An In-Depth Review on the Google Pixel Buds

When Google removed the headphone jack from the Google Pixel 2, they had to provide an alternative. The Google Pixel buds are in my opinion a fantastic alternative which make me wonder why I didn't switch to wireless earlier.

I'm sure you've seen all the negative reviews for these cute little headphones however the experiences shared by the Verge, the Guardian, engadget and more don't seem to reflect my time with the Pixel Buds over the last couple days. Maybe I'm biased since I received these £160 earphones as a Christmas present, or I'm simply more tolerant of its shortcomings.

In my view, the most important feature of wireless earphones is, well, the audio. It's not hi-fi quality and probably won't be the best audio experience you can get for the high price tag however (again in my opinion) it provides the perfect balance between treble and bass, making sure that the highs and vocals aren't overwhelmed by bass. That being said, the Pixel Buds deliver a surprisingly large amount of bass for earphones of this size.

The device has an open ear design which means that it does a very poor job at isolating your surroundings. I don't mind this since I'll be primarily using them while walking and therefore being able to hear cars is good. You can turn them up with a simple gesture to immerse yourself. The buds stay inside your ear with the fabric hoops that are formed using the cord. Once settled the earphones sometimes feel like they're about to fall out. It takes some time to get used to this & trust the little hoops.

My first impression as I unboxed the Pixel Buds was just how small and soft the case felt. The fabric used feels premium though the hinge keeping the case together is quite the opposite. Since the case is essential for the function of Pixel Buds I checked with Google Support to make sure that the hinge doesn't contain any electronics - apparently not, so if the top of the case ever falls off it won't be the end of the world.

Inside the small container is three leds. As you're charging the case these go white indicating whether you either have over 75%, 50% or 25% battery in the case with the individual dots. If an amber light is showing then the case's or Pixel Buds battery is critically low. Charging the case is performed through USB C and should provide 20 hours of extra charge (not including the buds). Pressing the small little button while the buds are in the case as well as toggling manual pairing mode switches the leds between the device's battery and the bud's battery - a pulsing green light means that the bud's are connected and charging. I found that the battery lasts for as long as Google claims - 5 hours if I don't use the assistant.

I found that with a bit of practice, inserting and removing the pixel buds from the case was easy to do with two hands, though sometimes as you can see in the video the connection wasn't working and I had to take them out and try again until the green led appeared. The cord wraps around the case and tucks in nice and tidy.

Pairing was a simple process (once you remove the plastic covering the pins) and within minutes I had setup the Google Assistant. The assistant is called by holding and speaking to the right earbud. There's no wait between touching the bud and speaking & if the phone's internet connection is sufficient, the pixel buds respond immediately performing tasks such as searching the weather, sending messages or skipping songs.

[pause, change song]

The whole right side of the earbud is touch sensitive and whilst many reviews say that it is too sensitive, I've sometimes noticed that it isn't sensitive enough. The assistant works 90% of the time however during a conversation (such as sending a message) my buds often failed to hear my response when it asked who I wanted to message. It's not clear whether you're meant to hold down on the right earbud every time you want to speak or not and the voice in your ear switches between a high quality human sounding voice and a not so accurate robotic voice.

On receiving notifications, the Pixel Buds will play a chime as long as your phone isn't in do not disturb mode. For the first two messages it will play the chime and say "Message from Thomas Pepall" (or whoever) and if you ignore both these messages it will simply just play the notification sound until you double tap the right earbud. This behaviour got quite annoying as my friends had conversations on a whatsapp group sending messages that Google struggles to pronounce. On the plus side, you can turn this feature off in the Google Assistant settings. I'd like a way to choose which apps I want to receive spoken notifications from.

Replying to messages is performed by just holding the right earbud. The microphone in the buds is very clear and messages can be dictated clearly. After having made a couple phone calls, the people on the other end said that they wouldn't have guessed I was wearing earbuds.

That's all I really want to say about the Google Pixel Buds, I tested out the translation feature and seems like a bit of a gimmick - adding latency by sending the audio from the buds to the phone and then to the cloud and therefore I'll just simply say that it worked but wasn't particularly impressive. Putting aside the small little issues and glitches with the assistant that will hopefully be solved in software updates, I think that the first generation of Pixel Buds definitely a very good offering from Google however for £159 I think that they appeal more to the early adopter & tech savvy than the general target market that Google is aiming for the Pixel 2. Overall, I'm extremely pleased with my pair and would recommend them to anyone who's willing to spend the money on a good pair of wireless earbuds.

Submitted December 27, 2017 at 10:00PM by _D_A_B_ http://ift.tt/2lhg7tR http://ift.tt/eA8V8J