Hands-On With the Samsung Galaxy Buds+

A Modest Upgrade for Wireless Listening

By
Ajay Kumar
Ajay Kumar
Ajay Kumar
Tech Commerce Editor
  • Rutgers University
Ajay Kumar is a Tech Commerce Editor for Lifewire. He joined Dotdash in November 2018 and brings with him nearly a decade of experience in tech journalism, consumer electronics, and digital publishing.
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Published on February 11, 2020
Samsung Galaxy Buds+
The new Galaxy Buds+ come in stylish colors including blue, black, and white.

Lifewire / David Kukin
Phones & Accessories

Lost in the excitement of Samsung Unpacked with Samsung’s announcements of three new flagship phones is the Galaxy Buds+. A successor to last year’s Galaxy Buds, the newer Galaxy Buds+ focus on making refinements to design and improvements to battery life. I got to go hands-on with them and thought their new, more compact build and longer runtime will pay dividends when competing against other true wireless earbuds like the Jabra Elite 75t and Apple Airpods Pro. 

Galaxy Buds+
The new Buds+ are slightly more svelte than the previous model and won't protrude from your ears too much. Lifewire / David Kukin

Available in black, white, blue, and red, the earbuds look sleek with color options that will match your style. At 6.3 grams, the earbuds are compact and won’t protrude too much from your ear, and even the battery case is eminently pocketable at 39.6 grams. They come with IPX2 splash resistance, allowing them to handle sweat at the gym and maybe some light rain, but I wouldn’t immerse them.  

I didn’t get the chance to go ears-on with the Galaxy Buds+, but audio quality should be improved with a 2-way dynamic speaker and three microphones for improved calls and audio commands. Speaking of which, there’s a one-touch Spotify shortcut, giving you better integration for your music. There’s no active noise cancelling, unfortunately, which seems like a big omission given that the Airpods Pro, Amazon Echo Buds, and other big competitors all incorporate them. On the plus side, you do get Ambient Sound settings that let you optionally pipe in background sounds so you’re not completely deaf to your surroundings while commuting. 

USB-C
The Buds+ support USB-C and wireless charging. Lifewire / David Kukin

The big winner here is battery life. Samsung claims the Galaxy Buds+ can last for 11 hours of playtime (7.5 hours of talk time) with their 85mAh battery and the case adds another 11 hours with its 270mAh battery. That’s a solid full day of use, though results are likely to vary based on volume. The case also supports wireless charging, and three minutes of charging the earbuds gets you one hour of playtime. 

You’ll be able to pick up the new Galaxy Buds+ starting February 14 online for $149, with a store rollout to come March 6th. 

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