Huawei Free Clip Buds

These open-ear headphones, which are available in shimmering pearlescent black and purple, are dust, water, and sweat-resistant by IP54 and, with a weight of 5.5 grams per side, they are quite light, which ensures excellent wearing comfort. Within just a few seconds of clipping them on, they become almost imperceptible to the wearer. The open, C-shaped design does not shield you from the outside world in the same way as true wireless in-ears that sit in the ear canal, but this improves your safety and allows you to interact with your surroundings.

Battery life

These open-ear headphones achieve a run time of seven and a half hours at a high playback volume when using the AAC format. In their handy case, which weighs 45 grams, the FreeClip can also be fully charged three times and once more to reach a further capacity of just under four hours, providing a total runtime of almost 34 hours.

The headphones are fully recharged after 40 minutes, while a ten-minute quick charge provides capacity for a good two hours. The case can also be supplied with power wirelessly via a charging pad or wired via USB-C port. The wired charging cycle takes just 50 minutes, and a USB-C charging cable is included in the package. However, a USB adapter is not included.

Operation

The Huawei FreeClip can be worn on either the left or right ear, which makes no practical difference, as the side is automatically recognised and the stereo channel adjusted accordingly.

These Bluetooth headphones have a large, touch-sensitive area for device control, which extends from the “bean” over the connecting “C-bridge” to the “sphere”. This means you can freely select which sub-area is to be used for double and triple tapping. Playback control, skipping to the next track and making phone calls are provided in the factory settings, and this can be supplemented by using the voice assistant. Skipping back through tracks can be done via the AI Life app (see below).

However, this is the extent of the options offered by the touch control, meaning that there is no volume control. There is also no option to switch the headphones on and off manually. However, you can use the wearer detection function, which reacted reliably but with a slight delay when you took them off; this can be switched on or off as required. It is also possible to use them one-sided in single mode.

Bluetooth specs

The Huawei FreeClip supports Bluetooth standard 5.3 as well as multipoint connections with two devices simultaneously and they provide a range of more than 30 meters in open spaces. Inside buildings, it was possible to maintain a stable connection while crossing several rooms and changing floors. The headphones are equipped with the audio codecs SBC, AAC, the high-resolution variant L2HC, and LC3.

Huawei AI Life App

Three preconfigured settings are available for sound customization via connection with the app (iOS and Android via AppGallery or as an APK file from the Huawei homepage), and these can amplify the bass range, the upper-frequency spectrum, or voices. A desirable addition that is not currently provided would be an EQ section for customized settings, such as on the Huawei FreeBuds Pro 3.

In addition to firmware updates, adjusting the touch controls, and activating and deactivating wearer detection, the app functions include latency optimization for playing mobile or computer games. Here, it is also possible to switch on automatic detection of which ear side is which, and you can also switch off acoustic feedback from the charging case if required. There is a search function that can be used on iOS devices, and this can help you locate an earpiece by playing a sound sequence. On Android devices, there is a connection center, which lists devices that have already been paired and displays multipoint connections; this can also be deactivated.