14 DAY TRIAL // The number of companies building wireless earbuds exploded after Apple launched the first-generation AirPods, but at closer inspection, it’s pretty clear that many of them are just knock-offs whose purpose is to get your money in return for questionable quality.
Mobvoi, on the other hand, is a name that has already impressed with its AirPods rival. Its own wireless earbuds, officially known as TicPods, have already reached the second generation, promising a feature package that you can’t find elsewhere. Not even at Apple, that is.
One of the things that I always liked about Mobvoi is that its products rely more and more on AI, so while the TicPods 2 might look just like a regular AirPods alternative at first, there’s so much more to find out after setting them up.
In terms of design, the most obvious difference versus the first generation is the earbud itself. There are no silicone tips available on this model, and this has both pros and cons. The main pro is that the TicPods 2 feel a looooot more comfortable, and I could actually wear them for much longer than the first generation. The con is that you lose the audio isolation, which somehow compensated for the not-so-perfect sound quality on the previous model, but as you’ll find out in a second, this would have been redundant on the new generation.
The design overall clearly reminds of Apple’s AirPods, but on the other hand, Mobvoi offers the TicPods 2 in Navy, Ice, and Blossom. In terms of pricing, the TicPods 2 cost £85.99/$99.99, while the TicPods 2 Pro can be yours for £119.99/139.99. Both are available online from Mobvoi.
Design-wise, the standard and the Pro models are identical, so the difference only happens in the feature department. The Pro version brings a series of extras (which I’ll detail below), including TicHear Quick Commands and TicMotion head gesture controls.
There’s also a minor hardware difference between the two: the TicPods 2 are powered by Qualcomm’s QCC5121 chipset, while the Pro sibling is equipped with the QCC3026 chip. Both models feature Bluetooth 5.0, but while the standard version offers a single microphone with noise cancellation, the Pro is upgraded to dual-mic with noise cancelation. There’s no sensor on the TicPods 2, but the Pro features both an accelerometer and a gyroscope.
The earbuds are fitted with a 30mAh battery, while the charging case adds another 390 mAh. This is enough for 4 hours of continuous playback, according to the official data, while the battery life with charging case is extended to 20 hours in the case of the Pro and 23 hours for the standard model.
In real life, I got pretty close to these numbers, with approximately 19 hours total time and 3 hours of playback. Fast charging is also offered, with 1 hour of playback powered by just a 5-minute charge.
The charging case, which tips the scales at just 29.5 grams, has been redesigned in a way that makes it feel super-premium. It’s now 40% smaller despite featuring a hefty battery for recharging the earbuds and features a USB-C port (the TicPods 2 can be recharged with a USB Type A to Type-C cable, but Type-C to Type-C is not supported).
Just like the first generation, the TicPods 2 work with both Android and iOS, and one gimmick that I truly enjoyed was the equalizer available in the Mobvoi app. You can choose from several pre-defined settings for different music genres, but also tune the audio on your own with the typical equalizer. This is clearly a nice touch that comes in handy, especially if you use the TicPods mostly for listening to music.
As far as the software side of the TicPods 2 goes, there’s a lot to discover here, especially thanks to the touch of AI that sets these earbuds aside from the rest of the market.
First and foremost, it works with any digital assistant that you may have, including here not only Siri on iPhone, but also Google Assistant and Alexa on Android. There’s a secret magic phrase (Hey, Tico) to wake up the TicPods, as well as additional voice commands powered by what Mobvoi calls “TicHear.” You can thus play and pause music, pick up and hang up a call, or go to the next or previous song with just a voice command. This feature is exclusive to the TicPods 2 Pro.
Also available on the TicPods 2 Pro only is the feature called TicMotion controls. You may think this is weird at first, but TicMotion allows you to nod the head twice to pick up a call or shake it twice to refuse it. Both gestures work just as expected, although I found myself shaking my head like a maniac trying to figure out how to do it. It’s a nice gimmick, but I doubt anyone would use them for anything else than testing.
Both the TicPods 2 and the TicPods 2 Pro come with touch controls, a feature that was also offered on the original model. You can thus swipe up and down to adjust the volume, long press the right bud to activate the smart assistant or refuse a call, and double tap to skip songs, pick up, or hang up a call. All gestures are working neatly, and after using the first-generation model for a while, I find these very familiar and easy to use.
The audio quality of the TicPods 2 Pro isn’t impressive, but it’s not disappointing either. While you can fine-tune it using the equalizer that I told you about, I don’t think that it matches the Apple AirPods, but at the same time, it certainly isn’t far from it. The Pro model comes with a secondary mic to detect and filter out the environmental noise, and this really improves call quality. TicPods 2 feature only one microphone that is located at the bottom of the earbud for picking up the sound of the voice.
All in all, the TicPods 2 Pro are clearly among the best AirPods alternatives that you can get right now. Given many believe that Apple’s products are overpriced and don’t necessarily want to pay a fortune on AirPods, the TicPods 2 are at least worth a chance, especially because finding advanced AI capabilities at this price point isn’t necessarily something that you can do easily.
There are things to be improved, that’s for sure, but at the end of the day, Mobvoi seems to be the surprising underdog that Apple didn’t see coming.
