Before leaving the house back in the day, it was always “Keys, wallet, phone.” These days it’s more “Keys, phone, headphones,” with the wallet becoming less essential given our phone handles most things and headphones booming in popularity. Like most tech giants, Google has its own range of wireless earbuds, coming in both standard and pro models. I’ve been testing the Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 for the past couple of months, and surprisingly I’ve become a big fan and they’re now my go-to earbuds.
Available in Porcelain, Peony, Wintergreen and Hazel for $379, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 utilise Google’s A1 Tensor chip, which has allowed Google to beef up things like active noise cancelling (ANC) and battery life, and to utilise the new Gemini AI technology. But the biggest change is in the physical attributes, with the Buds Pro 2 undergoing a redesign that sees a significant reduction of 27% in size, making them lighter and much easier to wear for long periods.
The Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 have a rounded design that lets the earbuds sit inside your ears. Previously, I’ve avoided rounded designs because I’ve always assumed they’d fall out due to their bulkiness and my small ears. However, Google claims to have used data points from 45 million different ears to ensure they’re its comfiest earbuds yet, and once I mastered the art of putting them in using the new notch to twist and lock them into place they felt snug in my ears. The earbuds also feature touch controls that allow users to adjust volume, answer calls, skip tracks and more. Like most touch gestures they take a bit to get used to, but once you’re familiar with the sweet spots they’re easy to use.
Coming in a sleek and compact case that offers great portability, there’s a pairing button, a speaker to utilise Find My Device, and a USB-C charging port on the bottom, with the case providing up to 48 hours of juice with noise cancelling disabled or 30 hours with it enabled. The earbuds themselves will last around up to 12 hours with noise cancelling off and up to eight hours with it on, which is a tasty battery life, especially for those who use them a lot every day. For comparison, the Apple AirPods Pro 2 provide up to six hours with ANC on and seven hours with ANC off, so Google has brought its A-game here.
With the comfort box ticked, the question is whether Google also brings the audio quality to match. The answer is yes, with the Pixel Buds Pro 2 delivering crisp audio thanks to the custom 11mm drivers. Although my taste in music can be quite eclectic, my go-to tunes are on the heavier side, and listening to bands like Windwaker, Electric Callboy and Breaking Benjamin yielded great sounding results. The only knock is that they don’t support high fidelity audio codecs, meaning that if you’re someone who prefers to listen to lossless audio files, you’re out of luck.
Via the Pixel Buds app, users can turn on spatial audio and change EQ presets to tailor your audio experience, as well as see battery level of the earbuds and the case, customise gesture controls, enable features such as head tracking, and a bunch of other settings.
Like any good pair of earbuds, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 lets you connect to two different devices simultaneously and automatically switch between devices when required. Plus, if you’re using the buds on one device and your phone rings, you’ll be able to take the call while still connected to your other device. It’s one of those quality-of-life features you don’t fully appreciate until you don’t have it.
Using the company’s Silent Seal 2.0 technology, the noise cancelling on the Pixel Buds Pro 2 do a great job of blocking out unwanted background noise. I tested them in several scenarios, such as public transport, walking down a busy street and on a flight, and the performance was impressive. They’re not going to eliminate all noise, especially louder noises, but they minimised the impact. There’s also a Transparency mode that works well for those who want to enjoy music or a podcast but also want to listen out for what’s going on in the background. There’s even an option to automatically switch to Transparency mode when the Buds detect a conversation happening, which is neat.
However, the Buds are let down by Google’s much vaunted Gemini AI companion, which still feels like it’s in early access, as it’s unable to do basic things like send text messages, make phone calls, create calendar events, or set reminders, which are basic features of virtual assistants these days.
Final Thoughts
Like any sequel, the goal is to improve on what came before it. In this regard, the Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 nails the brief, improving on areas that matter most – sound quality and comfort, while delivering excellent battery life and great noise cancelling. Google isn’t likely to win over the Apple crowd, but the Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 could be the AirPods of the Android world.
Review unit supplied by the manufacturer
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