It's mandatory in Android smartphone unveiling events that the companies pay homage to Apple, by showing a series of new features that are supposed to match or supersede whatever Cupertino did in the previous year, albeit hindered by Android. And following that honorable tradition, Samsung decided to call its next-generation earbuds: Galaxy Buds Pro.
According to the Korean electronics giant - that now owns Harman - these earbuds can do whatever Apple already did with the AirPods Pro, but better with a Samsung phone, and available in... purple (pink is now too 2020). Since Apple did Spatial Audio, Samsung added immersive sound to the new earbuds (the Buds Max headphones are coming later this year...). And of course, the new Galaxy Buds Pro do superior call quality, intelligent ANC and enhanced connectivity across Android devices with an exclusive Samsung design.
"Galaxy Buds Pro represent Samsung’s most premium earbuds offering to date, built to help you get the most out of your work, entertainment, and everything in between," the company states.
"As people look for technology that helps them adapt to new routines and lifestyles, the market for true wireless earbuds has expanded substantially, and consumer expectations have risen,” adds TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics. "With Galaxy Buds Pro, we’re making a big statement with a small device, offering users a one-of-a-kind audio experience that makes even everyday tasks truly epic."
To offer better sound, the Galaxy Buds Pro feature an original two-driver design, combining an 11-millimeter woofer with a 6.5-millimeter tweeter. Clearly, the engineers who implemented the two-driver design won the argument for audio quality against battery runtime. This design delivers what Samsung says is its "best audio experience yet".
The other natural focus is on communications. As Samsung highlights, earbuds aren’t just for entertainment anymore – they’ve become crucial for work communication, and call quality is more important than ever. As a result, the new Galaxy Buds Pros separate the user's voice from unwanted sounds with three microphones and a dedicated Voice Pickup Unit (VPU) processor, in order to ensure that the user is heard as clearly as possible. One of the outer microphones also has a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), further eliminating background noises.
In addition, Samsung has integrated its new Wind Shield technology to minimize wind noise into the new Galaxy Buds Pros. "While a less protrusive shape minimizes the wind contact area, a specially designed chamber and mesh filters out wind interference. Your phone calls have never been clearer, even if you’re stuck in windy weather," the company details.
Of course, the key technology where the whole industry is focusing is active noise cancellation and all the possibilities that result from its acoustic and signal processing implementation, including audio augmentation. As a leading electronics company, Samsung needed the new Galaxy Buds Pro design to be at least at par with the best in the market. "That’s why Galaxy Buds Pro have the most intelligent ANC capabilities of any true wireless earbuds. When you need to focus on work – or tune out from the world around to relax – you can reduce the background noise by up to 99 percent, fine-tuning to your preferred level. And with Ambient Sound, you can choose to amplify nearby sounds by more than 20 decibels, meaning you can adjust and personalize according to your needs. This feature is ideal for busy multitaskers – those working from home while looking after a child or those who want to take a run through the city while staying alert for oncoming traffic."
As Samsung explains, the units sophisticated processing is able to combine ANC and Ambient Sound so that the earbuds automatically adapt to the surroundings, to optimize the audio experience. And the Galaxy Buds Pro can distinguish between noise and human voices, and are able to recognize when the user is speaking, so they can automatically switch between canceling nearby sounds and amplifying them. They will also turn down the music when the user wants to talk, even when using Ambient Sound or the ANC is turned off, Samsung details.
Of course, true wireless earbuds are highly dependent on the devices they connect to, and Samsung did fully optimized the new earbuds to pair with the company's latest Bluetooth 5 Galaxy smartphones, making the Galaxy Buds Pro "an integral extension of the Galaxy ecosystem". Users can automatically toggle the earbuds connection between Galaxy smartphones and tablets based on usage. For example, if the user is watching a video on a Galaxy Tab S7 (a tablet) and receives a call on the Galaxy S21 (Samsung's latest smartphone), the all-new Auto Switch feature will pause the video and let the user answer the phone using Galaxy Buds Pro. Once the call is over, the earbuds instantly switch back to the tablet.
This Bluetooth connection also means that the advertised features depend upon configuration in the paired devices. As Samsung explains, "features including ANC are enabled through a Bluetooth connection or the Galaxy Wearable app on Android, available through the Galaxy Store or Google Play Store. Intelligent ANC features such as ANC, Ambient Sound and Voice Detect can be set via the Galaxy Wearable app."
When connected with other Samsung Galaxy devices – especially the latest Galaxy S21 - the Galaxy Buds Pro will support immersive sound using Dolby Head Tracking technology synchronized to a Samsung device playing Dolby Atmos content. And users can make expanded immersive recordings combining their own voices with surrounding sound by synchronizing the mics on the Galaxy Buds Pro and Galaxy S21. And there's also a low latency Game Mode when paired with the Galaxy S21. Bluetooth codec support is detailed as Scalable (Samsung proprietary), AAC and SBC.
Otherwise, Samsung made sure the battery capacity would match all the features. When fully charged, the Galaxy Buds Pro earbuds offer up to 8 hours of playback (5 with ANC on), with an additional 20 hours of reserve power available in the wireless charging case (13 hours with ANC on). To extend the battery, Samsung explains, you should turn off the Bixby voice wake-up and Voice Detect features. Fast charging allows one hour of playtime after just five minutes of quick charging.
Otherwise, Samsung says the new Galaxy Buds Pro earbuds and matching case "look great" because they are inspired by the previous generation Galaxy Buds Live "innovative and iconic shape," but are now more ergonomic. The shape of the canal-type earbuds (deserving the moniker "Pro") improves sound quality, plus "it looks less protrusive and more natural when in your ears," and improves comfort by minimizing a "clogged-up feeling," Samsung adds.
The Galaxy Buds Pro are built with recycled materials, are IPX7-rated for water resistance and they offer a SmartThings Find feature - combining Bluetooth Low Energy and ultra-wideband (UWB) technologies - to easily locate either of the earbuds. And showing some restraint, the Galaxy Buds Pros are available in three colors: Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, and Phantom Violet. All available now in selected markets for less than the AirPods Pro.
www.samsung.com/galaxy-buds-pro
