Amazon's second-generation Echo Buds are excellent earbuds that have most features offered by competitors but for a fraction of the price.
For years, brands like Amazon, Samsung, and Google have competed to come up with the Android equivalent to Apple's AirPods and AirPods Pro. While products like the Galaxy Buds Pro or Pixel Buds are solid options, they haven't materialized as the go-to options for wireless listening quite like AirPods and AirPods Pro are for iOS users. Finally, with the announcement of the second-generation Echo Buds, Amazon may have designed the product that rises above both Samsung and Google as the buds of choice for Android fans.
The $200 Galaxy Buds Pro (released in 2021) and the $180 Pixel Buds (2020) are undoubtedly good options for Android users. Samsung's Galaxy Buds Pro have active noise cancellation (ANC), an iPX7 water resistance rating, and decent battery life that includes five hours of playback with ANC on and eight hours without. The Pixel Buds, meanwhile, don't have ANC, but are water-resistant (IPX4), have comparable battery life (five hours per charge), and allow wearers to use Google Assistant just by saying the voice assistant's wake words.
The newly unveiled Echo Buds combine the best of both pairs. They have active noise cancellation, hands-free Amazon Alexa support built-in, and are 20 percent smaller than the first-generation Echo Buds. The Galaxy Buds Pro are more water-resistant (IPX7 to the Echo Buds' IXP4), and have a longer battery life with ANC off (eight hours compared to six-and-a-half). The new Echo Buds, though, will reportedly be able to last just as long as the Galaxy Buds Pro (five hours) with ANC turned on. And, most importantly, Amazon has outfitted these new buds with all of these features for a retail price of $120. At $60 less than Google's buds and $80 less than Samsung, the Echo Buds are the better value thanks to features that are on par — and in many cases, better — with their Android-focused counterparts.
Part of the problem with earbuds that have attempted to become the equivalent of AirPods for Android devices is the sheer amount of Android devices available today. AirPods really just need to integrate effortlessly with iOS and have Siri voice assistant support to be the buds of choice for Apple owners everywhere. With Android, though, it's not that simple.
The Pixel Buds work best with Google Assistant and Google's Pixel smartphones, which does cover a good portion of Android devices. When factoring in the Galaxy Buds Pro and their integration with Bixby and Samsung phones, that accounts for another decent share of the Android market. But while these buds work great with their respective mobile devices — and very well with many other devices, for what it's worth — there isn't really one pair available that's designed to be the blanket answer to wireless sound for all Android devices.
Because it wasn't built to be geared towards a certain line of smartphones, the Echo Buds could have the most legitimate shot. They're far more affordable than the aforementioned alternatives and, while the popular Alexa is their main voice assistant, the Echo Buds can be programmed to activate Google Assistant, Siri, or other voice assistants with the touch of a button. If there's a versatile pair of true wireless earbuds that can serve as the best value for Android users everywhere, the new Echo Buds might well be it.
Source: Amazon
