Nokia Noise Cancelling Earbuds BH-805 review

Nokia BH-805, or the Nokia Noise Cancelling Earbuds, are the first noise cancelling earbuds from Nokia Mobile and one of the most expected audio accessories from Nokia. These buds are coming at a fair price and are offering 5 hours of audio playback plus additional 25 hours thanks to the 400 mAh battery of the charging case.

Good

• Affordable
• Noise-cancelling
• Good build quality

 

Bad

• Sound notifications pausing music
• ANC distorting music
• No dedicated app

 

Specifications of Nokia BH-805

• Size: 55 x 60 x 25 mm (case)
• Weight: 5g earbud / 41g charging case (51g total)
• Modes: Standard, Noise cancelling, Ambient
• Speaker: 13 mm driver, 20HZ-20KHZ
• Battery: 40 mAh earbud/ 400 mAh charging case
• Connection: BT 5.0, USB-C charging port
• ANC: up to 25 dB
• Color: Charcoal (black), Polar Sea (blue)
• Price:  €99.99 (₹8860, $110)

 

Unboxing

The box is pretty simple and offers the buds, a short USB-A/USB-C charging cable and a quick guide which you’ll be using for a couple of days to remember how to use the controls.

The charging case is designed like an elevated pillbox. This design resembles slightly the design of Nokia Power Earbuds, but it is not as bulky as those. The case itself could be a bit smaller, but it fits the pockets nicely and man purse or fanny pack if you are using this. One this I would improve on the case is the stability when the lid is open, since they can’t stand upright when you open them.

The buds are designed like AirPods, which is a universal design now. The four LED lights on the front are showing the charging case battery level, and on the bottom, you’ll find a power/reset button and a USB-C charging port.

Buds consist of the earpiece that holds a 13 mm driver, one of two microphones, an LED light and a longer part that sticks out of your ear and holds microphones needed for ANC and has a charging port. On that part is the touch-sensitive area that will be used to control the calls, audio playback and switch between the three audio modes of the earbuds. LED lights are convenient to see if the earbuds are turned on or charging, but either than that, I don’t see any other purpose. You can check if the buds are in ANC (green), standard mode (blue) or ambient mode (orange) when you open the case, but they are always in the standard mode when turned on, so this feature is useless. By the way, whenever you switch the mode by long-pressing the touch controls, you are notified of that, so the LED light is definitely not necessary.

 

Earbuds fit nicely in the ear, and since the tips are made of soft silicone, buds are not causing discomfort after long wearing. I tried wearing with all the provided tips (S, M and L) to see which one holds the bud in place the best, and it is size M for me. The battery will last for 5 hours, and it takes not so much time to recharge the 45 mAh battery inside each bud.

The Controls

The controls are a bit confusing. There is just too many of them divided on both buds, and it will take you some time to learn them. There isn’t any official user manual of the BH-805 on the Nokia pages, so I scanned the page for you to keep it on your phone while you develop muscle memory. I prefer the simplicity of the Power Earbuds (Lite) controls since you are going to be lost for a few days. For example, double press on the left earbud is for play/pause, while double-tapping on the right will activate the annoying Google assistant. To answer the call you need to press any bud twice, instead of just once… It is a bit of a mess there, and it would be useful if Nokia Mobile would have an app for the buds where you could adjust the controls, but there we come to another problem.

The buds have a specific place on the longer protruding part that is touch-sensitive (slight rectangular indentation), but you can also control them by touching or more like pushing the outer part of the bud and leaning them to your cheek to activate controls. I find this way better and more convenient for controlling them.

 

There is no accompanying app

When you are having sound issues or there is a bug with software, you can easily sort things out over the app. The app is useful for these kinds of audio products since it can be used to adjust the specific features of the buds, receive updates and better control the touch controls. It would be good if the audio notifications and sounds could be turned off, since every time you press a touch control or switch between the audio modes, your songs are being muted for a brief moment which is annoying. Also, there is a noise distortion made by Noise Cancelling algorithms which could be sorted out with a simple software update, but that can’t be done since the dedicated app is missing.

 

Connectivity

It is rather simple to connect Noise Cancelling Earbuds with your phone. You just need to start your BT on the phone and open the buds. The phone should see the buds immediately, and connect to them. Now every time you open the charging case lid, the buds will connect automatically to your phone. If there is a problem with a connection, or you wasn’t to switch the device you are connecting to, you can use the button on the charging case to reset the connection and connect the buds to another device like setting them up for the first time.

The buds are using Bluetooth 5.0 standard, which means that the transmission audio quality will be good and without any latency. Also, the buds won’t be using your phone’s battery much since they are using low energy BT connection.

 

The sound

Nokia Noise Cancelling Earbuds are providing good quality sound in the Standard mode. There is plenty of bass tones for your electronic or R&B music, and maybe a bit more mid-tones for my taste, but the general quality of the sound is great, which is expected from a 13 mm driver. The ANC isn’t as effective as in Huawei FreeBuds 4i, but it is doing a nice job of taking the noise without distorting or covering up loud noises. Low hums will be nicely reduced but you will still be able to hear the human voice clearly and louder sounds. ANC is also good to use while listening to music, but unfortunately, it is affecting the sound quality of the audio playback. You can hear that as a distortion of the higher pitch sounds, and there is a wind noise being created even when faster walking in the apartment. Also, sometimes when you change the tracks, buds can lose the sync, so you’ll be hearing a tune being a second late on one bud for a moment. The sync is being automatically corrected after a second, but it is annoying to hear that. These kinds of issues could be sorted out by simple software updates, but that isn’t an option with BH-805 and who knows if Nokia Mobile will be doing a dedicated app for their audio accessories.

Call sound quality is excellent, and you will be heard clearly to the other end.

 

Conclusion

Nokia Noise Cancelling Earbuds are the first noise cancelling earbuds that Nokia Mobile launched, and I must say that I’m super happy for seeing them on the market since audio accessories are a product that can develop better brand awareness. These earbuds are bringing all the essentials at a relatively affordable price. If you do choose them, you’ll be getting a standard three audio modes, noise-cancelling that can shave some 25 dB of background noise, touch controls for audio playback, Google Assistant and calls, automatic connection upon the lid opening and a decent playback time of 5 hours on a single charge. The case is well designed, and won’t be taking a lot of the space in your bag or a purse.

But, you need to consider that some other branded ANC buds are supported better with dedicated software and might be getting software upgrades. Nokia Noise Cancelling Earbuds have some software issues that should be taken care of by simple software updates. For now, that isn’t an option since there is no dedicated app. All in all, these buds serve their purpose and will shave off the background noise when needed and provide you with nice audio playback while running or just chilling.

Check out the unboxing and a review video of Mr. Nokia and what he had to say about these earbuds.