Table of Contents Table of Contents A crystal, water repellant design Exceptionally lightweight Bose-tuned sound  Battery life for days Motorola announced a number of new devices at a launch in New York, but while the new Razr Ultra 2025 is my pick of the bunch, the Moto Buds Loop are impossible to ignore.  Taking a design approach very similar to what Huawei offers with its FreeClip earbuds that became available in early 2024, the Moto Buds Loop have an open ear design and they come in two colours, one of which has a very sparkly twist. Recommended Videos Moto Buds Loop Britta O’Boyle / Digital Trends The Moto Buds Loop are designed to clip onto the outside of your ear, sit around half way up and look more like a trendy piercing than an earbud. They aren’t the first open ear headphones around, in fact there are plenty with key players including Bose and Shokz both in on the open-ear action. Related Like Huawei’s FreeClip option however, the Buds Loop take a more design-led approach, aiming to embrace being worn rather than opt for a more discreet look like the Bose Ultra Open earbuds. When I say embrace being worn, I really mean it too. The Buds Loop earbuds come in just two colour options but one of those features Swarovski crystals on the loop, resulting in them looking more like a piece of jewellery than earbuds. Moto Buds Loop Britta O’Boyle / Digital Trends The French Oak option is the model with the crystals, while the Trekking Green is certainly the more subtle of the two, offered in a deep forest green colour that’s not too dissimilar from the Motorola Razr Ultra’s Pantone Scarab finish – though sadly not an exact match.  Whether you pick to stand out with bling or you opt for the Trekking Green however, both options have a water-repellant design so they can handle a little rain. You will need to avoid bathing though. Moto Buds Loop Britta O’Boyle / Digital Trends When I picked up the Moto Buds Loop during Motorola’s event, the first thing I noticed was their weight. The figure isn’t detailed on the spec sheets so I can’t tell you how light these earbuds are in terms of ounces, but I can tell you they are noticeably light, and that includes when in their case.  That’s necessary of course because wearing something heavy around the part of the ear these are designed for would be incredibly uncomfortable. Motorola said the Buds Loop have been made from a flexible memory metal with a “weightless design” and while I didn’t try them on my own ear, I can attest to their lightness, both the earbuds themselves and the case. The case is pebble-shaped, not too dissimilar from Apple’s AirPods and many of the wireless earbud cases out there, though there are no physical buttons. Apple ditched the physical pairing button on the AirPods 4 when they launched in September 2024 too, though I still find it a little odd not to have any button to force pairing mode if you need to. Moto Buds Loop Britta O’Boyle / Digital Trends At the bottom of the case, there is a USB-C port for charging, but otherwise Motorola’s signature “M” logo sits in the middle of the front of the case with the lid opening to reveal the dark green or sparkly gold earbuds inside, and an LED indicator light sits below the “M”.  The earbuds themselves are quick and easy to slot into the case – you can only put them in one way like other earbuds, which definitely helps avoid confusion, though even with this, I did pick up one pair where they didn’t sit in the case quite right and required a little fiddling before the lid would close.  Moto Buds Loop Britta O’Boyle / Digital Trends What’s perhaps the most interesting thing about the Moto Buds Loop, except for how much bling they bring is that their sound is tuned by Bose. It’s not the first time Motorola has partnered with Bose – the company released the Buds+ back in April 2024 and they were generally considered by most reviewers to be a decent pair of budget headphones. Those headphones took the more traditional wireless headphone route however, featuring stems like Apple’s AirPods and Samsung’s most recent Galaxy Buds too, so the Buds Loop will offer what should be a quite different experience to those. The idea – as with all open earbuds is that you can hear your music or call, whilst also being able to hear what is happening around you. Now, just as with the weight and dimensions, apart from the Bose-tuning Motorola hasn’t revealed huge amounts of detail about what’s inside these open ear headphones and listening to them first hand wasn’t an option in the hands on space I experienced them in. Their sound quality will therefore need to wait for a full review but with the Buds+ decent enough for their price, I’d have high hopes given Bose are known for sound quality in their own headphones. Motorola has said there are 12mm ironless drivers on board the Buds Loop, along with dual microphones and a feature called CrystalTalk AI – we see what Moto did there. Funny. Spatial Audio is also supported but that’s as much detail as was offered. Moto Buds Loop Britta O’Boyle / Digital Trends When it comes to battery life, this is another element we will have to test properly when we come to review these headphones, but Motorola is claiming the earbuds themselves will have 8 hours of playtime, while the charging case offers 38 hours of playtime.  That’s the same as what Motorola touts for its Buds+ and it’s longer than other wireless headphones, with Apple’s AirPods 4 offering 5 hours from the buds and a further 25 hours from the case for a total of 30 hours. The Bose Ultra Open however, claim 7 hours of playtime from the buds and 48 hours of standby time so a little longer than what’s being offered here. Moto Buds Loop Britta O’Boyle / Digital Trends The Moto Buds Loop are said to charge in 60 minutes but the company hasn’t yet detailed whether there is any fast charging support, like 5 minutes of charging for an hour playback, for example.  Pricing and availability is also yet to be fully announced, though the Motorola Buds+ were available in North America so it’s expected these crystallised delights will be too. How much it will set you back to add a little sparkle to your ears remains to be seen for now though so watch this space. Editors’ Recommendations