Wireless earbuds: From Samsung to Vivo to OnePlus, a look at who’s selling what and at what price

The TWS space is getting hot with most handset makers coming out with their own offerings.

By Zia Askari

On the bike, in the park or on the treadmill, consumers have a strong preference to listen to music and stay connected by means of true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds. For the not-so geeky lot, TWS headphones refer to Bluetooth earbuds that have neither cords or wires between them nor to an audio source (smartphones, MP3 players, tablet, etc.). Since they have no wires, the mic, controls and battery are built into the housing of the earbuds. The TWS space is getting hot with most handset makers coming out with their own offerings. The idea is to seamlessly enable natural extension of smartphone capabilities (sound in this case) in a completely wireless mode. We take a look at who’s selling what and at what price.

Samsung Galaxy Buds+ (Rs 11,990)
Galaxy Buds+ have a sturdy design, trendy looks and good sound output. A very convenient to wear audio device, the Buds+ give 11 hours of play time (you can double that to 22 hours just by placing them in the 270mAh wireless charging case—perfect for on-the-go listening), 2-way speakers for rich sound, triple mics for clear voice call and Qi compatible wireless charging. Available in new colours including Cloud Blue and Red, they are equipped with an innovative two-way speaker system, complete with an added tweeter for richer treble and a woofer for powerful bass sounds.

OnePlus Buds (Rs 4,990)
Set your music free literally with OnePlus Buds, the company’s first-ever true wireless earphones. Designed to deliver high-quality audio playback and easy-to-use experience on the go, these earbuds eliminate all wires for a truly freeing sound experience. They come with 30 hours of battery life (the case is a power bank here), powerful bass boost and low latency mode. Fully charged, the earphones can listen to music for up to seven hours. Charging for 10 minutes enables you to listen to your favourite music on the earphones for up to 10 hours.

vivo TWS Neo (Rs 5,990)
Available in Moonlight White and Starry Blue colour options, the vivo TWS Neo earbuds offer you a good audio experience and come with a low latency mode for gaming and video calls. They feature large 14.2mm dynamic drivers along with Bluetooth v5.2 for connectivity. There is support for Qualcomm aptX Bluetooth codec and DeepX Stereo Sound effects. The diameter in TWS Neo is stretched to 14.2mm, and further supported by a bio-fiber composite diaphragm and a pure copper voice coil from Daikoku Japan. Together, they produce sound to impress—from mellow vocals and high frequencies, to vibrant low frequencies.

realme Buds Q (Rs 1,999)
realme Buds Q is the company’s entry level TWS offering for the market. Inspired by a cobble, the realme Buds Q is designed by French artist José Lévy. This innovative design comes with a full curved body that makes the earbuds quite comfortable. The Buds Q offers interesting features such as 10mm dynamic bass boost driver, 119ms super-low latency gaming mode, 20-hour-long battery life, IPX4 water resistance, etc.

Oppo Enco W31 (Rs 3,897)
The Oppo Enco W31 earbuds feature a stylish and compact design, and come with 7mm audio drivers. It offers two different modes for users, the Bass Mode and Balance Mode, and features dual-microphone noise cancellation and an anti-wind noise chamber to cancel out unwanted noise during calls.

The earbuds support touch-based controls, allowing users to change the audio mode (between balance and bass), skip tracks and also to activate the voice assistant. They offer up to 3.5 hours of music playback on a single charge and can go up to 15 hours of music playback with the charging case.

Askari writes on communications, technology and gadgets at TelecomDrive.com