Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy Buds Pro alongside the Galaxy S21 series early next month. We’ve already seen their design, color variants, and some specs, thanks to tons of leaks over the past couple of weeks. Now, a major leak has revealed almost all of the upcoming buds’ new features.
Galaxy Buds Pro new features
Redditor u/TheBone_ has spotted a pre-release version of the Galaxy Buds Pro plugin for the Galaxy Wearable app, the companion smartphone app used to control Samsung’s wearable devices. A teardown of the APK reveals that the upcoming truly wireless (TWS) earphones will feature 3D spatial audio for videos.
The feature, which is available on Apple’s AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, uses head-tracking to change the direction of the sound based on the position of your phone. Samsung says this feature will offer “vivid, immersive sound coming from all directions so you feel like you’re right in the scene when you watch videos.”
There is a major requirement for this feature though. It’s only available on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone running Android 11 (One UI 3.0 or higher). The feature requires gyroscopic sensors, Dolby Atmos, and SoundAlive to work efficiently. Samsung will also offer a left/right volume balance feature. Users can adjust the volume level of the two earbuds individually.
However, the feature that allowed users to double-tap the edge of the earbuds to control volume is seemingly missing. As usual, a single tap on the buds will play/pause the track, double-tap will play the next track or answer the incoming call or end the current call. Users can customize the “touch and hold” functionality though.
Multiple levels of ANC, Ambient Sound, and more
The Galaxy Buds Pro offers also offers multiple levels of Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Ambient Sound. Rather than just having the option to turn on/off ANC, users can choose between various noise cancellation levels, depending on their need. Just so as you know, the Jabra Elite 85t offers 11 noise cancellation levels – from full ANC to full HearThrough. The Galaxy Buds Pro will reportedly feature Harman’s new noise-canceling chip for improved ANC.
The Ambient Sound mode also has four volume settings. Additionally, there’s a voice detection feature as well. This feature will automatically turn on the ambient mode and lower the media volume when you’re in a conversation. You don’t need to remove the buds or pause the music playback to speak to someone.
This feature even offers you the ability to set a timeout to end a detected conversation. If the buds don’t detect you to be talking for the set amount of time (5/10/15 seconds), they’ll switch back to normal. You can also tap an earbud to end a conversation. You can control the Buds Pro’s conversation detection and the noise control feature over Bixby commands as well. The new buds also support Bixby voice wakeup and Gaming Mode.
This APK teardown also reveals the official renders of the Galaxy Buds Pro in all three colors – Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, and Phantom Violet. No details on the pricing information of the new buds have come out yet. Nevertheless, the Galaxy Buds Pro is shaping up to be an excellent pair of TWS earbuds from Samsung.