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Realme Buds Air 2 Review

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Realme Buds Air 2 Review
Popular smartphone maker Realme has worked hard to build up a capable range of audio products at competitive prices. While the range covers wired, neckband-style wireless, and true wireless earphones, the company has sensibly put a strong focus on the true wireless segment, and launched good products with useful features such as active noise cancellation and app support. Realme’s newest launch in the space is the Buds Air 2, a pair of true wireless earphones that promises a superior feature set at a very affordable price.

At Rs. 3,299, the Realme Buds Air 2 is among the lowest priced true wireless earphones with active noise cancellation that you can buy in India, and other features such as app support and touch controls only make it more tempting. The successor to the company’s first true wireless earphones, the Realme Buds Air, is this now the best pair of true wireless earphones that you can buy for under Rs. 3,500, or is it all too good to be true? Find out in our review.

Better fit and ANC on the Realme Buds Air 2

The pricing and naming of the Realme Buds Air 2 means it is positioned between the Realme Buds Air which was launched over a year ago (and is strangely still being sold for Rs. 3,999), and the more recently launched Realme Buds Air Pro which is priced at Rs. 4,999. The features and specifications of the Buds Air 2 are on par with those of the Buds Air Pro, making the more expensive product redundant, in my opinion.

There are some design changes between the Realme Buds Air 2 and its predecessor from 2019, the most significant of which is a switch to a proper in-canal fit. This also allows for suitable sound isolation to aid active noise cancellation, and also makes for a secure fit. The stalks have a glossy finish, and the earpieces look decent enough for the price. This headset is available in two colours – white and black – with both looking equally tasteful and sensible, in my opinion.

The upper part of the stalk on each earpiece is touch-sensitive, and can be used to control some of the functions of the Realme Buds Air 2 including playback, invoking the voice assistant, and active noise cancellation. These controls are customisable through the Realme Link app, and you can even set different ones for the left and right earpieces.

What I didn’t like was the responsiveness of the touch sensors. The lack of a specifically defined touch-sensitive area, and the fact that the stalks are curved, meant that it often took multiple attempts to get the earphones to respond to touch commands. The headset was also a bit too slow to respond than I would have liked, even when the tap gestures did register.

The Realme Buds Air 2 sits between the Buds Air and recently launched Buds Air Pro in terms of positioning

The pebble-shaped charging case of the Realme Buds Air 2 matches the colour of the earpieces. It has a discreet pairing button on the side and a USB Type-C port at the bottom with support for fast charging. The case is compact, and looks and feels as good as you can expect for the price of this headset. Included in the sales package are a short charging cable and a total of three pairs of silicone ear tips for a customised fit.

Realme Link, the company’s app for its various IoT devices and accessories, is available on both iOS and Android. However, the audio product range isn’t supported on the iOS app, so you can only control headsets such as the Realme Buds Air 2 if you use the Android app. When these earphones are paired to an Android device, the app automatically detects them and shows specific settings and controls. There’s also Google Fast Pair, which ties the headset to your Google account the first time you’re setting it up with an Android device.

The app displays specific battery levels for the two earpieces and the charging case. It lets you cycle between noise control modes, activate game mode for low-latency audio transmission, and choose between sound modes to customise the sonic signature. You can also change the touch controls, turn on or off in-ear detection, and update the firmware. Not too many affordable true wireless headsets offer an app experience at all, let alone one this good.

In terms of specifications and features, the Realme Buds Air 2 is excellent on paper. The earphones have 10mm dynamic drivers, Bluetooth 5.2 for connectivity with support for the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs, and a claimed response delay of 88ms in low-latency mode. With active noise cancellation, the claimed noise reduction is up to 25dB, and the earpieces are IPX5 rated for water resistance.

There is fast charging on both the charging case and earpieces of the Realme Buds Air 2, with up to 120 minutes of playback after 10 minutes of charging as stated by Realme. In my testing, the earpieces ran for around three hours and 30 minutes, at moderate to high volumes with ANC on. The charging case added another four full charges to the earpieces for around 17-18 hours of listening per charge cycle, and the case and earpieces were able to fully charge from empty in under two hours.

Good ANC, ordinary sound on the Realme Buds Air 2

One key feature largely defines the Realme Buds Air 2 – active noise cancellation. Among the most affordable true wireless headsets to come with this premium feature, this is naturally what many potential buyers will be considering it for. The active noise cancellation on this pair of earphones is good for the price, but I’ll get into the details on this a bit later.

realme buds air 2 review no tip Realme  Realme Buds Air 2

The Realme Buds Air 2 is powered by 10mm dynamic drivers

When it comes to sound quality, the Realme Buds Air 2 is roughly what you’d expect from a pair of true wireless earphones at this price, but definitely not among the best in the segment. The sonic signature is biased towards the lows, but not extremely so. While the sound is clean at moderate volumes, there’s not a lot of detail, and high volumes did tend to make it a bit shrill at the top.

