There’s almost an ironic feeling that, just when OnePlus announced its truly wireless headphones next week, Google makes an announcement that steals some of that thunder. Of course, we don’t know anything about OnePlus’ surprise TWS headphones, both their features and their price, but that’s precisely the point. Second-generation Google Pixel Buds are here and now available in 9 more countries. That is if you can really bear the price.
The Pixel Buds are, without a doubt, Google’s attempt to complete its mobile hardware ecosystem to rival Apple’s iPhones. However, more than a “also has”, Pixel Buds naturally offered Google exclusives, such as further integration with Google Assistant and Google Translate. It is, to a certain extent, the main headphones for the avid Android user.
While the Buds may have a few things going for them, it was unfortunately out of reach for the rest of the world living outside of the US Almost three months have passed since its launch and only now are second-generation Pixel Buds coming out to other markets. Even then, it’s still limited to just 9 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
It’s also limited in the color options available despite Google’s four announcement. At this time, only the Clearly White variant is available for purchase in all of those markets. Google promises that more colors will be coming soon, and hopefully it means Oh So Orange, Quite Mind, and Almost Black will launch soon. Either that or it will announce more color options that we can’t even buy yet.
In terms of design, the larger body of the Pixel Buds (2020) hides its feeling of lightness. While it’s a good Google Assistant interface, its audio skills are more on the right side than any other exception. However, its biggest flaw could be its $ 179 price which puts it on the same level as Apple’s AirPods, but also allows others like the Samsung Galaxy Buds + and perhaps the next OnePlus TWS Buds to weaken it.
