Above is my combo of choice. Contrary to most people’s assumptions, I didn’t go with the Samsung Buds 4 Pro with my Fold 7. Sound quality, ANC, battery life, true multipoint, and longevity are the keys to success here for the WF-1000XM6 over the Buds 4 Pro. Your choice may be different and for different reasons. I still think the Buds could be Earphones of the Year for 2026 if the Sonys don’t win it, but time will tell. And personally for me, it’s really hard to respect the design of the Buds 4 Pro because they literally are clones of the AirPods Pro with access to Gemini and a non-command-word voice control system. But this could easily be what some are actually looking for.
Ultimately, both earphones have technology and abilities that are pleasing to many people in the world today. And when you look at the total list of features and abilities, you can’t help but be impressed. Things like Google voice controls hands-free and reading your text messages when you get them without touching your earphones or telling them to are a gift that 95% of Android earphones don’t bother giving. It’s something previously only associated with the Apple ecosystem, so it doesn’t go unappreciated.
However, my big issue is consistency. I’m so tired of getting products that claim features, abilities, and use times that either aren’t present at the time of launch, only work 50-70% of the time, or require you to sacrifice every feature or ability that made the device special in the first place in order for it to give you what they promised in battery life, sound, or feature consistency.
I read a post about the Buds Pro, telling users that if they want the battery to work correctly, they need to cut off voice activation, Google Assistant, and high-quality codec for Samsung, as well as the high-quality Hz for phone call abilities that a Samsung phone gives you with the earphones. Then you get what the website promised you? Are they crazy? If I get rid of all that, I could just buy AirPods 3 Pros for my Samsung Fold and have a better experience. We already know the Apple AirPods 3 are phone call kings, ANC kings, and sound great. Killing off the features that make the Buds 4 Pro exciting just puts them at a disadvantage, period.
Then even the Sonys have their own consistency issues too. They make you pick one or the other voice control. You can never use both. They make you pick and sacrifice Google Assistant voice controls if you customize touch controls. And randomly every other day, if not daily, depending on how many times you use it, Google voice activation just stops responding to your voice and you have to reboot the device. Makes zero sense. Too many times I have found myself needing Google Assistant voice activation to work because I couldn’t reach my phone or touch my ears, and I look like an idiot saying over and over again, “Hey Google…hey Google…hey Google!”
And look, this doesn’t just apply to earphones, smartphones, or the like. It seems the very notion of tech advancement means tech failure or lack of reliability. Even things like appliances have way shorter lifespans with all these tech advancements compared to the tried and true generic stuff we grew up with that lasted decades. None of this stuff makes sense. You can create complexity, but you operate within the simplicity and consistency that matches your advancement in knowledge.
There has just got to be some way to hold these companies responsible for their purposeful or lazy actions that cause consumers headaches and frustrations. They charge more, for what? More headaches. At least places in Europe require companies to stand by their products for years and years. So they at least have a way of making the companies stand behind their work for years. In America, 90 days to 1-2 years just doesn’t cut it. And maybe when we make them answer to us for longer than 2 years, they will create better products when the world makes them own up to their work, and not just a few countries.
Tech-N-Things 