Huawei Freebuds 4 – a nice addition to the Huawei suite of devices

Huawei releases their latest in the line of earbuds with the Freebuds 4 which are set to hit the market on June 24th. Are these the earbuds you have been waiting for?

Huawei Freebuds 4 First impressions

Straight out of the box and first thing you notice about the new Huawei Freebuds 4 is the brilliant white that is synonymous with another tech company. Sure, it is attractive, but I feel Huawei should move away from being seen as an imitator.

The circle-shaped case is nice to the touch, if not a little plasticky. The earbuds slot in and out with ease, but, I know I am being picky, but could the design have allowed for them to be placed in and out of the ear and box without having to rotate them? I found I was always trying to slot the left bud into the right slot in the case. There is a reassuring snap shut click to the case, which I liked.

Set up

Pairing with a Huawei phone is seamless and like other Huawei devices the bluetooth connectivity is instantaneous when you need it. Using Huawei’s AI Life app allows you instant access to all the settings and functions of the Freebuds. I loved the animation that pops up on the phone screen telling you of battery life and performance. On the downside I tried pairing the earbuds using the Huawei AI Life app on my iPhone to no success, but when I tried the traditional route of connecting via bluetooth, and not the app, it worked and has worked every time since. Unfortunately, trying to connect them to an Apple computer did not work for me at all.

The fit

Pop them in and they are snug and wearing them for Teams or Zoom calls, listening to music and podcasts while walking they did not slip out of my ear once, which I really liked.

The sound

There was a hollowness in sound when I was on Teams calls, but it is hard to know if this is a fault of the part of Microsoft or Huawei. Like many still working from home, I need to use earphones for long periods. One of the good things about the Freebuds is that despite having them in for those long meetings which seem to go on forever, I did not experience any soreness or ear fatigue. So this is a bug thumbs up in that regard.  Listening to music I found that the Freebuds are loud. Maybe I am getting old, but they seemed to perform and pump out that music more loudly than other earbuds I am familiar with. The sound is crisp, the bass is boomy and there was a clarity in delivery which made listening to a variety of genres pleasant.

Functionality and battery life

Popping the Freebuds 4 in you hear an accompanying sound informing you that you are connected. The stems are touch sensitive. You have a double tap, a long press and a vertical swipe up and down for functions like ending calls or music, pausing, skipping to next song and adjusting volume. All of these are customisable in the Huawei AI Life app also.

Open-fit Noise Cancellation 2.0 has been added and the dual microphone is now sensitive to external ambient noise and allows for noise cancelling, which comes in handy for Teams or Zoom calls, or even old-fashioned telephone calls. Not once did anyone complain about background noise when I was on a call with them.

If you lose them, you have the Find My Earphones facility to locate them. But unusually for me, in the short time I have had them, I have not misplaced them.

One feature which is cool is that you can now share what you are listening to with someone else taking one of the Freebuds. I am sure this will be popular with many people.

Charging with a USB-C makes things easy and battery life performs well. I got up to 4 hours with the active noise cancellation turned off and about 2 with it on. The charging case when fully charged provides between 14 to 22 hours of playback. Need to get a quick boost for that important call, then in 15 minutes you can sufficient battery life for a long meeting or call.

All in all, the Freedbuds 4 are stylish, relatively easy to set up (simple if on a Huawei deivce) are a good fit in ear, and provide a good bang for your buck in terms of sound delivery, battery life and functionality. The Freedbuds 4 are a nice addition to the Huawei suite of devices.

You can pick the Freedbuds 4 from June 24th up for €139. More details here – https://consumer.huawei.com/ie/

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