Realme Buds Q Review - Does it make sense for 20 euros?
I have tried several TWS headphones, even for personal whim, because I am constantly looking for a low-cost product with high-level performance. So here is that Realme, at a competitive price, offers the Buds Q, but in a market so saturated with economic solutions, will they be able to stand out? Let's find out together in this complete review.
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Although you are faced with a decidedly simple product, it is always good to start from the contents of the sales package, which in the full style of the Asian brand, stands out for a yellow hardcover coloring with a printed image of the product. Inside we find the following equipment:
- Realme Buds Q and its charging case;
- micro USB charging cable (white);
- grommets of sizes S, M, L;
- instruction manual and warranty (English only).
Before taking a closer look at Realme's TWS solution I would like to pay attention to the charging cable and the rubber pads. In particular, the charging cable clashes completely with the design of the case and with the coloring, considering that the product is black while the cable is white. In addition to this, having still used a micro USB in 2021 is definitely a slip that we cannot forgive Realme, when not only direct competition but also all the minor Chinese brands have aligned themselves with the use of a Type-C port. Finally, the cable is decidedly short and in some charging areas it could cause annoyances.
On the contrary, the silicone rubber pads are so well made that the company has even inserted yellow details inside them, thus recalling the sales package as well as the color chosen by the brand. Someone would call it a gem but in my opinion it is just a waste, because the detail remains inside the cap and therefore never visible, so what is it for?
Apart from controversy we begin to discover the Realme Buds Q that are proposed on the market with a design of the in-ear type earphones, thus offering a basic passive isolation from environmental noise. The headphones are very compact and light (only 3,6 grams per single earphone) but also comfortable, so much so that I happened to forget them in my ears while listening to music before falling asleep. Well, needless to say, I collapsed like a stone and when I woke up I didn't notice any pain or discomfort.
And speaking of stone, the case was designed inspired by a river pebble, with a smooth and opaque surface, but unfortunately the plastic used is of poco value, recognizing creaks but above all in the long run the small impact scratches will take over, as well as the surface, will tend to get dirty with nothing. However, I liked the opening / closing system of the flap, which allows it to remain firmly fixed unlike even more expensive models that generally suffer from dancing movements when shaken. There is also a small magnet for an even more secure and reliable closure.
The company has focused a lot in emphasizing that the Realme Buds Q were designed by the designer Josè Lèvi, but in reality we do not differ much, for example, from the Redmi AirDots S but analogies aside as mentioned above, the door of micro USB charging. On the front, on the other hand, there is a small LED that only certifies the progress of the recharge of the socket as well as a slot to facilitate its opening: red light for the energy load and green light when it is charged or needs recharging.
Returning to the earphones and their featherweight, I emphasize their remaining firmly in place once worn, which makes them interesting for sports situations also in consideration of the presence of the IPX4 certification, i.e. resistance to sweat and rain. The convenience of the Realme Buds Q is also given by the Lilliputian size of the earphones, resembling small candies. We can then notice a touch surface characterized by the letter R, initial of the Realme brand: perhaps a boorish thing that could have been avoided, taking inspiration from Apple which has long since removed its logo from some devices.
Touch surface, coincides with commands that we can give to perform various operations that I summarize for convenience:
- With a double tap on one of the two earphones: Play / Pause, Skip previous / next track, call up voice assistant, answer / end a call;
- With a triple tap we can perform the same actions as a double tap but without the call function;
- Prolonged pressure on one of the two earphones, we can perform the same actions as the double tap but without the call function;
- With long press on both earphones: activate / deactivate Game Mode.
In short, you can customize the command to be given to the single headset at will, since you can use the Realme Buds Q, independently of the left headset from the right one. I don't know if it depends on the small size or on the quality of the touch, but the touch is not always received immediately, trying at least a couple of times before the success of the associated command, which in any case is performed with a moderate slowness.
Maybe I have been bad until now and then I try to be forgiven, speaking positively of the connectivity of the Realme Buds Q which use a Bluetooth 5.0 with an effective connection range of about 10 meters, which was always stable and fast in pairing with the smartphone. One thing that few people say, although it is well written in the instruction manual, is that for the first pairing with the phone you will have to press and hold both touch surfaces of the earphones for at least 5 seconds, so that the earphones enter TWS mode.
Thanks to Bluetooth 5.0, the Realme Buds Q enjoy an almost zero latency, resulting in a valid support for watching TV series, movies, etc. in streaming while for the game, it is possible to use the Gaming Mode, although I personally do not have found big benefits compared to the standard listening mode, but according to the company the latency is lowered to only 119 ms. One thing that could make the difference from the competition is the management of the product through the Realme Link application, which will allow us to change the touch functions associated with the individual earphones.
You can therefore opt for the standard configuration, in order to take advantage of the Realme Buds Q also individually, since each headset integrates a microphone, but as already mentioned before, it could be just as useful to be able to customize the touch by choosing from the following functions to be associated:
- Play / Pause;
- Next track;
- Previous track;
- Calling up the voice assistant.
But from the companion app we can also have a precise estimate on the state of charge of the earphones, while there is no section dedicated to firmware updates, suggesting that the company will never release firmware upgrades for this product. On balance, the application could have been a turning point but at this point it becomes only a burden to carry in the smartphone's memory, since certain functions could easily be inserted by default in the firmware of the headphones.
Ok but apart from this "pippone" let's get to the point, or how the Realme Buds Q sound, which support the SBC / AAC standard, so nothing striking in terms of quality, with good management of medium / high frequencies and a good body of bass, even if listening to some musical genres these are slightly "muffled", choking just the middle and high tones. I would not have expected better in consideration of the price but above all from the small 10 mm drivers, but a small disappointment comes from the calls and specifically from the two microphones for each earphone. If in environments without noise the yield is more than sufficient in urban situations and / or in any case with the presence of environmental noise, our interlocutor will begin to hear us in a way poco crystalline and at times our words are almost strangled.
On the other hand, the autonomy of the Realme Buds Q is good, which use a 40 mAh battery for the earphone and 400 mAh for the case, performing at maximum listening volume for about 3,5 continuous average hours reaching about 20 total hours if let's consider the recharges that we can get from the case, which take place in about 2 hours.
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PROJECTED IMPACT
Realme Buds Q could be tempting precisely for a sale price that is around 30 euros, even less, but honestly in this price range there are now many solutions on the market, often as valid as the Buds Q and in some cases even higher. .
No particular merit to be attributed if not the Realme Link app, while autonomy and sound performance are in line with the competition. Therefore I do not bud them but I do not even promote them: if you are a fan of the brand they are undoubtedly a valid product, but I could recommend them to all the others if you have a limited budget but do not want to entrust it to unknown brands.
