Huawei went over a yr with out introducing an replace to its flagship earphones, however the Freebuds Professional 4 arrived in 2024’s closing weeks. The announcement first passed off in China, adopted by a world launch only a fortnight later.
They had been overshadowed by the Mate X6‘s world reveal (assessment right here) and the nova 13 collection debut, however we imagine they deserve consideration so we took a pair for a take a look at. So here is what we came upon.
Desk of Contents:
Design and construct high quality
The buds and case of Freebuds Professional 4 carefully resemble these of Freebuds Professional 3 externally. Our mannequin is Black, that includes golden trim across the stem and case, together with a graphic ingredient on the stem that says the Histen expertise.
Inexperienced and White variants are additionally accessible, each adorned with golden accents. These are sure to be nicely obtained in Asian markets, although we’ve our doubts if Westerners will agree.
The contact sensor is positioned on the internal facet of the stem and turns into simple to make use of when you turn out to be accustomed to the pinching and swiping gestures. All gestures could be custom-made via the AI Life app, which we suggest downloading and putting in from Huawei AppGallery because it has the most recent model.
Consumer interface
The buds had been promoted in China as the primary audio wearables that includes HarmonyOS 5.0; nonetheless, that declare is lacking from the worldwide model. One purpose for this variation is that Huawei prefers to not promote the Concord OS too closely right now, and one other is that this characteristic holds little significance within the earphone market.
The app presents varied noise management choices. Consciousness mode options two settings: Voice Mode, which could be switched on or off; activating this feature enhances the earbuds’ skill to select up voices. Moreover, there’s Off Mode and Noise Cancelling, which incorporates 4 distinct settings: Dynamic, Cozy, Normal, and Extremely, every tailor-made for particular environments.
Detailed management of Consciousness and Noise Cancelling is accessible solely within the app, which means it takes a while to decide on your most well-liked choice. There’s additionally an Equalizer with some presets, however you’ll be able to create considered one of your individual as nicely.
FreeBuds Professional 4 can prioritize sound high quality or connection. The upper bitrate sound comes with a shorter battery life too. There’s an choice that makes use of sound to map your ear and decide whether or not the rubber ideas are the right measurement. Nonetheless, the characteristic indicated that every one three sizes (Small, Medium, Giant) are adequate, so aren’t actually satisfied of its usefulness.
Consolation is a key issue with such compact buds. Prolonged use didn’t result in any discomfort – you hardly really feel the Freebuds in your ears. We examined them within the fitness center and through prolonged runs. The end result is that the buds stay in place so long as there’s no abrupt motion.
There was the occasional difficulty with one bud barely slipping out, however this was primarily because of our resident earbuds reviewer having subpar working kind, which induced extreme head motion.
Sound high quality
The standout characteristic of the Freebuds Professional 4 is, no doubt, the audio efficiency. Huawei has included a dual-driver configuration together with an 11 mm quad-magnet dynamic driver that delivers bass all the way down to 14 Hz and treble ranges reaching 48 kHz, because of the planar diaphragm tweeter.
The sound high quality and notably wealthy bass are instantly evident when sporting the earbuds. Having examined quite a few earbuds from varied smartphone producers, we discover Huawei’s providing to be distinctive; the corporate actually excelled on this occasion.
We paired the earbuds with an Android telephone, a Huawei machine, a desktop utilizing a Bluetooth dongle, and a laptop computer that has built-in Bluetooth.
The connectivity was seamless and worthy of high-end earbuds. We particularly mentioned this matter with a Huawei VP, who confirmed that the builders in Shenzhen put important effort into optimizing connectivity and sound high quality for speedy toggling.
On the launch occasion, Huawei offered a video that includes a consumer sporting the earbuds within the midst of a live performance, but because of the cutting-edge noise cancellation, they might additionally be part of a gathering.
