Along with launching the smartphones with folding screens, Samsung has also launched a new model of headphones - Galaxy Buds 2. These are headphones that are sold at a lower price than the Galaxy Buds Pro (for the full review) but they do not include all the features found in the Pro model.
For Samsung, these are the headphones that will help it increase its user base, thanks to a slightly more accessible price tag.
Galaxy Buds 2, Photo: Tzachi Hoffman
Design and control: Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 - rich application and sensitive touchpad
The Buds 2 are small and compact headphones with almost minimal bulge when inside the ears.
They come in the same carrying case as the previous models, which is reminiscent of a box of ring, which fits easily into the pants pocket.
The case comes in a glossy white color, with the inside painted in the color of the headphones (white, black, olive or lavender).
In terms of resistance to sweat or water, the rating of -Buds 2 is relatively low - IPX2, which means that they should survive without any problem fitness training and light rain (the carrying case itself is not waterproof), but not beyond that.
In terms of the comfort of the Buds 2 in the ears, it is an individual experience.
In my case, most of the time they sat well in the ears, even during a run, but I still felt sometimes that they moved a little and I had to fix them.
The kit comes with 3 silicone adapters in different sizes.
Spotify at the push of a button
For the operation of the Buds 2, Samsung offers a touchpad: a single touch Activating / stopping a song (in addition to the sensor that will perform this action automatically when the headphones are removed from the ears), double touching beyond the next song and triple activation beyond the previous song.
What bothered me was that the commands are the same between the right and left ear, although it allows less commands to be remembered, but it also reduces the options for operation.
Samsung also allows you to set a different operation in each of the headphones when you press and hold it, it allows you to increase or decrease the volume, switch between active noise filtering mode and ambient sounds, Bixby activation or Spotify activation, the latter is a really nice option.
Samsung offers another option to control the volume, but it is located in the app in the "Labs" category, so it needs to be turned on manually.
The reason why Samsung has found an inconvenient way to perform this operation is double tapping on the tip of the right headset to increase the volume and on the left to lower it.
Samsung offers other ways to control the headphones, besides the touchpad.
The app on the smartphone includes a widget for viewing on a smartphone and tablet.
It provides a quick indication of the battery status in percentages and also allows you to turn off the touch pad and turn on or off the active noise filtering mode.
The app on the smartphone (Galaxy Wearable) has a lot of capabilities and it allows you to change some of the control buttons, adjust the equalizer and also use a new capability at Samsung - testing the fit of the buds 2 to the user's ears.
This checks whether the user has selected the appropriate silicone adapters for the required level of insulation.
Fast switching between Samsung devices
By the way, those who own the new Samsung watch - Galaxy Watch 4 will find an app for the watch, which also allows you to check the battery percentage and switch between the noise filtering mode and the ambient sounds.
Another capability of the Buds 2 that benefits from Samsung's ecosystem is the Auto Switch.
This allows the headphones to switch between the company's watch, smartphone or tablet almost automatically.
I tested it with a Samsung tablet, in most cases the sound in the headphones erupted from the device I was with, when in other cases a window appeared to me, which asked me whether to connect to Buds 2. It is great and very convenient.
Sound and Calls: Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 - Successful Quality Calls
Similar to the company's headphones and smartphones, in Buds 2 AKG (owned by Samsung) is responsible for the sound.
The headphones feature Dynamic 2 Way Speaker, woofer and Twitter, all of which deliver good, clean, dynamic sound with noticeable bass.
The headphones even handle a high volume nicely, as it is a tad jarring at its top edges at full volume.
Samsung's active noise filtering technology manages to noticeably filter the noise of cars on the street or air conditioning, but this is not a complete filter.
Also, there is an ambient sound mode here, which allows you to be aware of the environment or have a conversation with another person.
It is a pity that the headphones do not know how to automatically detect a conversation with a person and activate this mode automatically.
Like other of the company's headphones, Buds 2 Samsung also manages to provide good call quality, which is capable of muffling background noises of people or other noises of cars and street work.
Sometimes my voice became metallic except as the background sounds intensified.
Samsung does this using 3 microphones that it has integrated in the headphones: 2 microphones for external noise (Beamforming) and 1 internal microphone.
The headphones also include machine learning technology, which knows how to help filter out various background noises, such as: music, bus noises, trains and crowd noises, so that the other side can hear you better.
Another technology available here is the Voice Pickup Unit (or VPU) which includes an accelerometer to detect movement of the mouth.
The goal is to understand if the user is talking or someone next to him.
Galaxy Buds2,
Battery: Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 - Wireless charging
The Buds 2 offer 5 hours of playing time, including active noise filtering, which is very nice.
Along with the carrying case, this is about 20 hours of music.
Samsung offers to charge the case wirelessly or with a USB-C connection.
Anyone who owns a Samsung smartphone that supports reverse wireless charging will be able to get the energy this way too.
Price
: NIS 500
Bottom line, Samsung's Galaxy Buds 2 integrates perfectly with its ecosystem, so if you use the company's smartphone, tablet or watch, you'll find that they've enhancing your experience.
They also offer good quality sound and call management.
On the other hand, Samsung has reduced all kinds of capabilities that exist in the Pro model, so that it can price them at a lower price, so it may be better to invest the price difference and go for the more advanced model (about NIS 100 extra).
The review was originally published on The Gadget Reviews