Pros
Cons
The Debrief
Funcl a company based out of Hong Kong has produced a pair of wireless headphones that truly can compete with the big boys of sound in the current wireless headphone space with a very attractive entry pricepoint. They are offering two versions on their Indiegogo. The W1 wireless buds and the AirPods clone, the AI, the most affordable aptX wireless headphones. I was graciously given a pair of the W1 headphones by Funcl to test out and from my intial impressions of these headphones I was pretty much blown away by the sound and volume produced by these little guys. The unit that Funcl sent me is preproduction so some of the quibbles that I mention in the review maybe ironed out with the final production run.
Packaging
The W1’s come a white box and have a picture of the headphones on the front of the packaging similar to AirPods. Inside you find the charging case, a very very short micro-usb charge cable and extra ear pieces.
Design and Comfort
The W1’s aren’t anything special when it comes to design they look pretty similar to Samsungs Iconx series of headphones. Funcl did say that the W1’s that I received are not the final design and appearance so the pics I show of them won’t be exactly the same as the final production W1’s. Usually I can fit these types of headphones with the earpieces they come installed with so I didn’t have to mess with the other silicone in the box but these headphones are (for me anyways) a pain to put in my ears. I have to fiddle with them to get the fitment just right unlike the quick pop in of my AirPods. As to long use cases for these headphones I doubt I could use them for longer than an hour without having to take them out which I did the other day at my local coffee shop and about the 75 minute mark they were really starting to hurt my ears. The charge case base is pretty sturdy but the lid feels super flimsy and feels like you could snap it off if your not careful.
Sound
Now here comes the absolutely earth shattering part! These W1 headphones can get loud, like really LOUD. They blow my AirPods out of the water and for $19 headphones that’s pretty incredible, I can only imagine how the AI’s sound. At about half volume they begin to blow out my ears at three quarters I feel like I’m at a concert. The range of sound is great also not tinny when you crank it and the basses are suprisingly punchy for these. For what your paying these headphones sound way better than they should. So props to Funcl!
Battery
Funcl rates the battery life of the W1 at 4.5 hours and 18 hours for the charging case. Based on my experience this last week that’s pretty close. The AirPods just edging it out in this department. The battery level is shown but only shows the total battery life not the individual battery for each headphone unlike AirPods.
Pairing and controls
The pairing process for these bad boys is pretty simple, not quite as awesome as the AirPods and its W1 chip, hmm ironic these are called W1 also, coincidence? Anywho when first connecting to any device right out of the box you just need to open the charge case and pop em in your ear, hit up your Bluetooth settings and hit connect. Now unlike the amazing thing about AirPods in that once you connect them to one device they automagically show up on everything else that’s signed into iCloud with the W1’s you will manually have to connect them to every device you want to use.
The W1’s also have touch controls but with my experience this last weekend they are very unreliable. You can tap the right earpiece to play/pause, tap twice to skip track, and triple tap to repeat/skip back. I did a little test in quick succession to test out the capability, tapping twice would register rather frequently but the triple tap I was unable to produce in quick succession to go back say a few songs, the W1’s would either pause the music or it would register it as a double tap and skip the song I wanted to repeat. The left earpiece controls answering calls with one tap and a double tap will activate your voice assistant. Again the taps don’t register right away and this could be due the preproduction nature of the W1’s that I received so I hope this will be fixed with the finalized product.
Conclusion
The W1’s biggest shocker and showstopper is going to be the sound these little guys can produce but everything else about them is pretty much standard across the board which isn’t a bad thing considering these only cost $19. For someone not wanting to spend a lot of money on good sounding headphones plus want the portability of truly wireless headphones these are a great buy. But to be a sole pair for someone I definitely can’t see these being a viable option perhaps the more expensive AI headphones would be a better option. If you would like to get your own pair don’t forget to visit the link I posted earlier in the review.
Don’t forget to click the secret link below guys to get a special price just for Mona members!
Following is the price options on the Indiegogo page.
