Not The Buds We Remember
For years, the Galaxy Buds line has been one of the more mainstream choices when it came to #TeamAndroid. Though the company has begun to create an ecosystem that made it more convenient and encouraging for those already using Galaxy systems, it was not a in a closed-format. As long as you were on Android (or even iPhone), you could pick a pair of Galaxy Buds up, install the companion app and you’re good to go.
This is consistent till now, right till the design. It’s always been designed to be a subtle pair of beans that fit comfortably into your ears, often times escaping the view from on-lookers due to their small profile. It’s all changed now, as this year’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro takes a totally contrasting approach, breaking years of design tradition to become something entirely different, in favor of packing more features, more powerful drivers in a physical medium we are all too familiar with.
The case is now in a default rounded but boxy form, while the buds themselves are now regular earbuds, but with a triangular stem. This is to house the new “Blade Lights”, which are thin light bars that serve as battery level indicators, and would even flash brightly if you prompt it to do so. This helps the user find their buds in the dark.
I particularly like the face that the top of the case is transparent. This allows me to quickly check if my buds are in the case at any given moment,
The real kicker here is that earphone commands here are performed via pinch gestures.
AI Features That We’re Not Sure If We Needed
When it comes to AI, Samsung is indeed a brand that loves to implement it on just about anything they have (including fridges), but what exactly are these AI features that are now shoved into a more straightfoward product such as wireless earbuds?
For starters, if you’re already on a Samsung device, the whole home advantage is yours. You’re able to use these buds for language interpretation, and in real time. Your phone will pick up the audio from the microphone on the buds, and translates everything into your preferred language and pushes it back to the buds, leading to a translation experience where you don’t even need to see your phone.
AI is also a player now when it comes to noise control. AI Noise Control will dynamically pick up on loudness levels from your environment and adjusts the level of noise cancellation accordingly, saving you the trouble of constantly adjusting it yourself, such as when you’re leaving a quiet train ride and walking into a busy street after.
Finally, with its built-in VPU (Voice Pickup Unit), you’re now able to issue verbal commands to your Samsung device natively, such as verbally prompting it to accept phone calls, play or pause current music. While this isn’t exactly what AI is at the forefront of things, it’s basically just an extension of physical gesture commands with the additional benefit of using your voice to give the same instruction.
You wanted a handsfree experience, you’re going to get the full works here.
Better Audio Playback?
Of course, this is but the more important aspects of this piece, considering the fact that many Buds2 Pro users are looking into the idea of whether its successor would indeed make for a sound upgrade. The same 2-way speaker format hasn’t changed, while the true debut here are the implementatons of a planar tweeter and dual amps. Mind you that these drivers and amps are independently controlled, which implies that changes issued by AI are more granular and precise.
Early Verdict
It seems that the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are a sign of improvement in areas where the Buds Pro 2 lacked. The first impression is simple. On the outside, it definitely looks like an improvement on all fronts on what makes a good pair of wireless earbuds, but in reality, there’s more software and tech additions into the product that can possibly intimidate simpler users, which unfortunately are the majority of the mainstream market. It’s going to be an incredibly techy pair of earbuds that cost RM 1099. We’re going to dig really deep into this and condense it into a format where you can easily determine whether these are suitable for you (with the first step of that is to currently own a Samsung phone).
