The Chinese company has many years of experience in the field of mobile headsets and relied heavily on customer feedback to produce the new version for the most marketable product possible. The previous member of their Freebud series, the 3i won several international awards, customers were very happy with the sound quality, but of course there were also flaws, such as the battery being judged by the majority to be weak. The now released 4i eliminates these problems and of course has been augmented by some other improvements.
The Freebud 4i box is packaged with a tiny, very glossy, egg-shaped container, a charging cable and three different sized (small, medium and large) rubber bells to keep the earphones comfortable and stable in everyone’s ears. The chopsticks are almost weightless, weigh 11 grams, and have a 10mm guide for a sound experience. The holder is also a charger, into which you can insert the stems of the earbuds. Fortunately, the bottom of the gravel-shaped holder is straight, so it doesn’t roll when placed on the table. Available in three colors, black, white and red, we tested the white version.
To use it, you need to activate Bluetooth on your phone and pair it with your device immediately. Another solution is to activate the device or reset the connection with a tiny function key hidden on the side of the holder. The 4i uses a Bluetooth 5.2 connection, which by its delay, according to the company, is only 186 ms. All we notice is that the sound sounds immediately when you start playing a music. In addition to our mobile phone, it can be paired with several other devices to choose from and you don’t have to reconnect them every time.
The ends of the chopsticks are very ergonomic, with three different sized plugs it is really recommended for any head size. It is comfortable in the long run and does not fall out during intense training and sprinting. It is not waterproof, but it just means that swimming is not recommended by the manufacturer, but running in the rain or heavy sweating is not a problem.
It can be used with all smartphones and is compatible with iOS and Windows in addition to Android. Like its predecessors, it works with Huawei AI Life on mobile devices. The app is simple, it does not include equalizer or other music settings. It can indicate the charge of the headphones and the holder, and in this we can choose how to reduce the noise and what the chopsticks should do when touched. You can tap to answer or reject a phone call, stop or start playback, or skip to the previous or next track. Volume cannot be adjusted this way, and except from our ears, it does not stop automatically, only the active noise cancellation is switched off.
We can’t complain about the sound quality, it performs excellently compared to its size. The singer numbers are clear, I didn’t notice any distortion in the highs. The basses aren’t nearly as beautiful, of course, but that’s not to be expected in this category either. It is noticeably tuned to fans of popular styles. Special noise filtering deserves special praise, which is very effective in attenuating external noise. To do this, the device detects ambient sounds through its built-in microphones and generates reverse sound waves to reduce them. But we don’t even have to take it out of our ears if we meet someone while running and want to talk, in which case we just have to touch the chopsticks and we’ve already turned off the noise cancellation.
Its operating time is plenty good for all-day use, according to factory data, 55mAh is enough for 10 hours, which in my experience is not an exaggeration, but it largely depends on the use of active noise filtering. To charge, you need to put it in its holder, which also has a 410 mAh battery. Placing the sticks in and out requires some experience due to the lack of grip, it doesn’t hurt to keep your hands dry. A small LED next to Huawei on the storage indicates its charge and connection. This can be connected to a plug-in charger with a USB-C cable – the latter is not included in line with today’s trend. A 5 Watt charger provides enough cocoa for 4 hours in 10 minutes, and the charger case can be fully charged in one hour.
With the Freebud 4i, Huawei is aimed at the middle class, it is intended for the 18-25 age group, its price is also adjusted to this: its recommended price in Hungary is HUF 29,990. It will be available from early April, initially only in white, then later in black, and in May in red. In addition to the models purchased between April 8th and 18th, the company will give a free Huawei Band 4e Active.
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