Consider me old fashioned, but when it comes to in-ear headphones I am a traditionalist, usually preferring a pair of good old wired headphones. There’s no doubt that since the release of the Apple AirPods popularised wireless earphones, every brand and their dog have thrown their hat into the ring. I attempted to make the switch to wireless previously, purchasing a discounted pair of Skullcandy Indys, however I found the sound quality and comfort level poor, so the trusty wired headphones reigned supreme. But then I was offered a pair of Huawei FreeBuds 4i for review and I decided to give wireless earphones another chance, and I’m glad I did because the FreeBuds 4i made me a believer.
The FreeBuds 4i comes in two flavours: Ceramic White and Carbon Black, and are the company’s entry-level wireless earphones. Priced at $159 on Huawei’s online store (currently comes with a bonus Huawei fitness band) or $155 on Amazon, the FreeBuds 4i feature active noise cancelling and a juicy battery life, but more on that later.
Just the tips
Utilising an oval design, the case is small and sleek with a gloss finish. A USB-C charging port is on the base and a light indicator on the front, and in a neat design choice, the back of the case is flat, meaning that it doesn’t move around on flat surfaces. The downside is that there is no slit or groove that makes it easy to open the case, so removing the earphones can be awkward, and the gloss finish may scratch easily if you’re not careful. The earphones, which look like AirPods, have a lightweight design with a gloss finish that uses silicon tips that go into your ear canals (small, medium and large tips are included in the box), with the dual mics placed just below the earbud.
Connectivity is straightforward, with users pairing the earphones via the usual Bluetooth process. However, Huawei device owners (with EMUI 10.0 or later) can simply open the case near their device for an even easier connection. Users can also download the Huawei AI Life app (Android only currently), where you can control settings from your phone, such as adjusting the volume, turning noise cancelling on or off, or toggling Awareness mode (more on that in a second), as well as seeing battery levels on each component.
Normally I would gravitate towards earphones with the old circular design, as my small ears struggle to accommodate the modern design with the tips that go in your ear. Thankfully, the FreeBuds 4i’s felt snug in my ears (I did have to use the small size tip) and were super comfortable to use for long periods at a time.
Much like other Huawei portable products, the FreeBuds 4i feature excellent battery life, boasting up to 10 hours of music playback or 6.5 hours of voice calls with noise cancelling disabled and 7.5 hours of music playback or 5.5 hours of voice calls with it enabled, and when factoring in a fully-charged case, you’ll get a total of 22 hours of music playback. For comparison, a pair of second generation AirPods will give you five hours of music playback and three hours of talk time on a single charge. My time with the FreeBuds 4i was divided between having noise cancelling on and off, with the battery lasting much closer to the numbers Huawei quoted than I expected.
The Huawei AI Life app
The case isn’t the easiest to open
the FreeBuds 4i gave a solid showing when I experimented with a variety of genres, with the highs, mids and bass complementing each other for a rounded aural experience instead of one overpowering the other
Thanks to fast charging technology, a quick 10-minute charge will provide up to four hours of use, and the tech inside the FreeBuds 4i’s means that when you do charge both the earphones and case, it will prioritise the earphones first before charging the case. A full charge for the earphones will take around an hour, whereas giving the case a full tank of juice will take roughly 90 minutes.
In terms of audio quality, I was genuinely impressed at how good the FreeBuds 4i sounded for the price point. The main issue I had with the Skullcandy Indys was that they sounded tinny, but the FreeBuds 4i gave a solid showing when I experimented with a variety of genres, with the highs, mids and bass complementing each other for a rounded aural experience instead of one overpowering the other. However, I do wish that the Huawei AI Life app offered EQ customisation, as you’re at the mercy of whatever media player you’re using when it comes to audio enhancements. When it comes to voice call quality, the FreeBuds 4i are fine, with people I used as guinea pigs hearing me clearly and watching movies or playing games featured very low latency which was great.
Surprisingly, the active noise cancelling is better than I expected. I tested it in several locations, such as walking down a busy street, driving my car and sitting on the toilet with the fan going (nothing like a bit of P&Q), and although it doesn’t drown out the noise completely, in each instance the noise cancelling sufficiently reduced the background noise. If you are looking for earphones with stronger or adaptive noise cancelling, the Huawei FreeBuds Pro offers dynamic active noise cancelling and will cost you around $259. The FreeBuds 4i also feature Awareness Mode, which when activated will allow users to take in their surroundings or chat with mates without removing the earphones.
Do I make these look good?
Bits and pieces
Other features of the FreeBuds 4i include gesture controls, such as double tapping an earphone to pause music or answer a call and a long press function that will activate or disable either the noise cancelling or Awareness mode. These can be customised via the AI Life app should you wish, but while the gesture controls are great in theory, they’re rather fiddly to execute, almost to the point where I didn’t bother using them at all. The FreeBuds 4i also utilise Smart Wear Detection, which pauses or plays audio when an earphone is removed.
Final Thoughts
Before going ears-on with the Huawei FreeBuds 4i, I was sure that I wasn’t going to rate them very highly. But over the past three weeks I have used them almost every day and now I can’t leave the house without them. They’re incredibly comfortable, have excellent battery life, sound great and feature solid noise cancelling. So if you’re looking for an affordable set of wireless earphones, the Huawei FreeBuds 4i are a great option and one that I highly recommend.
Review unit supplied by the manufacturer
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