Rating -- 3.5/5
Motorola
has entered the Indian TWS market, characterised by cut-throat competition, with its mid-range earbuds. Alongside its latest Motorola Edge 50 series, the Lenovo-owned company introduced two earbuds --
Moto Buds
and Moto Buds+ (Sound By
Bose
) -- in India.
Launched at Rs 9,999, the Moto Buds+ are Motorola's latest, most premium TWS offering in India.
With this range, the company claims to improve the calling experience on
TWS earbuds
and make it stand out in the market. However, unlike the regular Moto Buds, which are available for Rs 4,999, the Moto Buds+ earphones boast advanced features and a collaboration with renowned audio company Bose for improved audio quality.
With a premium design, long-lasting battery life and Active Noise Cancellation (
ANC
), the company claims that Moto Buds+ aims to make a significant impact in the competitive TWS market.
We have been using the more expensive Moto Buds+ in Forest Grey colour for a few weeks and here we explore if this new pair of TWS earbuds live up to the company’s claims:
Design and fit
The design of the Moto Buds+ bears a striking resemblance to other popular options like the OnePlus Buds 3 and Nothing Ear available in the market. The Moto Buds+ case easily fits into pockets without adding bulk and has a matte finish. The smooth build material doesn’t attract smudges or fingerprints. However, the build quality of the case felt somewhat flimsy.
The case has a Motorola logo and "Sound by Bose" branding on top, an indicator light for pairing status and battery levels on the front as well as a USB-C charging port on the back.
The case looks aesthetically pleasing and practical while the buds are sleek, modern, and have a functional design that stands out in the market.
The buds feature short stems and silicone tips and offer a snug fit. The design of the earbuds ensures a secure and comfortable fit and comes with two additional sizes of ear tips. We spent hours wearing the earbuds and did not feel uncomfortable during the use.
The earbuds are also equipped with an IP54 rating for water and dust resistance, making Moto Buds+ suitable for workouts and light rain.
Audio performance and connectivity
The “Sound by Bose” delivers high-quality audio on the Moto Buds+. The earbuds offer a rich, balanced sound profile with strong bass, clear mids and crisp highs (at default settings).
The earbuds also support high-resolution audio codecs like LDAC and AAC, ensuring superior audio quality, and Dolby Atmos support adds an immersive dimension to the soundstage.
The Moto Buds+ delivered a strong performance and the wearable also maintained clarity and sound quality at maximum volume levels.
When we listened to the earphones at volumes hovering around 80%, the audio remained clear and well-balanced, with a slight emphasis on bass. The bass response at higher volumes was impressive and if you’re a fan of genres like hip-hop and R&B, the earphones are sure to provide a deep and enjoyable listening experience.
If you don’t want the default bass-boosted audio, you can also change it from the companion app. The
Moto Buds
app has a simple user interface and offers an EQ tool with four presets—Flat (default), Bass Boost, Vocal Boost, and Brilliant Treble. The Manual option allowed us to customise the audio profile to our preference.
While the Bass Boost can be overwhelming for some, we felt that the Vocal Boost and Brilliant Treble presets enhanced speech and vocal-heavy tracks effectively.
Apart from excelling in music playback, the Moto Buds+ also performs well for videos and gaming. The earbuds can handle vocals quite well and ensure clear lyrics when we listen to the earphones at volumes above 50%. Movie dialogues and other speeches in videos also sounded good at higher volumes.
The earbuds also have a dedicated
Gaming mode
which can be activated from the app. Enabling it decreases the response time but it disables Hi-Res audio. The earphones performed as expected. For example, we were able to better listen to the footsteps in games like BGMI.
Motorola is also focussing on enhancing the call quality. The triple-mic array with CrystalTalk AI technology ensured clear voice pickup during calls in noisy environments. Calls on both ends sounded clear and stable.
Talking about the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) on Moto Buds+, when turned on, the ANC mode (with up to 46dB) was able to effectively block noise to a large extent, though higher-pitched sounds seeped in occasionally.
The earbuds offer a decent ANC performance and can reduce domestic noises from vacuum cleaners and mixers. However, this cannot be said about the performance when used while using them amid Delhi traffic.
The Transparency mode allowed ample ambient noise to pass through, providing a natural listening experience. Meanwhile, the Adaptive mode was a little unpredictable and wasn’t on point.
Coming to head tracking (a spatial audio feature that uses sensors and gyroscopes alongside a source of surround sound audio to construct a virtual 3D space) also worked satisfactorily. Watching movies like Avatar: The Way Of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Vikram on these earbuds offered an immersive and lifelike experience.
Moto Buds+ feature responsive touch controls, which can be also customised via the Moto Buds app. The app also offers a ‘fit test’ to ensure the perfect placement of the buds.
Default gestures include double-tap to answer/end calls or play/pause media, triple-tap for previous/next track, and long tap for noise control. The touch controls are accurate and intuitive.
We liked the Moto Buds app’s features like battery percentage display, noise control mode selection, customisation options for touch control, and EQ settings. The app also includes a “Find My Buds” feature to help locate misplaced earbuds.
Other features like in-ear detection – where music automatically pauses when you remove an earbud – worked smoothly. This feature helped us to get into conversations while listening to music.
For connectivity, the Moto Buds+ use
Bluetooth 5.3
, which ensures a stable and low-latency connection. These new earbuds also support Google's Fast Pair technology for quick and easy pairing with Android devices. However, Motorola has confirmed that these earbuds will soon be able to connect with iPhones as well.
The earbuds also support dual-device connectivity. Mostly the feature worked fine but minor adjustments were needed on rare occasions to make it work properly.
Battery and charging
The Moto Buds+ earphones impress with their long-lasting battery life. With Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Hi-Res mode activated, the earbuds offer around five hours of continuous playback. However, disabling these features extended the battery life to approximately seven hours.
When including the charging from the case, the earphones offered a total playback time of more than 30 hours and allowed for nearly five full recharges of the earbuds before we needed to recharge the case.
The Moto Buds+ also support fast charging and can deliver up to 2.5 hours of playback with just a 10-minute charge. Charging the case can be done via a USB-C cable, and for added convenience, the case also supports Qi-compatible wireless charging.
Verdict
The Moto Buds+ are a fine option to consider for Android users if they’re in the market looking for mid-range TWS earbuds. The earbuds will work especially for those seeking a balance of features, comfort and audio quality.
At their price, the earbuds offer good audio, multiple customisation options, impressive comfort and a commendable battery life. These earbuds are also very good for gaming, podcasts and videos.
Overall, the Moto Buds+ are a formidable contender in the mid-range true wireless earbuds market, especially for those looking for a well-rounded package at a reasonable price.
