The Galaxy Buds+ land with the best battery life among true wireless earphones
Believe it or not, the fact that they come as a gift with the Galaxy S20 series pre-orders isn't the only thing that the new Galaxy Buds+ have going for them. They also promise record-breaking battery life of 11 hours from a single charge.
That's unprecedented for such a small earphone that, in all earnest, differs little from their predecessors when it comes to design. Just like the subsequent generations of Samsung's IconX earphones were incommensurately better than the OG set, Buds+ add so much value compared to the Buds that it's not even funny.
How did Samsung do it? Hold your horses, let's start with the design first.
Galaxy Buds+ features and specs
At first brush, there aren't many differences between the Buds and the Plus version. A second look, however, distances the Buds+ with new case and bud colors and finishes. Unlike the AirPods, for instance, or even the first-gen Buds, they are available in no less than four hues, including red and blue for the buds and case, in addition to the traditional black and white colors.
As usual, they are "tuned by AKG" but lack active noise cancellation. Apart from these major enhancements, Samsung has managed to vastly improve the fast charging capabilities of its true wireless earphones too, as the Galaxy Buds+ will deliver a whole hour of playtime after just 3 minutes of charging.
Other notable upgrades seemingly include multi-device connectivity, a 2-way dynamic speaker with a woofer and a tweeter, two outer microphones instead of only one, and an improved touch pad with a direct link to Spotify.
Galaxy Buds+ price and battery life
The $149 pair that Samsung just announced is just twenty bucks more than the Buds, but is scheduled to last the whopping 11 hours on a charge from the buds alone when you listen to music at 50% volume. In addition, the wireless charging case keeps an extra full charge and three more hours, for exactly 26 hours away from a power source.
That bundled case, for which Samsung doesn't charge extra (cough, Apple, cough), is set to make a smaller leap from a 252 to a 270mAh battery capacity, compared to the Buds one, which nevertheless is enough to double the aforementioned 11-hour autonomy, and then some.
If you run out, you can top up the case with your brand spanking new Galaxy S20 model via reverse wireless charging, and not be worried about draining its huge battery. That's because, even though the Buds+ have a much larger 85mAh battery compared to the 58mAh in each Bud, the cumulative capacity is a chump compared to, say, the 5000mAh juicer of the S20 Ultra.
Galaxy Buds+ vs AirPods vs Amazon Echo Buds specs and price comparison
| Active noise cancellation (ANC) | Battery life | Features | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy Buds+ ($149) | No | 11 hours Charges in the wireless case - 1.3 | - IPX2 sweat- and water-resistance - Four finishes (red, blue, black, white) - Google Assistant integration - Touch controls |
| Apple AirPods 2 ($199 w/ charging case) | No | 5 hours Charges in the case - 4 | - IPX2 sweat- and water-resistance - One finish - Siri voice assistant - Touch controls |
| Samsung Galaxy Buds ($129) | No | 6 hours Charges in the case - 2 | - IPX2 sweat- and water-resistance - Two finishes - Google Assistant integration - Touch controls |
| Amazon Echo Buds ($130) | Sort of, Bose's Noise Reduction tech | 5 hours Charges in the case - 3 | - IPX4 sweat- and water-resistance against splashes - One finish - Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri - Touch controls |
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