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I’ve been reviewing earbuds for a long time, and have checked out a number of them from Huawei over the years. Huawei did have some odd units over time, like the Huawei FreeBuds 5, which turned out to be really good despite a somewhat odd design. Those earbuds were a bit odd, but nothing compared to the ones we’re here to talk about. The Huawei FreeClip are the company’s new earphones, and this is our review of that product. I was quite surprised the first time I saw these earbuds, mainly because I wasn’t expecting a new audio launch from the company this year, let alone something like this.
So, what makes these earbuds so different? Well, first and foremost, these are truly wireless (TWS) earbuds. Second, the entire usage of FreeClip is different from the earbuds you’re used to. There are open-ear type earbuds, closed-type ones. Earbuds that come with earwings and ear tips, ones that come without, and so on. I’ve even used truly wireless earphones that go around your ear in a half-moon shape, and are meant for running. Well, think of Huawei FreeClip earbuds as something between those, and regular truly wireless earbuds. With that in mind, let’s talk about their design, shall we?
Table of contents
Huawei FreeClip Review: Hardware / Design
As already mentioned, the Huawei FreeClip earbuds are different. Instead of going in your ear directly, you attach these to the outer side of your ears, on the side. Half of them sit behind your ear, and the other half goes towards the inner side of your ear, but not inside it. The whole idea is for the sound to shoot to the inside of your ear without the earbuds technically being inside of it. Why? Well, mainly due to cleanliness. Huawei wanted to try out something new, and this is what the company came up with. Ear infections are not that rare when it comes to earbuds, and this basically prevents that from happening.
‘Acoustic Ball’ & ‘Comfort Bean’
Now, Huawei actually has names for different parts of these earbuds. The part which sits on the entrance to your ear cavity is called ‘Acoustic Ball’, while the part that goes behind your ear is referred to as ‘Comfort Bean’. Those two parts are connected by a rubberized bridge that stretches out when you place it on, and then holds the two pieces firmly on your ear. The whole contraption may seem unstable based on what you see in pictures, but I assure you, it sits in place very nicely once you place it on your ear.
They fit different ear types
In fact, I gave these earbuds to about 5 people to try out, just to make sure they’ll fit different ear types. Out of those 5 people, there were two females, and three males, plus me, of course. The earbuds fit everyone perfectly fine, though they needed to be placed under a slightly different angle, of course. I asked them all to shake their head as much as they can also, and the FreeClip earbuds didn’t budge. The same goes for my experience. This makes me think these earbuds are great for sports activities, actually. I ran with them sitting on my ears, and I rode my bike. They didn’t budget and I actually preferred these to in-ear earbuds in that sense. I actually think that’s the perfect use case for them, if I’m being honest.
The Huawei FreeClip earbuds are great for extended usage
The Huawei FreeClip earbuds were also quite comfortable to wear. I wore them for hours at a time, and didn’t feel discomfort, not at all. To be quite honest, I was surprised by how much this design worked for me, I was very, very skeptical when I first saw it. Each earbud weighs 5.6 grams, while the charging case weighs 44.5 grams. They’re both quite light.
The earbuds themselves are made out of plastic, shiny plastic, unfortunately. They come in two colors, white, and I used the gray model. They ship with a charging/carrying case, which is quite compact, and made out of matte plastic. It doesn’t attract fingerprints at all (at least the color that I used), which is something I very much appreciate. The earbuds are very easy to take out and place in the case, as the bridge that connects the two parts is sticking out when you open the case. So, all you need to do is grab it and pull them out. The earbuds automatically recognize in which ear they’re placed in, so you don’t have to think about placement, simply put them in whichever charging slot you want.
The entire surface of the earbuds acts as one huge touch sensor
Many of you are probably wondering do these have touch sensors, or something of the sort. Yes. In fact, the entire earbuds are one big touch sensor, essentially. You can trigger touch commands by tapping on the Acoustic Ball, Comfort Bean or the bridge that connects them, it’s up to you. Touch controls work beautifully, as I’ve come to expect from Huawei’s earbuds. I actually used that rubberized bridge the most for activating touch commands. You can choose between double and trip tap actions. More on that later.
Huawei FreeClip Review: Sound & Call quality
Considering how different this design is, I wouldn’t blame you if you wondered if the sound quality was any good. Well, yes, but there’s a caveat. Considering that these earbuds are not placed on the inside of your ear, you won’t have as great of an experience as you would have with the FreeBuds 5 and FreeBuds Pro 3, for example. That is especially true if you’re in a noisy area, actually.
They’re not great for loud environments
Considering the design of these earbuds, the noise does bleed into your ear easily. Outside noise, of course. I’ve tried wearing these inside a crowded bar, and next to a really busy street, and I really did notice the lack of soundproofing. I’m so used to ANC (Active Noise Cancelling) at this point, that this really is noticeable. That is the main negative when it comes to the product as a whole, actually. With that in mind, these earbuds have been made that way on purpose. You cannot really make something like this and offer soundproofing too, as the design basically prevents that.
