There’s a famous scene from the James Bond movie Goldeneye, in which Pierce Brosnan breaks free from captivity by using a laser beam created by his wristwatch to pierce the bars. Huawei's Watch Buds aren't quite as outrageous (or dangerous, depending on your perspective), but they're close.
The name of this product may have given you a hint as to what makes it unique, but just to be clear, it is a smartwatch that also doubles as a pair of completely wireless earbuds. When the watchface is pressed, a dial that is magnetically attached to the underside of the display pops open to reveal the buds.
It's a crazy idea, but from some angles, I think it makes sense. You know how annoying it is to not be able to listen to music or podcasts on the way to work if you've ever left your headphones at home? You'll never be without earbuds if you keep a pair in your watch. Additionally, since the watch serves as a wrist-bound charging case, you won't need to worry about keeping your earbuds charged as long as you keep your watch charged.
When you lift the lid, the hinge feels reliable. When it is closed, there is no movement or play, and there is no indication of what is inside. I have no issues with the build quality other than the fact that I wouldn't want to fall with the lid open.
Additionally, neither the watch nor the earbuds themselves seem to have had many features compromised. The buds don't have premium features like
Despite having active noise cancellation and an ambient aware mode, spatial audio with head tracking allows you to block out background noise while still being able to hear conversations when you need to.
There aren't many differences between this and Huawei's other wearables if you set the earbuds aside and just focus on the watch. It has all the sensors a good smartwatch needs to track your steps, exercises, heart rate, pace, distance travelled, and altitude, as well as some more sophisticated metrics like blood oxygen levels and stress.
Your smartphone, whether an iPhone or an Android device, will display notifications. Additionally, you can answer calls and control music playback on your wrist with or without taking the earbuds out of their storage compartments.
Additionally, it has a 1.43-inch, 466 x 466 AMOLED display with softly curved edges and a responsive touchscreen on top. There is only one physical button, which is unusual. It is the crown on the right, which spins but doesn't seem to control anything while it does. Everything else is controlled by tapping, swiping, and, on occasion, clicking the crown in.
Notifications will be displayed on your smartphone, whether it is an iPhone or an Android device. In addition, you can manage music playback and answer calls on your wrist with or without removing the earbuds from their storage spaces.
It also has a responsive touchscreen on top and a 1.43-inch, 466 x 466 AMOLED display with softly curved edges. It's unusual that there is only one physical button. It is the crown to the right that spins but doesn't appear to be in charge of anything. The remaining functions are managed by tapping, swiping, and occasionally clicking the crown.
The main flaw is that the treble occasionally comes off as too harsh. For example, the cymbals and tambourines on Mastodon's Show Yourself sounded uncomfortably intrusive, and no amount of adjusting via the preset EQs, which are selectable on the watch itself, seemed to fix this. The microphones don't appeal to me either. They work for the occasional emergency call, but I find the audio quality to be clipped and unnatural.
The way the earbuds work with the watch itself is more impressive. Along with the standard quick toggles for do not disturb, screen brightness, settings, and so forth, if you pull down from the top of the screen, you'll also see the battery levels for each individual earbud in addition to the watch's overall battery level. Here, you can also initiate pairing with your phone, tablet, or laptop as well as change between the different noise cancelling modes—through off, on, and awareness.
And even though they are the smallest earbuds I can recall using recently, you can control a number of features without using the watch or your phone. You do this by tapping your ear: a double tap activates play or pause, while a triple tap turns on or off active noise cancellation. Huawei also affirms that you will eventually be able to switch sources in this manner through a firmware update.
The watch itself performs admirably as well. Particularly, the battery life is excellent. Depending on how much you use the earbuds and GPS for running, Huawei rates it at three days in "standard mode" and seven days in "power saving mode."
Since I've only had a chance to use the GPS and heart rate monitor once, it's difficult to assess their accuracy. However, on this brief run, I saw no significant issues with either. With a difference of just 0.5%, the GPS and my Stryd Wind running pod had good overall distance comparisons.
There is no denying how clever and practical the Huawei Watch Buds are. The earbuds have surprisingly good sound quality, and the smartwatch is well-built, comfy, responsive, and capable. They might be perfect for you if you like the idea of always having a pair of true wireless headphones on hand and frequently wear a smartwatch.
The bigger question is whether spending more or less money would be better spent on a better smart/sports watch and better-sounding headphones with more effective ANC. And the response is that the majority of people would. But if the Watch Buds had a built-in laser cutter, I would wholeheartedly recommend it.
The Huawei Watch Buds will be available for pre-order starting on March 15 and will go on sale on March 1.
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