This is our Pixel Buds review! At $179, you get good sound, a light fit, great controls & Google Assistant for a lower price than ANC-enabled competitors.
There’s something I wanted to start off with here in our Pixel Buds review, because it is a conversation I’ve had often since the Pixel Buds came out — do you actually use Google Assistant a lot? Let us know in the comments.
The reason why I wanted to ask that is because even if my usage of OK G is rather low, products like this make me do it a lot more. That’s because the Pixel Buds still stand as the template for how Google Assistant should be implemented, especially on audio products. This doesn’t discredit the new Pixel Buds’ improved ability to recognize the hotword — a feature made possible by really good microphones that do a good job for this task and voice or video calls that are so common right now. The act of holding on the area so that you can talk to Google Assistant in a controlled manner is, in my opinion, the game changing feature that it always required. That’s because normally you say OK G and just hope that there’s not too much noise around you or that the software can actually recognize when you stopped talking. Instead, you can press and hold the area, say something, let go, and it’s far more accurate than the alternative.
You can also press and hold until you hear a chime and let go so that you can hear your notifications read to you. In this new version, notifications can be set on a per-app basis which helps a lot — in my case, it’s all about Telegram. Responses are done the same way as before — when prompted, say your response and hope it picks up your voice well enough for an accurate read. While I wish that the press and hold feature was implemented all over the, let’s say, Pixel Buds interface, I still just appreciate hearing my notifications in this easy method anyway.
So let’s just talk about the earbuds for a second, because they’ve been massively improved from the last version. The case is an egg. There’s not much way to get around that obvious descriptor. It’s always going to be an egg even if you get a different color, which I do find a little peculiar. That said, the case is pretty minimal and easy to fit pretty much anywhere. One thing that I already enjoy with the Pixel Buds is third party accessory support, like with the leather Nomad case you might have already noticed. A USB-C port on the bottom is available for charging if you don’t take advantage of the wireless charging capabilities. Finally, a button on the lower back can be held to trigger a pairing mode through which you can connect these buds to just about anything as straight up Bluetooth earphones. On smartphones, the Pixel Buds app will be required to get the most out of the experience. And with that, we can get the actual buds out of the magnetic slots.
