OnePlus Buds: The best budget TWS?

OnePlus Buds have been officially released with the AR launch event of the OnePlus Nord. The OnePlus Buds is the first entry from the company into the True Wireless Earphones market, even though its subsidiaries have been into the game for a time now.

The new buds have a bold design and a great battery life but is it as worth as it seems?

Table of Contents

Design and Build

In terms of design, the earbuds follow half in-ear design. The design resembles that of Apple Airpods; the ear canal design and the extruding legs seems highly inspired from the Apple Airpods. The head of the earbud, however, is similar to that of OnePlus Bullet Z following the half in-ear design.

The company has mentioned that the half-in ear design being more comfortable for higher demography of people, OnePlus Buds is expected to be snug for wider range of users.

Talking about the case, it seems quite compact. The company has gone with a curved, more squished design. Somehow oval. The case is not bulky and cornered, rather fits perfectly in your pocket. It is washed with matte finishing on top. Meanwhile, the earbuds itself follows a glossy design.

Sound Quality

The new OnePlus buds feature a 13.4mm dynamic driver. Thus, we can expect a decent sound quality with good amount of bass since the 13.44mm driver provides enough travel for the diaphragm.

The buds sport a Dolby Atmos and Dirac Sound support as well allowing users to enjoy 3D stereo audio and ample sound tuning through the Oneplus’s Oxygen OS.

About the codecs, the OnePlus Bud supports only SBC and AAC codecs. They do not support high-quality codecs like APT-X HD and LDAC, limiting itself to receive the transmitted frequency.

Features

The earphones come with the virtual buttons for controls. The CD-design at the back of the buds are actually touch-pads for audio control. The earbuds support customizable double taps and long press functions to give more liberty to the users.

The stock control has next track, previous track, activate assistant and play/pause for double tap function. Meanwhile, the long press function enables users to switch between multiple devices and receive phone calls. These controls can be tweaked per preferences buy the user from Oxygen OS.

With the multiple-device support, you can connect your earbuds with compound devices and seamlessly switch between them. This removes the hassle of disconnecting your earbuds from existing device and pair again with the new one.

The OnePlus buds have other features like in-ear detection to play/pause media when you remove the earphones from your ear. The OnePlus companion app has “find device” feature which lets you navigate your earbuds if you dropped them somewhere while still connected.

Ambient Noise Cancellation

The OnePlus has vaguely mentioned about their “ambient noise cancellation” feature. The earbuds have three different microphones integrated into them for the noise reduction algorithm to work correctly. It makes the call quality clearer and people can send and receive calls more explicitly

Beware that the “noise cancellation” feature is only for microphones but not the earbuds. Thus, this feature won’t block the sound and ambient noises around you when playing music or medias.

Wireless Range and Latency

The Bluetooth range of the earphones is 10 meters. OnePlus has advertised their Fnatic mode for low latency. The company has claimed the buds to have the minimum latency of 103ms keeping you in sync with the actions on screen. This low-latency feature is available through the company’s Oxygen OS only.

Battery Backup

Battery Backup is the area where OnePlus Buds shines in particular. The earbuds can last up to 7 hours of music playback and 4 hours of phone call in a single charge.

The charging case has 420mAh of battery, providing enough juice for the earphones to extend their playback up to 30 hours on a single charge.

In terms of charging, OnePlus says the earbuds can yield up to 10 hours of music playback (case + earbuds) in 10 minutes of charging. Looking at it seems like you don’t really have to worry about the battery while listening to the buds.

The LED in the charging case indicates your charging and battery status.

OnePlus Buds Specifications

Earphone Design: Half In-Ear
Driver Size: 13.4 mm
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0
Battery: 420 mAh, 7hrs (earbuds), 30hrs (case)
Controls: Left/Right touch controls
Wireless Range: 10 m (open space without obstacles)
Microphone: 3 per earbuds; Ambient Noise Cancellation
Supported Codecs: SBC/AAC
Charging Port: USB Type-C
Charging Time: 10 mins for 10 hours (charging box+earbuds)
Colors: White/Gray/Blue

Price & Availability

OnePlus Buds is set to available for order by August 4th alongside the OnePlus Nord. The price for the buds in Rs. 4,990 in India and $79 in Europe and USA.