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AirPods are now available

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Re: AirPods are now available

#401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I really wonder who's in charge of this mess. Like I said somewhere else in this thread, all these new features are for Apple, not for users. If they designed it for users, they would have NEVER made it so that they have to tap twice to take a photo before sending. Not to mention how they don't even allow you to open the camera as fullscreen. Isn't it really ridiculous how nowadays when you want to take a quick…

Except you don't have to do that. If you need the full-screen camera, just swipe right from the smaller camera view. You'll get access to your full-screen camera and any previously taken photos/videos in your library.

Thanks for the tip. I guess this will make it slightly easier.

But my point is exactly this. How many taps did it used to take to quickly take a pic and send? One.

Now with iOS10, you tap the camera button, swipe to the right, and then tap the "real" camera button one more time. That's 3 times the number of gestures it used to take pre-iOS10.

p.s.

How did you even discover that swipe feature? I'm pretty sure most people have no idea that's how it works. I am an iOS developer so I'm not exactly a laggard, either.

Re: AirPods are now available

#402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you are talking about is not rocket science. Binaural audio. Look it up. It has its drawbacks. Compactness of the earbuds is not a breakthrough

Binaural audio just allows changing the (virtual) audio source relative to the ears; the novelty would be to track their location, so that you can use the binaural audio to keep the sound coming for a fixed place while the user moves around.

But the core mechanics of the audio method is flawed. Binaural has distinct sound characteristics, rather than a neutral canvas to project audio in whichever direction.

Re: AirPods are now available

#403

I find this headphone war discussion a bit boring. The AirPods are much more interesting as Apple's first foray into augmented reality. If they add positioning, this product becomes Magic Leap without the visuals. I don't think they see this as a music device, they see it as a new platform for audio. Interesting things start happening when people start leaving one or both in their ears all day. Arrival times in your…

Leaving them in your ears all day might not be a good idea from health and hygiene perspective.

I wonder if there's any long term issues with bone conducting headphones. As AR goes, not having noise isolation is a benefit.

Re: AirPods are now available

#404
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Removing the audio jack also removes a whole market of products that were taking advantage of the audio jack for non-audio purposes (e.g. the Square dongle). Now that the audio jack is gone, companies like Square will have to pay Apple a licensing fee to use the only available port on the iPhone, and even companies that want to attract consumers of their audio products to be used with iPhones will have to get licensi…

> Removing the audio jack also removes a whole market of products that were taking advantage of the audio jack for non-audio purposes (e.g. the Square dongle). Except that it doesn't. Yes, you have to use an adapter now, and that's slightly (but only slightly) more clumsy than before, but "Square readers don't work any more!" is a particularly tired piece of FUD, which it would be nice not to see spread around any mo…

OK, how about things like the Apogee Jam[1] and MIDI adaptors? As far as I can tell, there aren't any MFi-certified Lightning splitters that support both data IO and audio out. (Usually it's just audio out + charge — and poor audio at that.)

[1]: http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/jam

Re: AirPods are now available

#405
post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are they forcing you to do anything?

They've also removed the headphone jack from the newest model iPhone. You can get an adapter that adds it back, but obviously this is fairly inconvenient. Apple's counting on this to get people to toss their old earbuds/headphones. Maybe force is too strong, but it certainly seems physically connected audio devices are now deprecated

Luckily Apple don't have a monopoly on wireless headphones?

Re: AirPods are now available

#407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is hilarious, even as someone who owns multiple Apple devices. "This is revolutionary. Nothing else does anything like this." "These do." "Well they cost more!", or "doesn't look as cool". Moving goalposts. And eh, I realize that Apple almost never goes below MSRP/list, but don't act like the "after $50 off" is some special promotion. It's not a rebate, even an instant one, just 'cheaper than list'.

'Hilarious' describes the claim higher up that Apple didn't do anything to see here because wireless headphones are $20. In reality, the only thing close costs markedly more, not at MSRP but at real selling price. There's a reality distortion field, but it's inverted. Not hilarious, just tedious.

Holy shit, friend.

Motorola VerveOnes - $150

SmartOmi Boots Mini - $75

Rowkin Bit Stereo - $110

Rowkin Mini Plus - $60

Sol Republic Amps Air - $150

Your lack of awareness of the market does not mean that it does not exist. It is not helpful to pretend that your unwillingness to do simple research on the matter makes you an expert.

I will now predict your next objections:

"I don't like these companies"

"These are not exactly the same product"

"The colors are off"

"The Apple Store doesn't carry them"

Re: AirPods are now available

#408

I find this headphone war discussion a bit boring. The AirPods are much more interesting as Apple's first foray into augmented reality. If they add positioning, this product becomes Magic Leap without the visuals. I don't think they see this as a music device, they see it as a new platform for audio. Interesting things start happening when people start leaving one or both in their ears all day. Arrival times in your…

I had a pair of Sony HBH-IS800 and I gave up on them after a week. Apple's product has the same drawbacks (charging, troubleshooting, ease of misplacing, price). This product category is not worth the hassle for the average user. Very few people will buy a second pair of wireless earbuds. Not enough to warrant building all the features you mention.

I bought a pair of reasonable quality Bluetooth headphones for running two years ago. Since the first time I used them, I haven't used any of my old normal ones again. The convenience and ease with which they're always in, even if not always on has just blown away the fact they're not particularly high quality. I plug them in at night when I plug my phone in. Yet to misplace them.

Re: AirPods are now available

#409
post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is standardizing on two cables. All of Apple's "accessories" (things that will request charge from a host over their cable: phones, tablets, keyboards and touchpads, and now headphones) have a Lightning port. All of Apple's "computers" (things that won't: computers that are wired for power, and devices that are wired for power like the Apple TV) have, or will have, USB-C ports. The vague middle case is laptops,…

Does that imply my USB C battery won't work with my new MacBook Pro? :(

It should charge. I have an Anker usb-c battery pack that I use to power my 2016 macbook.

Re: AirPods are now available

#410
post #223
post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

im using the previous version of ios 10 (one before current) and it has some weird battery draining bug and will shut off my iphone 6 plus at 30% and it's very hard to repower on without a charge source (e.g. ext charging battery). it also drains my battery heavily. the current version supposedly fixes the battery drain (not sure about the shutdown bug) but introduced a bug into another app that i use and don't want…

My phone is showing the same battery and shut off issues. Your phone might be one of the ones Apple has identified as having issues. Check here: https://www.apple.com/support/iphone6s-unexpectedshutdown/ I checked there and my phone is eligible for the battery replacement.

thanks for this. i don't have a 6s. either that or it thinks i've already had a battery replacement. which could be true? this is my third 6 plus.

my original's lcd screen had the touch disease, since it was just inside warranty they "replaced" it by just giving me a new phone.

the replacement died within a week. serious wtf. so i went in and got yet another one.

this one has been fine, mostly. but i'm probably not going to get a iphone for my next device. not saying no other devices do this but that touch disease should be fixed even if you're outside warranty and not be charged with the $329 it cost. my original phone was susceptible to it and only by sheer "luck" did it happen within my warranty.

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