Hands on: Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro review
Samsung is touting a ‘futuristic’ feature for its latest earbuds – but that’s not all that’s new about them.
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Growing up on science fiction means getting a glimpse into the future’s potential technological marvels.
If you grew up in the 80s, you probably dreamt about the day you’d get your hands on Marty McFly’s hoverboard from Back To The Future II.
As a 90s kid, my revelation came much later when I saw the Babel-Fish earbuds from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
For those who haven’t seen the cult sci-fi classic, the buds allowed the wearer to instantly understand speech in another language.
The unfortunate trade off was, of course, that you had to stick a live fish inside your ear.
However, Samsung unveiled that same futuristic technology on Wednesday, (thankfully) sans fish.
At its Galaxy Unpacked event at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, the tech giant gave us a first glimpse at the new Galaxy Buds 3 range, alongside its latest line of folding phones and wearables.
Like the rest of Samsung’s latest tech lineup, the Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro integrate Samsung’s Galaxy AI, in this case allowing for language translation.
Simply select the language of the speaker on your phone, and the buds will provide the translation right in your ear.
But, how well does it actually work? And why do the buds look so familiar?
READ MORE:Everything announced at Samsung Unpacked
DESIGN
The design is, of course, the elephant in the room.
With their silicone tips and stemmed design, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro bear a striking resemblance to Apple’s AirPods Pro 2, while the open-type Galaxy Buds 3 look similar to the AirPods (3rd Gen).
Samsung claims these changes are based on “collected statistical data,” showing that a stem — or ‘blade’ — form factor offers more stability and comfort. It also said the blade allowed for more intuitive controls (more on that later).
While some may complain, I’m not upset about this change.
Previous Galaxy Buds models have always been fairly bulky, and I’ve never found them to be a comfortable fit in my small ears.
AirPods meanwhile became popular due to their ‘universal fit,’ which was comfortable for many, including me. However, they were optimised for the Apple ecosystem, limiting the full audio experience on Android devices.
The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and Galaxy Buds 3 resolve this issue for Samsung users, offering a similar comfortable fit with Galaxy smartphone compatibility.
Both pairs have similar features but are designed for different listeners: the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro offer an in-ear fit, while the Galaxy Buds 3 have an open-type design for those who prefer not to have their ears sealed.
I’ve only had a chance to get hands on with the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, so I’ll focus on them.
Available in White or Silver, these noise-cancelling buds are extremely comfortable. I wore them for a couple of hours on the plane without any discomfort and found them to be nice and stable while walking.
There are ‘Blade Lights’ down the side of each bud, which may seem a bit gimmicky, but I’ve found them quite practical. These LED strips light up when your buds are pairing, using the Interpreter feature, or when you’re looking for them in a dark room via Google’s Find My Device network. If you don’t like them, you can also switch them off.
The buds come with three different ear tip sizes, a colour-matched charging case, and an IP57 dust and water resistance rating, which is an upgrade over the IPX7 rating on the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro.
Setup is meanwhile incredibly straightforward, with the buds appearing on the screen of my Galaxy Z Flip 6 as soon as I pressed the pairing button on the bottom of the charging case.
FEATURES
New to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro this time around are more intuitive gesture controls.
When the buds are in your ears, you can use a variety of pinches and swipes on the blade to change the volume, answer and decline calls, and play/pause/skip your tracks.
I found the swipe controls effective and easy to use, but the pinch gesture took me some trial and error as there’s no indentation to show you exactly where to press. While I was able to play/pause my music with one pinch fairly easily, the controls that required multiple pinches required a bit more of a learning curve.
I could of course use my phone to control these features, but I was a little disappointed the experience wasn’t more seamless here.
The feature set is also where Samsung’s Galaxy AI comes in.
The brand said sound has been “intelligently optimised” for both Galaxy Buds 3 models, which means they can analyse internal and external sounds and adjust the active noise cancelling (ANC) and EQ accordingly.
A Voice Detect feature switches ANC and Ambient Sound on or off whenever you speak/someone speaks to you, so you don’t need to fiddle around with volume controls. I found this particularly useful, as it allowed me to hear my partner asking me questions without having to stop what I was doing. If you like to sing along to your tunes though, you may want to toggle this one off.
Similarly, there’s a Siren Detect safety feature that automatically switches off active noise cancellation (ANC) and Ambient Noise levels whenever it detects a siren (such as a passing police car), though I haven’t yet experienced this for myself.
