OnePlus Bullets Wireless

The latest pair of Bluetooth earphones launched by the smartphone manufacturer. OnePlus made tall claims while announcing the device and highlighted some features that definitely intrigued me. We have tested the device to find out whether we have a winner on our hands or not.

Price

Priced at Rs 3,390, the wireless version of OnePlus Bullets enter a segment which is littered with options. But, will all these features help the device stand out? Let’s take a look.

Specifications:

Impedance: 32 Ohms

Sound Pressure Level: 97dB

Rated power: 3mW

Frequency range: 20Hz ~ 20KHz

Bluetooth: 4.1 with Qualcomm aptX support

Build and design

OnePlus is primarily a smartphone manufacturer, but it has been introducing audio accessories from some time now. The company’s “Never Settle” motto somewhat falls short when it comes to the build quality. The over-the-neck or neckband design of the earphone ensures that it stays put while the user is exercising.

The in-line controls feature three buttons, where one in the middle handles three tasks. It can play/pause the music, connect/disconnect calls and on a long press, activate the Google Assistant.

Features and battery life

These include support for HFP/ A2DP/ HSP/ AVRCP Bluetooth profiles, good connectivity, clear audio while on calls and more. As mentioned above, the earpieces of the device are magnetic and the company has made a clever decision of correlating the play/pause functionality with it. Clipping the earpieces together when audio or video playback is in progress will pause it, while separating them will resume the media. Do note that the un-clip to resume feature works only with the OnePlus 5, OnePlus 5T, and the OnePlus 6, and with the latest software update.

The central button on the in-line control also acts as a dedicated smart assistant button for firing up the Google Assistant. This is quite convenient and helpful with tasks that I would rather offload to my Assistant such as sending a text,  making a call or looking something up on the web. I tried some of the aforementioned features of the Google Assistant and except for sending text messages, it was able to accomplish all of the other tasks. I did note one thing that you will need to again press down on the middle button for using the Assistant, even when it is taking up the screen, instead of recognising the “Hey Google” or “Ok Google” voice command.