Hammer AirTouch truly wireless earbuds review: Decent buy under Rs 2,000

Hammer sent me a pair of truly wireless earbuds recently. They cost under Rs 2,000, they look a lot like the popular Galaxy Buds, and that was reason enough to intrigue me. Samsung’s Galaxy Buds and Apple’s AirPods are some of the more prominent options for wireless Bluetooth buds, but the two are also not very affordable. At Rs 1,900, I hoped for the Hammer AirTouch to be a much more affordable alternative. Sadly, my final impression about the Hammer AirTouch isn’t at all what I hoped. TL;DR: With the Hammer AirTouch true wireless earbuds, you’ll be compromising on both build and audio quality. In the same price segment, there are various other, better options available. ***

Design

The Hammer AirTouch, priced at Rs 1,899 on Amazon India, aims to be affordable true wireless earbuds, which they are. However, quality? There are a lot of compromises there. The AirTouch has a plastic build. Its case is plastic and feels somewhat cheap. While opening and shutting the case, the lid feels wobbly. Slamming the lid closed also makes a plasticky click sound, which isn’t great. [caption id=“attachment_8896721” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  Hammer AirTouch TWS earbuds. Image: tech2/Nandini Yadav[/caption] Additionally, the Hammer AirTouch’s casing isn’t compact at all, nor is it comfortable to carry around due to its box-like shape. Another thing I noticed was that the casing scratches easily. The upside is that despite the boxy shape and large size of the casing, the plastic build makes both the case and the earbuds lightweight. Also, in my experience, wearing the Hammer AirTouch for a long time, often hurt my ears. I could not use the earbuds for a prolonged period.

Audio

The Hammer AirTouch offers very average audio quality. It features a 10 mm dynamic driver. At low to medium volume levels, the sound quality is decent; however, at higher volume, you can hear some distortion. While the earbuds offered decent audio while listening to blues, anything with bass didn’t play well on the Hammer AirTouch. Call quality on the earbuds is decent. [caption id=“attachment_8896701” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  Hammer AirTouch buds are not comfortable to wear for a prolonged periods. Image: tech2/Nandini Yadav[/caption]

Battery

A 300 mAh battery powers the Hammer AirTouch. It takes about 2 hours to charge the case up to 100 percent, and the earbuds take around one hour to charge fully. On a full charge, the earbuds last up to three hours. In one complete charge, the case can charge your earbuds six to seven times. In short, while charging the AirTouch is not the quickest process, overall the battery life is not an issue.

Features

I was intrigued to try out the Hammer AirTouch mostly because of the touch feature it touts. The earbuds are touch-sensitive and let you answer or reject calls, increase or decrease volume, activate Google Assistant or Siri. [caption id=“attachment_8896731” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  The Hammer AirTouch takes quite a while to be charged to full. Image: tech2/Nandini Yadav[/caption] Though I think it’s a pretty cool feature to have on an earbud under Rs 2,000, the lag that I experienced in the touch reaction was disappointing. On top of that, a little research will show that these Hammer earbuds aren’t the only ones that offer touch control features in the price segment. Look at BoAt Airdopes 201, Boult Audio Airbass, Realme Buds Q, for instance. [caption id=“attachment_8896711” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  Hammer AirTouch has a very poor quality casing. Image: tech2/Nandini Yadav[/caption]

Verdict

Hammer AirTouch makes big promises but does not come through on most of them. It’s a compromise in terms of build and audio quality. Not a good look for a product that’s meant to be a convenient mode of listening to music. I would not recommend the Hammer AirTouch. If you have a budget under Rs 2,000, I’d instead you look at Boult Audio AirBass Tru5ive Pro, Realme Buds Q, Redmi Buds S or the just-released Redmi Earbuds 2C. (Also read: Samsung Galaxy Buds+ review )