Airpods are one of the best products Apple has made. Not perfect, but just so good at many things. I can see why they sell so many of them.
An improved version of Airpods would be nothing short of outstanding.
I feel the same way. The ease of pairing when moving between hosts (MacBook, iMac, MacMini, iPhone, AppleTV, iPd, iPad) is amazing. I have found Apple bluetooth peripherals like Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, BT keyboard, etc., to be much more reliable that any third party peripherals both in terms of initial pairing, maintaining connection, and reestablishing a previously paired connection after one or both sides of the connection are dropped and restored. The W2 chip really takes these pairing and connection scenarios to the next level. I wish every bluetooth device had the W2 behind it. Most of the downsides of the AirPods are a result of their inheritance from EarPods. They are slippery and don't dock tightly in your ear so you do hear plenty of ambient sound, which can be a negative or positive depending on the situation.
As far as appearance goes ... does anyone wearing ANY headphone product really care about what they look like? Unless you have some custom-molded earpieces you're going to look like Shrek, Princess Leia, or Frankenstein's monster anyway, so you may as well throw your vanity out the window and just enjoy the tunes. Strapping any manmade chunk of technology to your head explicitly un-checks the "I give a crap about what I look like" box. Roll with it. If someone else is offended by your appearance because you're wearing AirPods or any other headphones, that is their problem, not yours.
1) I've read that they're pretty well protected from sweat, so I'm not entirely surprised that they can withstanding less than a foot of water for a few seconds.
2) I wish they worked for me, but the design isn't comfortable for me ear holes. What oddly feels fine is having the shaft of the AirPods sticking directly out to the side on a horizontal plane. Personally, I'd like for them to include in-ear AirPods, the way they made in-ear Apple headphones for a decade.
I bought mine in Feb 2017, and have probably ran 400-500 miles in them since. As a general rule, I don't sweat, I rain. Very early on, one AirPod's microphone quit working, but Apple quickly replaced it, and no problems since. The Apple tech didn't think it was water damage, just a faulty microphone. My wife's ears aren't the right shape for the EarPods/AirPods design, so she runs in Beats. She has admitted the cord free setup would be wonderful if they worked in her ears.
As for controls, I have one ear for activating Siri, one for play/pause, and that covers most of the functions I need. I wouldn't mind a volume control, but as my Watch has this when it's on the 'Now Playing' face, that has my earphone wants covered.
“People hang white cigarette butts on the ear” is the impression. The white rod-shape is so ugly.
Nah, only Apple haters come up with those silly descriptions.
I don’t see any cigarettes or whatnot here. Just the best-looking BT ear pieces to date.
No accounting for taste I guess, but I can't understand thinking that white tail looks better than the plug alternatives.
The stem houses the battery and mic. Probably not coincidence that APs have very high battery capacity and excellent sound while speaking - no one can ever tell I’m on a BT headset vs the handset. Unlike almost every other headset I’ve tried or had to the misfortune to listen to other people talk thru, which are muffled or tinny.
“People hang white cigarette butts on the ear” is the impression. The white rod-shape is so ugly.
They look worse on some men because they look like earrings, especially with the shiny metal at the bottom:
Guys who look like they'd get away with wearing earrings (metrosexual types) look ok with them. They look fine on women:
There are 3rd party options to help like straps and clips:
The stalks are where the battery goes so that bulk would just have to be moved somewhere else. Maybe they'd look better having wider but shorter stalks so the ends don't stick out so much and don't dangle below the lobes:
Battery efficiency improves pretty slowly so they might not be able to improve on the size with the same listening time for another 10 years. However, if they get faster charging by using solid state batteries, it would just be a case of popping them in the case for a few seconds and they'd be fully charged so they could get away with cutting the size significantly. They could even have detachable stalks so they'd put 4 smaller stalks in the case and just keep popping them on/off the main earpiece, that way you never need to stop listening in order to charge. The speaker is in the stalk too though and is best with a hard-wired connection.
Battery efficiency improves pretty slowly so they might not be able to improve on the size with the same listening time for another 10 years. However, if they get faster charging by using solid state batteries, it would just be a case of popping them in the case for a few seconds and they'd be fully charged so they could get away with cutting the size significantly. They could even have detachable stalks so they'd put 4 smaller stalks in the case and just keep popping them on/off the main earpiece, that way you never need to stop listening in order to charge. The speaker is in the stalk too though and is best with a hard-wired connection.
What about improved power efficiency with a W2 and BT5? Or, a reduction in stalk size by making in-ear phones that allow for more of the electronics to be places further up the stem because the speaker is now located closer to the EAM, if not in it?
I dropped one in PAINT. Rinsed it, let it dry. After a few days it was OK. I do get some flakey behavior from my pair though. I often only get one to be recognized even though both are in (it’s the “painted” one that works more consistently, interestingly enough). I feel like I get some interference or times they drop the connection. That might be more the podcast app skipping issues. Most annoying is seemingly random discharge of one bud. I’m thinking there is debris or dirt in the case and it’s not charging.
I’d love wireless charging and better waterproofing as well as longer battery life.
Er, so you dropped one in paint, and then rinsed it in water, but you want better waterproofing? Why?
It seems like turpentine-resistance would be better in this scenario. Maybe that will be in AirPods 3.0...
No accounting for taste I guess, but I can't understand thinking that white tail looks better than the plug alternatives.
How are those black ones, with no directional mic, for picking up voice? AirPods are awesome for calls - I never have a complaint about voice quality (used on iPhone and Macs).
