Google Pixel Buds A-Series review: Affordable and capable

Our Verdict

For the coin these offering a decent range of features to Android owners and, particularly, Google Pixel users.

For

• Every fleck as slick as AirPods
• Nice materials and build
• Simple to apply bear upon controls
• Capable Google assistant

Against

• Sound quality is a mixed purse
• Tin can be fashion too quiet
• The app has some bugs, currently

Tom'due south Guide Verdict

For the coin these offering a decent range of features to Android owners and, specially, Google Pixel users.

Pros

• +

  As as slick as AirPods

• +

  Nice materials and build

• +

  Simple to use touch controls

• +

  Capable Google banana

Cons

• -

  Sound quality is a mixed bag

• -

  Can be way too serenity

• -

  The app has some bugs, currently

Google'southward new Pixel Buds A-Series are something of a argument. Having done well with the Google Pixel Buds 2, the company is now launching a sub-$100 pair of earbuds that wait to beat out the Apple tree Airpods on price, while offering a similar experience for those who ain Android or Google Pixel smartphones.

Google Pixel Buds A-Series specs

Colors: Clearly white, night olive
Battery life: 5 hours music, 2.5 hours calls (single charge) and 24 hours music using charging case to elevation up (12 hours talktime)
Weight: ane.87 ounces (case and buds)
Connectivity: Bluetooth five.0 (4.0 also supported)
Water resistance: IPX4 (earbuds simply)

Available in two colors, a white and grey mix, or a more charcoal sort of color, at that place isn't a huge variety of choice hither. Nonetheless the white pair Google sent me to test look good, and their slim profile in your ear ways they're not as obvious as some other in-ear headphones.

• These are the best wireless earbuds you lot can buy
• The best noise-cancelling earbuds to melody out the world
• Plus:iPhone thirteen — expect or buy iPhone 12 now?

At this toll and with the features they offer, information technology'southward hard not to see the Pixel Buds A-Series every bit a real contender as some of the best cheap wireless earbuds. But I've spent a lot of hours testing them for this Pixel Buds A-Series review, and I've got more nuanced thoughts to share.

Google Pixel Buds A-Series: Cost and availability

Google's newest earbuds, the Pixel Buds A-Series, will be available to buy later this month. They cost $99 (£99) and you'll be able to buy them in the usual outlets, including Google's online store.

In the box you'll detect a charging cable, but no wall adapter, and a set of three ear bud options. Medium tips are fitted every bit standard with pocket-sized and big existence tucked into one of the most space efficient boxes I've seen.

(Epitome credit: Future/Ian Morris)

Google Pixel Buds A-Serial: Design

Finished in a sort of matte plastic, the A-Series earbuds have a prissy premium wait and experience to them. Side by side to them on my desk are a pair of reasonably new Amazon Echo Buds I bought, and their instance is looking scratched already — too as being massive. I think the Pixel Buds A-Series are fabricated of stronger stuff, and I suspect the outer case will resist solar day-to-solar day life better besides.

You can flip the charging case open with a satisfying picture of your thumb. Nestled inside are two earbuds with subtle Gs embossed on their surface. Once open, a small LED on the forepart of the case will keep y'all updated on charging status. The buds are secured with a magnet and can't easily be dislodged by shaking, but do lift out with reasonable ease.

Around the back of the case is a modest button, which can be used to gear up these Pixel Buds A-Series in Bluetooth pairing manner. When you're using a Pixel, yous shouldn't need this, but it is required for other phones, like the iPhone or my aging Samsung Galaxy Annotation 8.

The earbuds themselves take the petty guiding safety stalk that Google says is platonic for keeping them in your ear. I can't really argue with that, but permit's examine the comfort and fit of these headphones in the side by side section.

(Epitome credit: Google)

Google Pixel Buds A-Series: Comfort and fit

I initially kept the medium fit earbud tips on the Google Pixel Buds A-Series, but a mild dissatisfaction with the bass transmission meant that I thought it would be ameliorate to switch to the larger ones, and that did seem to help both comfort and audio a flake.

In one case in the ear, these piddling buds are a delight. I found them light and comfortable and found then just fine for listening to music over extended periods — moreso  than AirPods, and ameliorate at staying in. As function of my testing, I popped some music on before bed and savage asleep. The Pixel Buds didn't stay in all night, merely they helped me drift off to the relaxing sounds of kitsch popular, as is my want.

(Prototype credit: Futurity/Ian Morris)

Google Pixel Buds A-Serial: Controls

In terms of controls, I was impressed by the A-Serial buds. It's a elementary, no-nonsense approach. Tap either bud once to play or pause, twice moves to the next runway and 3 times goes back. If you're treatment calls, one tap answers and two taps ends or rejects a telephone call.

I had no real problem with the controls. They worked near flawlessly for me every time. Getting the tap right might accept you a moment, but mostly information technology's a really simple procedure. Also, yous can make apply of the Google Assistant to practise a lot of this stuff for y'all.

Google Pixel Buds A-Series: Google Banana Integration

Information technology won't surprise you that the A-Serial Pixel Buds make using Google Banana quite easy. Nonetheless, you lot do need to accept the Assistant app installed. I even needed to add information technology on my Pixel 3a, which I really wasn't expecting. Once it's on, using the assistant is a matter of saying "hey Google" and it will exercise you what you demand.

