Amazon’s Echo Buds can’t compete with AirPods

Amazon wants to put Alexa in your ears, on your face, and at your fingers. That’s the promise of a new set of products introduced at the company’s annual hardware event.

On one hand, a product like Echo Buds feels like an almost inevitable answer to Apple’s ubiquitous AirPods. Other products, like Echo Frames (eyeglasses) and Echo Loop (a smart ring) are more of a question mark.  

I’ve only had a few minutes with each of these, but across the board my first impression is that these new products are nowhere near as polished as Amazon’s Echo speakers, which the company has been iterating on for several years.

Echo Buds

Amazon’s answer to AirPods, Echo Buds have sounded pretty intriguing since we first heard the company was working on its own wireless earbuds. I’ve only had a few minutes with the Echo Buds, but it’s pretty clear to me they are not AirPods competitors. 

Image: karissa bell / mashable

Like AirPods and Galaxy Buds, Echo Buds come in a charging case. According to Amazon, the buds themselves will get about five hours of playback, while the case will add an additional 15 hours. That makes the battery life better than Galaxy Buds (which only get seven hours of extra battery from the case) but worse than AirPods, which get about 18 hours. 

The charging case is also significantly bulkier than AirPods or Galaxy Buds. The case will still fit in your pocket, but it could be a tight fit. The case also charges via micro-USB, not USB-C, which is disappointing. 

The case also has a button on the bottom that you can use for pairing or to check the charge level of the batter case.

As for the buds themselves, they are also on the chunkier side, though the design is pretty similar to Galaxy Buds. They sit snugly in your ear and a touchpad on the side can be used to control playback, activate Alexa, or toggle noise canceling. When I reviewed Galaxy Buds earlier this year, I noted that I often have trouble with this style of earbud, as they’re rarely comfortable and don’t fit well in my small ears. Echo Buds didn’t feel uncomfortable during my short demo, but they did feel a little too bulky for smaller ears. 

Despite this, I was able to get a good enough seal to hear the Bose-powered noise cancellation in action. Double tap on the side of the right bud and you can switch between noise reductions and “passthrough” mode, which is meant to let in ambient noise in your surroundings. I was in a loud demo room, but I was pretty impressed by how much my surroundings were muffled (but not silenced) when noise reduction was enabled. 

My main issue with this feature, though, is that each time you switch between modes, Alexa announces the change — a verbal notification that you can’t turn off. An Amazon rep told me that early testers preferred this during the company’s initial testing, but it’s something I hope they eventually change. Having to listen to an Alexa announcement every time you switch between modes seems like it would become annoying pretty quickly.

Echo Frames and Echo Loop

By far the two most unexpected products of Amazon’s big hardware event were its Alexa-enabled eyeglasses and titanium smart ring, Echo Frames and Echo Loop. The closest comparison I can think of to Echo Frames are Bose’s Bose Frames sunglasses.

Echo Frames are basically standard eyeglasses (you can opt for prescription lenses if you want), but have microphones and a speaker built in. A small button on the bottom lets you ask Alexa questions, and the audio plays through small speakers on the sides of the frames. 

Image: karissa bell / mashable

At first look, the glasses are pretty chunky compared with typical frames, but when they’re on I think you’d have to look closely to be able to tell they are different from regular glasses (that’s a good thing). And, despite their thickness, I was pleasantly surprised that they are pretty light; they didn’t feel any heavier than my normal everyday eyewear. 

As with my Echo Buds demo, I was in a crowded, noisy room, but I could still hear Alexa answering my questions quite clearly even though the people standing right next to me said they couldn’t hear a thing (though, again, it was noisy). 

Another interesting feature is something called “VIP mode,” which lets you opt to receive specific types of notifications from your phone via Echo Frames. I’m not sure I would want many notifications beamed directly into my face, but maybe that’s just me. 

Likewise, Echo Loop seems to be premised on the idea that you need Alexa available at any given moment. 

The chunky black titanium-and-stainless-steel ring has a button on the underside that lets you trigger Alexa. Also on the underside are a tiny speaker and mic (there’s also a microphone on the top side of the ring). 

The ring pairs to your phone via Bluetooth, so you can get location-based reminders or ask Alexa to do about anything else you’d ask via the app on your phone. Only instead of audio playing through your phone, you hear Alexa’s voice through a tiny speaker on the ring that’s only audible if you hold it right next to your face.

It’s an interesting concept, but I don’t quite see the utility in it at this point. With so many other surfaces with Alexa, I’m not sure what problem the goofy-looking ring is trying to solve here. 

And, to be clear, the ring is actually hideous. Yes, the model I tried was the extra-large size, but even with one meant for smaller hands, the ring is thick, black, and clearly not designed for women.