The Huawei Freebuds Pro is the latest among Huawei’s plan to dominate the mobile audio category – leveraging on their brand name and #1 mobile market share to capture the ears of spec-hungry users. However, there are already so many wireless audio devices, and earbuds in particular, from high end to low end. How will the Freebuds Pro stand out?
Huawei’s Freebuds Pro is part of the premium true wireless audio line – generally reserved for those who don’t want to spend for an Apple, Sennheiser, or Sony, but still want the same high-end quality.
Huawei filled the Freebuds Pro with a nice list of premium features as well.
- Dynamic Active noise cancelling up to 40db- will adapt noise cancellation depending on the environment
- Awareness mode with human voice focus – will let users hear outside noise even while listening to the earbuds
- Dual Anti-Wind Noise Design – will block out pesky wind noise while running or when a fan is blowing nearby
- Dynamic 11mm Drivers
Selling for just Php7,999 it’s one of the most feature-packed earbuds at this price point.
We’ve had the Huawei Freebuds Pro (the ceramic white color) for a little more than a day, and here’s our unboxing and initial impressions.
Packaging and Contents
The Huawei Freebuds Pro comes in a small square box – pretty standard for earbuds this size. Design is also similar to most other Huawei devices – including the Freebuds 3. However, the Freebuds Pro comes with a little more fancy gold lettering instead of the usual Huawei signature red – signifying that the Freebuds Pro is more premium.
Removing the Huawei Freebuds 3 from the box had a very Apple-like feel – it really does seem like unboxing an Apple product.
After removing the Freebuds pro charging case from the box, instructions on how to remove the main earbuds from the case. This is actually quite important because removing the buds from the case is not an easy task if you have big fingers.
The back part of the Freebuds Pro charging case has a shiny metallic Huawei Logo. It doesn’t serve any purpose, I was hoping it would have a small LED screen but it didn’t light up. The charging case itself is by no means slim – it will still fit in your pocket but will probably be bulging a little.
At the bottom of the charging case is a small round multi-light indicator and the USB Type-C charging port.
After removing all of the contents of the box, we have only a few things – A quick start guide and full manual, the main unit (charging case + buds), two extra pairs of silicone ear tips, and a hefty Type-C charging cable. There is no wall charger included.
The extra silicone tips come in small and big size – the earbuds already include the medium sized tip.
The Huawei Freebuds Pro (in ceramic white color) feels very similar to the Airpods pro, although with a bit more boxy stem. Even the charging case is the same as how the Airpods pro is docked. To be fair, this is how a lot of earbuds with stems are docked, so this is pretty much industry standard now.
There is some technique to pop out the earbuds, which were included in the instructions. It needs to be slightly pushed out with the thumb first then pinched out. It does get easier after a while but if you’ve never used earbuds before, it is initially a challenge.
Instruction Manual
The quickstart guide already includes most of the things that needs to be understood before using the earbuds, including gestures, charging, Active Noise Cancellation, and charging. We’ll discuss the other features in the full review.
Initial Fit and testing
The main part of the bud itself is not too large, compared to other buds I’ve used previously. Since my ears are a bit big, I was initially worried that it might seem too small, but it proved to be a non-issue since the fit was just right. Huawei AI Life app also has a tip fit test so you can also test it out if you’re not too sure if the fit is right.
Another great thing about the Freebuds Pro is that there not really a lot of pressure build-up when putting in the buds, which is normally an issue with other earbuds. This is primarily due to the small black vent that pushes air out when you put the earbuds in. A small detail, but still very helpful.
Initial Impressions
Initial sound quality when playing music from Spotify was great and pretty well-balanced. It didn’t sound fantastic but all the details in songs were crisp and clear. Bass was just right – definitely clear but not too heavy, Huawei seemed to be staying safe on this aspect. Mids were pronounced and punchy, while the highs were full and not too tinny. Overall the experience was pleasant for general use.
Trying out calls were also a great experience. Definitely a big improvement over the built-in mic and speaker on my phone (Samsung Note 10+) and the Freebuds Pro could dampen minimal environmental noises such as keyboard clacking and electric fan vibrations. The microphone, however, seemed to be very sensitive due to the multiple dynamic mics on the Freebuds Pro, but voice quality was still very clear.
Overall, we were impressed with the Freebuds Pro, but we’ll need to do more testing. More on the details on this during our full review!
Full Specifications
- Dimensions
- Per earbud
- Height: 26 mm
- Width: 29.6 mm
- Depth: 21.7 mm
- Weight: About 6.1 g
- Charging case
- Height: 70 mm
- Width: 51.3 mm
- Depth: 24.6 mm
- Weight: About 60 g
- Per earbud
- Colors:
- Silver Frost
- Ceramic White
- Audio Technologies
- Active noise cancellation
- Call noise cancellation
- Awareness mode
- Voice mode
- Dual Anti-Wind Structure
- Sensor
- Bone Sensor
- Battery Capacities
- Per earbud: 55 mAh (min.)*
- Charging case: 580 mAh (min.)*
- Charging
- Wired: USB Type-C (5 V/1.2 A/6 W)
- Wireless: supported (2 W)
- Driver
- 11mm dynamic
- Connectivity
Bluetooth compatibility: BT 5.2
- Pop-up pair: supported*
- Wear detection: supported
- Simultaneous Bluetooth connection with dual devices: supported
- *Requires smartphones running EMUI10 or above.
- Controls
- Press control: once/twice/three times/long press
- Swipe control: up/down
- In the Box
- Earbuds
- Silicone ear tips (three sizes)
- Wireless charging case
- USB-C charging cable
- Quick start guide
- Safety information
- Warranty card
Ratings
- Playtime (used with EMUI 11)
- Music playback:
- 5 hours (with ANC enabled)**
- 8 hours (with ANC disabled)**
- Music playback:
- Playtime
- Music playback:
- 4 hours (with ANC enabled)***
- 7 hours (with ANC disabled)***
- Music playback:
- Voice calls:
- 2.5 hours (with ANC enabled)***
- 3 hours (with ANC disabled)***
- Charging time
- ~40 minutes for the earbuds (in the charging case)***
- ~1 hour for the charging case (wire, without earbuds)***
- ~2 hours for the charging case (wireless, without earbuds)***
Pre-Order Details
Pre-order the Huawei Freebuds Pro starting November 27 to Dec 3 and get a limited-time freebie bundle worth Php 3,989 that includes a Huawei Band 4 and Entertainment Gift Package!
To pre-order and know more about the product, you may refer to this link: https://consumer.huawei.com/ph/shop/product/huawei-freebuds-pro-pre-order/
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*Typical value. Actual capacity may vary slightly. This capacity is the nominal battery capacity. The actual battery capacity for each individual product may be slightly above or below the nominal battery capacity.
**Listed data is applicable on some Huawei smartphones when running EMUI 11 or later as follows: HUAWEI Mate 40, HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro, HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+, HUAWEI Mate 40 RS Porsche Design, HUAWEI P40, HUAWEI P40 Pro, HUAWEI P40 Pro+. When the earbuds are paired with other devices, the actual data may vary depending on product functions and system differences.
***The battery life and charging data come from Huawei labs with conditions by default: volume at 50%, and the AAC mode is enabled. The actual battery life may vary depending on the volume, audio source, environment interference, product functions, and usage habits. Based on the test results of HUAWEI lab, for reference only.