So, this was well not really supposed to review this but well, times change and washing Zimai earphones in the washing machine by accident causing the mic to stop working, and well with the #lockdown2 approaching and also the knowledge cycling on days will have to happen again, it was time for new earphones. This gives me the chance to be able to work for travelling, For £15 it pretty much has a lot more going for it than I expected.
The video is below:
The Packaging:
Now for this, it does have clear labeling so you know what it does, with the dark grey box and the labeling with features such as Bluetooth and 10 hours of battery life, plus it shows you the ear hook which is a major bonus for this product already, and actually, t makes things easier to ready with clear text but there is a sign it is made for different countries. The branding is pretty clear as well.
The front of the box
The side of the box showing the buttons
The barcode and logos
The other side of the box with more features
The Back of the box
The top of the box with the hook
As we open the box, the is a clear showing of things such as the manual which was clear and very easier to understand, plus the packaging is also plastic-free which is good for the environment, then its the micro USB cable being a really short one. But the earphones themselves are nice but very short, which unlike the Zimai, there is no easy way to have it safely attached to the neck when you are not wearing them.
The front of the manual
The inner pages of the manual
More inner pages
The buttons for the ear piece
More guides on the buttons
The earpiece which has the mould in there as well,
The very short micro USb Cable
Now as we look at the earpieces a bit more, I notice the buttons are easier to press and sadly the micro USB charging port cover is very fiddly to open but that could be my fingernails being the issue here. But it does work out to make it easier for the battery location. T/he Earpieces are interesting with a little bit of gap on them but they make it much easier to twist to get them in the right ear, but the bits below the hook. Well they are only suited for the ear they are designed for.
The buttons
The battery with the mix name
The sign of both parts
One earpiece
The other ear Piece
The showing of the length of the cable
But then it was time to setup the earphones to the phone. Which well that was easier than I expected.
Time to setup.
So, I held the middle button down on the earphones and well boom, shortly after I saw a red and blue light flashing which meant it was them time to go to settings on the phone and well, it came up in a few seconds under the Bluetooth list. I tapped on it and it paired straight away.
The searching for the device
It finally paired
Then it was time for the tests.
The Tests:
Test #1: Wearing it
Now actually one benefit of this is actually the fact the hooks are much bigger which means it can fit around the ears without any issues, well actually there was a minor issue but the shaped of each side is designed for each side. So you can't swap it over, the ears. But when they were in, it felt really comfy.
The ear on the side
The ear on the other side
How it shows when I'm wearing a mask
Then it was time to see how it felt with the sound quality.
Test #2: Sound Quality
Test 2.1: Listening
Well actually i did listen to some music, and it was clear and also quite loud, but not loud enough to end up muting the outside word, aka note noise cancelling, But there was no tinny quality for the music i listened to and also there was a small bit of base so the speakers can handle it.
Test 2.2: Voice/Microphone
Now this was actually a bigger improvement, i didn't now notice the sound used in recording apps like Voice recorder or Google Keep, but when i was using the mic for phone calls, I almost had no issues with signal minus a phone call with one customer who was partially deaf and i did have 5 bars of signal (4G since near a BT exchange with an o2 Mast) So that means it can actually make things easier, As of this blog post publishing, I've not tried a call when cycling (was testing on Sunday due to work) but when walking, Calls worked fin,e well to works EA rep and Mobile phone rep and one customer. So this is a real improvement compared to the issue i was facing with the ZiMai earphones.
Test 2.3: Durability:
Actually this was much more improved than I thought, since it managed to not have any falling out when i was cycling around (nearly for 3 hours in total) on Sunday and that had no issues with falling out and since no sounds were playing and i could hear traffic , this was looking very promising, since i did notice and feel dropouts with the Zimai earphones. The only grip i did feel was something along the lines of the cable is a lot shorter than the Zimai , which means when not wearing them, they do not fit securely to the neck so there is a chance of them dropping. Which actually an be solved via a lanyard.
Conclusion:
This pair of earphones can actually do a lot more than i was hoping, Well in the basic ways but it feels a lot more easier to use than the Zimai and a lot cheaper due to the no customs duty for import. The cable is short but it makes up for that is a simple fix such as a lanyard. But the charging port lid can be hard to get out.
omracer's Rating: 8/10
The Good Points:
Very Good value
Bluetooth
Earhooks
Microphone which works.
Very comfortable during long use
Battery life is good
The Bad Points
The usb charging port can be hard to open with cut fingernails
The cable /strap is slightly shorted to wrap on body or attached when not using it
And that is another review for the start of #lockdown2, There might be one more review for the end of the year but we will see.
Well, this was only 1 part of a bundle that as Ordered from Maibenben for a laptop which would hopefully fulfil my goals for streaming games better. But that will be for another time. But for this, its a needed thing to have due to the number of visits and phone calls I'm having lately makes things needed to well work. This review is to partly see the potential of these Earphones for £30.11 (£8.58 for the earphones and £22.52 for the customs fee).
The box of what this review has a part of
The video is below:
The packaging:
The outer box:
This one has a very tablet feel to it and also very modern. It has the styling and colour scheme of maibenben in there as well as a front picture of the earphones. It just reminds me off the onda tablet in a way.
The front of the box
On the sides does not have much minus the Zimai logo. But the back has a unique thing where the label is upside down which is odd but works in its own style like when you flip the box upside its easier to read.
