Back in 2019, Google announced a new version of the Pixel Buds and as promised they are finally making their way to stores. Priced at $179 (Rs 13,500 approx) the new Pixel Buds are now truly wireless unlike the first-gen that had a wire connecting the two earpieces.
While they might look similar to the previous version, they have a new design with rubber ear tips that go inside your canal and a wing at the top to secure the buds. The round surface of the buds is touch-sensitive and you can swipe or tap to perform various functions.
There is a small vent so that you can still hear ambient noise and while these don’t come with active noise cancellation, Google has added something called ‘Adaptive Sound.’ This feature uses the inbuilt microphones to detect your environment and automatically adjust the volume of your music so you don't have to increase or decrease it manually.
Google also highlights the dual microphones which should help in making clearer voice calls, while the built-in accelerometer can detect when you are about to speak by the movement of your jaw. Google Assistant is always on your side and by just saying the ‘Hey Google’ hotword, you can perform various tasks like setting alarms, reading text messages, asking the weather and so on.
These also boast of a wide connectivity range allowing you to stay connected three rooms apart while indoors. From what we’ve seen, early reviews confirm these claims, which is great. As for battery life, these offer 5 hours of music playback and 2 hours of talk time on a single charge. The charging case is said to add an additional 24 hours. Speaking of which, the oval charging case offers a really solid design with a matte finish. It can be charged using a USB-C cable or wirelessly. They also pair effortlessly by simply opening the charging case.
The Pixel Buds 2 were announced in four colours- Clearly White, Almost Black, Quite Mint, and Oh So Orange. As of now only the white colour variant is available for purchase. Sadly there is no confirmation whether these will ever come to India. The first-gen Pixel Buds never did, so there is a high chance that these new truly wireless ones won't either. We even reached out to Google but as usual the answers were quite vague.
Google hasn’t been that keen or bothered when it comes to the hardware market. It definitely has the capability, but it seems that it has given higher priority to software over selling devices. And it makes sense since a majority of the revenue is earned by the software and the services it offers.
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