Funcl W1 : $19
Funcl AI: $54(readers could get it for $49 through the secret perk, limited to 100pcs)
Funcl W1 * 1PCS + Funcl AI * 1 PCS: $72
Funcl W1 * 2PCS + Funcl AI * 2 PCS: $139
Mona Secret Link
- Very affordable
- Great sound
- Easily portable
- Quick Pairing Process
Cons
- Very short charge cable
- No individual headphone battery indicator
- Hard to fit in ears
- Touch controls not reliable
The Debrief
Funcl a company based out of Hong Kong has produced a pair of wireless headphones that truly can compete with the big boys of sound in the current wireless headphone space with a very attractive entry pricepoint. They are offering two versions on their Indiegogo. The W1 wireless buds and the AirPods clone, the AI, the most affordable aptX wireless headphones. I was graciously given a pair of the W1 headphones by Funcl to test out and from my intial impressions of these headphones I was pretty much blown away by the sound and volume produced by these little guys. The unit that Funcl sent me is preproduction so some of the quibbles that I mention in the review maybe ironed out with the final production run.
Packaging
The W1’s come a white box and have a picture of the headphones on the front of the packaging similar to AirPods. Inside you find the charging case, a very very short micro-usb charge cable and extra ear pieces.
Design and Comfort
The W1’s aren’t anything special when it comes to design they look pretty similar to Samsungs Iconx series of headphones. Funcl did say that the W1’s that I received are not the final design and appearance so the pics I show of them won’t be exactly the same as the final production W1’s. Usually I can fit these types of headphones with the earpieces they come installed with so I didn’t have to mess with the other silicone in the box but these headphones are (for me anyways) a pain to put in my ears. I have to fiddle with them to get the fitment just right unlike the quick pop in of my AirPods. As to long use cases for these headphones I doubt I could use them for longer than an hour without having to take them out which I did the other day at my local coffee shop and about the 75 minute mark they were really starting to hurt my ears. The charge case base is pretty sturdy but the lid feels super flimsy and feels like you could snap it off if your not careful.
Sound
Now here comes the absolutely earth shattering part! These W1 headphones can get loud, like really LOUD. They blow my AirPods out of the water and for $19 headphones that’s pretty incredible, I can only imagine how the AI’s sound. At about half volume they begin to blow out my ears at three quarters I feel like I’m at a concert. The range of sound is great also not tinny when you crank it and the basses are suprisingly punchy for these. For what your paying these headphones sound way better than they should. So props to Funcl!
Battery
Funcl rates the battery life of the W1 at 4.5 hours and 18 hours for the charging case. Based on my experience this last week that’s pretty close. The AirPods just edging it out in this department. The battery level is shown but only shows the total battery life not the individual battery for each headphone unlike AirPods.
Pairing and controls
The pairing process for these bad boys is pretty simple, not quite as awesome as the AirPods and its W1 chip, hmm ironic these are called W1 also, coincidence? Anywho when first connecting to any device right out of the box you just need to open the charge case and pop em in your ear, hit up your Bluetooth settings and hit connect. Now unlike the amazing thing about AirPods in that once you connect them to one device they automagically show up on everything else that’s signed into iCloud with the W1’s you will manually have to connect them to every device you want to use.
The W1’s also have touch controls but with my experience this last weekend they are very unreliable. You can tap the right earpiece to play/pause, tap twice to skip track, and triple tap to repeat/skip back. I did a little test in quick succession to test out the capability, tapping twice would register rather frequently but the triple tap I was unable to produce in quick succession to go back say a few songs, the W1’s would either pause the music or it would register it as a double tap and skip the song I wanted to repeat. The left earpiece controls answering calls with one tap and a double tap will activate your voice assistant. Again the taps don’t register right away and this could be due the preproduction nature of the W1’s that I received so I hope this will be fixed with the finalized product.
Conclusion
The W1’s biggest shocker and showstopper is going to be the sound these little guys can produce but everything else about them is pretty much standard across the board which isn’t a bad thing considering these only cost $19. For someone not wanting to spend a lot of money on good sounding headphones plus want the portability of truly wireless headphones these are a great buy. But to be a sole pair for someone I definitely can’t see these being a viable option perhaps the more expensive AI headphones would be a better option. If you would like to get your own pair don’t forget to visit the link I posted earlier in the review.
Don’t forget to click the secret link below guys to get a special price just for Mona members!
Following is the price options on the Indiegogo page.
Funcl W1 : $19
Funcl AI: $54(readers could get it for $49 through the secret perk, limited to 100pcs)
Funcl W1 * 1PCS + Funcl AI * 1 PCS: $72
Funcl W1 * 2PCS + Funcl AI * 2 PCS: $139
Mona Secret Link
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