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The Huawei FreeBuds 4 were one of my favorite earbuds from 2021. They offered open-fit design, and sounded great. They noise-canceling wasn’t as good as on earbuds that come with a silicone seal, but it was really good nonetheless. Not everyone likes those seals, so the FreeBuds 4 catered to those consumers. Last year, the FreeBuds Pro 2 launched as the company’s flagship truly wireless earbuds. We’re back to the “regular” FreeBuds line, as the FreeBuds 5 got announced by Huawei, and those are the earbuds we’re here to review.
The Huawei FreeBuds 5 are the company’s flagship true wireless earbuds for 2023, as the Pro 2 were for 2022, and FreeBuds 4 for 2021. That being said, the Huawei FreeBuds 5 look entirely different than both of those models. These still offer open-fit design, and are still a direct successor to the FreeBuds 4, but… well, they’re different. We’ll talk about that most in the hardware/design category below. So if you’re interested in finding out more about these odd-looking earbuds, read on.
Table of contents
Huawei FreeBuds 5 Review: Hardware / Design
Huawei opted to go with an entirely different design this time around. The FreeBuds 4 looked like regular true wireless earbuds, they had the regular stem and everything. Well, the FreeBuds 5 take things in a different direction. You’re getting a much fatter stem, which, truth be said, looks a bit odd in the ear. There is a reason for this design, though. That stem is designed in a way to touch your earlobe, and essentially lock the entire earbud in place. That works really well, at least with my ears. Granted, open-fit true wireless earbuds usually fit me well, so… take that into account. Still, even when I shake my head, these earbuds stay in place, which is great. One thing to note is that Huawei included silicone tips in the box, three different sizes. So, if the earbuds without a silicone seal don’t fit you well, you can always place a seal on them, and find what works for you.
They’re quite comfortable and light
I found them comfortable to wear over long periods of time. Each earbud weighs 5.4 grams, they’re quite light, despite the fact they may look a bit chunky when you first see them. I was quite skeptical over this design, but the FreeBuds 5 managed to win me over rather fast. Each of the two earbuds also has touch sensors on them. You can use them to play/pause music, answer/drop calls, switch between songs, activate noise canceling, and so on. Those actions are customizable via the AI Life app. Do note that you’ll need to install Huawei’s AppGallery from this website in order to be able to get the AI Life app, though. It is not available in the Google Play Store. More on that later.
Speaking of touch sensor, they work great. They’re large enough so that I didn’t even have to get used to them. I didn’t have to get used to where exactly to tap. You can actually tap at the very top of each earbud, there’s no need to go low and possibly move the earbud while you do it. I really like the way Huawei designed this. You can use touch sensors all you want without moving earbuds in your ears or possibly knock them out, which is great. That’s definitely not the case with every pair of true wireless earbuds.
Matte finish on the case is appreciated
Huawei opted for a vertical case this time around. It’s egg-shaped, and the cover is at the top when the case is held vertically, not horizontally. The case itself is made out of plastic, as are the earbuds, but this is matte plastic, unlike the glossy plastic used on the earbuds themselves. That simply means that Huawei listened to complaints, as glossy plastic not only looks cheaper, but it picks up fingerprints and grease from your fingers like nobody’s business. The case feels really nice in the hand, not cheapish or anyting of the sort. The flap/cover also feels nice, not like it’s going to fall off any day now. I actually dropped this case twice during my review period, and I can’t see any damage whatsoever. Speaking of which, the case is slippery, as are the earbuds, so take that into account.
There is a single LED light on the case, on the outside, which shows you the battery levels and charging status. A Type-C port is located at the bottom, while there is also a quick pair button on the side. The FreeBuds 5 come in Frost Silver, Ceramic White, Coral Orange colors. We got to test the latter, and quite frankly, it subjectively looks the best out of the bunch, though it won’t appeal to everyone, of course. Do note that only the Front Silver and Coral Orange variants have a matte plastic case, the case on the Ceramic White variant is still glossy. All in all, the Huawei FreeBuds 4 do look odd, but… I don’t have any major complaints on this design, in fact, I really like it. Not only do the earbuds looks nice, but they’re functional this way too.
