The Galaxy Buds+ don’t add much
So Samsung has announced the Galaxy Buds+ wireless earbuds but are they really deserving of their name? I mean, I’m playing spot the difference here and not coming up with much at all.
The originalGalaxy Budscame along with the S10 range as Samsung’s rival to Apple’s AirPods – and all the otherwireless earbudsout there. They were and are a decent option for those looking for a well-rounded option.
I was, and you probably were too, expecting more from Samsung’s new model – especially considering how much work the firm has put into the S20 range of phones. I’m imagining a meeting a few weeks ago where someone says “we forgot about the Buds” to a collective grimace.
Samsung dedicated all of one slide during our Unpacked briefing to theGalaxy Buds+with almost no information. So what is new?
They have longer battery life at 11 hours on a single charge with a further 11 from the charging case. That’s better than the originals six hours on a charge.
Samsung also touts two-way dynamic drivers to handle treble and bass separately along with three microphones for better call quality.
Finally, Samsung, informed us of ‘one touch Spotify support’ which, as far as I can gather, means you can assign a particular playlist to the touch controls.
Looking at them provides almost no way to differentiate from the originals apart from a glossy finish case, which we collectively at Tech Advisor, think looks worse than the previous matt finish.
For Samsung, and the wider tech industry, a ‘plus’ model is bigger and better but the Galaxy Buds+ haven’t moved on enough. Perhaps if they’d been a more premium option a year ago, this would have worked.
In 2020, though, it’s simply not enough when the trend and competition is all about active noise cancellation such as theAirPods ProandSony WF-1000XM3. I’m not surprised Samsung avoided slapping ‘Pro’ on them.
A saving grace is that Samsung is giving pairs of Galaxy Buds+ away for free to those who buy aGalaxy S20+ or S20 Ultra. They’re also cheaper than those rivals with noise cancelling at£159/US$149.
Still, I’m disappointed that a company as big as Samsung couldn’t push things forward a lot more with a whole year of development time. The Galaxy Buds Pro are officially late.
Latest Galaxy Buds+ prices
Author: Chris Martin, Reviews Editor, Tech Advisor
Chris got his break as a reporter at infamous site The Inquirer and has been at Tech Advisor for more than 12 years. With a BA degree in Music Technology, audio is his specialism, but over the years he has reviewed all kinds of gadgets, from smartwatches to mesh Wi-Fi to coffee machines.
