Xiaomi recently announced the Redmi AirDots 3 in February this year. The earbuds are the next iteration of its most popular True Wireless Earbuds (TWS) — the Redmi AirDots, also known as True Wireless Earbuds Basic in the global market.
Last year, the Chinese electronics company announced the AirDots 2 which had confusing specs and branding in various markets. But the AirDots 3 seems to be a real upgrade and you’ll know why in a bit.
I’ve used both the original AirDots and AirDots 2 for a while, although my daily driver is really the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 or AirDots Pro 2, Xiaomi’s premium TWS earphones. I am pleased to let you know that the AirDots 3 borrow some specs from the AirDots Pro 2 such as USB-C charging and replacement of physical buttons (multi-function buttons) with touch controls and fancy animations with the MIUI 12 operating system.
AirDots 3 Specifications
Name: Mi True Wireless Earbuds Basic 3 (Redmi Airdots 3)
Release date: 25th February 2021
Net weight with case: 51g
Built-in Microphone: yes
Bluetooth: 5.2
Bluetooth codec: aptX
Range: 10m without obstacles
Bluetooth profiles: HFP/A2DP/HSP/AVRCP
Battery capacity: 43mAh (per Earbud)
Charging time: 1.5 hours
Battery life: 7 hrs (earbuds only), 30 hrs with Case
Charging Case Specs
Charging time: 3 hrs
Battery capacity: 600 mAh
Battery Type: Lithium-ion
Charging port: USB Type C
The AirDots 3 are much heavier, weighing 51g up from 35.5g of the AirDots 2. Xiaomi has doubled the battery capacity of the charging from 300mAh of the previous version to a whooping 600mAh. With this upgrade, you can get up to 7 hours with the earbuds alone and up to 30 hours when used with the charging case.
This is compared to 4 hours with the AirDots 2 earbuds alone and 12 hours with their storage case. Xiaomi has moved away from the now vintage Micro USB charging port on the charging case to a modern and universal USB Type C or USB-C standard which is a lot like 2021.
Related post: Xiaomi AirDots 2 (Mi True Wireless Earbuds Basic 2) Review
Talking about buttons, Xiaomi has also moved on from tactile multi-functional physical buttons found on each earbud to touch controls similar to what you get on the premium Airdots pro 2. I can tell you the physical buttons were a little uncomfortable for me because my ears would hurt when I tried to press the buttons to control multimedia or calls.
So this is a welcome upgrade. Now when you need to say pause music/video, with the AirDots 1/2, you had to physically press the multi-function buttons. Now, you can simply just remove/put back the earbuds to your ears to pause/play music.
Related Post: New Redmi AirDots S 2020 (Xiaomi Mi True Wireless Earbuds – Basic S) Review
About sound quality, because I haven’t yet used the earbuds, I can’t say for sure. However, from specs perspective AirDots 3 spot dynamic driver and armature driver and are powered by Qualcomm QCC3040 (aptx adaptive codec) chipset. The previous Airdots 2 were powered by REALTEK RTL8763BFR . The earbuds support Bluetooth 5.2 with a range of up to 10m without obstacles. Early reviews of the AirDots 3 show that they have better latency response which is great for gamers.
On to price and availability, the AirDots 3 are currently only available in China for about $31 equivalent. We are not sure when they’ll be available globally, but if you can’t wait, then you can get them off AliExpress or Banggood, or GearBest, all of which are Chinese online retail stores. The AirDots 3 come in three colors; White, Blue, and Pink. Black is suspiciously missing! Check back in when we have our hands on them for a real review.
