Lenovo HE08 Bluetooth Earphones Review – Underrated?

Welcome to a review of the Lenovo HE08 Bluetooth Earphones. In this age where a certain half-eaten apple is removing the charger and earpiece from their smartphone package, Lenovo is actually offering their own line of affordable Bluetooth earphones.

Yes, call me a frog in the well. But Lenovo is actually one of my least expected companies to be getting into the earphones game. I stumbled on their earphones one, got one of those out of curiosity, and just how well does it fare? Read on!

 

THE OVERVIEW

Price	About USD $15 (As at the time of writing)
Links	Official Website: Link Get from eBay: Click here
Packaging	Has all the correct basics. It’s a “professional brand” after all.
Build Quality	Seems durable enough.
Functionality	Long-lasting battery, but fairly awkward “interface design”.
User Friendliness	A few design hiccups everywhere.
Sound Quality	Good mids and highs for the given price.
Value	It is cheap, and it works well.
Overall	An affordable “professional brand” Bluetooth earpiece.

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Packaging	Build & Design	Sound Quality
Battery & Wireless	Summary	Verdict

 

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

It’s a grey box with some level of design. It’s plastic-wrapped too. Well, maybe I had a little too much expectation for an affordable earpiece… But I will still personally rate this as a “passable” for a “basic good commercial product” – Not fantastic, but it works.

P.S. Yes, the box is in Chinese, the address on the box points to the Lenovo HQ in Beijing. So I am guessing this is meant for the Chinese market, exported by some online parallel sellers to make a quick buck or two.

 

 

WHAT’S INSIDE?

• The Bluetooth Earphone itself.
• Very short micro-USB charging cable.
• Extra earbuds (1 pair that is small, another is larger).
• User manual in Chinese.

In summary, it covers all the basics.

 

 

 

QUICK WALKTHROUGH

Well, a straightforward design here – The neckband part is not “hardwire” but just “thick wire”. The two “canisters” are made of a combination of plastic and metal alloy. Overall, they just feel pretty rugged and have some decent build quality.

The button layout is pretty typical – Volume down, power, and volume up. But the design is one that I will especially highlight, it is totally off. The buttons are flushed against the “canister”, with only a small depression in the center power button. It is extremely difficult to distinguish which button is which while jogging, or even for general usage.

Right beside the buttons is the micro USB charging port. Yes, that is not USB-C. Another design hiccup here – The cover for the charging port is very tight and difficult to open. Also, not a lot of space allowance, the cover will be squished against the USB cable when plugged in.

 

 

Dual drivers, just-in-case you have not noticed from their spec sheet.

They are magnetic and snaps together. Yet another design flaw – The left and right sides are not indicated. I have to play a “soundstage test” YouTube video to figure it out myself, and the side with the controls is the left.

 

 

SOUND PROFILE

It’s kind of hard to describe how it sounds like in words, but let’s try:

• Lows: Decent. The tiny drivers don’t really have a lot of “boom”, at least not lame pops.
• Mids: What I will rate as “good”, produces some nice vocals and instruments.
• Highs: I will rate this as “good” too. Crisp cymbals, not bleeding edge cymbals.

I know, multiple drivers are supposed to replicate something like subwoofer, woofer, and tweeter for in-ears. But know what, I personally think the HE08 actually has an edge in the clarity and soundstage. Sorry bass heads, this one might not be for you though.

 

 

 

BLUETOOTH PAIRING ISSUES

Here comes a possible bad part about the HE08, I encountered some connection problems while pairing it with my Windows PC. It will seemingly always detect as “voice only” (mic), and I have to manually disconnect/reconnect to get it to detect as voice/music.

To be fair, I am not sure if this is a bug with Windows, or with Bluetooth in general. Also, it paired with my Android phone flawlessly, without any issues. Range wise, I will say “typical one room”, within about 8-10 meters.

 

BATTERY LIFE & CHARGING TIME

A confession, I did track the battery life down to the minute. But it did survive from the morning to evening – Of course, without constantly playing. The rated battery life is 8 hours, which should be good enough for a full day at work in any case. As for the charging, it took slightly less than 3 hours to go from flat to full. Even on micro-USB, without quick charge.

 

 

TECHNICAL SPECS

• BlueTooth Version: 5.0
• Frequency response: 20-20000Hz
• Sensitivity: 98±3dB
• Impedance: 12Ω
• Driver: Dual 6mm
• Battery-capacity(mAh): 105mAh Li-ion Battery
• Charging time: About 3h
• Playing time: About 8h
• Package size: 20.8 X 16.5 X 3 cm (8.19 X 6.5 X 1.18 in)
• Package Weight: 118 g (4.16 oz)

 

THE GOOD

• Good sound quality, good clarity, and soundstage for the given price point.
• Pretty good build quality and long battery life.
• Affordably priced.

 

THE BAD

• Overall weird “interface design” – Left and right sides are not marked.
• Buttons are hard to distinguish.
• The cover for the charging port is too tight and hard to open. Will eventually be damaged with the micro USB jammed on top of it.