The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, released last year, is one of the most feature-rich noise-canceling earbuds available.
These latest versions make the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live easier to use, but one feature that was missing from the Galaxy Buds Pro is back: the "Double Tap Earbud Edge" control. Once the update is installed, Galaxy Buds Pro owners (members of our best wireless earbuds list) will be able to adjust playback volume by double-tapping the edge of the bud.
Prior to this update, it was still possible to use the Galaxy Buds Pro's touch sensor to raise or lower the volume, but first the tap-and-hold gesture had to be manually customized in the Samsung Wearable app. Mapping volume control to this gesture also meant that tap-and-hold could not be used for other possible inputs, such as calling a digital assistant or opening the Spotify app on the phone.
Now, volume up and down are assigned to the double-tap earphone edge instead, allowing both convenient volume adjustment and more flexible tap-and-hold command choices. By comparison, the AirPods Pro does not even allow volume adjustment using the onboard force sensor at all.
This update, part of Samsung's firmware version R190XXU0AUD5, also adds the ability to assign a specific noise mode (active noise cancellation (ANC) mode or transparent ambient mode) to long press gestures. This is a small but welcome improvement, and means that one does not have to cycle through the different modes until one gets to the mode one wants.
Samsung's patch notes also mention the addition of "stabilization code related to ANC motion/talk detection" which sounds like an improvement to the Voice Detect feature of the Galaxy Buds Pro. This feature allows the earbuds to detect when the wearer is speaking and automatically enable ambient mode to facilitate conversation.
Already one of the best earphones to replace Apple's AirPods, the Galaxy Buds Pro seems to be getting better with each passing year. While the details of Samsung's now-rumored Galaxy Buds 2 are anxiously awaited, the Galaxy Buds Pro will continue to reign at the top of Samsung's earbuds for some time.
Comments