Huawei’s newest flagship TWS earphones – the Freebuds Professional 2 – come as a pure evolution of the primary Freebuds Professional. They’re co-engineered with Devialet and having spent appreciable time testing them we at the moment are able to share what we hope will probably be some helpful impressions.
We had the Silver Blue set, which is certainly the belle of the ball – there are additionally Black and White choices for extra conventional seems to be. Selecting a daring shade for an adjunct normally means it is going to be an accent in a single’s attire, and on this case, the Freebuds Professional 2 in Blue are undoubtedly a head-turner.
The case has a matte coating and mirror-like end on the hinge the place we will additionally see Devialet’s brand. The earbuds themselves are shiny and are large fingerprint magnets, which rapidly degrades their seems to be. Huawei launched an oblong design of the stem within the first Freebuds, however now the perimeters are better-rounded and the entire earbud seems to be seamless and a lot better total.
The case helps wi-fi charging however unusually the coil is positioned it on the entrance. Whenever you place the case on the wi-fi charger, you could have the Devialet brand going through the highest, however clearly you possibly can’t simply function the lid. The opposite parts of curiosity are a USB-C port on the underside and a reset key on the right-hand aspect.
The retail field has a USB-A cable and two further sizes of rubber suggestions for the buds. The Freebuds Professional 2 help all telephones, however you solely get the AI Life companion app on Android from Huawei’s AppGallery.
The earbuds themselves are fairly succesful however it’s Huawei’s app that makes the distinction. It may be used to toggle Noise Management modes, set totally different Sound results and edit gestures. There may be additionally a “Tip match take a look at” that helps you choose the precise set of rubber suggestions from those provided within the field.
Our expertise confirmed that it is a little bit redudant as a result of we had already chosen those that felt snug and the app merely confirmed our alternative is right. Consolation is essential for TWS earphones, however sadly it is a strictly private matter as everybody’s ears are a little bit totally different. For what it is price this reviewer felt no discomfort from having these buds within the ear for the previous weeks.
There was additionally the occasional jog on the native operating monitor and trails within the mountain simply exterior the town – the Freebuds stayed within the ear to the purpose of forgetting they’re even there.
The Freebuds Professional 2 design of the stems shouldn’t be their most uncommon characteristic, it their contact navigation. Huawei determined to forestall unintentional touches to the outer aspect and now it’s important to pinch with two fingers.
Huawei Freebuds Professional 2 in Huawei AI Life
The essence of the gestures have remained the identical – one pinch is Play/Pause, two pinches are Subsequent track, three pinches are Earlier track; Pinch & maintain is Noise Management; Swipe is on the aspect and controls the quantity. All of them are customizable and may even be turned off.
What we discovered awkward is the try to pinch two or thrice. It’s not a basic pinch, there needs to be at the least 1 sec (1000 ms) per gesture and infrequently it wasn’t detected accurately, so I can say it didn’t really feel nice when listening to a podcast. Sure, pinch and maintain works nice, however that’s the one gesture I might reliably use. And it isn’t like I did not give them time to get used to – I struggled with this for the previous 5 weeks.
Audio efficiency is a very powerful characteristic of TWS earphones, and the FreeBuds Professional 2 actually impress right here.
This comes as no shock – the earlier Freebuds Professional have been among the many finest earphones of this kind issue we ever examined, and clearly, Huawei’s partnership with Devialet helped tune this correctly as effectively.
The drives chosen and the software program tuning obtain class-leading audio expertise. To begin with, there’s a Twin Sound system that consists of a quad-magnet 11mm dynamic driver and a separate UHF planar diaphragm driver.
Often these parts are in a single module however Huawei managed to separate them claiming that it actually cleans up the output.
In apply, they ship the deepest bass we’ve ever heard from such small buds, in addition to clear vocals. Right here’s the place AI Life is useful – the app presents 4 key Sound results, which is mainly a elaborate equalizer, and we beloved the Bass increase preset.
You’ll be able to create your customized equalizer too, and activate some extra software program options together with Sensible HD and HD Voice that goal to enahnce the output additional, however they clearly carry out effectively solely with sure tracks and damage battery life.
Talking of voice calls, every bud has three microphones – two outward, directed in direction of the mouth, and a 3rd that sits on the within and takes care of exterior sounds to supply noise cancellation.
The Freebuds Professional 2 provide three essential noise management choices – Consciousness that reinforces surrounding noises and has a toggle for enhancing voices. It does an awesome job and generally may even turn out to be overwhelming in a grocery store with all of the folks round and registers beeping.
The second possibility is Off and is the default one.
The third possibility is Noise Cancelling. It has 4 power ranges and it does a stable job on the increased ranges.
Huawei Freebuds Professional 2 case
The Freebuds Professional 2 case has a 580 mAh battery, and every bud has a 55 mAh battery. Huawei’s claimed endurance and our findings within the totally different noise cancelling modes are listed within the chart beneath.
| Mode on a single cost | Huawei Labs Playtime | Actual-life Playtime |
| Noise cancelling | 4 hours | 220 minutes/ 3 hours 40 minutes |
| Off | 6.5 hours | 360 minutes/ 6 hours |
| Consciousness (not really helpful for a chronic use) |
N/A | 200 minutes/ 3h 20 min |
Huawei promised 40 minutes for charging the earbuds from 0 to 100% within the case. We charged the buds at the least 20 instances and the common is simply shy of 45 minutes – fairly first rate.
The corporate additionally claimed the Freebuds Professional 2 case fills up in 60 minutes, supplied the buds aren’t inside. Our real-life charging instances have been persistently within the 70 to 75 minutes window.
Wi-fi charging takes twice as lengthy – as much as 2.5 hours from 0 to 100%, so in case you are in a rush plug in a cable.
Huawei did a formidable job with the Freebuds Professional 2 – unmatched sound, smooth design and stable battery life, mixed with wonderful noise cancelling.
Priced at €199 they definitely aren’t low-cost, however they nonetheless really feel like an awesome deal. Much more so while you think about the freebies Huawei presents in most of its on-line shops – like a free Watch Band 7 or a reduced Scale 3. That is clearly a tool price shopping for and we will solely suggest it a lot earlier than we run out of superlatives.