We gave this a strive, however the consequence was much less spectacular than anticipated. Our assigned reviewer attended a big techno occasion with hundreds of attendees and tried to make a telephone name. The individual on the opposite finish may nonetheless hear the music, however was capable of catch the voice; nonetheless, the reviewer had problem listening to the quieter sounds.
Definitely, that is an anecdotal instance, and with the ambient noise exceeding 110 dB you’ll be able to’t actually anticipate miracles. In additional reasonable settings, the buds carry out very nicely.
Charging
Throughout our first impressions, we observed that the Freebuds Professional 4 felt bulkier in comparison with the Professional 3. Nonetheless, it seems that each fashions have an identical battery capacities. Every bud is supplied with a 55 mAh cell, whereas the case offers an extra 510 mAh.
Beneath is a abstract of the charging instances as acknowledged by Huawei and the precise instances we recorded after a number of charging classes. To calculate the case and the earbuds, merely add the earbuds time to the case.
| Marketed time | Actual-life time | |
| Earbuds within the case | 40 minutes | 45 minutes |
| Case solely (wired) | 1 hour | 65 minutes |
| Case solely (wi-fi) | 1.5 hours/150 minutes | 160 minutes |
We should acknowledge that we had important problem lowering the earbuds’ battery to zero, because it requires hours of steady use to totally deplete the battery. When you place the buds again into the case, it resets the complete course of, and the reality is, only a few folks really handle to empty their earbuds to 0.
Utilizing a wi-fi charger for the case is what we discovered to be essentially the most handy choice. It labored seamlessly and did not take too lengthy to recharge.
Battery life
We extensively examined the Freebuds Professional 4 to find out a median charging worth, and we additionally gathered insights on battery efficiency throughout practically all situations, notably noting the 2 modes that prioritize both sound high quality or connectivity.
Beneath are our findings from 30 days of steady use.
| Marketed Playtime | Actual-life Playtime | |
| Prioritize Sound High quality (ANC on) | 6.5 hours | 360 minutes/6 hours |
| Prioritize Sound High quality (ANC off) | 4.5 hours | 220 minutes/3 hours 40 minutes |
| Prioritize Connection High quality (ANC on) | 7 hours | 380 minutes/6 hours 20 minutes |
| Prioritize Connection High quality (ANC off) | 5 hours | 240 minutes/4 hours |
All checks had been carried out utilizing Freebuds related to an Android smartphone, relatively than a Huawei machine with EMUI. The producer famous that their outcomes had been based mostly on checks with a Huawei Mate X6, with audio set to 50%.
Whereas decreasing the amount and utilizing a Huawei telephone may barely enhance battery life, we decided that conducting checks on a non-Huawei smartphone is extra logical, given the corporate’s small world market share.
Conclusion
Huawei has delivered a stable improve with the Freebuds Professional 4. They output glorious sound with lossless transmission, supply glorious battery life, and nice noise cancellation for this class.
In the course of the announcement, Huawei set a value of €199, however not one of the Euro-using international locations is at the moment supply these audio units. The one European nations promoting the Freebuds Professional 4 are Turkey and Russia, and we are able to solely hope that the buds will turn out to be accessible quickly within the EU.
Huawei Freebuds Professional 4 (left) and Freebuds Professional 3 (proper)
Huawei has launched the Freebuds to key Pacific markets, together with Indonesia, the Philippines, components of the Center East, and Northern Africa. Should you’re exterior these areas, you’ll be able to nonetheless buy the 15-month-old Freebuds Professional 3. Nonetheless, should you reside in these areas, we strongly recommend choosing the Freebuds Professional 4.
Professionals
- The most effective sound for Huawei Freebuds.
- Battery life is dependable.
- Fast connectivity.
- Enticing value.
- Loads of noise cancellation choices.
Cons
- Golden trim may not be for everybody.
- Restricted availability in key markets.
- Not that large of an enchancment over its predecessor.
- Pinching gestures want consumer’s adaptation.
