Huawei FreeBuds 4i review: Charge less, listen more

These days, there are just so many TWS devices to choose from. Ranging from expensive ones with extensive features to more wallet-friendly choices, wireless earbuds can already be regarded as a staple in a modern lifestyle. But, again, with so many choices out there, coming home to something familiar like the Huawei FreeBuds 4i shows that you can get a reliable device with advanced features all at a friendly price.

Now smaller, sleeker, and considered more powerful, what else does the Huawei FreeBuds 4i offer? Read on to find out.

Design

The Huawei FreeBuds 4i has undergone a semi-dramatic design overhaul when compared to its previous FreeBuds 3i. It ditches the old pill box-shaped design in favor of a smaller, more pocketable oval-shaped charging case. It’s not the most compact TWS charging case around but it can easily fit in your pants pocket or the palm of your hand.

The back of the case is rendered flat so it’s won’t wobble around when you put it down on a flat surface. There’s also a button on the right for manual pairing, an LED indicator up front, and the USB Type-C charging port at the bottom.

We’re still getting that high-gloss finish though which is very smooth to the touch and actually makes the device quite easy to clean. Our FreeBuds 4i comes in the Ceramic White color but there are two other colors available — Carbon Black and Red (Yes, it’s simply called Red)

As for the buds, they’re now shorter and smaller but seem just a tiny bit thicker. The design is also more rounded overall with a better fit for the ears thanks to the new ergonomic design. If you’re coming from the 3i or something similar, you’ll appreciate the shorter stems which help add a “barely-there” feel to the buds. It also feels less cramped in the ear and is easier to wear for longer periods of time.

Sound performance

Equipped with a 10mm driver, the FreeBuds 4i is an above-average performer in its price range and produces quality sound with a good balance of highs and lows. The improved earbud design and its silicone tips also provide a good seal in the ears that helped in improving overall sound. The lows have also been improved and are now much more present and alive while highs remain clear and balanced.

Don’t expect to crank up the volume to max, though, as you lose that balance as audio gets louder. At 80-100% volume, the bass will come up pretty thin while the highs can become just a bit overpowering. Though, in truth, this shouldn’t be a problem because it’s not healthy to max out the volume when listening on earphones in the first place.

Operating the FreeBuds 4i is easy thanks to the touch-capacitive sensors found on both buds. Much like the 3i, you’ll be able to customize what taps on the earbuds do. Actions are limited to double taps and tap and hold for each earbud, though.

In terms of controls, I’m still looking for a bit more flexibility. I personally find having just double taps and tap and hold quite limiting and had me reaching for my phone at times to take full control of the device.

In terms of latency, the FreeBuds 4i claims to have a minimal amount so you can enjoy content seamlessly. For playing music, taking calls, or playing games, I didn’t experience any lag to the point of inconvenience. The only time it became noticeable was when I started playing resource-heavy games like Genshin Impact. Audio would sometimes come about half a second late which wasn’t the best when watching cut scenes or cinematics. It didn’t happen often, though, so it’s forgivable.

ANC and Awareness mode

Back on the FreeBuds 4i are the Active Noise Cancelation (ANC) and Awareness modes. Huawei has been providing consistently good active noise cancelation across all its TWS devices so far and the FreeBuds 4i is no exception. The ANC on the 3i seems to perform better though but both still perform more than acceptable, more so in this price range.

You’re not getting pro-grade cancelation but it is enough to drown out surrounding noises. I was even able to drown out the noise of a TV playing music nearby. I could still hear it at a minimal volume but once I started playing music, I could barely hear it anymore.

As for Awareness mode, it’s a convenient feature to have and performs just as it should. The buds were able to take in the surrounding sound and feed it to my ears quite clearly. Even with the buds on, I was comfortably able to talk to others and could hear what was happening in the room thanks to the dual mics that can recognize and enhance voices. Though, of course, once you play music or any other audio, the surrounding noises become less audible.

While you can use the FreeBuds 4i straight out of the box, I would highly suggest downloading Huawei’s AI Life app to really get the most out of the device. It’s a great way to access all of the features without needing to touch the buds. You’ll also be able to monitor your battery life better and customize your taps.

Overall, the FreeBuds 4i show enough improvement to warrant an upgrade from past models. You’ve got better sound quality, overall, and have access to easy-to-use features that are really convenient.

