Realme Buds Air, review with opinion and specifications

Minimalism and simplicity by flag

The Realme Buds Air are very reminiscent in design of Apple's AirPods, with plastic-based finishes of a simply correct quality, and a simple and continuous design within this segment of headphones.

The Buds Air that have come to us for review are white (even more reminiscent of Apple headphones), although they are also available in black or yellow.

They all use a glossy finish where scratches and dirt are very noticeable during daily use.

The physical earphones opt for "standard" dimensions within the True Wireless format: they are compact and lightweight, weighing just 4 grams per earphone, which prevents them from slipping out of our ears.

In the inner part of the earphone we find the speaker output that the Realme Buds Air have, without rubber pads, which limits to a certain extent the grip and insulation of the exterior.

We also have a proximity sensor, something that we liked, since it is really practical take off our headphones and pause the song, the series or the video that we are playing.

They have two microphones in each earphone: one at the bottom, next to the charging pins, and another at the back, through which we can answer calls and interact with the Google Assistant.

The second microphone of the Realme Buds Air, which is located on the pole, is an auxiliary microphone whose task is to reduce ambient noisewhen talking on the phone.

It is surprising that there are no LEDs on the headphones themselves or the integration of any kind of physical button.

This is partly because both headsets have their own touchpad. Through the touch panel we can perform different gestures and shortcuts which we will talk about later.

The carrying and charging case for the Realme Buds Air is a fundamental part of these TWS headphones. The case is really small, despite integrating wireless charging, which we liked a lot because it can be stored in almost any pocket, no matter how small.

At the bottom, the case features the USB C connection, along with some additional information such as your battery's amperage, the manufacturer, the exact model, the CE seal and the indication that we do not throw them away in the case of wanting to discard them.

In the middle part of the case we find a physical button to make the headphones visible and thus link them, or also to know how much battery the case has left (through different colors of the LEDs).

In the upper part is the cover through which we can access the headphones, and it should be noted that just by opening this cover, the headphones begin to establish the connection with the device we had previously paired.

On the back we find a phrase in the purest style of the apple firm, but that indicates: " Designed by Realme ".

In this same area we see the hinge of the case that, despite being made of plastic, offers a good feeling and uses a magnetic closure that is practical.

Although ergonomics and design are quite personal areas, we find them worth mentioning in this case. Despite not having rubber pads that accommodate them in the ear canal (and that would offer better isolation), the Realme Buds Air are comfortable

When we do sports, they stay well supported although, as is normal, when we run we do notice that the support is worse.

After a couple of hours listening to music, like many other headphones, they start to get annoying. You have to think that TWS headphones are not optimal to spend so much time wearing them, because for this, headband headphones are more suitable.

Realme Buds Air, specifications

Although the data sheet is not as decisive an aspect in audio as in other devices, it is important to obtain good results. Let's see what's inside the Realme Buds Air:

Audio Driver: 12mm dynamic.
Processor: R1.
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0.
Noise Cancellation: Noise reduction for phone calls.
Battery: 43 mAh per earphone and 400 mAh in the charging case.
Charging: USB Type-C and 10W Qi wireless charging.
Colors: black, white, and yellow.
Weight: 4.5 grams per earphone and 42.3 grams per case.
Price: 69, 90 euros.

Sound quality

The Realme Buds Air do not have any kind of active noise cancellation like the AirPods Pro (they don't compete in the same range either Price). For this reason, noise from outside is noticeable in situations such as, for example, on public transport, where we will have to raise the volume of the headphones

As the Realme Buds Air do not use rubber ear pads, they barely isolate us from the outside, being able to hold a conversation without any problem. The annoyances come in situations with a lot of noise, where we almost have to raise the headphones to maximum volume to enjoy the music.

As for the sound, it is flat. In general, the mids reign and we hardly appreciate bass The sound is not the section that stands out the most about these Realme Air Buds, despite the fact thatwill be more than correct for most users , with the exception of the most audiophiles.

Apart from the 12mm driver, the Realme Buds Air enhance bass with what they call Dynamic Bass Boost, a system that optimizes audio, but is ultimately limited by physical hardware.

