In terms of design, the Echo Buds aren't wildly different from the competition. Amazon opted for touch controls over physical buttons, so the outside of the earbuds have a similar look to the Bragi Dash or Galaxy Buds. They're rather plain looking, with no discernible branding. There's simply a glossy circle that accepts touches surrounded by the matte plastic of the main housing. They're also pretty average size, and they tuck nicely into your ear. Like many of the newer models of true wireless buds we've seen, these are slightly more discreet and don't stick out from your head too far. They stick out a bit, but they certainly don't look like a pair of antennae.

The included charging case is also compact. It's about the same thickness as those from Jabra, Sony and others. However, it is slightly wider. Still, it's quite small and will easily tuck into a pocket without much fuss. It's nowhere near as big as the case for the Powerbeats Pro, which is absurdly huge.

As you might expect, the Echo Buds come with different sets of ear tips (three, to be exact) to help you find the best fit. Amazon went a step further and color coded them, so you can quickly grab the ones you're after, rather than having to do a size comparison to figure out which is which. None of the options will make the Echo Buds any more comfortable to wear, but true wireless earbuds just aren't very comfy regardless. After all, you're shoving something far enough in your ear holes that they won't just fall out. These aren't painful, and that's about all you can hope for.

The company also included three sets of wing tips if you need a more secure fit. You don't have to use those though, and I didn't bother after trying them out a few times. I found the largest ear tips kept them in place just fine -- no wing tips needed. Even during a workout, the Echo Buds stayed in place without the extra pieces. Depending on your ears though, you may need them. There's a fit test in the settings that's designed to test the seal and help you find the best fit. Unfortunately, it wasn't ready for me to try during this review, but Amazon says it will be available when the Echo Buds ship on October 30th.

You can also feel confident about taking the Echo Buds to the gym. They're IPX4 rated against sweat and "light splashes," so you shouldn't have any trouble with water damage when you're running, lifting or doing other activities. Amazon does warn you to wipe off any sweat or moisture before place the earbuds back in the charging case. Which, let's be honest, isn't too much to ask.

To tap into the Echo Buds full potential, you have to download the Alexa app on iOS or Android.

Sure, you can use the earbuds without it, but you'll lose the most unique feature: always-on Alexa. Once it's installed, you're supposed to pair the earbuds to your device through the app directly. But I couldn't get it to work. I followed Amazon's directions steps, but the Echo Buds never fully connected with the app. It was only after I manually paired them with my iPhone first that they showed up in the Alexa app.

The app offers a host of customization options as well. It's where you're able to adjust the EQ, assign touch gestures and more. You can adjust Passthorugh volume for the Echo Buds ambient sound mode or the amount of "Sidetone" -- how much of your voice you hear during a call. There are also options to activate Bose's Active Noise Reduction (ANR) tech, disable hands-free Alexa and mute the microphones.

For the touch controls, many devices allow you to employ single, double and triple taps alongside a long press to give you as many on-board controls as possible. That's not the case on the Echo Buds. Here, you can only assign features to the double tap and the press-and-hold gestures. What's more, the actions you can pick from are quite limited. You can choose between switching from Bose ANR and Passthrough, activating another voice assistant (Siri/Google Assistant), muting microphones, play/pause, next track and previous track. There's also an option for pausing music and activating Passthrough simultaneously -- one that's handy for a commute or working in a spot where you might need to converse with someone.