Battery

Huawei claims that the FreeBuds 4i can last up to 10 hours of playback with ANC disabled and up to 7.5 hours with ANC enabled. I wore the FreeBuds for one whole working day, about 8 hours, and the FreeBuds 4i lasted with a little extra juice to spare. The battery life is very impressive, no doubt about it.

You can even get more life out of your buds with the charging case. We were about to get about 3 more charges from the case before it ran dry.

A 30-minute charge of the case with the buds in them resulted in 55% battery for the earbuds while the case was at 25%. It took about an hour to charge the case to full. Huawei says that even a mere 10-minute charge should be able to provide up to 4 hours of playback.

Creature Feature

In our reviews, The Modern Creatures aims to find special features in devices that make them worth having. For the Huawei FreeBuds 4i, it would have to be its battery life.

If you’re the type of person who appreciates not having to charge the whole day, then the Huawei FreeBuds 4i is just for you. Its long-lasting battery made me realize the luxury of not having to constantly charge your device and I really liked it.

And even if I was caught in a situation where the buds ran out of battery, I could take a break, leave them in the case to charge and they’d be ready again by the time I’d get back.

Final thoughts

The Huawei FreeBuds 4i offer the same reliable and quality performance the line has come to be known for. Not only are you getting good performing ANC on an affordable device but also good battery life to support it. Narrowing things down, if you value quality, balanced sound, and dependable features at a very good price, the Huawei FreeBuds 4i is something really worth considering.

The Huawei FreeBudss 4i is currently priced at PhP 3,599. There’s an ongoing promotion as well over at the official Huawei store where you can get a free thermos for every purchase or go for the bundle that includes a Huawei Band 4e. It’s also available at Huawei’s official stores on Lazada and Shopee.

Search
-

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart review: It’s like playing a Pixar film!

07/02/2021

Ever since the release of the PlayStation 5 last November 2020, we were all expecting new groundbreaking next-gen games to be released that will fully utilize this new and powerful hardware. But all we got were remakes and remasters of recently released PS4 games and some devs struggling to have their games playable on older consoles.

I was hesitant to try Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart at first since it would be my first R&C game experience. And also not to be judgemental, I thought it would be a KIDS game that I assumed would not satisfy my hardcore gaming heart.

BUT I WAS HELLA WRONG!

Being an exclusive game for the PlayStation 5, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart boasts breathtaking graphics, instant loading times, and challenging missions (once you bump up the difficulty). The experience is maximized by the interactivity of the dual sense controller, awesome multi-dimensional storyline, and super fun gameplay!

This is truly the first next-gen game for the PS5!

Let’s talk about design

Now, this is my first Ratchet and Clank game. I tried to watch footage of the 2016 game on YouTube but it was blurry. Luckily, I got it on the PS store when it was free. The previous R&C game was already a beauty but the new one is just drop-dead gorgeous with its incredible level of detail.

The developers laid out their hearts on this one to polish every nuance. From bullet markings on the walls, environmental damage done, character design, and up to Ratchet’s fur, every detail was crispy to the bone.

When you go on Photo mode, even the extras of every map are fine to the tip and the environments beautifully rendered. Yup, even the extras are beautiful!

Performance vs Performance RT vs Fidelity

There are three graphic modes you can choose from — Performance, Performance RT (running that buttery smooth 60fps goodness), and Fidelity which runs at max 4k with all the fine details but a lower, last-gen level 30fps.

We need to compare what matters most: Perf vs. Perf RT both run at 60fps but Perf RT adds ray tracing.

[twenty20 img1=”14598″ img2=”14599″ offset=”0.5″ before=”Ray tracing on” after=”Ray tracing off”]

Even though it said that the Perf RT would run at a lower resolution, I did not see any decrease in detail. played on a 55-inch 4K TV and a 27-inch 1440p monitor right in my face and the difference isn’t that noticeable. Plus, all of the light reflection makes everything such eye candy!

So unless you want to see every little spec and maybe some screws on the floor run Fidelity otherwise Perf RT is the way to go!

[twenty20 img1=”14595″ img2=”14596″ offset=”0.5″ before=”Ray tracing on” after=”Ray tracing off”]

The console’s NAVI Based AMD card was utilized very well. I didn’t experience any frame drops, even with ray tracing enabled. In the most intense scenes of the game where there are lots of things are happening on screen, the game stayed perfectly LOCKED at 60fps! It was such a treat!

The Real MVP next-gen SSD

Aside from the graphics, let’s not forget the real MVP that makes the PS5 next-gen — the custom SSD. This makes loading time inexistent! Also, waiting for the game to boot or load when changing locations is a thing of the past.

