German audio manufacturer Truke has a number of products in the Indian market that target the budget audio segment. The latest to join their family of truly wireless earbuds are the Air Buds and Air Buds+, which retail for Rs. 1599 and Rs. 1699. They are the first Truke truly wireless earbuds to feature support for a companion smartphone app, enabling 20 EQ modes. Here is our unboxing and first impressions of the Air Buds and Air Buds+.
Truke Air Buds Specifications:
| Model | Air Buds |
| Drivers | 10mm drivers |
| Type of charging case | Traditional clamshell lid design |
| Noise cancellation type | AI Noise cancellation |
| Playtime (Single Charge) | 10 hours |
| Playtime (Total life) | 48 hours |
| Battery | 300mAh lithium polymer battery |
| Weight of each Bud | 4g |
| Total weight | 45.2 Grams |
| Bluetooth | 5.1 |
| Compatibility | Android & iOS |
| Waterproof level | IPX4 |
| Dimensions | 6.3 x 2.6 x 4.65 cm |
Truke Air Buds+ Specifications:
| Model | Air Buds+ |
| Drivers | 10mm drivers |
| Type of charging case | Traditional clamshell lid design |
| Noise cancellation type | AI Noise cancellation |
| Playtime (Single Charge) | 10 hours |
| Playtime (Total life) | 48 hours |
| Battery | 300mAh lithium polymer battery |
| Weight of each Bud | 4g |
| Total weight | 53 Grams |
| Bluetooth | 5.1 |
| Compatibility | Android & iOS |
| Waterproof level | IPX4 |
| Dimensions | 6.4 x 2.7 x 5.1 cm |
Box Contents
- Air Bids and Air Buds+ in Black color
- Charging case
- Ear tips in Small, Medium (Installed) and Large sizes
- USB Type-C Cable
- User manual for earbuds operation and QR Code for app installation
Design
Starting with the design, both the Air Buds and Air Buds+ come in an oval shaped charging case that is small and can comfortably fit in your pocket pocket. They are both entirely made out of plastic that is non-reflective and does not attract any fingerprints. The Air Buds+ has a slightly larger case than the Air Buds, which is likely due to the presence of the digital display.
The digital display is the primary differentiating feature between the Air Buds and Air Buds+. The display serves one purpose – battery levels for both the case and earbuds individually. The display does look like it can pick up scratches easily, however. The regular Air Buds only has a small LED notification light on the bottom of the case to indicate the battery level of the case. Both cases have a USB-C charging port on the bottom.
The earbuds for both the Air Buds and Air Buds+ are identical, so I’ll be talking about them together. They have a plastic build that is entirely covered in a glossy finish, and it looks it will pick up scratches and fingerprints easily. The earbuds are very light, weighing anywhere between 4 to 5gms, and that contributes that comfortable feeling of the earbuds in the ear. It has an in-ear design, and the pre-installed medium-sized silicone ear tips fit my ears just fine. Truke does offer a pair of small-sized and large-sized ear tips in the box if you wish to change them.
Similar to previous Truke earbuds, the touch controls can be found on the stem, which also has Truke branding along its length. Using the controls felt a bit hit-and-miss, The touch-sensitive area lets you control play/pause, go to next or previous song, control volume, open Google Assistant and attend or disconnect calls.
| Function | Left earphone (L) | Right earphone (R) |
| Play / Pause/ Answer a call | Single tap | Single tap |
| Next track | – | Long press |
| Previous track | Long press | – |
| Volume controls | – | – |
| Activate in-ear detection | Triple tap | – |
| Enter or exit gaming mode | – | Triple tap |
| Activate Google Assistant | Double tap | |
| Reject an incoming call | Long press either earbuds for 2s | |
The Air Buds and Air Buds+ supports Bluetooth 5.1 technology, however only supports SBC codec. The connection range is around 10 meters, which is common in most headsets, and the connection quality is good. The pairing process is simple – open the earbuds case, which automatically puts them in pairing mode, open the Bluetooth settings on the phone and connect to the Air Buds or Air Buds+.
The earbuds can operate in two modes: Gaming mode and Music mode, and it can be toggled with a triple tap on the right earbud. In both modes, the earbuds communicate via the SBC codec, however in gaming mode, the latency is significantly lower, and we could feel the difference. The earbuds offer a decent amount of noise isolation. The audio quality is decent, but could have been better. It also has a feature called “AI-Powered Noise cancellation” that can block background noise during calls, and I observed the quality to be alright.
The Air Buds and Air Buds+ are the first earbuds from Truke that feature support for a smartphone app. The app is called Tuya, and it appears to be a third party service that can connect to smart devices. Once connected via the app, it enables a couple of features. Users can select between 20 EQ modes, toggle gaming mode/music mode, and also turn on in-ear detection. The in-ear detection works, however the detection is not quick.
The earphones with a 50mAh battery inside promise 8-10 hours of standalone playback. With the 300mAh charging case, Truke promises up to 48 hours of total battery life. We couldn’t test the battery life during the brief usage however. Charging the case takes about 2 hours over USB Type-C since it doesn’t have fast charging, and the buds take over one hour to charge when placed in the case.
The Truke Airbuds are priced at Rs. 1599 and Airbuds+ are priced at Rs. 1699, which the company says is the introductory price. These are available from Flipkart and Amazon.in respectively.