Moto Buds+

The Moto Buds+ (Plus) are a fine addition to the MotoAddict's treasure trove! They're not the best-sounding earbuds in the world, but they are very good indeed, plug in nicely via Moto's App to any device with a supporting OS, are well-featured and don't cost the earth.

The buds which Moto sent over for review are Forest Grey (a.k.a. Black!) but you can also snag them in a very nice Beach Sand colour too. In the little box you get a USB-C to USB-A cable, small, medium and large ear-tip thingies, no charging plug and the 'water repellent', decently magnetised-closing case with the buds inside. It's a landscape style clamshell plastic case which is not as slippery as some that end up on the floor(!) rather here having a slightly matt, not glossy coat. The case and buds are made of plastic, of course, and typically with Moto, have no official IP-rating of any sort. Just claims of 'splash and spill' resistant.

I was able to use the buds without changing the tips, so I guess my ears and ear-canals must be pretty standard! I have to admit at this stage that I'm really not a fan of in-canal earbuds, having tried years ago, not liked and then always went for the outer-ear style since, like, for example, the Edifier W320 or, more recently the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 (non-Pro version). So this was to be a bit of a challenge for me to see if I could tolerate the other kind - and if I thought there were benefits.

The 520mAh case has wireless charging, slowly of course, taking about 2 hours, but still good to have at this price-point of, at time of writing, £129 in the UK. Plug the cable in and faster speeds are attainable and with the right charger you can get it all back up to charged, buds'n'all, in about an hour. Once charged up, Moto claim a total of 38 hours of playtime (with ANC off), buds getting 8 hours (or 5 with ANC) before needing a return to the mothership for a boost. In my ongoing tests, I can't argue with that - all seems like a reasonable claim. With them being in-canal, I don't really feel the need for ANC, so get the longer playtimes. Also, you can get a 3-hour boost with a quick 10-minute charge. There's a LED on the front of the box which is green when all's good and red when charging is needed.

The buds themselves, which have a 45mAh battery in each, are of the Stem design, made famous and popular by Apple originally (I think), so touch controls are available via the appendage. These can be set via the app, which, because of Android/Google's Fast Pair, fires up on the screen, offering to install, as soon as you open the box - certainly with Moto and Samsung phones here. I understand that there's no support for Apple devices, but I have not verified/tested that myself, not living in that world! There's a pairing button inside the open case, if needed. Gestures in the shape of single tap, double-tap, triple-tap and tap/hold can be assigned independently for each bud in the app, offering a good choice for the user.

Also in the app is access to a range of equalisation controls, piggybacking the Dolby Atmos on a Moto phone, with switches for Spatial Audio (which really does seem to make a difference, like Moto's Sound Virtualiser I've found), Head Tracking (with a Moto phone - more on that later), battery status graphical readout, dual connection (TWS) for hooking up to two devices at the same time for easy-switching and the various ANC/transparency modes.

Transparency allows the user to hear what's going on around them so conversations can take place, Noise Reduction (ANC) seems decent enough, though challenged more-so by sharp/unexpected noises than perhaps more expensive 'pro' buds - and Adaptive (with Gemini logo!) to leave it to work out for itself! Head Tracking is inside the Spatial Audio setting and I can't seem to make it work or do anything, even armed with the latest Motorola Edhe 50 Pro. So maybe I'm doing something wrong. I have experienced this on other systems, so I do know what I'm looking for in this pseudo-3D audio world! As you turn your head away from the source of the music/video it's supposed to 'leave' the sound in the location of the source - so if you turn your head left, it favours more sound from the right bud. But maybe this is a bug that needs fixing in a software update.
Update - a few days later, this Head Tracking feature now appears to be working as described. There's been no updated software on my Motorola Edge 50 Pro, nor the Buds, so not sure what's happened - but the good news is that yes, it's working and it's clear when moving the head around that the sound remains coming generally from the direction of the source. Nice one.

Back in the app, there's also a toggle for Wearer Detection which works well - take the buds out and it pauses playback. Put them back in and it starts again (within a reasonable time spell). They are also smart enough to respond to someone wanting only one bud in, with the other back in the case, by switching both stereo channels into mono through the one in use (without having to rely on phone/Accessibility settings). There's a toggle for High Definition audio which can be thrown and used if you want to use more battery and have a LHDC-supporting phone, like a Moto! Otherwise, it's SBC or AAC via Bluetooth 5.3. Incidentally, there's been a deal done with Bose here so that the tagline Sound by Bose can be added. I really don't know if that's tokenistic or meaningful, but you get what you get - there's no toggle to switch that on/off of course (much like AKG and Samsung) so I can't really tell what it might sound like if it hadn't been 'tuned' by them! "Certified by Bose to deliver an unprecedented audio experience". Apparently.

And the sound is great, I have to agree. I think if we're nit-picking, you can get more volume and bass from more expensive buds, but if you have a Moto phone and are happy to save £200 in the mix, you can't go far wrong with these. I'm no audiophile, but they sound great to me and, I suspect, 98% of the potential target market users - leaving the 2% to nerd-out on minimal advantages of more expensive or so-called 'pro' models. Real adjustments that make a real difference can be made in the app, very pleasingly for different music genres and taste.

Using the buds for call management seems to work well enough. Tested here, I heard the other party perfectly well after tapping the bud to answer/end and they reported hearing me perfectly well, too, even when conducted via a busy high street with hubbub and vehicles passing. There are three microphones built-in which support this, so seem to do a decent job. I've set up a tap/hold on the left bud to access the Google Assistant/Gemini and that seems to work well enough - tested asking generic questions and specific ones about my data in various Google apps. If you're too close to the phone, that seems to take over, splashing the data on the screen but I've also tested out-of-earshot of the phone and all's good.

These are a great pair of buds. I have got used to them easily and yes, even I can see that the sound from the in-ear-canal style of buds, creating a good seal, does nothing but help the audio experience. They are comfortable in my ears and easy to control via the array of gestures. The battery life is excellent and sound (with options) perfectly good for most people. They are well-made and I have confidence in Moto's decision not to increase the cost of the hardware by paying for IP-certification. This has been a long-standing method for them and with phones, through various nano-coating techniques, they have kept the cost down. Yes, it is best to use these with a Moto phone, but there's still enough of offer via the app (or not, even) via standard Bluetooth connectivity with other OEMs' devices. Recommended very much.