The SSD truly shines during the run on Blizar Prime where there’s a fast-paced rail ride where. You’ll need to instantly change dimensions.

This means every time you hit a Blizon crystal, the game loads different areas every time. And the change happens instantaneously!

The soundtrack was okay. It matched pretty well with the futuristic-cyberpunk feel of the game. The quirky sound effects from the dual sense controller, like from reloading or when hit. added an extra sauce to make the game more immersive.

Voice acting was ON-POINT. The voices matched the characters and made them feel more alive and animated. (The albino-hippy-alligator-sage named Gary was making me do the peace sign every time he talks, lol.)

The story

We find ourselves with Ratchet and Clank being celebrated as the heroes they are. Clank fixed up the Dimensionator for Ratchet so he could find others Lombaxes like him across dimensions.

Then suddenly, a huge attack came from their arch-nemesis, Dr. Nefarious. He accidentally gets the Dimensionator and all of the reality goes into shizzz. Then it’s up to you and your dimensional counterpart to save the day.

The story was very much riding on the waves of the whole interdimensional/multiple reality gimmick but still adding a Ratchet & Clank spice to it. While the story is straightforward, it never fails to have interesting plot points and twists to keep you intrigued.

Some of the side missions and collectible recordings in the game also give you a brief background on R&C history. So for those who aren’t familiar with the past versions, the game helps you keep you up to date with the current R&C story.

The dimensional counterparts of R&C give a bit more weight to their story as the Dr. Nefarious of their dimension is more sinister.

Gameplay

The gameplay is a 3rd person point shooter where you can use melee and long-range weapons. Aside from Ratchet, you can also play as a female Lombax named Rivet depending on the planet.

The gameplay reminds me of a combination of Spiderman, Mega man X, Mega Man Legends, Dynasty Warriors, and Crash Bandicoot all into one awesome game. It was thought out properly to seamlessly merge those game mechanics and make the game super fun.

From double jumping while air dashing, changing to multiple arrays of weapons, swinging from one-dimensional rift to another, or just pummeling tons of enemies, you will absolutely have a fun time.

The game is not as frustrating as Demon Souls or NiOh but still packs a challenge at harder difficulties. I played the game on hard and it gave me the right amount of fun and frustrations.

Searching for collectibles is quite easy, too, since the map shows its location as long as you explore specific areas of the map. This can either good or a bad thing depending on the player.

For me, it was a good experience since I didn’t have to explore deeply and waste a lot of time checking every nook and cranny of the map. In the end, it kind of makes the collectible locator useless if you’re the explorer type.

So for those platinum trophy hunters, this one should be an okay challenge.

Just one annoying thing, when you try to climb an area, the character sometimes goes into a free-fall state then dies. It’ll be a problem for players who like to climb and explore everything.

In the game, Bolts act as your in-game currency.

These can be exchanged for goodies like music packs, an extra photo mode, changing how your loot looks like, switching your melee weapon to a fish, and even unlimited ammo!

Your armor can be changed into multiple sets, too. Sony was kind enough to send the Deluxe Edition of the game so I had access to most of the armor and was even able to change the color per part.

The side buddies, Kit, Clank, and Glitch, all have their own mini-puzzles, too, which adds variety to the gameplay.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is a good 12 hours if you play just the main story without skipping the cutscenes. I highly suggest that you don’t grind that much at the start, though, because once you finish the game, a new challenge mode is unlocked and all the rewards will be multiplied.

Weapons, weapons, and more weapons!

The best part of the game for me was the huge arsenal of weapons I could have!  As you use a weapon, it levels up and you can buy more upgrades to make it even stronger.

The guns are very situational so you would be forced to use them all as well as defeat challenges. They also come into play when doing combos to produce damage multipliers.

The game even gives a gold skin as a reward once you achieve a certain amount of Bolts. This gives off a very Call of Duty feel for those weapons skin unlockers out there!

The Dual Sense controller is your weapon

The controller provides the most immersive experience of the game. It really mimics the sensation of every action you do. Whether speeding up from rocket boosters or being damaged, the weight of the triggers changes depending on which weapon you’re firing.

Final thoughts

After spending some time with this game, I can say that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a must-have for all PlayStation 5 owners out there! The awesome graphics are a treat and are accompanied by non-existent loading times and support for new Dual Sense controller features to make for super fun gameplay. I can honestly say that THIS IS NEXT GEN. 

REVIEWS