Huawei FreeBuds Pro 3 Review: Great sound, sketchy design،
Huawei continues to evolve its ecosystem despite the US ban, and although smartphones have been hit hard by Google’s lack of mobile services, the company’s wearable and audio products are still going strong. The Huawei FreeBuds Pro 3 is the latest iteration of Huawei’s flagship earbuds model.
These headphones come with many attractive features, such as distinctive design, great sound, noise cancellation, high-resolution audio support, and multi-point connectivity. There are still some things to iron out and polish, and we could use a change in design and color options, but overall these are a solid pair of headphones. Our deep dive begins now!
Contents:
Design and color options
Fit and Feel
Coupling
Companion app and features
Touch gestures
Noise Cancellation (ANC)
Sound quality
Battery life and charging
Final Thoughts
Design and color options
Designing a pair of headphones is not an easy task these days. There are only a limited number of designs, and it’s hard not to look derivative. Huawei has made a beautiful fashion statement with the FreeBuds 5 model and its teardrop design. The FreeBuds Pro 3, meanwhile, follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, with the same sculpted design with short stems.
The earbuds are made from a glossy, high-gloss plastic, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea. To be honest, these bright visuals contribute to the first impression of a not very expensive product. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say, so I won’t dwell too much on that. What Huawei could have done is offer more color options; we only have three, and when you factor in Ceramic White and Silver Frost which are your regular white and gray, we’re left with just one cool color: green.
Fit and feel
There’s another small problem with the fit of the Huawei FreeBuds Pro 3. When you place the earbuds in your ear, the stems rest on the antitragus, a small piece of cartilage protruding from the bottom of your ear. It is therefore extremely difficult to pinch the stem with two fingers or to perform any gesture without disturbing the position of the bud.
Another problem is that the contoured, sculpted design of the bud itself doesn’t allow for much contact with the topology around your ear canal. Basically, these buds are held in place by the silicone tips most of the time, which isn’t perfect. On the plus side, each head weighs 5.8 grams, so you pretty much forget you’re wearing them after a few minutes.
Coupling
Pairing is a breeze. I know I’ve complained in the past about the App Gallery and the need to install the AI Life app. Things have improved; you can set up these headphones in seconds. Simply scan the QR code or download AI Life from the Play Store or App Store, and you’re ready to go. If you own a Huawei phone with Harmony OS and are signed in to your Huawei account, you can get the same experience as using a pair of AirPods with an iPhone; the phone will recognize the earphones when they are close. Chances are, not many people will use this scenario, but in any case, pairing the FreeBuds Pro 3 with iPhone or Android devices is no problem.
Companion app and features
Speaking of the AI Life app, it hasn’t changed much since my review of the FreeBuds 5 earbuds. You can check the battery level of the earbuds and case on the home screen, and when you tap the model, you enter the detailed settings of the headphones.
Through the control center, you can set your favorite device (these headphones support multi-connection); Further down, you can set your noise cancellation level between Noise Cancellation, Off, and Awareness. When noise cancellation is enabled, you have four additional settings to fine-tune your sound: Dynamic, Comfortable, General, and Ultra. These are pretty self-explanatory, and I’ll talk more about each of them in the Noise Cancellation section of this review.
In the Audio Quality section, you can choose from several EQ presets (Bass Boost, Treble Boost, Vocals, Symphony) or manually configure the 10-band equalizer to your liking. The Gestures section is more of an information page and offers limited customization. You can also perform a tip fit test, find your earbuds, and turn smart wear detection on and off.
Touch gestures
Most touch gestures involve pinching the stem with two fingers. There is a tutorial to teach you how to do this, and it is essential, in my opinion, because it takes quite a bit of pressure to get these gestures recognized. At one point I took the headphones off and looked for a hidden physical button (maybe there is one; I’m still not sure; there’s an audible click when you press the stem, but whether it’s a simulation or the sound of a real physical button, it’s hard to say).
Here are all the actions you can perform with FreeBuds Pro 3:
- Pinch once: answer or end a call, or if you’re playing music, play or pause the song
- Pinch twice: reject the next call/song
- Pinch three times – previous song
- Pinch and hold: noise control
- Slide your finger up or down: volume control
The only customizable option is “pinch and hold”. You can set one of the earbuds to wake up your favorite voice assistant with this gesture. Overall, due to the somewhat loose fit and the force required to perform these pinches, I ended up not using gestures much.
Noise Cancellation (ANC)
Huawei boasts that the FreeBuds Pro 3 ANC capacity has been improved by 50% compared to the previous model. The truth is that we are talking about headphones, and they can’t do much. The part of your ear around the ear canal is exposed and transfers sound inside; it’s like that.
That being said, the Ultra noise cancellation setting is pretty good for headphones, all things considered. This also subjectively improves sound quality. You can cycle through the main ANC modes: on, off and awareness.
Sound quality
The EQ presets are all very usable, and the ability to create custom presets with the 10-band EQ is simply pure gold. Listening to Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies through these buds is a joyful experience. The clarity is exceptional and everything is well balanced: not harsh, not muffled, just great.
Hard rock and heavy metal songs also sound great; there is a lot of volume available. If you like R&B, Drum and Bass, or other bass-heavy genres, there’s a surprise here. With the optimal fit, these headphones sound pretty serious in a good way.
I cycled through other genres that aren’t my favorites: pop, folk, disco, and techno, and overall the FreeBuds Pro 3 tackled everything I threw at them with ease. Call quality is also excellent on these headphones; the other side had no idea I was using headphones, which says a lot.
Huawei claims its PireVoice 2.0 system picks up voices 2.5 times better (whatever that means) thanks to neural network algorithms and an array of mics. Leaving aside the overly technical gibberish, the call quality is simply excellent.
Battery life and charging
Final Thoughts
The fit isn’t perfect, and if you get the chance to try them on before you buy, you’ll save yourself some headaches. Touch controls require a lot of force, and it can quickly become tedious. Battery life is less than ideal; you’ll end up charging these headphones quite often, especially if you use ANC.
