HUAWEI FREEBUDS 41

WIRELESS EARPHONES

- REN ALCANTARA

The era of true wireless earbuds is well and truly here. With all the major brands and countless little ones joining the party, the market is quickly getting saturated with pairs of true wireless buds. Huawei has had a few tries, with each one building on the improvements on the last, and today, we have the Freebuds 4i, a tiny pair of TWS buds that pack a big punch in a small package.

DESIGN

When you consider that there's a bunch of circuitry that has to go into TWS earbuds and their case, you realize that these things are tiny. With internal batteries, charging circuitry, and wireless hardware, it's impressive how small the overall package is. The carry and charge case is small, rounded, and is just a little larger than the keyfob for a modern car. It's smooth, so it pops into a pocket with little resistance and has a single button for pairing. Couple that with USB-C charging, and you have a winner.

The earbuds themselves are of the usual stem design, with curiously oval earpieces that look unusual (and limits the choices of ear foams somewhat. They're quite light and offer no physical controls. Standard fare, but standard fare done reasonably well. They also come in different colors to suit your personal tastes: red, black, white, and grey.

HARDWARE

The charging case has a magnetic closing system to keep the lid shut, and the earbuds themselves also snap home thanks to strong magnets. It's not likely that they'll come flying out should you drop them while they're in their case. That same case has a 215mAh battery to charge the internal batteries of the buds, which have 55mAh cells in each one. They have 10mm drivers, mics in each stem, and active noise canceling (with pass-through), for a premium listening experience. These are controlled via an accompanying app.

USER EXPERIENCE