Huawei Freebuds Pro 3 in review: Truly outstanding in-ears

tl;dr: Really first class.

Sure, for a recommended retail price of 199 euros (including 19% VAT in Germany), in-ears nowadays have to offer a lot of functions and, above all, sound quality to justify the rather high price. In my opinion, the Freebuds Pro 3 definitely manage this. Regardless of whether it's noise cancelling or in conversations where you have to listen, the in-ears either completely enclose you in your music world or you can really understand what other people are saying to you without taking them out of your ears. In addition, they fit perfectly in my ears with the standard ear tips. Pressing the earphone stem to operate it, however, is a bit tricky to do at first. I think the swipe gestures from other manufacturers are definitely better, the Freebuds Pro 3 of course also have swipe gestures, but probably only for adjusting the volume.

Nevertheless, in addition to excellent noise cancelling and good permeability mode, the Freebuds Pro 3 also offer the most important thing: very good sound. However, you can't get this out of the box, because I personally found the standard equalizer a bit too flat. I like it with a bit more depth, but that's not a problem at all, because in the Huawei AI Life app, which you have to install via APK, there is an equalizer that you can adjust to your heart's content. This makes it possible to enjoy almost any genre of music on the headphones without any problems.

Telephone functionality & hands-free calling

By the way, making phone calls with the Freebuds Pro 3 is also extremely reliable and stable. During my test period, the other end was always able to hear me very clearly, even when I was walking along a busy street. There were no problems pairing with multiple devices either, as this is also supported. This means that you can pair your laptop and your cell phone with the in-ears at the same time in order to quickly switch back and forth between the two devices. This worked very reliably during my test period. So to sum it up, if you are still looking for a last minute Christmas present, you should take a look at the Huawei Freebuds Pro 3. In popular online shops you can get them for as little as 99 euros, that would really be a really good deal.

How does the app work? Huawei AI Life explained.

The app for the Freebuds Pro 3 is, to put it mildly, a little difficult for the layman to get. It is not available in the Google Play Store, as it comes from Huawei. So you either have to install the Huawei App Gallery or download the AI ​​Life app as an .apk and then install it. Of course, if you have done this several times before, no problem. Nevertheless, it is not really as smooth an out-of-the-box experience as you have with Google Fast Pair devices, for example. Especially the Pixel Buds of the A series, etc. Of course, you would expect better integration with pure Huawei smartphones. Here you can download the app directly from the browser version of the App Gallery.

The app itself is simple, you select the Freebuds Pro 3 and you are taken directly to an overview page where all important information such as the battery level of the left and right earbuds and the charging case is displayed. You can also use it to trigger a search function for the individual earbuds and even the charging case. The charging case itself has an integrated speaker for confirmation tones. Back to the app, the previously mentioned equalizer is also available there with preselected profiles or the "custom" option. You can also select the noise cancelling modes there, between completely off and permeable and full shielding, everything important can be selected quickly and easily. Of course, over-the-air updates are also available for the Freebuds Pro 3, and luckily these simply run through even when not in use, so you don't have to worry about them.