The back of the box which is upside down compared to the front of the box
The inner box
Then we open the box up and see the lovely layout of the foam around the earphones and a small box in the middle for the charging cable and the earphone cap. The manual was on top and its pretty detailed but all in Chinese for this one.
The box with the manual to the left and the mini box inside
The front of the manual
The inside specs of the manual
The guide to the buttons
The charging port
A quick 2 page of how to wear the headphones
Safety and warranty
The last 2 pages
A clearer image of the box and the earphones
The shape of them is well like ahead which is fitting for the name but it also shows a bit of how the earphones will fit on you. But then it was to look at them and actually it was a bit of rubber based cable. The actual plugs themselves are magnetic the other end which is a clever composition to make it easier to cable table.
The earbuds are magnetic.
then we have the panels on the earphones, with a microphone a control panel with the charging port. Now that is the key since this is charged via micros USB as well as the 3 buttons for Power, Volume up and Volume down.
The charge Port in the flap
The Buttons to control the earphones with the - , Power/pair/call and the + buttons
The top of the battery if i recall
The bottom of the battery with the Zimai logo
Then we have the inner box with the cable, and the earpieces to make sure that #allearsizesmatter so that people can make sure they are comfy as they wear them for long term use. There was a Micro USB cable as well as a genuine certificate card ot make this known they are the real deal.
a detailed look at what's inside the small box
But then it was time to get these going. How we charge it up and make sure it pairs to the Phone. Due to the time, this was only tested with the Redmi Note 7, but will work on other devices like the Vita TV and the PS4 and PS3 and any PC with a Bluetooth 4.1 device.
Time to set it up:
1: The First charge:
Well, this was a tricky one to try to pull the tab out in the correct way to let the Micro USb Cable fit in this properly. In the end, it turns out I did not pull the tab properly. So this means it might not have gone in but With the EE powerbar, I did get it to charge.
A view of how it looks to be charging
A closer look at how it charges
Then once that was done, it was to leave it to make sure there was a charge. The manual mentions a 9H standby time and a 1 to 2 hour talk time. So quite low in mode cases but I will explain the battery life later on. Now it was time to pair it
2: The Pairing and setup:
For this, I had to just how the middle button-down and a lady says welcome or turning on and then the LED was flashing Red and blue, then it was going to the Settigns and then Bluetooth to then tap on the SB101 in the list and then it was paired.
The settings to show it has been paired.
With that all done it was time to really test to see how they were.
The Testing:
1) fitting on the ear.
This one is more complex than I thought since there are only small markings for L and R as well as both each of the rubber. But it was making it curl into my heart the right way which was there a tricky part of all this. It managed to get in my ear correctly in the end. There is a nice feature of the rubber strrewthci9nbg over the front to make it fit say if you have larger ears or something along those lines.
How it looks in the my right ear
How it looks on my left ear
But it was sometimes that tricky issue of making sure it was in the right way around so it does seem like the cable was crossed and the ears around the wrong sides. But the benefit here is that they were staying in without much hassle and it also has a strap around the back.,
How it looks when crossed over
The strap around the back
When I was running it did not drop out, when I was walking it did not drop out. But when cycling there was a chance it was dropping out at least 3 times but only after putting the helmet on and not randomly when cruising down hills or puffing my way up a steep street
2) Sound Quality.
No word of a line, this is actually better than I expected. it really does give off a good sound with Base on some songs tested Via Youtube and it was loud too since the video did pickup the music playing from them
3) Recording Quality.
Actually, this was very good, I mean recording from the headphones with the phone placed away from mean means it was recording from it and that I know it means I can keep it working without any hassle. I mean even when I had to record something for future reference I know it works.
4) Phone calls.
Well, this was the main issue with the reason i wanted to get this. Actually, it did make things work better for calling, I could press the middle button once to answer the call, which only 2 calls did not work. The signal was okay with it, I mean only on 2 Bares of 4G using VoIP/Sip then I did get told the word "incomprehensible" But I could hear the other end crystal clear, which means it was safer and comfortable to actually use these when travelling.
5) Battery Life
Now actually for this, the battery life says 9hrs standby and 1 to 2 hours talking, but for what I had used them for, I did not have to worry about losing battery, i mean for what i used on 2 day of work, it did not actually use more than 20% of the battery life
Conclusion:
These earphones are much better than I was expecting them to be and they pulled through for what was needed, they easily paired to my Redmi note 7. The quality of the sound is good, the volume is loud if put on the max volume and also the call quality is good if the signal is strong and its comfortable to use and there is less of a chance the battery will die when i really need it. But the customs charge and the hard to fit the rubber bands in makes this not as amazing in other regards.
omracer's Rating: 6/10
The Good Points:
Good value if it was not for the customs
Nice design
Good sound quality for playback
the Mic sound quality is good too
A strap around the back of the head
Micro USb Charging
Easy to pair to a phone or device
Stays in the ear for most of the time
Good battery life
The Bad Points:
The customs charge can be a nightmare which means these cost £30 normal
The rubber straps are hard to fit on in the correct manner
Can be easy to get it the wrong way around or cross over the neck
The Tab for the micro USB port can make it a tight fit
And there we have it , a review of something useful I need in my life really. But more review from the Maibenben bundle is out soon on top of work but that will be a hard one to work with for time-wise. But see you then
