As well as announcing its latest flagship smartphone, OnePlus has announced a pair of wireless headphones to go pair with them in the Buds.
Usually, the announcement of a true wireless earbud to go with a new smartphone isn’t particularly interesting on its own, but OnePlus’ first ever true wireless sounds more interesting than most.
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Called the OnePlus Buds, they’re designed to work seamlessly with OnePlus’ phones and support immersive sound in Dolby Atmos. The look of the headphones is not unlike the Honor Magic Earbuds, with its sleek long stem and rather bulbous housing for the drivers. It doesn’t have any eartips, which slightly worries us in terms of fit, but judging by images it looks like it settles into the ear, rather than sitting on the the earlobe.
Battery life is seven hours charge in the earbuds, and up to 30 if you include the case. Quick charge functionality is present with OnePlus’ Warp Charge tech. A ten minute charge of the case is enough for 10 hours, while ten minutes for the earbuds extends life by 100 minutes.
Noise-cancelling of sorts is included. By the sounds of it, it’s more akin to the Amazon Echo Buds’ Noise Reduction feature, and it reduces environmental sounds with an algorithm. Each earbud has three microphones, and OnePlus claims these can eliminate background noise for clearer call quality.
Also housed inside the earbuds are enhanced 13.4mm dynamic drivers, and of particular interest is not the Bass Boost feature, but Dolby Atmos support. This won’t be the whizz-bang overhead sounds typically associated with Atmos, but more towards getting better sound quality out of the headphones. OnePlus asserts that with Atmos in tow, the Buds can produce “cleaner vocals, deeper bass and richer tones” in a stereo soundstage.
Other features include low latency pairing technology that allows the Buds to pair quickly with any smartphone (but especially OnePlus devices), and switch between speakers and earphones. Water resistance is IPX4, enough to resist splashes of water.
The OnePlus Buds will cost a very affordable £79. They are available now.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
