On March 18, Huawei made the Freebuds 4i, successors of the 3i and with a couple of very interesting features on paper: price (low) and noise cancellation. In the increasingly fierce competition between smartphone and headset manufacturers, offering premium features in a cheaper price range effectively gives a competitive edge. The Freebuds 4i try and, in some ways, are a ‘good choice for those looking for simplicity at a reasonable price.
The design of the case is somewhat different from the market proposals, with a shape more rounded and rounded, which actually seems to take up almost less space in your pocket than a pair of AirPods Pro or Razer Hammerhead Pro True Wireless, for example, which have a squarer case. They are available in many colors, and everything is colored differently: from the headphones, to the case, both inside and out. The two pods, in themselves, are quite small, and fit well in the ears: if needed, two spare rubber pads of different sizes are also offered in the package. Charging is with USB-C, and it takes at least a couple of hours to charge them and sadly a couple of hours to unload them too, although the case can help with 2-3 additional cycles.
The Freebuds 4i behave differently, depending on the device they are connected to: on iOS, for example, where the app AI Life which is used to take advantage of all the features of the headphones does not yet support the model, the maximum volume is quite low and when they are placed in the case, a few seconds pass before what is playing is paused.
On desktop, the volume is very high and enveloping and the touch controls also work, but they are not configurable, because there is no dedicated app: you can only press and hold to change the mode from Aware (transparency) e NC (noise cancellation). On Android, on the other hand, after installing the most updated version of the app from the AppGallery or from the website HiCloud, the experience is the most complete (the AI Life app available in the Play Store, at the time of publication, does not yet recognize the headphones). The maximum volume is very loud, and there is a good balance between low and mid frequencies, while the high frequencies are almost absent.
In all cases, when switching from Aware to NC mode, they go unnoticed substantial differences: When there is content playing (so in the use case where they should work best), Aware mode doesn’t amplify external noise, while NC mode doesn’t isolate more than disabling any mode.
In general, the Freebuds 4i really are very good like headphones without too many pretensions: they connect quickly, there are no problems in switching the connection from one device to another, but they definitely give their best with Android. For 89 euro, the list price, offer good performance, albeit with some compromises.