I really like the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, except for this one thing

I’ve never been the biggest earbud guy, so I shrugged when Samsung introduced its Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, which looked almost identical to Apple’s AirPods Pro. I know the AirPods Pro are a good set of earbuds, so if Samsung is copying Apple’s homework, then its latest Galaxy Buds should be, too, right?

Well, I’m happy to report that’s mostly the case — these are the best wireless earbuds I’ve used in a long time. The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro fit nicely, sound great, and the charging case is perfectly pocketable. Personally, I haven’t suffered from the quality control issue that’s pushed Samsung to suspend the sale of the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro temporarily, but there’s one other thing that’s driving me crazy: the triangular ear stem.

The angle of annoyance

I know that Samsung probably didn’t want to copy Apple’s homework too closely, but I’m not sure that it picked the right change to make. After all, there’s a very good reason that AirPods have rounded ear stems — they’re easier to grab. You can pinch and squeeze the AirPods from any angle, and they’ll rarely pop out of your ears unless you give them the right tug. There’s no such luck with Samsung’s triangular stems.

Granted, Samsung’s quirky stem is an essential part of its overall Galaxy Buds 3 Pro design — the glowing Blade Light (Samsung’s name, not mine) wouldn’t be possible without a flat edge somewhere on the ‘bud. I just don’t think that it’s an effective way to control an earbud this small.

Half of the time, I’ll go to pinch the stem only to wind up with an earbud in my hand. The rest of the time, I’ll have to spend an extra second or two looking for the correct orientation before I can pinch or swipe because the sides of the triangle feel so similar. I hope the controls begin to feel a bit more second nature with time, but for now, they’re still a little bit tricky.

Perhaps more annoying than my in-ear issues is what happens when I take the earbuds out. Unlike AirPods, which you can put into their charging case at any angle and rotate on the way down so they fit, you have to get the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro just right before they slide into the charging case. I’m sure there’s a trade-off in the fact that Samsung’s buds fit tighter into their respective charging slots, but right now, the result is that I can’t put my earbuds away without it taking my complete focus.

Saved by the voice command

If there’s one saving grace for those of us who tend to fat-finger the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, it’s that we don’t actually have to touch them to control our music. Instead, Samsung made a set of simple — but prankable — voice controls you can opt into in the Galaxy Wearable app. They’re short and sweet, like saying “Volume up” or “Volume down” to raise or lower your playback volume or “Play music” and “Stop music” to do just that.

Just keep in mind that you have to deliver the commands with the exact phrase for them to work — “Pause music” will get you nowhere. Also, this feels like an important reminder in a world where the Humane AI Pin exists, but there is a time and place for voice commands. You can use them to your heart’s content while walking or working at a coffee shop, but maybe just suffer through the touch controls if you’re on a plane or at a library.

Of course, these commands don’t do much for the fact that I sometimes struggle to get the buds back in their case correctly. There’s no option to say “Charge” and have them magically return to their housing as if I were at Hogwarts. How cool would it be if there was, though?

At the very least, the commands have handled half of my issue with the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, so now it’s up to me to accept the half that I can’t change. And, well, it’s on Samsung to get its quality issues under control. That’s a more pressing issue, I suppose.