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AirPods are now available

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Re: AirPods are now available

#71
post #5

To me these seem pretty stupid. Major features (to me) of ear-buds with wires and 3.5" jack are: 1) being attached with wires means I don't easily lose them when they slip out of my ear/hand/pocket. 2) the 3.5" jack actually keeps them pretty solidly attached to my phone (again, less risk of losing them). Walking around with two loose tiny objects seems less than ideal - at least to me; I'd lose them within days.

Can't speak about 1). Can't speak about 2) either; but HNers told me Apple did extensive testing to ensure pods would not fall while being in your ears (the physics hints that earplugs fall mainly because of wires). Still 1) is a good question. I thought they came with a tiny casket, so they wouldn't fall out of your pocket like that. Still subtle when you remove them from your skull.

They come with a charging case which looks to be about the size of the little plastic spool-box of dental floss with which some here might be familiar. It's not very large, but shouldn't be small enough to easily drop out of a pocket without being noticed, either.

I'm not sure what I expect with regard to staying in ears, though. They appear to be closely modeled on the wired EarPods, which in my experience don't reliably stay in the ear on their own, to the point where they are best worn with the cable wound around the crease of the pinna - both for strain relief, and so that they're easier to recover and less likely to be damaged when they do inevitably pop out.

Re: AirPods are now available

#73
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but other wireless headphones already exist, no?

The reviews I've heard of these and the Beats Solo3 (which use the same chip) indicate that the wireless connection on these is absolutely rock solid. This includes a very picky friend of mine who got a set of Solo3 headphones; he's blown away. I'd like to see the AirPods in the wild for a month or so before I totally believe this, but early indications are good.

I have used cheapo sub-$20 SoundBot headphones for almost a year and a half now, and have literally never had an issue with wireless connectivity.

EDIT: Ah, throwanem (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13170546) points out the crucial difference between headphones and earbuds. For me, earbuds are undesireable, so I didn't realise that the form factor was meant to be a selling point.

Re: AirPods are now available

#74

> "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." -- Slashdot creator CmdrTaco/Rob Malda about the iPod in 2001. I'm not saying these will have the impact of an iPod, but I am entertained by the amount of naysaying here. For one thing, how often have you fiddled with the knots in your headphone cord? It's frustrating enough to prevent me from using them in situations where I otherwise would.

This quote is so overused it's basically a tech trope.

The point is that, at the time, the iPod was a niche product, with several huge flaws. Subsequent iterations of the iPod fixed those flaws, but that doesn't mean you should have bought a v1 iPod. It made much more sense to wait.

Exactly the same logic applies to the Airpods. Suggesting that people can't criticise them because at some point in the future the product line will become successful is asinine.

Re: AirPods are now available

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You missed "interact with Siri"

I'm genuinely curious to see how often Siri is used, and in what contexts. Not to be cynical, but to re-calibrate my barometer. The only person I know who uses it is my partner's nine year old daughter, and even then not often.

I plan to use them as a remote interface to my iPhone, especially when at home (iPhone lives in a drawer while charging). Things like setting timers, creating reminders or let Siri read out received messages - basically what Echo does, but not bound to one room. "Hey Siri" does not really work for me, I stopped using it almost completely.

Re: AirPods are now available

#77
post #8

I truly do not get the hype around this.

Is there hype around this? Not a single person I know is excited about this.

> Is there hype around this? Not a single person I know is excited about this.

That's probably jsatk's (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13169976) point: Apple seems to be trying very hard to generate hype, but there isn't any.

Re: AirPods are now available

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't speak about 1). Can't speak about 2) either; but HNers told me Apple did extensive testing to ensure pods would not fall while being in your ears (the physics hints that earplugs fall mainly because of wires). Still 1) is a good question. I thought they came with a tiny casket, so they wouldn't fall out of your pocket like that. Still subtle when you remove them from your skull.

They come with a charging case which looks to be about the size of the little plastic spool-box of dental floss with which some here might be familiar. It's not very large, but shouldn't be small enough to easily drop out of a pocket without being noticed, either. I'm not sure what I expect with regard to staying in ears, though. They appear to be closely modeled on the wired EarPods, which in my experience don't rel…

Yeah when in that case, they wouldn't bounce randomly or too softly.

Re: AirPods are now available

#79
post #30

There's like a next-level Apple marketing babble on that page: "AirPods introduce an effortless wireless listening experience packed with high-quality audio and long battery life. These magical wireless headphones use advanced technology to reinvent how we listen to music, make phone calls, enjoy TV shows and movies, play games and interact with Siri, providing a wireless audio experience not possible before." Magica…

That's standard Apple marketing language. It also drives tech people batty. This is also why Apple is successful.

I'm pretty sure Apple's success is mainly due to building good products that people want and are willing to pay high prices for. Wacky marketing language may be part of their corporate culture but I don't think it's much responsible for their success.

Re: AirPods are now available

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You missed "interact with Siri"

I'm genuinely curious to see how often Siri is used, and in what contexts. Not to be cynical, but to re-calibrate my barometer. The only person I know who uses it is my partner's nine year old daughter, and even then not often.

Sometimes I accidentally use it to search for directions, then switch to Google's voice interface when it (inevitably) fails and I realize what I've done.

I don't like the errors voice messaging causes (you can tell when someone's sending texts with it), so I never use that.

It's OK for setting alarms or timers but I've only done that a couple times because I always forget about it and do it manually instead, or (for timers) my phone's farther away than a microwave or something.

Tried using it to record notes by voice once. It was entirely terrible at that task.

My phone would be at most 1% worse if Siri were simply gone.

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