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Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Review: Android Phone Users, Get Over That Apple AirPods Pro Envy
Android phone users have often looked towards the Apple AirPods Pro with envy. The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro do their best to end that, with a very similar feature set as well as the actual delivery of top-notch performance. The best wireless earbuds from Samsung, till now.
Last Updated:February 05, 2021, 12:00 IST
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It has been happening for a while now, but in case you hadn’t noticed still, Samsung has quietly and efficiently gone about making a very strong case as serious wireless earbuds options. It started with the Galaxy Buds some time ago, and ever since then, we have seen step by step enhancements with the Galaxy Buds+, the uniquely shared Galaxy Buds Live with the present and temporary culmination of this journey at the Galaxy Buds Pro. Priced at Rs 15,990 at this time, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro sit at the very top of Samsung’s current wireless earbuds li
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro review: set-up and design
If you re already fully invested in Samsung s ecosystem of gadgets, the first thing you ll notice with the Buds Pro is just how easily they pair with your phone. We tested these wireless earbuds with Samsung s new Galaxy S21 and the whole connection process took a matter of seconds. And you don t even need to dig around in the Bluetooth menu in Settings – everything is handled with a notification as soon as open the charging case for your new buds.
Honestly, it s so simple it shouldn t faze even the biggest technophobe.
Simply unbox the Buds Pros from their packaging, open the charging case and hold them near your Galaxy phone. Samsung then does the rest with easy-to-follow instructions appearing on the screen. It s all very similar to Apple s AirPods setup, which is a good thing.
Design can be polarizing
Samsung released these two earbuds a mere six months apart, and they each represent a different approach for the company. The Galaxy Buds Pro are the culmination of more than a few attempts at getting it right with this form factor, while the Galaxy Buds Live are a unique take on that same approach. Both are good at what they do, though the differences between them go beyond what s on paper.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy Buds Live
Very different
Source: Ted Kritsonis / Android Central
From the photos alone, it s obvious these are two different products despite being from the same company. They re also two of the best wireless earbuds available, and that s why it s so interesting to pit these two against each other. Beyond appearance, the Galaxy Buds Pro were built to do it all, whereas the Galaxy Buds Live were made to feel like nothing else could.
Not as resistant to water and sweat
When two giants like Apple and Samsung use the word Pro to describe their best wireless earbuds, it leads to an interesting battle. Samsung finally took its best features and put them into one single pair in the Galaxy Buds Pro, while Apple had previously done the same with the AirPods Pro. With similar paths, finding the contrasts only makes this matchup more intriguing.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro vs. AirPods Pro
Staying apart
Source: Daniel Bader / Android Central
On paper, there are some things that stand out as part of that contrast, but the full story really comes from how the specs come together with the practicality of their respective feature sets. They obviously look totally different from a design perspective, though neither provides an inherent advantage over the other. Samsung did its best to make the Galaxy Buds Pro feel and act naturally, and there is something beneficial about all that.
Source: Daniel Bader / Android Central
It s all been leading up to this. As with Samsung s first few Android phones, its first couple attempts at building wireless earbuds were ambitious but rife with problems: the original IconX, from 2016, had terrible battery life. The successor, a year later, had finicky controls. The first pair of true wireless earbuds to sport the Galaxy brand, 2019 s Galaxy Buds, experienced major connectivity problems that required months of updates to fix.
It wasn t until 2020 that Samsung s true wireless earbud line hit its stride with the austere, affordable, and ridiculously long-lasting Galaxy Buds+ in February followed up by the now-iconic (and still-weird) bean-shaped Galaxy Buds Live in August. The Buds+ laid solid sonic foundations while the Buds Live introduced a welcome redesign to the case and, more importantly, active noise cancelation.