- Motorola just presented Moto Buds 2 and Moto Buds 2 Plus at MWC
- Expect ‘Sound by Bose’, ANC, spatial audio and up to 48 hours of battery life
- Just £69.99 (which is about $94 / AU$132, where sold) for the Buds 2
Hello Moto! I love earbuds that offer flagship benefits for budget money, and Motorola’s new offerings – namely the new Moto Buds 2 and Moto Buds 2 Plus – do just that, at least on paper.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Bose offering its audio tuning dominance for a fee. Skullcandy accepted Bose’s offer for its Skullcandy Method 360 and, more recently, the flagship Method 540 with excellent results, sonically speaking.
But while those headphones were cheaper than anything with Bose’s own branding on the headphones and box, they’re still positively expensive compared to what Motorola plans to charge.
TechRadar is on the show floor this year CMM (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain, and we will cover the latest news from some of the biggest names in mobile, computing, fitness and more.
Moto Buds 2 and Moto Buds 2 Plus: what you need to know
So, will these little beauties be featuring in our guide to the best cheap headphones soon? Possibly, although it’s important to say that so far Motorola hasn’t hinted at a global launch beyond the UK and Ireland.
Firstly, both options offer dynamic active noise cancellation (ANC), but it’s the Moto Buds 2 Plus (main image) that come with ‘Sound by Bose’ technology built in.
The Moto Buds 2 Plus also feature a high-resolution audio badge, thanks to support for Low Latency High Definition Audio Codec (LHDC) and spatial audio, as long as you’re using a Motorola phone and streaming source material presented in Dolby Atmos. You’ll also get an 11mm driver per earbud, “complemented by Knowles balanced armatures,” according to Motorola.
For clearer calls, the Moto Buds 2 Plus have six microphones in total, which users can further modify through the Moto Buds app, including implementing CrystalTalk AI (which apparently uses advanced AI noise reduction to clarify the user’s voice in noisy environments).
The endurance of the Moto Buds 2 Plus is up to 9 hours of playback on a single charge and up to 40 hours of total battery life with the charging case (i.e. impressive). For added flexibility, you can connect to two devices simultaneously or activate Audio Share when you’re with a friend and connect two sets of Moto Buds 2 Plus to one phone to enjoy the same music, movie or podcast. The Moto Buds 2 Plus also feature wear detection, to automatically pause and resume playback depending on whether you’re wearing them, plus the option to customize on-ear controls.
The company is really trying to get you to buy into the ecosystem here as well. On compatible Motorola devices, the company says that activating the Moto ai4 with a press and hold deploys AI features, including “Catch Up” for a summary of recent notifications, or “Pay Attention” to record, transcribe or summarize meetings.
Users can also, Moto says, access AI-powered translation through your headphones on select devices (read: a moto ai compatible phone) for those awkward “Help: what platform for Cadorna please?” Moments on work trips.
The cheaper set actually offers better resistance and novel acoustic architecture.
The Moto Buds 2 (above) are, the company says, “designed for students, young professionals, and music lovers alike,” but despite my advanced age (and the fact that I’m not a student), I really like the sound of these headphones.
The Moto Buds 2 feature 11mm dynamic drivers and 6mm “Micro Planar Magnetic” drivers, again with LHDC Hi-Res Audio and Spatial Audio support, as long as you have the Motorola source device and the right content.
Again, there’s dynamic ANC (claimed up to 55 dB) and a transparency mode, also with six microphones in total.
Battery life? It’s actually even better! The Moto Buds 2 can supposedly offer up to 11 hours of playback and a total of up to 48 hours of battery life with the charging case. And when time is limited, a 10-minute quick charge should provide up to 3 hours of playback.
Dual tethering, Bluetooth 6.0 (for stronger connectivity and improved speeds), a game mode to reduce latency, and access to Moto ai4 features on compatible Motorola devices are also here, which means the aforementioned Catch Up, Pay Attention, and Remember This (with just a quick hold and press of the buttons) is also here.
So better battery life and an interesting range of controllers for less, just with non-Bose tuned sound? I mean, I’m not. No interested…
The Moto Buds 2 Plus are priced at £129.99 / €149.99 (which is around $175 or AU$245, as rough estimates) and will be available to purchase in the UK and Ireland in the coming weeks in your choice of Pantone ‘Cool White’ or ‘Silhouette’.
The Moto Buds 2 will cost just £69.99 / €79.99 (or around $94 / AU$132, where sold) and will be available to purchase in the UK and Ireland, also in the coming weeks, but are available in Pantone ‘Carbon’, ‘Violet Ice’ or ‘Gray Mist’ shades.
How good are they? We can’t say yet, but I’d love to get the cheaper set, ideally in purple, for a test drive…
The best wireless headphones for every budget
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