Bose SoundSport Free true wireless earbuds won't reach UK and EU until spring 2018

Bad luck, European gym-goers who hate the wires catching on their kit

Duncan Bell
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Bose has been on a roll of late with the excellent QC35 noise-cancelling over-ear headphones, Revolve Bluetooth speaker and SoundSport Pulse running headphones. So you'll all have been delighted to hear they've got true wireless headphones coming out, also aimed at gym-goers. Namely, the Bose SoundSport Free.

But, if you're European, you're out of luck, because although they're out now in the States, they're not due here until spring 2018.

'Tis a shame, because Bose look like they've designed some decent buds here. 

There are buttons but they're on the top – a lot of true wireless earbuds insist on putting them on the side which means you are shoving the bud even further into your ear every time you press the button, which is not entirely pleasant.

Unlike a lot of true wireless buds, they're water/sweat resistant. Surely exercise is the main use for this type of earphone? And so why aren't they all water/sweat resistant? I don't know.

Also, from recent experience, we know Bose has got very skilled at designing its buds to sit very stably in your ears, but in a comfortable way. They've also proved adept at providing strong, well EQed audio.

Bose's claimed Battery life is also a step above most of the competition so far: five hours, which Bose comically describes as enough for 'almost any workout'. Try 'any workout I've ever done or could imagine doing' and that would be an even more impressive boast. 

The carry case, as usual with these things, also acts as a charger, adding a further 10 hours of battery life, with a 15-minute charge giving you 45 minutes of battery. Which, funnily enough, is long enough for most of my 'workouts'.

The other bugbear of true wireless earbuds to date has been the reliability of their connectivity. But evidently we Europeans will have to wait until next spring to find out how well that works. Well, thanks a lot, Bose.

Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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