Are PaMu Slide a Real Airpods Killer

After the astonishing success of the Pamu Scrolls earphones, the now well-known earphones from Padmate, the subject of a massive advertising campaign, the company tries to repeat the great success of its predecessors with Pamu Slide. Padmate tries again to play at the big table, challenging Apple’s earphones with a product but above all a slogan with a decidedly strong cut. Are we really facing “AirPods killer”? Let’s find out together.

Playing at the table of the greats means proposing a high quality price ratio but it also means trying to bring something truly innovative to the market, with a convincing realization able to put the user in serious difficulty when choosing the product to buy. The Pamu Slides are undoubtedly an evolution on the whole positive of the predecessors in many aspects, an evolution that lends itself however to some less convincing implementations and to some decidedly too much risk that imposes more than a reflection in the purchase phase.

Like Pamu Slide, the company always chooses Indiegogo as the main sales engine for its product, offering the possibility of purchasing Pamu Slides starting from 53 euros. This time the earphones are available in two versions including a Plus version, which adds the power bank function to the case thanks to active wireless charging.

DESIGN AND FUNCTIONALITY

With Pamu Slide comes a decisive restyle compared to the previous version, a review that corrects several problems of the previous model but at the same time introduces some questionable choices. The real earphones in fact carry different changes under the aesthetic and ergonomic profile; they remain of the in-ear type but add a little bar (similar to that of the AirPods) which makes them more similar to the earphones of Cupertino.

The comfort once inserted in the ears is certainly appreciable in daily use, mitigating that “cork” effect often complained by many detractors of the in-ear conformation. On the other hand, however, they appeared less firm in the ears than the previous generation because of the less deep rubber pads than those of the Pamu Scrolls. Be clear, we never lost them on the way but in my case I found myself several times having to push the earphones into my ears precisely because of this ergonomic choice, especially during physical activity. The grommets can be replaced with others supplied but in no case have I found the maximum comfort that I would have expected from a similar product, obviously in this respect one’s own ear plays a fundamental role, therefore in this case there is no universally valid evaluation.

The headset controls are of the touch type and differ between the right earpiece and the left earphone, a choice that is undoubtedly binding in some contexts (such as in cars where we will in fact be obliged to use the left earpiece due to the presence of the command to recall the assistant vocal) but which follows most of the competitive products, unfortunately the answer is not always precise but the large touch surface available still allows commands to be given without too many problems even during sports activities. Among the various features we also find the possibility of calling up Siri with a double tap on the left earphone and the volume control in the headphones by long press on the left earpiece to decrease it and right to increase it, which allows us to have almost all the available necessary commands (in fact the command to skip the previous track is missing) thus limiting the need to remove the phone from the pocket.

As for the houses, however, we find many points of discussion, starting with the dimensions. The slide of the cover and the magnetic attachment of the earphones are undoubtedly the most convincing aspects but to penalize too much this product we think of the really too generous dimensions that make these Pamu Slide many uncomfortable to carry in your pocket, especially if you are a Jeans lover more tight-fitting where the excessive bulk will be felt not a little. The increase in size is probably related to the inclusion of the active wireless charging function, a solution that basically allows you to charge a compatible smartphone simply by placing it on the back of the case; in our opinion, this solution is not only useless (given the sacrifice in terms of size and the significant reduction in battery autonomy) but it is also poorly implemented due to the irregular lid that makes the product unstable once placed on a supporting surface , with the smartphone that will inevitably wobble until it slips if it is not positioned precisely, given the presence of the USB-C recharging connector, a simpler functionality of a wired recharging powerbank would certainly have been more welcome and less invasive in terms of size.

AUDIO QUALITY

The quality of musical reproduction is certainly the great value of the Padmate product, which continues to offer an excellent quality / price ratio (at least in relation to the price proposed during the Indiegogo campaign). Thanks to the new Qualcomm QCC3020 audio chip, listening to music is very pleasant, with very lively low frequencies compared to the medium and high frequencies (which are perhaps in a bit off) and a not too high volume balance that minimizes the sound distortion . In substance the sound that reaches our ears is always very balanced and allows us to appreciate all musical genres, with a latency and a synchrony between the earphones decidedly improved compared to the previous model. The deeper pads reduce the cap effect perceptibly, obviously leaving more environmental noise than the Pamu Scrolls. On the other hand, however, we have not shown any improvements regarding the microphones, which are clean in closed environments but definitely disturbed in noisy environments and which have repeatedly forced us to divert the call to the microphone of the smartphone to make the voice clearer to our interlocutor.

BATTERY

Eternals! These Pamu Scrolls will really make you forget about the charging cable for quite a few days. In fact, only the earphones offer up to 10 hours of continuous playback which can reach up to almost 60 hours thanks to the generous battery supplied inside the case. If on the one hand then the dimensions turn out to be a negative aspect, on the other hand the great autonomy largely mitigates the bulk of the case.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

Pamu Slide is certainly an interesting product, with some negative points which are certainly not a small one but which in substance then offer a definitely remarkable quality of reproduction. However, in our opinion, the Padmate product still fails to emerge as a winner from the rival Apple, a comparison they themselves sought with that clumsy slogan ‘AirPods Killer ‘. In our opinion, AirPods are still unmatched for iOS users thanks to greater compactness and the great practicality of the H1 chip that allows you to move playback from one source to another in a few seconds with an imperceptible latency. At the price proposed during the campaign (respectively 53 and 62 euros depending on the choice or not of the case with wireless charging) we are certainly faced with a real best buy for quality of reproduction and comfort, but the final sale price equal to 160 and 200 euros will certainly discourage most of the Apple user who will continue to prefer AirPods for compactness and integration with Apple devices.