We've seen a lot of wireless earbuds launch in recent years – many off the back of the runaway success of the Apple AirPods – and Samsung today launched a 2020 upgrade for its Galaxy Buds pair, as well as a bunch of phones.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus have numerous improvements, including battery life that now stretches to 11 hours of music playback, up from six hours on the original Galaxy Buds. The supplied case holds another 11 hours of charge, which means you can get almost a whole day of listening before you need to head back to a plug socket.
Samsung says it has enhanced the sound of the new Galaxy Buds Plus too, by creating a two-way speaker system and an extra tweeter alongside the built-in woofer. "Every sound is balanced and clear, just the way it was meant to be heard," explains Samsung.
There are now three built-in microphones too, which should ensure the earbuds are better able to pick up your voice for those Bluetooth-enabled phone calls (the latest Bluetooth 5.0 standard is supported). Background noise can apparently be tuned out, so your voice comes through loud and clear.
What the Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus don't have is any form of noise cancelation, so that's an extra point in favor of the AirPods Pro from Apple. Like the AirPods, the Samsung earbuds work with iOS and Android, though the best experience is with other Samsung devices – they'll automatically pair with all other mobile gadgets signed into the same Samsung account.
As well as controlling playback from a connected phone, you can also tap on the earbuds themselves: a single tap to play or pause, a double-tap to skip a track or answer a call, and a touch and hold to launch a customized action.
There's no mention of Samsung's digital assistant Bixby, so we're assuming you can't get weather reports and random trivia facts beamed directly to your ears from a connected phone, but we're still learning about some of the details of the Galaxy Buds Plus.
What we do know is that they'll be available from February 14 for US$149.99. Note that if you order the new Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus or Ultra models, then you get a pair of Galaxy Buds Plus thrown in for free.
Source: Samsung