Information technology tin can besides aid you interpret foreign languages if y'all need to. I didn't have any not-English speakers to hand, then I struggled to effectively test this. Simply if you've used Google Translate, it's a actually skillful way of getting out of a pickle when you don't speak the language.

(Image credit: Future/Ian Morris)

Google Pixel Buds A-Series: App

I'grand going to give Google a bit of elbowroom here. I think the supporting app for these Pixel Buds is cleaved, and I retrieve that could very well be because these headphones weren't officially released when I wrote this review.

For the nigh role it's fine. However in my testing I was unable to update the firmware using either of my examination phones. I too wasn't able to plough on the automated aligning that allows the buds to increment or decrease the volume based on ambient racket.

I'm going to revisit this in one case the product is live, and I'll update the review when I take confirmed it works, or still doesn't work.

The Pixel Buds A-Serial case is modest, light and compact and roughly the same size as the Airpods case (Image credit: Time to come/Ian Morris)

Google Pixel Buds A-Series: Audio quality

The Pixel Buds A-Series sound quality is probably best described every bit competent. At that place'southward a clarity to vocals that's quite impressive. When I fired up "Don't Stop Me Now" past Queen, Freddie'south opening lyric was sharp, but once the vocal got going, information technology all became more muddied. It's not atrocious, and the recording isn't the nearly modernistic, only it does sound better on other hardware I've tried.

That said, Tom Zanetti — Didn't Know, manages to hit all of the Pixel Buds A-Series abilities. While the deep bass isn't the most impressive you lot'll hear on a pair of earbuds, information technology'south make clean and clear. The lyrics with come up through with crisp clarity.

But at that place is still a flatness to the sound. The mid-range lacks clarity and while it's never a total showstopper, it's likewise a tiny bit disappointing. Of class, every ear is different and sound quality can be one of the near subjective things about any pair of headphones.

At college volumes it's possible to go the Pixel Buds to misconstrue on low-cease sounds, and they also tin sound too bright at the loftier finish. None of this is much of a surprise for ear buds in this price range, which is a crucial part of the A-Serial' offering.

Google Pixel Buds A-Series: Call quality

On a Google Meet call, I was told the Pixel Buds were clear, and people could hands hear what I was saying. That's presumably thanks to Google's beamforming mic technology which it claims gives superb oral communication quality. I did a short recording to test, with the buds paired to my PC, and the recording was a little weak. Information technology's about what you'd wait for a telephone call, but no more that. If you were gaming or podcasting with them the results would exist a disappointment.

One thing I did notice, that I think is problematic, is only how quiet these earbuds tin can be at times. As a test, I paired them to a Samsung TV and the volume was manner too low to actually hear properly. At present, a lot of that comes down to the source material, just because the A-Series buds don't get that loud, it means you've got no wiggle room if something is tranquillity. It'due south possible that this is an European union volume brake, and that U.S. devices won't be affected — you may want to check first if that sounds like a problem for you.

The battery lasts pretty close to what Google claims (Epitome credit: Future/Ian Morris)

Google Pixel Buds A-Series: Bombardment life

Google claims these headphones can manage five hours on a accuse or two-and-a-one-half of talking. I tested them for more than four hours with one xv-20 minute Google Run across work call and got them down to around 12%. If I'd just purely listened to music, I recall it would exist fairly close to Google's claim.

At the point they shut off, with no battery remaining, I had managed four:42 of mixed utilise. The left bud concluded upward dying offset, with the correct a couple of minutes later. Equally with the Pixel Buds two, these discharge at a slightly different charge per unit in the left and right bud. That won't brand a huge difference to the overall time you can use them and information technology's understandable that they might non discharge entirely equally just based on distance to the phone, or other considerations.

A 30-minute spell in the case got both A-Series buds upward to 56% charge. That's enough for another 2.5 hours or more of music. Great, and probable to exist more than than fast enough for all simply the most constant music listeners.

Extra ear buds are included (Image credit: Future/Ian Morris)

Google Pixel Buds A-Series: Verdict

The Google Pixel Buds A-Series might not exist the all-time sounding earbuds on the market, but they have a killer reward — the toll. At just $99 (£99) they are an affordable option that, if yous're a Google Pixel owner, or accept a mod Android phone, are a really good solution.

I found they fit enormously well and were far harder to milkshake them out of my ears  than it was the glasses off my nose. I wore them for more than four hours in i twenty-four hours and could have worn them for another 4 if the bombardment hadn't run out.

I slightly prefer the sound of the AirPods (the basic ones) only they're more expensive and really lack any appeal for Android users. While the A-Series aren't the last word in audio quality, they audio better than the first-generation Amazon Repeat Buds, though those models have racket counterfoil.

All-in-all, for a throw-in-your-bag accessory, the Pixel Buds A-Series are worth their asking price.

Ian has been involved in technology journalism since 2007, originally writing nigh AV hardware back when LCDs and plasma TVs were just gaining popularity. Nearly 15 years on, he remains as excited as ever virtually how tech can make your life meliorate. Ian is the editor of T3.com but has as well regularly contributed to Tom'southward Guide.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/google-pixel-buds-a-series-review-affordable-and-capable

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