The market for wireless earbuds is pretty crowded and has some excellent competitors. Huawei has launched the FreeBuds 5i to add to that market and while they’re not huge on price, they’ve got some great features onboard.
The basics include lightweight design, excellent sound quality, a broad audio response range and active noise cancelling. The design has been refined over the previous generation of FreeBuds with a smaller design and only 4.9 grams per earbud. The battery life is impressive with 28 hours, and offers a 15-minute quick charge to get 4 hours of playback.
The playback is controlled through touch gestures on the stem of the earbuds. But perhaps one of the most important features is that the FreeBuds 5i has dual connection capability. Meaning you can listen to music, stream media or engage on video calls on a laptop or tablet, while still having access to your phone.
Through the AI Life app, the features including EQ are configurable and the ANC can be turned on and off as you wish. We’ve got a set on the test bench at the moment and will be publishing a full review in a couple of weeks’ time.
The FreeBuds 5i is available through Amazon and the Huawei experience stores starting on the 20th of February for AU$159.00 in Isle Blue, Nebula Black and Ceramic White. As part of the launch, buyers will also get the Huawei Scale 3 with the Freebuds 5i if purchased prior to the 30th of March: Check in-store or online for further details.