There are also some cool features hidden in the accompanying Galaxy Wearable app, such as Neck Stretch Reminders. If you frequently find yourself hunching over your phone or desk, you can toggle this feature on to get an alert and some stretching tutorials whenever your head has been bent downwards for too long.
Then, of course, there’s the Interpreter feature.
INTERPRETER
With Galaxy AI, the Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro enable translation on your Samsung Galaxy smartphone. There are two modes: listening mode for one-way interpretation and conversation mode for two-way communication.
In the Interpreter app, download the desired language, then press the microphone button. The original speech will appear on your phone, followed by a translation…to mixed success. Simply put: sometimes this feature works, sometimes it doesn’t.
The feature works best when listening to one person at a time, as it doesn’t seem to separate different speakers. It can also confuse the context of what’s being said, which makes the translation it spits out harder to understand.
I did have a little more success with the conversation mode, which is also where you can hear the interpretation right in your ears, as well as see it on your screen.
While it still doesn’t always get it quite right, there were many instances where I could at least understand the context of what was being said.
Ultimately, these AI translations are still finicky. But they might just be good enough to help you out with the basics, like asking a local for directions.
This feature alone isn’t a strong reason to buy the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, though there are many other reasons to consider them.
AUDIO AND NOISE CANCELLATION
I was impressed with the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro’s sound almost immediately.
The earbuds have dual amplifiers and a two-way driver system, which results in rich sound and improved audio quality over the Buds 2 Pro. There’s also AAC and SBC codecs as well as a new, high quality Samsung Seamless Codec Ultra High Quality codec which features a 24-bit 96HKz sampling rate and near-lossless audio.
Better yet, the Wearables app now has a custom equaliser along with the regular EQ presets, so you can tweak the sound of the earbuds to your liking.
As you’d expect from flagship earbuds, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro also come with active noise cancellation.
While it isn’t strong enough to fully block out background noise, it made a significant difference when I was working in a busy cafe. Surround sound was reduced by more than half, allowing me to focus on what I was doing.
BATTERY LIFE
I haven’t had the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro long enough to fully run the battery down, but Samsung promises up to six hours of playtime with ANC on, or up to seven hours with it off.
With the charging case, you can get up to 24 hours in total with ANC on, or up to 29 hours with it off.
When it’s time to charge, the buds support both USB-C and wireless charging, with Samsung estimating a charge time of approximately 135 minutes.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are priced at $399 which, while expensive, is the same price as Apple’s AirPods Pro (2nd Gen) buds.
The Galaxy Buds 3 will meanwhile set you back $299, which is a touch more than the competing AirPods (3rd Gen) which are priced at $279.
Both the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and Galaxy Buds 3 are available now for pre-order through Samsung’s online store, as well as through stockists like Amazon Australia and The Good Guys.
INITIAL THOUGHTS
I’ve only had the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro for a few days, which means I’ll need more time to really put them to the test, but they’ve already left me impressed.
While some users will be disappointed to see a design similar to Apple’s AirPods, I’ve found the new stemmed form factor sits better in my ears than previous generations of Galaxy Buds. They’ve also proven to be extremely comfortable for extended listening periods, making the design change one that I welcome.
The audio quality is great, and there’s some handy features here like Voice Detect and Adaptive Noise Control.
The Interpreter feature is meanwhile a wild addition which, while not perfected at this stage, shows potential to be helpful later down the line.
I wasn’t completely sold on the pinch gesture controls, and I would have liked a bit more ANC flexibility.
However, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro feel like a step in the right direction for Samsung, giving Galaxy device owners a solid pair of flagship earbuds.
WHERE TO PRE-ORDER THE SAMSUNG GALAXY BUDS 3 PRO
Samsung
Pre-order Galaxy Buds3 for $50 instant discount & Buds3 Pro for $80 instant
discount, plus:
- Bonus Clear Case (valued at $30)
- 5% off Samsung Shop App First Purchase
Amazon Australia
- Pre-order Galaxy Buds3 Pro and receive a bonus $80 gift card
- Pre-order Galaxy Buds3 and receive a bonus $50 gift card
The Good Guys
- Bonus $80 The Good Guys eGift Card when you pre-order the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro
- Bonus $50 The Good Guys eGift Card when you Pre-Order these Samsung Galaxy Buds 3
*news.com.au attended Galaxy Unpacked as a guest of Samsung.
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