HONOR Earbuds 2 Lite | The Rapid Review

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The wireless earbuds market is a very crowded one, with a new pair seemingly released every month. The latest offering from HONOR is the Earbuds 2 Lite. Costing less than £70, the Earbuds Lite 2 offer some premium features at a relatively low cost. How do they perform? Read on to find out.

Fast Facts

• 32 hours long battery life
• Active noise cancellation
• Hear through in awareness mode
• Charge 10 minutes enjoy for 4 Hours
• 10mm high-quality sound driver
• All-day comfortable wearing

Design and Fit

The design of the Earbuds 2 Lite and its case are like ready salted crisps. Rather plain, but still nice. The earbuds that I reviewed came in a glossy Glacier White finish, with a Midnight Black version also available. The earbuds themselves look very similar to the Apple AirPods, with their long stems. Thanks to the three sets of included silicone ear tips, I achieved a secure and comfortable fit.

The fact that they’re also relatively light ensured that I could wear them for long periods. The HONOR Earbuds 2 Lite come with an IPX4 water-resistant rating, so gym goers and those caught out in the rain will be covered. In terms of the case, it’s small enough to fit inside your pocket, and it charges with the included USB-C cable.

Battery Life

An area in which the HONOR Earbuds 2 Lite excelled was the battery life. After fully charging the earbuds and not using ANC mode, I was able to get very close to the advertised ten hours of power. As a result, I was able to get through my workday. Pleasingly, even when using ANC, I could get through my 8-hour workday with no issues.

When running out of battery, I could use the charging case to give me some extra power. In my testing, storing the earbuds in the case for around 15 minutes gave me an additional four hours or so of battery life. Again, this is an excellent result considering the cost. The charging case itself, when fully charged, provided enough power to give me up to 32 hours of listening time.

Capable Connectivity

If you’ve got an HONOR or Huawei phone, then you’ll be treated to a very similar, seamless experience that iPhone users have become accustomed to when using AirPods. Open the case, press the pair button, and a pop up appears asking you to pair the Earbuds 2 Lite with your device. I used the Earbuds with my Android handset, and after downloading the AI Life App and pairing via Bluetooth, I could access settings, as you can see in the screenshots below. If you have another device, you can easily pair the Earbuds 2 Lite via Bluetooth.

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In my time testing the earbuds, I had no issues with connection and was pleasantly surprised at the stability of the connection, even when I was pretty far away from the device that I was connected to. The HONOR Earbuds 2 Lite feature smart wear detection, and I have to say that it worked very well. When you remove an earbud, audio playback stops. Put the earbud back in, and playback resumes.

Touch Controls

The HONOR Earbuds 2 Lite feature touch controls, which you can customise in the AI Life App. As you can see below, the standard options are available here. On the whole, the touch controls worked very well. However, I did find them a little temperamental on the odd occasion.

Sound Quality

When you consider the sub £70 price tag, the audio performance of the HONOR Earbuds 2 Lite is surprisingly great. Listening to all genres of music was a pleasant experience, with songs sounding clear and crisp, even at the highest volume. As an avid listener of podcasts, I was happy to hear that they sounded great also. I used the earbuds with my iPhone to test out Dolby Atmos, and they performed admirably.

Another featured that performed well is the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). It did a superb job of blocking out external noise when activated, allowing you to enjoy your music undisturbed by background noises. Even when turned off, which saves battery life, the Earbud 2 Lite blocked out a lot of background noise. There’s also Awareness Mode, which, when activated, lets in ambient sound, meaning that you can hear people around you more clearly. You can cycle through the options above by touching and holding the earbuds.

I used the Earbuds 2 Lite during many online video calls and phone calls, and the audio quality was fine. My colleagues, friends and family had no problems hearing me thanks to the two onboard microphones and the technical wizardry of the AI neural network algorithm (basically, it reduces the impact of external noises like the wind and instead picks up voices.)

The Wrap Up

I was pretty impressed with the HONOR Earbuds 2 Lite. They look fine, sound great, battery life is good, and the ANC works well. For the price you’re paying, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better offering.

Rapid Reviews Rating

4 out of 5

4

To purchase your own HONOR Earbuds 2 Lite, head to Robert Dyas using the following link.

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