that is as reliable and as functional as AirPods? Let's get into that.

 

 So the OnePlus Buds, they come in a pretty plasticky oval case, that is a bit wider than the case of the Google Pixel Buds and thicker than the AirPod's case. On the bottom, there's a USB-C port, on the back, a pairing button, on the inside magnets, hold the buds snugging the case. They come in black, white, and this kinda crazy teal color that I think is a little bit too much of a purple color but the buds get you around seven hours of continuous music playback and the case holds 30hours of music playback, which is around four full charges. It takes around 80 minutes to charge the case from zero to a hundred and I have had zero issues with battery life while using these and I am a bud's power user, but I'm also a wireless charging super fan and there's no wireless charging in these ones 

 

OnePlus claims that these buds "These buds have unique noise reduction algorithm and three microphones one each bud to improve clarity." That sounds like a hell of a claim and it also sounds like we need to do a mic test. And we're doing kitchen again because I really think that this is a hell of background noise to try to get rid of. I bought these because they were the cheapest I could find that looks like AirPods and also have pretty decent reviews. And for $80, we have the OnePlus Buds. These have three microphones on each bud so it should really be picking up my voice and I mean, of course, these long stems absolutely help. And for $160, these are the AirPods and we say this every-time we do a mic test, The OnePlus Buds are IPX for water and sweat resistant. These buds will be good in the rain and definitely protected from sweat. A big downfall to these buds though is that you cannot use one bud independently, and as soon as you take one out, your music will pause, and when you put it back in your music will resume. There's also no app for these buds and the tap control out of the box is limited. Double-tap a bud to skip to the next song or hold down on a bud for three seconds to switch between synced devices and that's it.

 

One Plus phones will be pushed a software update, allowing them to choose their preferred action for double-tapping, including pausing music, jumping to the previous track or activating the Google Assistant. But that's only for OnePlus devices and dudes, So are the OnePlus Buds, a half-priced AirPod alternative that is reliable and functional? Yes, yes they are, and if you're an OnePlus user, you're gonna have full control over these. But for everybody else, there is a massive market of AirPod alternatives out there that range from $20 to $160 and beyond. And there are other options that maybe have a little bit more functionality than these do. If you'll allow me to be in my feelings for just like two seconds more, (sighs) from a company whose slogan is "Never settle", I was just like hoping, yeah, like really, really hoping, hoping for a little bit more innovation.