A little over a year ago, Apple[1] introduced the world to a new and exciting category of truly wireless earphones with its AirPods[2]. Since the release of the AirPods, the market has exploded with similar products from high-profile brands as well as small startups, all trying to outdo Apple. Helped along by the removal of the standard headphone jack from many popular smartphones, wireless earphones[3] are getting more and more popular, with their sales now exceeding their wired counterparts in many markets.
True wireless earphones offer unmatched convenience but are often very expensive. We set out to find out if there any decent AirPods alternatives out there for those on a tight budget. For the purpose of this article, we limited ourselves to models priced below Rs. 5,000 and we put them all through our earphones testing process to see if any of them are worth your money, or if they belong to the bargain bin.
1. ZAKK Twins
The ZAKK Twins are made predominantly out of plastic and feature a single button for playback control as well as setup. The over-ear design takes a bit of getting used to and the rubber hooks feels quite flimsy. The earpiece housings are quite substantial though, and build quality is decent, with no creaks. The earphones are sweat-proof, shockproof, and "sand-proof".
The earphones do not come with a charging case of any kind, and battery life is average. In our experience, the earphones lasted around 3.5 hours with music playing at nearly full volume and around 4.5 hours at 60 percent output. The ZAKK Twins have propriety charging ports and each earpiece needs to be charged individually. Thankfully, ZAKK includes a cable in the box...