On the other hand, we must highlight that the Realme Buds Air are equipped with a “gaming” or low latency mode, which is activated by pressing both earbuds at the same time (until the sound of a car engine sounds).

Low latency mode has been specially designed for gaming, one of the situations where Bluetooth delay is most noticeable. According to Realme tests, they drop latency from 243.8 ms to 119.3 ms (51% less).

We didn't notice much of a difference between Gaming Mode and Standard Mode, as it's a mode we'd only use to play at certain times, like competitive online multiplayer titles, where every millisecond counts for victory.

Gestures, the strong point of the Buds Air

Opening the headphones and when we put them on the music starts without having to touch any button is a very good experience. The Realme Buds Air have a touch panel on each earphone, through which we can access different gestures:

Double press: we will pause the song (or answer a call).
Triple press: Next song.
Hold: Invoke Google Assistant (or hang up/reject a call).
Press and hold both earbuds: Enter low latency gaming mode.

In general, these gestures are really handy and quick. In most situations, it has correctly detected the action we wanted to perform through gestures.

We thought it was a great idea that the minimum press is two touches to perform a gesture, because in this way we do not make involuntary presseswhen repositioning an earpiece when it moves from your ear.

We would have liked Realme to create an app for the Buds Air since, for example, we will have to depend on the mobile to raise and lower the volume, which having a touch panel could be configurable through an application.

It is understandable that the Realme Buds Air do not have an app due to their price, although it would have been a good option to configure the touches. In any case, we were surprised by the possibility of invoking the Google Assistant, through which we can control the volume.

More than enough autonomy

We arrive at the key point of TWS headphones, since the vast majority have a fair battery. In this case, the autonomy of the Realme Buds Air is correct since it reaches 3 hours of use at a volume of 70-80%.

On the other hand, it should be noted that when using low latency mode or “gaming mode” autonomy is somewhat reduced, specifically It offers us around 2 or 2 hours and a half at 70-80% volume.

True Wireless headphones such as the Realme Buds Air are not audio devices designed to be worn for a long period of time, since the charging base offers us the possibility of loading them up to five times in a non-complete way.

The charging box has three states, which will be displayed by the flashing of the LED integrated in the front:

Green: The cargo box is fully charged.
Yellow: The box has sufficient battery.
Red: The box has a battery of less than 15%.

The charging case has a 400 mAh battery, with the possibility of charging via the USB C connection in the lower area or recharging wirelesslyvia Qi standard of up to 10W, although they do get very hot. We have to buy the wireless charger separately, although the Realme Buds Air are compatible with almost any on the market.

The recharging time for the headphones is quite fast, around half an hour. On the other hand, the charging base takes approximately 2 hours to recharge.

User experience

The use experience of the Realme Buds Air is very good, highlighting the speed with which they link to our phone. On the other hand, sometimes the sound has not been provided to us immediately, but we have had to wait a few seconds for it to start playing.

That's right, by putting them on we already knew we didn't have to touch any button for the music to start. It is very comfortable to invoke the Google Assistant with a touch, and the touch surface is large enough to use the different controls without problem.

When put them in the box they turn off automatically and we also have the possibility of using only one of the two headphones, as both are equipped with two microphones to answer calls or simply enjoy multimedia content.

The autonomy with a single headset would be prolonged compared to if we use both at the same time. When talking on the phone, they hear us correctly, although somewhat low, so we must raise our voice slightly. The interaction with Google Assistant has been satisfactory.

It is true that the volume that we have had to use in the Realme Buds Air has been quite high, since we have tested them in noisy situations such as public transport.

People around us can perceive the music we are listening to, since the insulation is low, since we do not use rubber plugs.

On the other hand, it should be mentioned that playback resumes on both headphones, even if one of the two does not detect that it is found inside the ear.

Since the arrival of Bluetooth 5.0 to these types of devices, the range and stability of the connection is remarkable, since we can leave the mobile phone at the other end of the gym or our house and we won't have any fear of losing the connection with the device.

Realme Air Buds, the Android AirPods

If you are looking for headphones under 70 euros that are tactile, and whose sound quality is not the top priority of the purchase, the Realme Buds Air may be your option On the other hand, we must emphasize that they are also striking as they have a design so closely modeled on Apple's AirPods.