Huawei is in some sort of serious trouble facing US restrictions yet the company is still concentrating more on its IoT products a lot. FreeBuds series of TWS earphones has been quite impressive in the past. We have covered the reviews of FreeBuds 3 and Freebuds 3i a few months back. Today we are covering the full review of the newly launched Huawei Freebuds 4i by mentioning its pros and cons.
Box Contents:
- FreeBuds 4i with Charging case
- User manual with warranty card
- Type C cable for charging
- Extra ear tips with variable sizes
Design And Build:
➤ The Freebuds 4i is available in three attractive colors: white, black, and red, and are IP54 water-resistant up to 1m, so they can easily withstand rain. The compact case resembles a delightfully premium, piano-white pebble. There is a button on the side for pairing and a Type C port for charging is available at the bottom. One thing I appreciate very much is that the charging case is so small and rounded so that it fits well in both hand and pocket.
➤ When you crack it open, you’ll find the earbuds inside. It’s safe to say they’re pretty much AirPods clone, alike countless other wireless earbuds on the market. It’s just a design to keep the case firmly on the desk. However, the lower price tag than the Freebuds Pro makes it somewhat acceptable for the lack of wireless charging support. When it comes to Huawei’s freebuds 4i it’s well built.
➤ Taking the buds out of the case is quite tricky for people like me with big and rounded fingers. As for ear fitness, it’s quite convenient to wear and isn’t falling off easily. Even for someone with small ears, even for a long time, the correct cavity design of the earpieces does not cause evident discomfort.
➤ Finally, there are the sensors, which are almost invisible. On your smartphone using AI Life App you can customize those actions to a double-tap on each earbud to play and pause, while a long press toggles between the ‘noise canceling’ and ‘awareness’ modes. The controls are accurate and useful for skipping tracks and pausing, but instead of relying on our phones, we wish we could slide up and down to adjust the volume.
FreeBuds 4i Audio Quality:
➤ This set includes 10mm dynamic coil drivers as well as what Huawei refers to as a “responsive polymer composing diaphragm.” That means the internals are made of a material that produces better audio than other wireless earbuds, in layman’s terms. It supports AAC Bluetooth decoding, as with most high-end earbuds.
➤ FreeBuds 4i sounds good for their price. The key aspect is the bassline in all styles of music. At high-frequency delivery, the FreeBuds 4i is outstanding, whereas the bass is relatively less impressive.
➤ The latency performance on most android devices of the FreeBuds 4i is quite good, but it’s naturally better when linked with a Huawei device as an earbud product developed by Huawei.
➤ Considering their price, being a freebuds 3i user it’s no surprise that they have included active noise cancellation(ANC). ANC works well and does a good job of masking noises from a noisy office or street traffic. But, as always, a lot of it depends on how snug they are in your ears, Because of its built-in mics, the Freedbuds 4 does a nice job of shutting out all the noise from the universe. choosing the right-sized earbuds will give you better isolation. The larger ones provide more protection, but I believe they can be improved by investing a few bucks on foam earbud tips.
Call Quality:
Call quality is an important aspect of any earphones. With Freebuds 4i, I didn’t face any call quality issues. Thanks to its dual microphones which are placed in a slit-duct design that effectively reduces outer noise. Huawei also claims that they have implemented AI Noise Reduction which picks up our noise perfectly in a crowded environment and receiver can hear our voice in a loud and clear manner. Overall I was thoroughly satisfied by its call quality.
Battery Life:
Huawei claims that its 4i earbuds provide up to 10 hours of continuous music playback, which is increased to 22 hours when the charging case is included.
In my usage, they happily lasted a full day. You’ll get less than 10 hours of use, approximately 4-5hrs with ANC switched on. It takes around an hour to fully charge the earbuds and around 1.5hrs to fully charge the charging case (excluding earbuds in it)
About AI Life App:
Huawei has a dedicated application to control all their IoT products. You can use AI Life App to set up, manage, customize and update (firmware update) earbuds in an easy manner.
Verdict:
The Huawei Freebuds 4i is an inexpensive, attractive pair of truly wireless earbuds that are perfect for sports and other purposes. Its specs are well rounded that you won’t miss out on any high-end features like ANC at an attractive price tag. In general, these are a dependable and fashionable offering from Huawei!
FreeBuds 4i Pros And Cons:
Pros:
✔ Attractive Pricing
✔ Active Noise Cancellation (upto 22dB)
✔ Vocals are outstanding
Cons:
✘ Fragile Build
✘ Battery Life is quite Average
✘ Average Bass