The sound is good enough if it’s not loud around you
The sound was more than good enough in every other scenario, though, even though not as punchy as I’m used to… once again, that’s due to the design itself. When I sat down in a coffee shop to do some sort, there were not many people around, and I had a great time with these. The same goes for when I went for a run, biked my way around the neighborhood, and watched a bunch of Yellowstone episodes on the TV at home. Dual drivers are in play here, and you do notice the quality. The sound output was more than pleasing, and you also have some control over that via the AI Life app. More on that soon.
Another thing worth noting here is that the sound did not leak to people around me. I expected that would happen, despite Huawei’s claims, but it did not. I asked a number of people whether they heard anything while I was listening to music, and they said they did not, even when they came closer (into my personal space, basically). So that’s great to hear. There is, of course, a point when the sound is noticeable, but nobody will come that close to you, at least not when you’re out and about.
These are great for voice calls
What about voice calls? Well, the other end of the line said that I sound just fine. They didn’t really have any complaints, so they’re on the same playing field as most other Huawei earbuds I’ve used this year. When it comes to the incoming call sound, well, it was more than good enough, unless I tried to conduct a call in a very noisy environment. That was to be expected, though.
Let me touch on the connectivity for a bit. I didn’t have any issues with the earbuds being connected. I had one random disconnect, but that’s about it. Even when I walked out of the range, they connected instantly when I got back in range, and didn’t even bother notifying me of anything at that point. These earbuds also have a dual connectivity option, meaning they can be connected to two devices at the same time, and jump between them as needed.
Huawei FreeClip Review: Battery
Huawei has big battery life claims for the Huawei FreeClip. The company said you can expect 8 hours of music playback here, 5 hours of talk time, and up to 36 hours of battery including the charging case. Is that accurate? Well, it’s possible, though we were not able to test that specifically, as I did not wear them for 8 hours straight to see if they’ll die, nor did I conduct a 5-hour voice call. What I can say is that I used them for around 4 hours straight while listening to music and podcasts, and watching a TV show. I did drain more than half of the tank at that point, but only barely. So the numbers that Huawei shared could be accurate.
They do charge really fast, while wireless charging is an option
The earbuds themselves do charge really fast, it’ll take them around 40 minutes to fully charge. How about the case, though? Well, you’ll need around 60 minutes to get it to 100%, it took me 62 minutes. That goes for wired charging. If you opt for wireless charging, which is an option here, it’ll definitely take considerably more time, as it’ll change 3 times slower, approximately. Either way, there are plenty of options here, and once you get the charging case charged up, you’ll be able to stay away from the charger for quite some time.
Huawei FreeClip Review: AI Life app
In order to take full advantage of the Huawei FreeClip earbuds, you’ll need the company’s app. The app’s name is ‘AI Life’, and you can either grab it directly from Huawei’s website, or from the company’s AppGallery app (Huawei’s app store). It is not available in the Google Play Store, at least not the version you’ll need. That being said, the AI Life app is very simple, and it is useful. It allows you to not only see the battery level of both the earbuds and the charging case, but also do some customizations too.
You can customize gesture navigation via an app
You can change up the gesture navigation inside of this app. The app does give you access to double-tap and triple-tap functions for these earbuds. Unfortunately, swipe up and down action is not available. That is used to control the volume on other earbuds from the company, but it’s not on offer here, as these earbuds have a different orientation. The gestures themselves do work really well. I managed to activate both double-tap and triple-tap actions basically every time. Also, you don’t have to tap in a specific place, the entire surface of the earbuds are touch panels, including the bridge that connects them.
Inside the app, you can even control the sound output to a degree. You can use the ‘Default’ setup, or opt for one of the other three: Elevate, Treble boost, and Voices. You’ll also be updating the Huawei FreeClip without this app. It’s impossible to update them without AI Life, so keep that in mind.
Huawei FreeClip: Should you buy these earbuds?
Are the Huawei FreeClip the right pair of earbuds for you? Well, that’ll depend on a number of factors. The main one is… whether you need good noise cancelling or not. The Huawei FreeClip earbuds do not offer good noise isolation, and that’s their main drawback. Considering the design here, that is not surprising at all. These earbuds do not exactly go into your ears. On the flip side, they’re outstanding for sports activities, and they’re very, very comfortable to use for longer periods of time. So, it all depends on what you’re looking for in a pair of earbuds. Different people have different priorities. Maybe the list of pros and cons below will help you make your decision.
You should buy the Huawei FreeClip if you:
…are a sporty person, and want your earbuds to sit firmly in place
…need comfortable earbuds for longer usage
…are worried about ear infections
…want to be different than the rest
…need very good battery life
…find most charging cases for TWS earbuds to be too big
You shouldn’t buy the Huawei FreeClip if you:
…are often in noisy environments, and you need noise-cancelling
…need volume control on your earbuds
…find regular-looking earbuds to be a good fit for you