Keeping AirPods great: - Noted induction charging case (hopefully working with Apple's own solution and Qi standard) - BT5 support (should offer greater range, better audio frequency range, and battery life) - Hey Siri support would be great, as it makes the action completely hands free, and so the double-tap can be used for other functions - Another colour - something other than white as an option - would certainly help sales - A little better battery life would be great. Starting out the life is good, but over the (almost) two years I have had them, it is starting to degrade. - Not sure if s/w or not, but why isn't Apple TV able to share in the seamless pairing yet?
Lastly, battery life. We don't particularly have complaints on battery -- 3 hours out of the buds in a single go is pretty solid. But Apple can push this further. There are other buds out there garnering longer usage times, so with a new W2/W3 chip and over a year to work on it, we have our fingers crossed that battery life is able to increase between charges.
Three hours? I get over five hours of music on mine, or just over an hour of phone call time.
As an aside, the ambient noise cancellation on the microphones is phenomenal. I drive a little sport car. With the top down and the engine around 6k RPM, I've surprised people on the other side of a call when I tell them I'm driving. Multiple people have told me they couldn't hear the road or wind noise at all.
Great article and very informative. I’d vote for the improved Bluetooth (W2/W3) chip and greater volume output. / (background noise suppression). Typically I use my AirPods when I am exercising. This is great with the Apple Watch 3 as I leave my phone at home and can listen to Music as I walk. By tapping on one ear (AirPod) I can invoke Siri and adjust the volume or request a different playlist. It would be great to be able to listen to iBooks or Podcasts too. (Perhaps an Apple Watch 4 enhancement).
Whilst some users have positive experience with water resistance it would be great to insert the AirPods in your ears, pull on a swimming cap and go for a swim with the Apple Watch 4 providing the content. Fitness appears to be one thing Apple encourages and this would take some of the boredom out of doing laps in a pool.
I would have though some additional health sensors would be a positive addition. AirPods are in your ears and should be able to sense temperature , pulse and ....?. The Apple Watch does provide great support here but both working together could open up new diagnostic capabilities.
Has anyone noticed this "Optional Wireless Charging Case" in the AirPod section of Apple.com? [image]
1) It was suppose to come out early this year alongside the AirPower pad. Both are no-shows but the AirPods inductive charging case could still happen this year.
2) That might be the only AirPower image left on apple.com.
Whilst some users have positive experience with water resistance it would be great to insert the AirPods in your ears, pull on a swimming cap and go for a swim with the Apple Watch 4 providing the content.
I agree it would be great but I see a couple of potential problems. 1) I don’t think the BT connection would be stable enough while the Apple Watch (and likely sometimes at least one AirPod) were under water and 2) having an AirPod fall out while swimming in the pool, lake, ocean, etc seems more likely than when just walking around.
Comments
Nah, only Apple haters come up with those silly descriptions.
I don’t see any cigarettes or whatnot here. Just the best-looking BT ear pieces to date.
As far as appearance goes ... does anyone wearing ANY headphone product really care about what they look like? Unless you have some custom-molded earpieces you're going to look like Shrek, Princess Leia, or Frankenstein's monster anyway, so you may as well throw your vanity out the window and just enjoy the tunes. Strapping any manmade chunk of technology to your head explicitly un-checks the "I give a crap about what I look like" box. Roll with it. If someone else is offended by your appearance because you're wearing AirPods or any other headphones, that is their problem, not yours.
As for controls, I have one ear for activating Siri, one for play/pause, and that covers most of the functions I need. I wouldn't mind a volume control, but as my Watch has this when it's on the 'Now Playing' face, that has my earphone wants covered.
Guys who look like they'd get away with wearing earrings (metrosexual types) look ok with them. They look fine on women:
There are 3rd party options to help like straps and clips:
The stalks are where the battery goes so that bulk would just have to be moved somewhere else. Maybe they'd look better having wider but shorter stalks so the ends don't stick out so much and don't dangle below the lobes:
Battery efficiency improves pretty slowly so they might not be able to improve on the size with the same listening time for another 10 years. However, if they get faster charging by using solid state batteries, it would just be a case of popping them in the case for a few seconds and they'd be fully charged so they could get away with cutting the size significantly. They could even have detachable stalks so they'd put 4 smaller stalks in the case and just keep popping them on/off the main earpiece, that way you never need to stop listening in order to charge. The speaker is in the stalk too though and is best with a hard-wired connection.
What a load of sexist crap.
- Noted induction charging case (hopefully working with Apple's own solution and Qi standard)
- BT5 support (should offer greater range, better audio frequency range, and battery life)
- Hey Siri support would be great, as it makes the action completely hands free, and so the double-tap can be used for other functions
- Another colour - something other than white as an option - would certainly help sales
- A little better battery life would be great. Starting out the life is good, but over the (almost) two years I have had them, it is starting to degrade.
- Not sure if s/w or not, but why isn't Apple TV able to share in the seamless pairing yet?
As an aside, the ambient noise cancellation on the microphones is phenomenal. I drive a little sport car. With the top down and the engine around 6k RPM, I've surprised people on the other side of a call when I tell them I'm driving. Multiple people have told me they couldn't hear the road or wind noise at all.
Whilst some users have positive experience with water resistance it would be great to insert the AirPods in your ears, pull on a swimming cap and go for a swim with the Apple Watch 4 providing the content. Fitness appears to be one thing Apple encourages and this would take some of the boredom out of doing laps in a pool.
I would have though some additional health sensors would be a positive addition. AirPods are in your ears and should be able to sense temperature , pulse and ....?. The Apple Watch does provide great support here but both working together could open up new diagnostic capabilities.
2) That might be the only AirPower image left on apple.com.