The Samsung Galaxy Buds are wireless earphones or earbuds that Samsung unveiled back in February 2019 during the Galaxy Unpacked press conference. Along with its reveal, Samsung also displayed the complete series of the Samsung Galaxy S10 and the first generation of Samsung Galaxy Fold.
Here's all you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy Buds engineered by AKG.
In this article:
Pros and Cons
Here's a quick look of what we liked and didn't like about the POGS headphones for kids.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| ✔️Great design ✔️Comfortable to wear ✔️Patented design |
❌Lack of aptX support ❌Full functionality with Samsung phones only |
Specification of POG headphones
- Price: US$129
- 5.8pi Dynamic driver
- Touch controls
- Earbuds weighs 5.6g each
- Bluetooth v5.0 (LE up to 2 Mbps)
- A2DP,AVRCP,HFP
- 58mAh built-in battery
- 252mAh case battery
- Up to 6 hours of play time
- Ambient sound
- Supports Bixby
Sound quality of the Samsung Galaxy Buds
Straight out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy Buds has a distinctive sound that you won't usually hear from most earbuds on the market. Thanks to AKG, these earbuds are able to deliver solid sound quality. However, we noticed it has a flat response which doesn't bring any emphasis on mid and low tones.
The earbuds comes with five different equalizer modes to adjust its sound quality to your preference and those are Bass Boost, Soft, Dynamic, Clear, and Treble Boost. Testing each profile doesn't really elevates the sound quality of the earbuds. We believe that this is due to the lack of aptX support that causes the sound quality to be limited even if they were tuned by AKG.
Sound quality score: 6.5/10
Considering its price, the sound quality of the Samsung Galaxy Bud overall is good but it could be better. If you're looking for the best quality then we recommend checking out the Eardopes B6 Pro.
Microphone: Is the Samsung Galaxy Buds good with phone calls?
The Samsung Galaxy Buds, when it comes to its microphone quality, is above average. Out of the box, the sound and audio of the person using these earbuds as a microphone is clear and understandable. However, there's a distinctive sound that once you hear, you will know that the other person on the other line is using an earbud for the said phone call.
Microphone quality: 6.5/10
What we noticed though is that the microphones of these earbuds are designed to favor functionality over quality. What this means is that, even if these earbuds comes with 4 microphones, the functionality of those are designed to placed in to enhanced the functionality of ambient sound and noise cancellation. So when using them for calls, the quality is acceptable and above average but nothing compared to others. If you're looking for an earbud that has excellent microphone quality, we recommend checking out our article we wrote comparing microphone quality of most earbuds on the market. You'll be surprised to know which model has the best microphone quality.
Fit: How does the Samsung Galaxy Buds fit?
The Samsung Galaxy Buds is by far one of the most comfortable to wear earbuds we have tested. It's no surprised why Samsung patented the design of these earbuds. It's light weighted, sturdy, comfortable to wear, and it doesn't easily induce ear fatigue while wearing them for long hours.
Fit score: 8/10
Surprisingly, its fittings and ear tips design also helps in terms of sound quality. It is able to do by isolating noise by means of the silicone ear tips.
To further enhance the sound quality, comfort level, and fitting of the earbuds, we recommend getting a foam ear tips to replace the include silicone ear tips. These foam ear tips are less likely to induce ear fatigue compared to silicone and they are more comfortable to wear. Furthermore, they offer better noise isolation which ultimately enhanced sound quality overall.
Controls and functionality of the Samsung Galaxy Buds
The Samsung Galaxy Buds comes equipped with touch control panel. Out of the box, the touch control already has a preset of programs but you can configure it using the Galaxy Wearable app.
| Tap | Result | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Single tap | Play/pause track | - |
| Double tap | Answer/end call/hold/switch/ | - |
| Triple tap | Previous track | If you triple-tap 3 seconds, it will start the track from beginning. |
| Tap and hold | Activate a preset feature/decline call/toggle microphone/ | The voice command feature is set by default. |
These earbuds are fairly easy to operate. The only downside is that it lacks volume control. Fortunately, you can set a volume control using the Galaxy Wearable app however, if you're using an iOS phone, you're out luck.
Controls score: 7/10
The Samsung Galaxy Buds also comes with sensors that pauses the music when you take them off your ears.
Battery: How long does it last?
The Samsung Galaxy Buds comes with 58mAh battery capacity for each ear piece. It is rated to last up to 6 hours of continuous use on a single full charge. The case adds an additional 7 hours with its 252mAh capacity.
If you own a smartphone that supports wireless charge sharing, you can charge the Samsung Galaxy Buds using such feature. For example, if you have a Samsung Galaxy S10, S20, or S21, you can make use of the Wireless PowerShare feature that these phones has to charge the case of the Samsung Galaxy Buds.
Battery score: 5.5/10
All you have to do is place it on the back of the phone. Pretty cool, right? However, we don't see this as a practical thing to do. Why? Well, we're pretty sure that you're phone is already low battery before the time comes when the idea of charging the Samsung Galaxy Buds comes to mind.
Conclusion: our verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Buds is one of those earbuds that are best enjoyed and paired with devices from the same company such as the Samsung Galaxy S10. You do get to enjoy it a little bit more with Android devices but it's definitely a no for iOS.
| Criteria | Score |
|---|---|
| Sound | 6.5 |
| Microphone | 6.5 |
| Fit | 8 |
| Battery | 5.5 |
| Controls | 7 |
| Stability | 7 |
When it comes to sound quality, it's decent but not the best out there. At the price of US$129 retail, the only time that you would want to consider getting one of this is if you have a Samsung smartphone. Otherwise, there are out better options out there.
Alternatives
Alternatively, you might be interested to checkout the Eardopes B6 Pro. It's one of the highest rated earbuds on the market. It offers excellent sound quality, outstanding microphone performance, and cost less than the Samsung Galaxy Buds.
You can learn more about the Eardopes B6 Pro on our hands-on review.
