Amazfit Powerbuds review - Good audio with a fitness twist - Android

True wireless earphones have truly been commodified. With many smartphone manufacturers making their own versions, a product has to stand out in all the right ways to make an impact. Amazfit — the purveyors of some of our favorite fitness wearables — recently launched its own take on true wireless earphones with an interesting fitness-focused twist. The Amazfit Powerbuds join the likes of the Jabra Elite Sport in offering heart rate tracking built into the earphones.

In the Android Authority’s Amazfit Powerbuds review, we find out if a fitness focus is enough to stem strong competition.

Amazfit Powerbuds: How’s the design?

Amazfit has taken a fashion-forward approach with the design of the Powerbuds. The casing of the earbuds is compact enough and features a unique red overlay atop the matte black plastic. Each earbud weighs about 6g, and while I could always feel the weight in my ear, I never felt bogged down — even after hours of listening.

Looking in from the outside, the Amazfit fit compactly in the ear, but the heart rate tracking assembly prevented it from resting flush against my outer ear. However, I can’t really complain here as the earbuds never fell off once, even with a spot of running. The sensor for heart rate tracking is located on the right earbud, and it’s designed to be in constant contact with the ear to ensure a consistent reading.

Touch gestures on the Amazfit Powerbuds can be a bit hit or miss, but can be customized extensively.

Both earbuds include touch surfaces for control. I’m not a big fan of gesture-based control on true wireless earphones, and while the Amazfit allows for a lot of flexibility in setting up the controls, my experience was a bit hit or miss. You can configure single, double, or triple taps for controlling playback, enabling pass-through mode, or invoking Google Assistant. In my time with the earphones, there were a few instances where multiple taps weren’t recognized.

Amazfit includes a range of silicone tips in the box. I found the fit to be good enough, but despite trying multiple tips, I could never achieve a tight enough seal and ambient noise was always audible — even with the music turned up loud.

Elsewhere, Amazfit has a very nifty trick up its sleeve. The included ear hooks are magnetic and easily latch on to the earbuds. When it comes time to stow them, the hooks slot back into the case to ensure you don’t end up losing them.

The case is on the larger size, but makes up for it with the convenience of offering storage for the ear hooks. It definitely won’t slide into a coin pocket, but is discrete enough in a regular pocket and didn’t cause any unsightly bulges. I wish the lip on the outside of the case had a bit more depth as it was particularly hard to open one-handed.

The built-in magnetic storage for ear hooks is a handy addition to the case.

The buds slot in securely and are held in place by magnets, just like most true wireless earphones. A single LED placed on the outside indicates charging status, as well as when the headset enters pairing mode.

Speaking of which, Amazfit has a somewhat inconvenient approach to this. You must hold down a button on the inside of the case to put the earphones in pairing mode. This can be a bit of a nuisance if you need to jump between devices while still wearing the Powerbuds.

Overall — minor nitpicks