Regardless of how much we hate the omission of the 3.5mm headphone jack, it’s about time that we make peace with wireless headphones and earbuds. Whilst there are plenty of choices available in the market to serve your Bluetooth audio needs, truly wireless earbuds tend to be the handy choice that people are inclined towards. All thanks to Apple for the AirPods that started the trend of truly wireless earbuds. But with plenty of smartphone manufacturers getting into accessories, it would not be wrong to say that Apple has to fight really hard to claim its crown undisputed, especially when the blow comes from a brand like Samsung.
With the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus now released in Nepal, the question remains what makes it worth your time, money, and attention?
Build and Design
When it comes to build quality and design, it hasn’t changed much in comparison to the Galaxy Buds that released last year — this one has just got a more polished and glossier look to it. It is still compact and both the buds and the carrying case are glossy, hence serves as a magnet that attracts a hell lot of fingerprints.
The build quality for both the earbuds and the case is good, it’s just that the carrying case produces quirky noise sometimes maybe due to the plastic build. No complaints on the build quality of the earbuds though, only if you don’t mind cleaning them a couple of times a day.
Fit and Comfort
The major setback for people that keeps them from making the shift to wireless earbuds is the fit, and that’s something Samsung has sorted out. The in-ear style of these buds not only ensures a proper fit but also adds to the comfort of the Galaxy Buds provided that you swap in the right tips that fit your ear. With swappable wings and tips, the fit and comfort aren’t compromised, but the silicon tips may become a little uncomfortable during prolonged usage.
Connectivity
The Galaxy Buds Plus supports connection via Bluetooth 5.0 which gives them low latency and better operating range. The pairing process is fast and connecting the buds to your phone is quite simple even for the first time as well. Later on, the connection gets so fast that all it takes for you is to just take your buds out of the carrying case.
The Galaxy Buds Plus, just like the wired earphones that come bundled with Samsung flagships, is tuned by AKG.
Apart from looking glossy and beautiful, the side panels on the Buds serve as a touchpad offering you a whole lot of gestures and controls especially if you happen to be a Spotify user — double tap on the earbud lets you control the volume by tapping the edge of the buds and it works perfectly once you enable it. For non-Spotify users, the touchpad is responsive and customizable for single tap as well as tap and hold which is equally customizable and can be assigned to turn on ambient sound, control volume, activating voice command, and more.
Fun fact, turning the extra high ambient volume actually made me hear more than I could hear with my ears, however, the ambient sound is unusable while riding and feels a bit finicky and weird. Turning it off would help.
There is a noticeable amount of lag sometimes but turning “Gaming Mode” on through the Galaxy Wearable app solves the issue. Do bear in mind that the Gaming Mode feature isn’t available on every phone so you need to have a pretty decent phone. “Find My Buds” feature on the app can come in handy for most of us, as the compact size makes it tough to keep track of. The sound of birds chirping is the sound that the buds make once the “Find My Buds” option is toggled.
To conclude, it’s safe to say that the buds are well built and you’ll enjoy using it once you get past the learning curve that comes with the companion Galaxy Wearable app.
Audio
The Galaxy Buds Plus, just like the wired earphones that come bundled with Samsung flagships, is tuned by AKG. Not just for namesake but the audio coming out of the buds are good.
The dual-driver system on the buds makes up for clear vocals accompanied by thumpy bass i.e. the lows are enhanced for punchy bass but it isn’t overpowering. The mids and lows are decent at best. On the other hand, the Galaxy Wearable app offers equalizer options and presets are available for fine-tuning the audio to your liking.
The only gripe that I had with the Galaxy Buds Plus in the audio department is the connectivity issue between left and right buds, as sometimes the sync sounds off resulting in unpleasant audio. Reconnecting the Galaxy Buds Plus fixes the issue but it’s something that is a little bothersome.
But for the price that the Galaxy Buds Plus is available at, it’s hard to complain as it offers decently balanced audio.
Battery
This is what the Galaxy Buds is remarkably good at. With almost 12 hours of playback out of a single charge on the actual buds plus one extra charging cycle with the case makes it a small yet powerful package that will last you all day long during your extended Netflix sessions this quarantine or otherwise.
The case along with the buds takes 1.5 hours to get from 0 to 100 and has support for wireless charging as well. Fast charging on the Galaxy Buds offers you almost 2 hours of playback with just 15 minutes of charging which is great if you’re running short on time.
During one month of usage, the battery life has been exponential. If there is something that annoys me most about the Galaxy Buds Plus is that one of the earbuds shows different battery percentages, which means one of the earbuds dies quickly than the other.
For the price of NPR 17,000, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus is a sweet deal.
Also, there’s this occasional beeping and heating issue on the Galaxy Buds, either the beep indicates that the buds are overheated which in turn drains the battery, is yet to be confirmed. But more likely it might be just a software bug that can be fixed with a firmware upgrade hopefully.
Conclusion
Wrapping things up, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus are the near-perfect earbuds out there in the market. Yes, it has its shortcomings, but these are some minor trade-offs that can and hopefully will be fixed with a firmware upgrade. There are plenty of options available in the market but the battery life and the sheer audio quality on the Galaxy Buds Plus more than compensates for these little hiccups. For the price of NPR 17,000 in Nepal, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus is a sweet deal.