The craze for true wireless earbuds was undoubtedly started by Apple, and continues by just about every company in the smartphone and audio business. Numerous obvious copies have surfaced since the first release of the Air Pods, with various degrees of success.
Google, of course, decide to step into this market as well with its version of how wireless earbuds should look, feel, function and sound, and their latest answer is the Pixel Buds 2. This is the second iteration from the company, with a massive upgrade from the first (which was not a big hit with consumers). The Pixel Buds 2 are now fully and truly wireless, feature much needed improvements to the sound quality and can also be used together with Google Assistant wirelessly, via voice control.
The design of these ear buds has been drastically overhauled from the first version, and they are now sleeker, more ergonomic and just feel better when wearing them over longer periods of time. The materials used in making them also feel better to the touch, and just look premium. The Pixel Buds 2 also come, as standard, with wireless charging, a much needed and sought after feature for all devices going forward into the decade.
These new features and upgrades come at a pretty high price, namely the Pixel Buds 2 will cost you $179 if purchased directly from Google’s online store. For this price, you can choose between 4 colors, and that’s about it. You will also notice the seamless pairing with other Android devices, especially Google hardware.
Now, let’s talk a bit about the cons of this pair of ear buds. The high price is not always a great indication of a good working gadget. In the case of the Pixel Buds 2, users have stated that they noticed frequent connectivity issues between the buds and their phone, which can be annoying on an almost $200 pair of premium wireless headphones. This is indeed unexpected, but might be fixed with a future software patch in the future.
The design of this product, although very nice to look at, makes for a less than ideal sound insulation. A fair and annoying amount of outside noise seems to seep into the earpiece and interfere with the listening experience.
The battery of this product is average. The Pixel Buds 2 can last up to 24 hours, or 5 hours of continuous listening – not great, not terrible. The case support wireless charging, and this is a very nice touch for any device in 2020.
All in all, the Pixel Buds are a good attempt at a decent pair of wireless earbuds from Google, but fall short from the mark of being a go to product in its category. Further iterations of the model might fair better if given the proper upgrades to sound quality, connectivity and battery life. Until then, there are plenty of other wireless earbuds on the market which pack a greater bang for your buck!
