Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus “ Best Wireless 4U

7 min readApr 3, 2020

In the ideal world of Samsung, every Galaxy tablet or smartphone would probably pair with a pair of the new Samsung Galaxy buds plus.

However, the company has been here before. The original Galaxy Buds, released in 2019, were true wireless earbuds, but they were also really disappointing, with poor sound quality and limited features. We consider them worthy of only two stars.

The new Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus is tuned by AKG and looks much better on paper. Hopefully, they can be more convincing.

Build Quality of Samsung Galaxy buds plus

They now use a dual controller layout on each of the buds, for the highs and lows. Samsung has managed to keep the earbuds small and compact according to true wireless standards.

They are also lightweight, you can almost forget that you really have them in place. The smooth and glossy finish given on them gives the impression that they are a pair of premium gems. Blue and white finishes are also available.

There are only three ear tips of different sizes in the pack and three types of wingtips, limiting your options and reducing your chances of getting a perfect seal.

There’s no noise cancellation with Galaxy Buds plus, so a good seal is required to isolate you from outside chatter.

Touch Controls of Galaxy Buds plus

Galaxy Buds Plus does a good job. The surface of each bud is a touch-sensitive control pad, with a control method similar to that used in competitors such as Amazon Echo Buds and Sony WF-1000XM3s.

Here it is implemented well, with a single tap you can play / pause, buttons with double and triple taps will skip forward or backward music respectively. You can also activate your favorite voice assistant feature, you have to just touch and hold one of the buds in order to activate it.

You can also double-tap the edge of the right earbud to increase the volume and the left earbud to decrease it. A subtle adjustment of where to point the finger is required, but you will get used to it soon.

The Samsung Galaxy buds plus feature a new configuration of three microphones to answer calls: an internal microphone and two external microphones( beam forming mics). The new setting is designed to reduce noise around you during calls.

We find them perfectly clear while having a conversation, even if they are not immune to wind noise, which can affect some wireless earbuds.

Features of Samsung Galaxy buds plus

The Samsung Galaxy Buds plus comes with a portable charging case as small as the earbuds allow. It’s smaller and cheaper than the Sony WF-1000XM3 and Amazon Echo Buds, but it’s not as small as the Apple AirPods.

Battery Life

The Samsung Galaxy Buds plus claims of 11 hours of playback per charge, although there is no noise cancellation feature here to drain the battery. But If the battery of the earbuds runs out, then no worry, the 3-minute charge should be enough to provide 1 hour of juice.

Instead of providing two or three additional charges like every other, Samsung has chosen to provide only one additional charge and that increases the total battery life up to 22 hours.

In comparison with the Sony WF-1000XM3, they claim 6 hours of playback time and 18 hours from the charging case while the Cambridge Melomania has claims of 9 hours, plus 36 hours from the charging case.

Galaxy Buds Plus app

The original Galaxy Buds were unable to connect to iOS devices, which meant that Samsung was unable to convince Apple iPhone users to abandon their AirPods. This has been corrected with Galaxy Buds plus.

If you are an iPhone user (iPhone 7 or later, iOS10 or later) then you have to download the Samsung Galaxy Buds plus app in order to use the earbuds without any tension. Android smartphone users will need to install the Galaxy Wearable app from the play store and they must have a device with Android 5.0 or later.

Just open the app and the case starts the pairing process. It is simple as the earbuds actively try to pair with your smartphone or tablet once the case is opened.

Led Indicator

The app displays the remaining power for each bud, as well as the remaining battery life in the case. It goes from green (100 percent) to yellow (about 60 percent left) to red (less than 30 percent).

Equalizer

Buds’ surround sound feature boosts the amount of external noise you can hear and comes in three different levels. We keep it off while listening and activate it by pressing the buttons when necessary.

The app’s equalizer has different settings like normal, bass boost, regular, dynamic, clear and treble. Like Apple AirPods, Samsung includes a feature that allows you to spot a missed earbuds. You have to just Enable “Find my earbuds” option from the app and they will make a noise so you can locate them faster.

One area of the app is very important and it is “Labs”. Here are the experimental feature that you can access. These include being able to double-tap the edge of the earbuds to increase or decrease the volume. There is also an option to add up some ambient sound.

The earbud’s touch controls are easy to operate. They respond quickly. However, that glossy finish can make them quite slippery in the hand. Taking them out of the ears and putting them back in the case without activating one of the earbuds and restarting the music can be difficult.

They offer integration with Spotify. Android smartphone users can activate Spotify and start streaming with a single press on an assigned touchpad. If you want to switch to another track then you have to press it again.

It works well, but the feature is not available for iOS users. Another missing feature of the Galaxy Buds plus is the ability to automatically pause music whenever a headset is removed. Bluetooth aptX HD is also not supported in these earbuds.

Sound Quality of Samsung Galaxy buds plus

Samsung Galaxy Buds plus actually sounds good. However, they are not a big improvement over their predecessors. They produce an open and expansive sound with a discreet sense of scale.

The weight of the bass is judged well. There is a slight hardness, but you can’t classify it as rough.
The problem is that the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus falls quite flat.

The presentation lacks enthusiasm and this makes you feel quite indifferent about the sound. It is actually a mix of dynamic glitches, sloppy timing and lack of detail. They never really convince you that they can get into the rhythm of the track.

Play Hold on from The XX and you will be thrilled by the emotional vocal exchange between Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim, and you will take a funky and semi-trippy ride on the slopes of the drums.

However, with the Galaxy Buds plus earbuds, the rumors don’t connect as well as through rival wireless earbuds. There is also a lack of purpose and intention for low frequencies.

Compared to similarly priced rivals like the Sony WF-1000XM3. Sony extracts more emotion, detail, and offers much more determined performance.

Samsung Galaxy buds plus price in India

The Samsung site of India listed the price of Galaxy Buds plus is Rs 11990. You can pre-order the buds from online sites. They are available in three different colors-: Black, Blue, and White. The company is also offering EMI options, so you have to pay around Rs 564/monthly in order to avail the benefits.

Verdict

It seems like a missed opportunity for Samsung. The Galaxy Buds plus earbuds offer useful features, excellent battery life, and good build quality.

They are nice and comfortable to wear. But while the feature count has improved compared to the originals, there is ample room for improvement in the audio department.

It’s pretty listenable, but the harsh reality is that there is no shortage of truly wireless earbuds with better sound to choose from at this price. Galaxy Buds Plus sounds better than their predecessors, but rivals have advanced the game further.

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