The UGREEN HiTune TWS earbuds are here. To be honest, after reviewing the UGREEN CM338 TWS earbuds, we thought it would be a while before UGREEN releases the next-gen earbuds. But then, DHL came up to our doorstep and delivered a tiny package which contained the UGREEN HiTune TWS earbuds. Claimed to be even better than CM338, this is our review of the UGREEN HiTune TWS earbuds.
Specifications
Model | WS100 |
Bluetooth | Version 5.0 |
Profiles | HSP, HFP, AVRCP, A2DP |
Bluetooth Frequency | 2400MHz – 2483.5MHz |
Range | 10m |
Codec | Qualcomm aptX, AAC, SBC |
Frequency Response | 20Hz – 20KHz |
Speaker Impedance | 32 ohms +/- 15% |
Speaker Sensitivity | 105 +/- 3dB at 1KHz |
Microphone Sensitivity | -38dB |
Battery | Earbuds: 60mAh Each (1.5h to full charge) Charging Case: 300mAh (2h to full charge) USB Type-C Charging |
Battery Life | 9 hours on Music (Single Charge) 27 hours on Music (with Charging Case) |
What’s In The Box?
Unboxing the UGREEN HiTune TWS earbuds, you will find:
- UGREEN HiTune TWS Earbuds
- Charging Case
- Quick Guide
- USB Type-C charging cable
- 2 Spare Pairs of Silicone Earbuds
Design
The UGREEN HiTune TWS earbuds has a no-frill design that is very straightforward. Once you hold it in your hand, you’d immediately know how to open it up, operate it, and there’s nothing complicated about it at all, which is the way it should be. There are no press-able buttons, just LED indicators on the front, and a USB Type-C charging port on the back.
The charging case itself has matte black surface to it. It feels smooth to hold, but it can be quite a fingerprint magnet.
Opening up the case, you’ll find the UGREEN HiTune TWS earbuds in all its glory. They’re easy to take out from the case, and that’s good because some other earbuds I’ve used before, the charging case’s top lid would get in the way when I’m trying to get the earbuds out.
The earbuds are slightly larger compared to the CM338 TWS earbuds, so they do jut out a little bit more. It’s less low-profile, but it’s a bump that I can still accept. The HiTune TWS also doesn’t have a stem, so it wouldn’t annoy the sides of your face when you put them on too.
The HiTune TWS earbuds themselves are still made of plastic, but they do not feel cheap at all. They feel sturdy and has a nice grip to them, so you won’t accidentally drop them at any time.
Comfort
Similar to the CM338, the HiTune TWS earbuds stays in place once you put them on. They’re a perfect fit for my ears, I didn’t even need to change the silicone earbuds. But if you find that it’s a little loose or too tight for you, UGREEN has also provided spare silicone earbuds for you to swap to your preferred fit.
After hours of use, I’ve felt no discomfort whatsoever. I can wear them on the entire day, and my ears would still feel perfectly fine. No sweat, no pain.
User Experience
The HiTune TWS earbuds don’t come with Google Fast Pairing (GFP) technology, so you have to pair them to your smartphone traditionally via your device’s Bluetooth settings. I did go through a little hiccup when I tried pairing it with my Huawei Mate 20 Pro. It paired immediately, but only one side was playing music. What I had to do was put both the earbuds back in the charging case to let them sync up, then after that, they’re all good to go.
Unfortunately, the HiTune TWS earbuds doesn’t have wear detection. So, if you take them off, the audio would still continue playing unless you pause them by touching the touch sensors.
Yes, the earbuds do come with touch sensor, and they work really well. The touch gestures come pre-configured, so you don’t have to set any settings or pair it to any app to change them. But, that also means you can’t change them to your liking.
Here are the full list of touch gestures available on the UGREEN HiTune TWS earbuds:
Music Single Tap Play/Pause Double Tap Next Track Triple Tap Previous Track Calls Single Tap Answer/End a call Long Press for 2s Reject a call Voice Assistant Long Press for 2s Activate Voice Assistant
There isn’t a touch gesture to control audio volume, so you’d have to control the music volume right from your own smartphone. But, you do get a touch gesture to summon your phone’s voice assistant.
The UGREEN HiTune TWS earbuds also doesn’t have any audio lag when you’re watching videos or playing games. Voice or dialogue gets transferred to the earbuds instantaneously, as if you were wearing wired headphones.
That’s really helpful because you wouldn’t want to have too many cables entangling your device when you’re charging and listening to audio at the same time.
Audio
The UGREEN HiTune TWS earbuds has done it yet again in the audio quality department. Bass is super punchy, just how I like it. The mids are great, offering crystal clear vocals, and the highs are really clean. Even on high volume, the vocals and treble doesn’t get too sharp.
However, the earbuds aren’t as loud as I’d hope for them to be. On 100%, I wish it could go even higher by about another 20%, but that’s just me. But, while we’re on maximum volume, if your phone’s ringtone is set at maximum, when a phone call comes in, the ringtone will be extremely loud, so you might want to turn it down a little so you won’t break your ears when mom decides to make a call to see how you’re doing.
There is no noise cancellation feature on the HiTune TWS earbuds, but the sheer volume and tight fit of the earbuds does cancel noise pretty well on its own. That being said, if you want to hear anything from the outside world, you’d need to remove the earbuds entirely to do so.
Call quality is superb on the HiTune TWS earbuds. The call sounds loud and clear, and the person on the other end can also hear my voice well, with very little noise even when the robot vacuum cleaner is running in the background.
Battery Life
According to the spec sheet above, UGREEN claims that the HiTune TWS earbuds can last up to 9 hours on a single charge. Combined with the case, it can last up to 27 hours.
During our test, the HiTune TWS earbuds does sort of live up to the company’s claim on battery life. On a single charge on the earbuds, I got about 8 hours and 51 minutes, that might be because my volume was on 100% the entire time. You might get more battery life if you set it at a lower volume mark.
With the charging case, it gave me another 17 hours and 43 minutes of music listening. That’s super impressive, considering that’s all done on one single full charge.
To charge them back up to 100%, it took me about 2 hours 12 minutes.
Conclusion
The UGREEN HiTune TWS earbuds sound downright amazing. It might lack noise cancellation features, but with the price of RM149.90, the sound quality and convenience you’re getting is just phenomenal. On top of the great audio quality, you’re also getting great battery life, and the convenience of touch gestures.