I've been using a pair of $20 no-name BT earbuds from Amazon for the last few years and they worked well enough for me, but the quality is starting to show in physical problems. The electronics still work fine but the charging ports have come loose etc. It's time for new earbuds and I would appreciate input.
I use the earbuds only with an Android phone (Google Pixel 6 Pro), and I don't use the assistant or AI or voice commands. My current earbuds have a terrible microphone so I can't make calls with them - improving this would maybe be nice but is not a big deal.
Features:
Price - Under $150 maybe? Soft limit I guess
Touch controls of some kind - mandatory. (start stop, volume)
Wireless charging of the case/battery pack - very cool, would be nice. Not mandatory
Case charging connector - USB-C I guess but Micro USB is fine. No Proprietary chargers because I tend to lose cables
Built-in assistant / AI / voice control - I won't use it and I don't want it. As long as I can ignore it I don't care what features of this type are included
Noise cancelling - Some is better than none but I don't need ultra-deluxe sound deadening 2000 pro 2.0
Sound quality - don't care. I'm not an audiophile, and I can't tell the difference between bitrates. I mostly listen to spoken podcasts and audiobooks, only occasionally music
Toughness - I won't wear them in the pool or in a sandstorm. I dropped the current ones only vary rarely
Shape - I prefer the replaceable rubber ear tips (what are they actually called?) to the hard nubs
I have Jabra Elite 4 Actives and they have been great to me and meet your requirements. I would look at the newer offerings in that line and consider them as well.
Thank you, friend. These do look nice. Some of the reviews mention having to push on the bottom of the device to turn on the touch controls for volume and play/pause. How does that really work?