Starting with Answers by Astropilot, things started off smoothly at the start of this mellow and soothing track, but there was always a hint of the highs being a bit too sharp. With the beat kicking off, the strong lows came to the fore, and the shrill highs became even more pronounced. These two frequency extremes also tended to overpower the mid-range significantly, with the drivers sometimes struggling to keep up with the pace of the track.

Switching to the faster and more lively My Mind’s Made Up by Kraak and Smaak, the bass dominated this track, often punching a bit too hard. The pace of the track also further highlighted the limited levels of detail and precision of the Realme Buds Air 2. While sounding a fair bit better than the Boat Airdopes 441, there was still a considerable gap in the sound as compared to the OnePlus Buds Z, our current top pick at around Rs. 3,000.

The aggression in the bass, shrillness in the highs, generally narrow soundstage, and simple sound only really made a difference when the volume level was over 75 percent. Lower than that, these issues were less pronounced and noticeable, but this also made for a generally dull sound. While I didn’t dislike the sonic signature of the Realme Buds Air 2, I did feel that it was lacking. Realme does try to make up for this with active noise cancellation, and indeed if that’s what you need, you’re getting decent ANC performance for the price.

Like on the Realme Buds Air Pro, active noise cancellation on the Realme Buds Air 2 is basic, but competent and functional. You do get a reasonable reduction of low droning sounds such as air conditioners and the general hum of the urban outdoors. However, the earphones didn’t offer a significant reduction of sounds such as ceiling fans and vacuum cleaning robots. It did help to make music a bit easier to listen to, but the quality of the ANC is far from that of mid-range options such as the Oppo Enco X and Huawei Freebuds 3i.

Transparency mode was reasonably good, but did sound a bit sharp and not as natural as on the Realme Buds Air Pro. Connection and call quality on the Realme Buds Air 2 are decent; voices were clear on both ends of calls, and even distances of around 10-12 feet from my paired smartphone didn’t affect connection stability and sound quality. The low-latency mode did offer a reasonable level of latency reduction while maintaining connection stability, but this affected both battery life and sound quality negatively.

realme buds air 2 review hand Realme  Realme Buds Air 2

This is among the most affordable true wireless headsets with active noise cancellation that you can buy in India right now

Verdict

The Realme Buds Air 2 true wireless earphones are special for one big reason: decent, functional active noise cancellation at a relatively low price. Apart from this, there’s also good design, connectivity, and performance on voice calls, but my praise for these earphones stops short when it comes to sound quality. The Buds Air 2 doesn’t sound bad by any means, but it’s best described as ordinary. Although the bass-heavy signature might suit some listeners, the lack of detail and character hold these earphones back.

Buy the Realme Buds Air 2 only if you have a budget of under Rs. 3,500 and absolutely must have active noise cancellation. If you can do without that, the OnePlus Buds Z is a better-sounding pair of earphones at a lower price, and will offer a more satisfying overall experience. You might also want to look at options such as the Lypertek Levi or Oppo Enco W51 if you can raise your budget to around Rs. 5,000.


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Microsoft Partners With Inworld to Bring AI Game Development Tools to Xbox

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Microsoft Partners With Inworld to Bring AI Game Development Tools to Xbox


Microsoft is teaming up with Inworld AI to create game development tools for Xbox, enabling developers to create characters, generate entire scripts and quests, and more. The multi-year deal brings an AI design copilot and an AI character runtime engine to the forefront, both of them being totally optional to use and to varying degrees. Of course, the use of AI in art has been criticised by many for simply lacking originality, in addition to running the risk of fewer jobs for artists — a growing fear among many considering the alarming number of layoffs seen at game studios this year in an attempt to cut costs.

“At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games,” Haiyan Zhang, GM, Xbox Gaming AI, said in a blog post. “This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.”

The aforementioned AI design copilot is a toolset that will help game designers turn prompts into scripts and dialogue trees. In contrast, the character runtime will enable dynamically generated plot beats and quests. We’ve already seen heavy AI integration in games by way of procedural generation — a more recent example being the 1000+ planets in Starfield. Not to mention, enemy AI has been around for way longer.

Inworld made headlines in August when it launched a modded story mode for Grand Theft Auto V, Sentient Streets, in which players had to investigate the rise of a bizarre AI-worshipping cult — a segment loaded with characters that spoke in AI-generated dialogue, on the fly. The mod was later taken down by publisher Take-Two, leaving a permanent strike on the creator Bloc’s YouTube channel. As per The Verge, Inworld’s AI technology can also be used for narration in top-down RPGs to warn players about any events awaiting off-screen and respond to questions like we’ve seen in the past year with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Microsoft has also been heavily banking on artificial intelligence, having made a $10 billion (about Rs. 83,254 crore) investment in OpenAI. The company has also integrated AI tools into its popular suite of services and also added an AI copilot to Windows.

