Lenovo has been releasing a lot of wireless earbuds to the market, each one brings different features, specifications, and prices to the table, to offer the most variety possible to the consumer, and one of its most important product lines is the XT series, So today I will present the new, Lenovo ThinkPlus XT88.
These wireless earphones, come with little tweaks here and there that make them unique from devices in the same category, it packs the new and improved Bluetooth 5.3, high-quality AAC and SBC decoding, along during a battery, unshakable silicone earplug with a comfortable seat inside the ear for extended periods of usage time as well as low latency for gaming, check out all this and more features in this review.
Lenovo XT88 Features
- Innovative Design & Comfortable Fit
- 13mm Drivers For High Audio Quality
- AAC HD Audio Codec
- Noise Reduction
- Touch control, Easy to use
- 10ms Ultra-Low Latency
- Bluetooth 5.3 Chip
- 20h Long Playtime
- Voice Assistance
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Design And Build Quality
Charging Case
The Lenovo ThinkPlus XT88 comes in a lovely egg-shaped charging case made of plastic with a glossy finish so well crafted that it leaves no fingerprints behind, the grip of it feels nice, neither slippery nor too rough on the hand especially since it is lightweight and small in size.
On top we find the lid that is held fairly with a magnet to the rest of the body so you won’t have to worry about it opening inside your pocket or the earbuds falling off, trust me I have tried my best to open it by shaking but the lid doesn’t seem to budge an inch, but you can easily open it with one hand to uncover what’s beneath, there we find the earbuds sitting nicely inside their appropriate spot held by magnets as well, as well as charging due the contact of the pins located within, the inner part of the charging box is also made of plastic but it is extremely glossy, which personally I find it very beautiful.
Underneath it has got a USB C charging port, a very good choice for a charging port in 2022, it also has a light indicator on the front that lights red indicating that it’s charging.
Even though it is a cheap headphone and is made out of plastic, the XT88 and similar recent devices from Lenovo don’t look or feel cheap on the hand thanks to the amazing craftsmanship put into their making, you can feel the high build quality and see the beauty in the design and the color choice, especially the hinge in this device we usually only find in flagship devices, it is simply amazing engineering.
Lenovo XT88 earbuds
The earbuds themselves look a lot like the Airpod Pro, they have got the replaceable silicone earplugs in 3 sizes, the small, the medium, and the large, you can choose whichever sits the most comfortable in your ear especially since they provide some passive noise cancellation, the earbuds are actually short and don’t go any lower than the ear itself which makes them more aesthetically pleasing than the ones with long tails and just like the inside of the charging case they are also made out of glossy plastic that makes them shiny and reflective and has the Lenovo logo on the lower side.
On the bottom, we find the charging pins that connect to the pins inside the box to automatically charge when you put it inside the chagrin box. We can notice an LED flashlight that blinks blue when on pairing mode and when it is inside the box charging, in the same place there is the touch control area for music playback and answering/rejecting/ending Bluetooth calls.
The silicone earplug helps the headphones stick to your ear very well, no matter what activity you are performing, whether it’s a simple working session, a run or even if you are jumping rope, these bad boys won’t fall off no matter what, in addition to the waterproof life certification that provides protection for your headphones from light water droplets, rain or sweat, your mind will be at ease from the stress of losing or damaging them during sports or just normal usage and allows to go by your daily activities and deliver your best while enjoying music and answering calls seamlessly all along.
Touch Control Panel
The touch control area on the Lenovo XT88 is located right around the LED flashlight, it serves as a music playback control and accepts or rejects calls. On this model specifically, Lenovo seems to have taken user feedback and worked on improving the problems that bugged consumers in the previous models, for instance, the over-sensitivity of the touch control found in several other devices can be a real drag to put up with, but in the ThinkPlus XT88, the touch control now functions only when you intentionally click on it to perform the exact command you want it to, no more annoying voice assistant when you were just trying to adjust the earphone’s position in the ear.
The commands and their gestures are as follow:
- Simple tap the headphones to stop/start the music
- Long touch to either turn it on or off
- Three taps on the left headphone to play the previous song
- Three taps on the right headphone to play the next song
- short touch for one second on any earbud to reject or end calls
- A simple tap on the right earbud to accept the call
- Double-tap the headphones to activate the voice assistant
Voice assistance
The voice assistance feature is also present on the Lenovo XT88, you only have to tap on either earbud twice gently, and the voice assistant will be activated, then you can speak directly to the XT88’s microphone to execute a command such as calling a contact or playing music, this feature is handy outside when you don’t want to be taking your smartphone out of your pocket every time you try to execute a simple task such as a phone call
How To Pair Lenovo ThinkPlus XT88
The pairing process of the ThinkPlus XT88 is pretty seamless with most Bluetooth-enabled devices, thanks to the new and improved Bluetooth 5.3 technology, this device has intelligent compatibility with most modern platforms such as Android, IOS, and Mac Os, and windows.
