Hands-on review: Jabra Elite 3

Recently, Jabra announced the launch of its Elite 3 earbuds that the company claims are perfect for those seeking a clear call, good sound, and powerful bass at a lower price.

We got the product for a hands-on review, and here’s our first impression.

What’s in the box?
The box comes with the Elite 3 earbuds, a charging case and three different sizes of silicone ear tips.

Design and fit
The Elite 3 lightweight earbuds feature a sleek Danish design, with a triangular body that softens into rounded edges before extending into a silicone ear tip. It did fit comfortably into my ears.

The earbuds are water-resistant and are currently available in dark grey, navy, lilac, and light beige.

Connectivity
Pairing the buds with your phone was quick and easy with bluetooth 5.2. However, I noticed they could only pair with one device at a time.

The Elite 3 earbuds support the brand’s Sound+ app. There are six audio presets for tweaking the sound, including neutral, speech, bass boost, treble boost, smooth and energise.

I could even check the battery level, switch sound modes, see the user manual on the Sound+ app. I could also choose whether I wanted to use a voice assistant or access Spotify directly from the app.

Sound quality and other features
When I tested the earbuds, and the sounds were very clear with balanced mids and lows. While I could not adjust the sound manually, the audio settings offered more flexibility.

With these earbuds, Jabra has opted for physical buttons over touchscreen controls. For instance, a single press toggles play and pause on the right earbud, a double press skips forward, while a long press increases the volume. In addition, the noise-isolation and HearThrough features on the left earbud can be toggled with a single press, and the volume can be reduced by long-pressing.

The HearThrough mode is the transparency mode. Its built-in microphones enable it to increase the volume of external sounds. This lets users listen to announcements on public transportations and hold conversations without removing the earphones. The four built-in microphones also ensure good call quality. With the Mono mode, I could use one earbud to listen when the other ran out of battery or was at charging.

Despite lacking the active noise cancellation (ANC) mode, the earbuds did a great job isolating noise, which allowed me to focus on the music.

If you are worried about misplacing your earbuds, you can use the Find My Jabra feature to locate them. The last location of the earbuds is automatically stored in case they are disconnected from the phone.

Charging and battery life
The Jabra Elite 3 offers seven hours of battery life from a single charge, while the case can play music for 28 hours. In the event you run out of battery, you can charge it using the USB-C cable provided for a quick 10-minute charge that will give you an additional hour of playback. However, USB-C does not support wireless charging.

Pricing and availability
The earbuds are currently available across UAE for Dhs349.