Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google’s Airpods competitor do real-time language translation

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 89 posts

Re: Google’s Airpods competitor do real-time language translation

#41

Post by Dobbs »

mullingitover wrote: post #38
727374 wrote: post #30

"They’re wired behind the neck but they’re every bit a competitor to Apple’s AirPods" Umm, no. The killer feature of AirPods is the form factor and not having an annoying cable connecting the buds. As other posters have noted, Amazon is full of cabled headphones. Language translation is certainly cool, but for most people that's not an everyday need.

> The killer feature of AirPods is the form factor and not having an annoying cable connecting the buds Ehh, the ability to lose those things really easily is not what I'd call a killer feature. The cabled bluetooth headphones are easy to keep draped over your neck when not in use. Someone actually sells a $10 string that connects the Earpods so they too can have this convenient feature [0]. [0] http://promo.spigen.c…

I'm not sure how a wire keeps you from losing them. If an airpod falls out of your ear it is immediately obvious. The only time I've actually had them fall out of my ear is when I'm doing something like hugging my dog or pulling a hoodie off over my head.

Re: Google’s Airpods competitor do real-time language translation

#43

Post by SirZimzim »

woodrowbarlow wrote: post #23
Osmium wrote: post #2

This looks fantastic. Love my Airpods, but the 'tap for Siri' feature so rarely works for me, let alone language translation. Language translation is clearly an area Google is really pioneering too. Shame about the cable though. The one (surprising) benefit of no cable is that the cable doesn't tug on the earphones, making them less likely to come out.

the cable also means you can't wear just one bud at a time.

Why not? I have used earbuds in one year for decades.

Re: Google’s Airpods competitor do real-time language translation

#44

Post by Nightshaxx »

tucif wrote: post #39
__sha3d2 wrote: post #36

> I chatted with a member of the Pixel Buds team following the demonstration and she confirmed that the demo was done entirely over the internet, without downloading the languages directly to the device. This guy is real excited to have all of his conversations stored in the cloud

I also think the situations where I'd find useful this kind of translations are when I'm not in my home country which most likely means my data plan does not work or is very expensive, which makes it less useful than it sounds at first.

Agreed. It would make sense to have an offline mode.

Re: Google’s Airpods competitor do real-time language translation

#45

Post by lazyjones »

thetinguy wrote: post #3

I can't wait until I start getting ads for things I talked about.

> ads for things I talked about.

Perhaps you'll be getting those "live" as in:

Your friend says: Let's go get a drink (in some other language)

You hear: let's go get a

...

Re: Google’s Airpods competitor do real-time language translation

#46

Post by dclusin »

mullingitover wrote: post #38
727374 wrote: post #30

"They’re wired behind the neck but they’re every bit a competitor to Apple’s AirPods" Umm, no. The killer feature of AirPods is the form factor and not having an annoying cable connecting the buds. As other posters have noted, Amazon is full of cabled headphones. Language translation is certainly cool, but for most people that's not an everyday need.

> The killer feature of AirPods is the form factor and not having an annoying cable connecting the buds Ehh, the ability to lose those things really easily is not what I'd call a killer feature. The cabled bluetooth headphones are easy to keep draped over your neck when not in use. Someone actually sells a $10 string that connects the Earpods so they too can have this convenient feature [0]. [0] http://promo.spigen.c…

Everyone always says this but I feel like it's a non-starter. I haven't ever misplaced my earbuds and I've owned them for several months. House & car keys have a similar form factor and don't have a cable, yet most people don't seem to have problems keeping track of those.

Re: Google’s Airpods competitor do real-time language translation

#47

Post by huehehue »

tucif wrote: post #39
__sha3d2 wrote: post #36

> I chatted with a member of the Pixel Buds team following the demonstration and she confirmed that the demo was done entirely over the internet, without downloading the languages directly to the device. This guy is real excited to have all of his conversations stored in the cloud

I also think the situations where I'd find useful this kind of translations are when I'm not in my home country which most likely means my data plan does not work or is very expensive, which makes it less useful than it sounds at first.

Project Fi does not charge extra for international data use, and it works in 135+ countries.

Many people may not have Fi, which I get, but I get the feeling Google's ideal use case is these headphones paired with a Pixel 2 running on Fi.

Re: Google’s Airpods competitor do real-time language translation

#48

Post by kfrzcode »

dclusin wrote: post #46
mullingitover wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The killer feature of AirPods is the form factor and not having an annoying cable connecting the buds Ehh, the ability to lose those things really easily is not what I'd call a killer feature. The cabled bluetooth headphones are easy to keep draped over your neck when not in use. Someone actually sells a $10 string that connects the Earpods so they too can have this convenient feature [0]. [0] http://promo.spigen.c…

Everyone always says this but I feel like it's a non-starter. I haven't ever misplaced my earbuds and I've owned them for several months. House & car keys have a similar form factor and don't have a cable, yet most people don't seem to have problems keeping track of those.

House/car keys didn't migrate form factor

Re: Google’s Airpods competitor do real-time language translation

#49

Post by rconti »

pkamb wrote: post #11

Listening to podcasts in mono via a single earbud is my favorite use of the AirPods. So glad they're not wired behind the neck like these Pixel Buds.

I've got a great pair of wired-together IEMs (Jaybird X3) but have been considering buying AirPods just so I can listen to podcasts single-ear on my bike ride to work.

Balancing that out is my desire to not get run over, and to save $160.

So what I'm saying is, I'm pretty sure I'll end up with AirPods soon.

Post reply on HN