Huawei is going strong in the world of smart wearables and brings some impressive TWS products. The Freebuds 5i is its latest product, which was introduced in China last June and hit the international stage just in time for the holiday season.
We got to spend some time with a pair of Huawei Freebuds 5i and tested the claims of better noise reduction, longer battery life and faster connection. Here’s what we found out.
We got the blue Freebuds 5i, which we think is the prettiest color of the three (other two are white and black). Regardless of color, you get a smooth finish that looks and feels like stone. There’s a button on the side to reset the earbuds and a USB-C port for charging. The back is flat so you can place the case on a flat surface without wobbling.
The buttons inside the case have a glossy finish, but they are quite resistant to fingerprints. The stem is relatively short and the buds have rubber tips, with two additional sizes included in the retail box. The USB-A to USB-C cable is the other item in the box with the €100 buds.
We loved the fact that the magnets that hold the buds in the case aren’t as strong as they were in the Freebuds 4i, making them easier to remove. Each knob supports touch gestures, and for the first time, they also have volume control by swiping up or down along the stem.
Huawei Freebuds 5i support the Bluetooth 5.2 standard and you can pair them without additional software. But to access their extra features, you need to use the Huawei AI Life app. We suggest you get it from AppGallery as the latest updates take their time to arrive on the Google Play Store.
Huawei promises quick pairing with an automatic prompt when you open the box for the first time, but it only works as intended in Huawei’s ecosystem. Just by opening the case, a Huawei smartphone will pop up a prompt asking to connect. Any other smartphone has to take the scenic route and visit the app, but the process is still quick and painless.
Huawei AI Life screenshots
Huawei managed to reduce the weight by 18%, but kept the overall design and even increased the battery capacity by around 60%. Each bud is 55mAh, and the case adds another 410mAh, which the company promises will give you 28 hours of music playback.
AAC Music playback on a single charge is said to be 7.5 hours at 50% volume, but our test fell a little short of that figure, barely reaching 7 hours. The endurance with ANC enabled it to be 6 hours on a single charge, and we were closer here, at just 10-15 minutes under the mark. That’s still solid endurance, and you can easily get through even the longest flights if you pop the Freebuds 5i back into the case every now and then.
Huawei Freebuds 5i
When it comes to charging, Huawei promised 15 minutes of the buds in the case to get you back four hours of playback. We found charging to be as fast as advertised, meaning charges feel almost instantaneous.
The entire 410 mAh battery in the case and the two 55 mAh batteries in the buds charge from 0% to 100% in just 90 minutes, even faster than the advertised 110 minutes for the case alone. However, the Huawei Freebuds 5i cover does not support wireless charging, so connecting them is mandatory.
The Huawei AI Life app lets you switch between the three noise cancellation options – Noise Reduction, Off and Awareness. The former has three different modes – Cozy, for places with little noise, General, which is the default setting, and Ultra, for maximum ANC.
We found the Freebuds 5i’s ANC to be good, if not quite up to the best out there. The Galaxy Buds2 Pro and Freebuds Pro 2 would be better flight buddies, but they are in a completely different price category.
The app also provides basic sound quality presets – Standard, Bass Boost and Treble Boost.
The 10mm dynamic driver and its polymer composite diaphragm do a decent job in the mid and high frequencies, but the Freebuds 5i definitely fall short when it comes to playing deep bass.
This makes the Freebuds 5i a good choice for pop listeners and conferences. They are also suitable for occasional training with the IP54 rating. We tested the buds in extreme conditions, including running in the cold winter rain, and the sound and fit were not compromised in the slightest.
The Huawei Freebuds 5i is a solid step forward from the Freebuds 4i, which was announced over 18 months ago. With the £90/€100 price in mind, we were impressed with the ANC performance, the fast connection and the gesture controls. Battery life is also impressive, and while the sound quality isn’t the best out there, it’s not so bad as to be a deal-breaker.