Huawei FreeBuds 5 Review: Sound & Call quality
The Huawei FreeBuds 5 are equipped with 11mm dual-magnetic dynamic drivers. They have a 16Hz to 40kHz frequency response range. They also support Bluetooth 5.2, and offer dual connection support as well. In other words, they can be connected to two devices at the same time. Wear detection sensors are also a part of the package, as are the touch panels that we’ve talked about in the design section. On top of all that, Huawei included a high-bitrate LDAC codec here, as well as Huawei’s L2HC 2.0 codec. The company says that these earbuds are 30% more sensitive at low frequencies than their predecessors. You also get access to the equalizer via the AI Life app. More on the app a bit later on You will find three microphones on each earbuds, and they do offer AI call noise cancelation.
They offer balanced sound quality & are more than good at handling voice calls
That being said, the sound quality here is really good, and that includes voice calls too. They are definitely above average in that regard. The sound is balanced, and you’ll never feel uncomfortable with the output. They’re great for acoustic music and instrumentals, while you can also boost bass via the equalizer. Lows, mids, and highs are well-balanced, and quite frankly, I enjoyed listening to whatever I fired up via these earbuds.
Now, the active noise cancellation is not the best. That is to be expected considering these are open-fit earbuds, though. When you put a seal on them, things do improve a bit. The Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2 are definitely a better choice if you’re looking for better ANC support. It’s also not the most natural-sounding ANC out there, but Huawei could improve that via updates. All in all, ANC is not bad, but it’s not great either. Don’t expect miracles in that regard. I’m glad to report that I didn’t have any connection issues whatsoever. They didn’t lose connection at all during my testing, not even for a second.
Huawei FreeBuds 5 Review: Battery
Huawei included a 505mAh battery inside the charging case. You’ll find a 42mAh battery inside each of the two earbuds. When it comes to reviewing earbuds, I always like to check out what the companies are claiming in terms of battery life, and see how accurate they are. Huawei actually says that you can get 3.5 hours of use from these earbuds with ANC on, and 5 hours with it off. The charging case extends those two values to 20 and 30 hours, respectively.
I haven’t really tested how much the charging case will provide, but the claims regarding battery life with ANC on and off are accurate. I even managed to get a bit over 5 hours of use when I kept the ANC off, at times. Though it was mostly between 4.5 and 5 hours of use. I managed to get between 3 and 3.5 hours with ANC constantly running. Those are not bad numbers at all, though not class-leading, that’s for sure.
You do get fast charging here, though. In only 5 minutes of charging you can get two hours of listening time. It’ll take you 20 minutes to fully charge the earbuds inside the case. The case itself charges for 40 minutes via a cable. You can also charge the charging case wirelessly (Qi charging), but it’ll charge noticeably slower, so keep that in mind.
Huawei FreeBuds 5 Review: AI Life app
In order to take full advantage of these earbuds, you’ll need to install the AI Life app. That application is available via the AppGallery app store, from Huawei. First, you’ll need to grab that app from this website, and then download AI Life from there. It’s not available in the Google Play Store. Once you do that, and the app recognizes the earbuds you paired up or will pair up, you’re good to go.
This application not only shows you the battery status of both the charging case and the earbuds, but has a ton of useful features built-in. You can toggle noise cancellation here, set up the gestures for both earbuds the way you want them, and even mess around with the equalizer. If you misplace your earbuds, this app can help you find them too, and you’ll also be updating the earbuds this way. You should definitely install this app, it’s worth it, even though you can technically use the FreeBuds 5 without it.
Huawei FreeBuds 5: Should you buy it?
So, are the Huawei FreeBuds 5 worth it? Well, if you have the money to spend, these are some of the best truly wireless earbuds you can get for it. These are open-fit earbuds, but you do get silicone tips in the box. They offer really good sound quality, excellent touch gestures, and you can set them up to fit in your ears well. They do look a bit odd at first, but you do get used to it. On top of everything, fast charging is included, as is wireless charging. There’s not much to complain about here, well, other than noise canceling, which is not the best.
You should buy the Huawei FreeBuds 5 if:
- You like open-fit earbuds
- You liked the Huawei FreeBuds 4
- You want a different-looking pair earbuds
- You’re fed up with poor touch pads on truly wireless earbuds
- You want to have access to an equalizer
- You want good battery life
- You want good connection stability
You shouldn’t buy the Huawei FreeBuds 5 if:
- You rely on great noise canceling
- You don’t want to download two additional apps on your phone