To pair this device you first have to turn it on by touching the multifunction touch area for 5s, which will put it to pairing mode, on your device, turn the Bluetooth on and put it in discovery mode, and you’ll see the name Lenovo thinkplus XT88, click on it and allow the pairing between the two devices, one the pairing is done you are good to go, you may now start listening to your favorite music or audiobook as well as passing calls and even gaming since the latency is low and provides an amazing gaming experience, it’s worth noting that after paring you might want to activate AAC feature to benefit from a better audio quality.
After manually pairing for the first time, the next time you wanna pair the headphones, you just need to turn them on as well as turn the Bluetooth on your device, and the connection will happen automatically.
Lenovo XT88 – Audio Quality
The audio quality must be one of the strongest points for the Lenovo XT88 this year, it provides the experience you would expect from a more pricey device, thanks to the 13mm copper ring inside the headphones combined with the new Bluetooth 5.3, the sound quality presented here is unmatched by other devices of the same price range, with a high-resolution HIFI HD sound quality and improved clarity and bass, in addition to AAC and SBC audio decoding technologies which allow you to immerse perfectly in the sounds, the low bass accent surround sound grants you the feel of every detail for perfect audio quality.
The silicone earplugs attached in the package are of 3 sizes matching different ear shapes to ensure high definition communication even in crowded environments, as well as providing passive noise cancellation to allow you to focus on the audio you are listening to, the high sound quality on the XT88 makes for a great media consumption experience when relaxing and enjoying your favorite movie or music.
Microphone Quality
The Lenovo XT88 is equipped with one high-quality microphone on the right earbud that can be used for both sound recording and communication, the tests I have run proved that this microphone delivers a good quality both when recording and on calls, though when the earplugs are in your ear and you talk it almost sounds like you are in a fish bowl and could be a little challenging for the recipient to understand you clearly if there noise around you, but under normal circumstances such an indoors, you will be heard just fine with no distortion or echo on the other end of the call.
The trick I tried to enhance the performance of the microphone was by putting the right earplug right in front of me while keeping the left one on my left ear, with this I was able to get even better sound quality and clarity and the calls went smooth just like they should go.
Low-Latency & Gaming
The Lenovo company made these headphones with gaming in mind, they have equipped them with a bass low accent surround sound, this will allow you to hear every little detail happening in the game you are playing giving you an advantage over competitors, they have also equipped it with environmental noise reduction to allow you a better immersion, but I think the most important feature for gaming here is the low latency audio of less than 10ms all made possible by the advanced Bluetooth 5.3 and microphone technologies.
Battery And Charging Time
The Charging case of the Lenovo XT88 has a battery with a capacity of 250mah, the earbuds themselves got a capacity of 35mah, and the earplugs have lasted with me on average 2.5 to 3 hours of continuous usage on one charge, but with the case, they lasted a little over one day, even though it has decent sound quality and bass, thanks to the optimized BT5.3 chip that consumes less battery than the previous generation and delivers better audio, this will allow you a great autonomy, you don’t have to ever worry about your battery dying out mid-day, enjoy your music and calls freely, these headphones will be your companions for the longest duration possible.
To charge the charging case, you only have to connect it with the USB C cable and plug it into your computer or a charging box, preferably 10 to 18 watts, and it will start charging effortlessly with the LED indicator blinking with the orange color, it only takes around 1.5 hours to fully charge from 0, speaking of the earbuds, charging them is easy as well, you only have to put them inside the charging case and they will automatically start charging while their LED lights in blue.
Final verdict
I personally was amazed by the quality and the features of this product, it has so much to offer from the sound quality the microphone, low latency, and the seamless pairing experience not to forget the long duration of the battery and the very accurate touch control that almost never misses, for a price that puts it in the budget category, thus, I definitely recommend it over any other budget wireless headphones.
Lenovo XT88 Price And Where To Buy
At the time of writing this post, the Lenovo XT88 is available in the Aliexpress store at a discount for under 15$, make sure to snatch this deal and make the best of it.
What’s in The Box?
- Lenovo XT88 Bluetooth Earphones
- Charging Box
- USB-C Charging Cable
- Interchangeable Ear Tips
- Manual
Lenovo XT88 Specification
- Bluetooth version: V5.3
- Color: black/ white
- Charge Box Battery: 250mAh
- Earphone Battery: 35mAh
- Music Time: About 3 hours
- Frequency Response Range: 20Hz-20kHz
- Sensitivity: 102dB
- Driver Diameter: 13mm
- Distance: <10m
- With Microphone: Yes