Despite being a Microsoft-affiliated AI toolset, it would be interesting to see whether titles using them will be allowed to thrive on other platforms. In July, Valve claimed that it would be cracking down on games that included AI-generated assets if the developer didn’t own the copyright to the piece of art. For the uninitiated, when you insert a prompt to create something in AI, the software simply repurposes existing assets found online and mushes them together — basically stealing from other artists and writers without appropriate commercial licenses. Infringing them would lead to the game not being distributed on Steam, forcing the developers to seek proper licenses for the asset by reaching out to the AI companies involved. It’s unclear how Microsoft’s partnership will play out — as long as AI content is being used as a catalyst to innovate and create something new, it should be fine.


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BSNL Offers Free 4G SIM Upgrade: Here’s How to Get It

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BSNL Offers Free 4G SIM Upgrade: Here’s How to Get It


BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) is a state-owned telecommunication company in India. Earlier this year in May, the government said that the firm started rolling out 4G services in the country. By December, the networks were said to be upgraded to 5G. However, at the India Mobile Congress, BSNL chairman P K Purwar said that the company will launch 4G services in December and then roll it across the country by June 2024. The chairman added that the 5G upgrades will take place after June next year.

In a post on X shared by BSNL’s Andhra Pradesh (@bsnl_ap_circle) unit, the company confirmed that BSNL users can upgrade their older 2G or 3G SIMs to a 4G SIM for free. Not only will the upgrade be free, but a promotional image shared with the post suggests that users who opt for the upgrade will also receive 4GB of free data that will be valid for three months. It is speculated that BSNL is aiming to boost its upcoming 4G services with this offer. The announcement was first spotted by Telecom Talk.

To access the free data offer and the free upgrade, BSNL users are requested to get in touch with executives at BSNL’s Customer Service Centre, franchisee or retailer stores, or contact one of their Direct Selling Agents (DSA). The promo image also adds in a finer print that the offer is available with certain terms and conditions, but hasn’t detailed any, so far.

Reliance’s Jio recently launched the 4G-supported Bharat B1 feature phone in India. The handset is priced at Rs. 1,299 in India. Alongside 4G connectivity, the phone comes with JioCinema and JioSaavn applications pre-installed.

The Jio Bharat B1 is equipped with the JioPay application, which is said to allow users to make UPI payments. Aiming to increase accessibility, the phone supports 23 languages overall, including multiple regional languages.


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Realme GT 5 Pro Teased to Feature 3,000 Nits Display; More Details Revealed

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Realme GT 5 Pro Teased to Feature 3,000 Nits Display; More Details Revealed


Realme GT 5 Pro’s launch date is not far away. The Chinese smartphone brand on Tuesday (November 7) confirmed the arrival of the new GT series smartphone in its home country. The Realme GT 5 Pro is teased to come with a display with over 3000 nits of peak brightness. It is also confirmed to pack a larger heat dissipation area for thermal management. The handset will ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The Realme GT 5 Pro is expected to come as a successor to the Realme GT 5 that debuted in China in August.

Realme, via Weibo, announced the arrival of the Realme GT 5 Pro in China. The display of the handset is confirmed to offer 3000 nits peak brightness. It has also been teased to offer heat dissipation with a surface area of around 10,000mm2. It is confirmed to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The post doesn’t specify the exact launch date of the smartphone, however, given the release of the teasers, the launch could be just around the corner.

The Realme GT 5 Pro has been in the news a lot lately. It is expected to feature a 6.78-inch (1,264×2,780 pixels) AMOLED display and is tipped to come in 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB RAM options along with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB inbuilt storage options.

For optics, the Realme GT 5 Pro is said to have a triple rear camera unit comprising two 50-megapixel sensors and an 8-megapixel shooter at the rear. The camera setup might include a Sony LYTIA LYT808 sensor, an OmniVision OV08D10 secondary sensor, and a Sony IMX890 telephoto sensor. For selfies, there could be a 32-megapixel sensor at the front. It is said to carry a 5,400mAh battery with support for 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.

The Realme GT 5 Pro is expected to come with upgrades over Realme GT 5. The latter was launched in China in August with a price tag of CNY 2,999 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.


The Motorola Edge 40 recently made its debut in the country as the successor to the Edge 30 that was launched last year. Should you buy this phone instead of the Nothing Phone 1 or the Realme Pro+? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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