The Inexpensive TWS Honor Earbuds 2 Lite look good. Are they worth buying? We are going to discuss the most important aspects to conclude whether you should buy them or not.
Even though Honor is now an independent brand, its headphones have always been somehow outside the system. That is, they don’t depend on the operating system, they aren’t influenced by the company’s position, and they don’t care how many smartphones you sell per year. Nevertheless, after Honor became an independent company, the attitude towards the headphones has become a new product, rather than a continuation of the previous line.
Not too long ago I got the Honor Earbuds 2 Lite headphones for my test, which as usual has plenty of pros and cons. In this article, I will share my experience and tell you about the pros and cons.
Active noise cancellation, 32-hour battery life and low price. In a few words to tell you about these headphones, that’s it. But I think you’ll want to know more about them.
What the Honor Earbuds 2 Lite look like
The Honor Earbuds 2 Lite is packaged in a rectangular charging case with a USB Type-C port on the bottom and a barely noticeable button on the side. It’s needed to connect to new devices. But we’ll come back to that.
The headphones don’t have wireless charging, but they come with a power cable and a universal connector. You can easily use your own adaptor from your phone if you bought it relatively recently.
How the Honor headphones differ from the Huawei headphones
Even though Huawei and Honor are no longer together, the new headphones are still very similar to the Huawei FreeBuds 4i. Perhaps because the product has not been in development for a month, and the work started back in the days of the collaboration with Huawei.
In the charging case, the Honor Earbuds 2 Lite fit well. Sometimes it feels even too good. Getting them out is quite difficult, especially if your hands are wet. The part that is left on top is very small and you have to make an effort to pull it out. I would also add one more personal fault. In a closed position the lid is fixed by magnets, but in an open position, it is not fixed by anything and closes under its own weight. But considering the cost of the earbuds, I’m willing to turn a blind eye to this.
The Earbuds 2 Lite, on the other hand, sit very comfortably in your ear. Of course, when combined with the right pair of ear cushions. There are only three sizes included, but that should be enough to choose the one you want. I settled on the medium and for me, the fit was just perfect.
How to operate the TWS headphones
There are touch sensors on the ‘legs’ for control. They support gestures, allowing you to control music and phone calls. This method takes some getting used to, but many would agree that it’s more convenient than buttons, with much fewer taps.
Both headphones get two microphones each for a better sound reading. There are also microphones pointing inwards to provide noise-cancelling performance. There are also optical sensors on the inside so that the earpiece senses when it’s pulled out of your ear and pauses playback.
Headphone control app
The headphones are a standard Bluetooth accessory, meaning they can be connected to almost any device. However, users need to download the Huawei AI Life app to get all the extra features. It is available for all platforms.
Through the app, it is possible to configure basic ways of controlling the Earbuds 2 Lite. For example, you can make a double tap on each of the earbuds to perform different tasks.
There, in the app, you can also configure the noise cancellation modes. There are three modes in total – off, on, and transparent. Each of them can be locked in the app so that they don’t get in the way when you switch them sequentially from the headphones themselves. The main thing to remember is that you need the headphones to fit properly in your ears for noise modulation to work properly. If the fit is loose, the effectiveness of the noise cancellation will fall by many times.
How often you should charge the TWS headphones
Without a doubt, the strong point of the Earbuds 2 Lite is the battery. Each earbud got a 55mAh battery, and the case adds another 410mAh. Honor estimates a total battery life of 32 hours of listening time. Charging is pretty fast, but not prohibitive, so you can’t count on miracles.
Continuous playback without recharging is claimed to be 10 hours with ANC off and volume at 50%. You shouldn’t listen to music in your headphones for that long, but my measurements showed that the actual running time is close to the claimed time.
If you turn the noise-cancelling system on, the runtime is reduced to about 4 hours. And if you turn up the volume, you get even less. But despite such pretty good figures, you shouldn’t charge the headphones only after they’ve sat down. It’s better to do it whenever you can.
In terms of sound quality, it’s not so clear-cut. On the one hand, the headphones sound really good, but only for their price range. Despite the rather large 10mm driver, the sound doesn’t sound brilliant. I’d say it’s good and clean, but don’t think you’ll get more than you pay for.
If you’re buying headphones for listening to podcasts and watching videos, the Honor Earbuds 2 Lite would be a great option for you. Things could be better with music if the AI Life app allowed you to change the equalizer settings, but you’ll only have to do that on the smartphone itself.
However, a definite plus would be Bluetooth 5.2 support with the ability to connect to two devices. You can, for example, listen to music from your phone on the street and then, when you get on the underground, start watching videos on your phone. And all this without switching the headphones to another source.
How much do the Honor headphones cost?
Overall, I can say that Honor has produced some good headphones. They, like any other, have their downsides. But getting active noise cancellation, acceptable sound and the ability to last for about $70 is already good.
The headphones are new and are on pre-order for now. But when you buy them on the official Honor website, you’ll get a fitness bracelet as a gift. Well, and if the promotion ends, you can buy them on AliExpress for a fairly attractive price.
