Google Pixel Buds

The Google Pixel Ear Bluetooth headphones are designed to complement the colors and look of the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, while bringing their own translating smarts to the table as well.

The first thing you'll notice is that, unlike Samsung and Apple, there's a cord hanging in between the two noise-makers, as while these buds are wireless, they're not truly so.

However, that cord does have some clever uses... not least meaning it'll be harder to lose them.

The design is fairly standard for a set of earbuds, to be honest, with the rubberised outer fitting nicely into the ear, with a flanged bud inside sealing the sound in nicely.

The cord has a neat trick: slide it upwards and you'll be able to make a small 'wing' that holds it in your ear perfectly... being able to customize like this is a really nice trick.

The sound quality is something, sadly, we couldn't test out in the demo area, as we couldn't sync the headphones to anything to listen to the audio quality.

That said, pressing the sides of them did elicit a voice speaking into our ears, and the sound isolation was pretty good.

The quality and tone of the voice bodes very well for the audio capabilities of the buds though, with everything coming through clearly and impressively.

As we couldn't pair them to a phone, it wasn't possible to try out the new translation feature either - however, a soft touch on the side of the headset will activate the function, and should be pretty nifty in terms of use.

Whether you need it really is the bigger question, as while it is a properly futuristic thing to have, we can't say that we regularly want to talk to people in a different language. 

It'll also need two people using Pixel Buds together to have a truly multi-lingual conversation, which is pretty unlikely. Plus we can see it being difficult to explain to someone that we're using them as a translation tool if we, you know, can't speak the language.

The charging box, which doubles as a case for the headphones, is a little irritating. The outside feels a little flimsy, and while the battery life is good for five hours on the Pixel Buds from a single charge (and you can get multiple juices from keeping them in the case) having to wrap the cables around the outside is tedious.

They don't even fit flush around the outside, with a small amount of cable having to go inside the case... it's workable, but something you need to get used to.

Early verdict

These are cool little buds, and we need to spend more time testing out the translation function and audio quality to truly bring a real-life experience with them.

But from a design and fit point of view, they're good - a little expensive perhaps, but overall still a decent idea from Google and likely to entice people that are worried about losing separate wireless buds.