OnePlus Buds 3 review

To help round out the OnePlus family we've received here, we've got in house the new OnePlus Buds 3.  You can't just have a phone, you've got to be able to listen to your tunes and podcasts on the go.

Enter the OnePlus Buds 3.

This set is only $140CDN, and that includes a model with Noise Cancellation!

I'm loving how easy it is to connect these days - you saw in the video that it immediately came up on any nearby device to pair up.  It just couldn't be simpler these days.

Similar to the Pixel Bud realm, you go to Bluetooth settings and can see the options for the device.


You get a nice picture of the device (so if you have multiple options to know which is which).  You can see the battery levels, which type of noise cancellation and plenty of other settings.

It even has a nice little tutorial to teach you the settings like interactions on the 'stem'

  • Tap to play/pause
  • Double tap to skip
  • Triple tap to go back
  • Swipe up/down to increase/decrease volume
  • press and hold to change the noise cancellation (you can change it to call the assistant)

So similar set up as you'd get on others, but how does it hold up?

First off, the sound is pretty good.  You even have a tester to see if you've got them connected in properly (i.e. sealed enough, called their "Golden Sound").  


It's been pretty good quality sound.  Taking it for a bike ride it seems to be loud enough for the times I've tried it.  About on par with the Pixel Buds Pro, which I think is good, but just a little soft, I'd love to have had it go a little louder.

The battery is fantastic.  Took it out to do some weedwacking (which the ANC did a good job on reducing that sound) and after an hour or so it was only down like 10%.  They claim it should be about 8 hours of listening, and then the case could do another 4-5 charges, giving you about 44 hours of playback.

Speaking of the case, I'm a little put out that it isn't Qi compatible, but what do you expect for only $140CDN.

And it's not so much needed.  10 minutes popped into the case should give you another 2 hours of time.  So you could go out for a bike ride, using them, and then take your break looking at the scenery while it's charging... even a 10 minute break gets you enough for the bike ride back.

Overall, definitely worth the cost for these.

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