Hands-on: The Lenovo Smart Wireless Earbuds with Google Fast Pair are my new go-to

Andrew Romero | Feb 18 2022 - 1:44 pm PT

In the past few years, good wireless earbud choices have become even harder to find due, in part, to market saturation. Lenovo has thrown its hat into the ring with the Lenovo Smart Wireless Earbuds with Google Assistant and multipoint pairing. While the name isn’t very catchy, the clean, detailed sound and convenience might get you.

All in all, the build quality of the Smart Wireless Earbuds isn’t bad. There really isn’t anything special about the appearance of these earbuds, since the housing is made out of sturdy plastic and has a general stem design. They fit well and they don’t get uncomfortable after a while, as some sets would. The box comes with extra earbud tips to get the fit as close as possible, which was kind of hard for me. I felt like even after changing tips, I was still left with a far-from-perfect seal. Everyone is different, and I have a hard time with most earbuds anyway, so take that with a grain of salt.

The Smart Wireless Earbuds are IPX4 water and sweat-resistant, so there are no worries when working out or running around while wearing them. Overall, the build felt pretty good and seemed better to me than most buds on the market. Setup was extremely easy since the Lenovo Smart Wireless Earbuds make use of Google’s Fast Pair, enabling me to pair the earbuds with my Google Pixel 6 with no issues. After setup, the Lenovo Smart Wireless Earbuds automatically connect every time the case is opened. On top of that, these buds also have multipoint pairing for connecting multiple devices at once. Switching from my Windows PC to my Pixel 6 as an audio source was super easy to do and didn’t require any brainpower or extra steps.

The touch controls are a little hard to get used to since Lenovo programmed these a little differently than most buds. You can set the Lenovo Smart Earbuds to react to touch controls differently on each ear. For instance, you can set up Google Assistant touch controls on the left bud and playback controls on the right. In fact, this was my preferred setup. Overall, the touch controls worked well, despite being a bit clunky. Sensitivity could be a little bit better, but they worked just as well as other wireless earbuds.

As for the case, it’s genuinely pretty great. It doesn’t feel bulky to the point of causing a pain in your thigh if you pocket it. It’s stout, which lends itself to it being a sturdy home for your earbuds. The hinge is solid as well and doesn’t feel cheap. I found that taking out and putting away the Lenovo Smart Earbuds was very easy, as it should be. The placement of the earbuds in the case feels natural. In contrast, some cases on the market have an odd configuration that makes you do a small puzzle every time you want to store your earbuds.

To add to that, the case is chargeable over USB-C and is able to wirelessly charge. The battery life for these earbuds is also pretty good. I was able to get the promised seven hours out of these and barely had to chuck them into the case. And if I did, they were charged in no time at all.

The Lenovo Smart Earbuds have ANC, as well as pass-through audio. There isn’t much to say about the ANC on these. It was pretty good for most circumstances I found myself in, including flying and other travel. Pass-through, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired. In some instances, I was happier just turning off pass-through and ANC in order to hear what was around me. In use, low humming sounds were favored instead of actual useful sounds like voices. I work next to my PC, and the fans aren’t loud at all. When using pass-through, the fan sound was amplified so that was all I could hear instead of what else was going on.

All that aside, I still fully recommend these earbuds and have genuinely enjoyed them for this reason: the audio quality. These aren’t bass-heavy – which I prefer – and they don’t overemphasize certain ranges. They also don’t fatigue my ears after extended hours of use. Rather, the Lenovo Wireless Earbuds do a great job of providing a full and detailed sound that’s full of as much tonal definition as is currently possible over Bluetooth at this price. You can use Lenovo’s Smart Wearable app to adjust touch controls, sound, and more. Using that, you can get the sound you like best. Personally, I found that the stock response from these was preferable to anything I adjusted.

Overall, what the Lenovo Smart Wireless Earbuds lack in certain features and design, they definitely make up for in battery life and audio quality. These earbuds have a great case, solid build, and are generally very comfortable. They are priced at $99 but can be found for as low as $59.99 at the time of writing from Amazon. Considering I found these to be better than my OnePlus Buds Z2, I’d say that’s an incredible steal.