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

AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 428 posts

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#261

Post by x0x0 »

brucemoose wrote: post #227
pwthornton wrote: post #200

If Apple does in fact release AirPower, and it works well, I'll probably upgrade to these. A better charging situation is one of the things that could improve the AirPods. Just today my AirPods case wasn't charging because lint got into my lightning port. I didn't realize the case wasn't charging until I realized my AirPods were low on power despite me charging the case a lot the last few days. Inductive charging is…

I honestly can't say I understand the draw to drop significant money on a new set of headphones that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone, and can't be charged while being used. I've had the same set of high quality in-ear wired headphones for the last 5 years or longer and have zero issues with them (I just replace the foam every so often for about $5). What is the improvement I am missing here?

How many meetings do you do on your phone? The people at my company that have them and love them have daily phone meetings. Keeping your hands free while talking and moving around is the critical feature that people seem to love.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#262

Post by jclardy »

brucemoose wrote: post #227
pwthornton wrote: post #200

If Apple does in fact release AirPower, and it works well, I'll probably upgrade to these. A better charging situation is one of the things that could improve the AirPods. Just today my AirPods case wasn't charging because lint got into my lightning port. I didn't realize the case wasn't charging until I realized my AirPods were low on power despite me charging the case a lot the last few days. Inductive charging is…

I honestly can't say I understand the draw to drop significant money on a new set of headphones that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone, and can't be charged while being used. I've had the same set of high quality in-ear wired headphones for the last 5 years or longer and have zero issues with them (I just replace the foam every so often for about $5). What is the improvement I am missing here?

I think the confusion on charging comes in with the case - you "charge" the airpods by keeping them together in the case. You charge the case by plugging it in. The case has about 24 hours of battery, so I charge the case about once every two weeks with around 2 hours a day of conference calls/podcast listening. I generally hate having a wire attached from my laptop to my ears because it inevitably will get snagged at least once a week.

Also for my use case (calls) you can charge while listening by using only one bud at a time.

I have many pairs of headphones, wired and wireless, but I just ordered a new set of AirPods because they are simply the most convenient headphone I've ever used (Presuming you use primarily Apple products.) Far from the best sounding - but I've found for a general use headphone they are more than adequate.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#263

Post by xeroaura »

petarb wrote: post #98

Ended up buying a wireless charging AirPods case off AliExpress for $15 last year. I feel like I’ve been living the AirPods 2 life for a while now. It is a small but nice luxury to be able to set the headphones on your charger instead of having to plug plugin them in, especially if you use them a lot throughout the day. I don’t think the, “Hey Siri” is worth the upgrade.

Do you mean one of those cases that wrap on the outside of the original? If so, how much bulkier are those? Thinking of getting one since I have a mostly unused Qi charger on my workdesk.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#264

Post by katbyte »

jclardy wrote: post #262
brucemoose wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly can't say I understand the draw to drop significant money on a new set of headphones that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone, and can't be charged while being used. I've had the same set of high quality in-ear wired headphones for the last 5 years or longer and have zero issues with them (I just replace the foam every so often for about $5). What is the improvement I am missing here?

I think the confusion on charging comes in with the case - you "charge" the airpods by keeping them together in the case. You charge the case by plugging it in. The case has about 24 hours of battery, so I charge the case about once every two weeks with around 2 hours a day of conference calls/podcast listening. I generally hate having a wire attached from my laptop to my ears because it inevitably will get snagged a…

> I generally hate having a wire attached from my laptop to my ears because it inevitably will get snagged at least once a week.

I actually finally understand why some people may want wireless now, thank you. Personally somehow I never get my earbud cable snagged, even when snowboarding or climbing. However that tangled mess of wires when i take it out of my pocket...

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#265

Post by dzhiurgis »

asdff wrote: post #232
paultopia wrote: post #127

I actually bought these. Yes, it's a pile of money, wireless charging for AirPods probably isn't all that useful (though I may grab a new wireless charger for the desk where my AirPods usually sit anyway), etc. But, reality is: AirPods are by far the most convenient way to casually do anything with apple products and headphones. Stick 'em in a pocket, and if you want to listen to music or be on a conference call, pul…

I just can't get over the fact that people are dropping $160 ($199 now) to get the same earbuds they've been shipping with every iPhone (unless Apple took that out of the box too), but without a wire. Does my wire get snagged and the earbud falls out? Sure it does, but that probably happens to me once every 6 months and that doesn't get me pissed off enough to hand apple $160. Airpods don't come without their costs,…

I used to replace my Apple headphones every year, these ones going to seem to last forever(except battery).

Still disappointed they haven’t added more feaures, especially as competition getting hotter...

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#266

Post by muraiki »

LynxInLA wrote: post #255
asdff wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just can't get over the fact that people are dropping $160 ($199 now) to get the same earbuds they've been shipping with every iPhone (unless Apple took that out of the box too), but without a wire. Does my wire get snagged and the earbud falls out? Sure it does, but that probably happens to me once every 6 months and that doesn't get me pissed off enough to hand apple $160. Airpods don't come without their costs,…

It is still $160 for the airpods, and $200 if you want wireless charging. Tapping the Airpod, uou still have 2 controls vs. the 5 with an inline mic. You can almost say 3 controls since pulling one out of your ear acts as play/pause. Mine were a gift, but I'll likely drop $160 on a set in the future if these crap out in a year or two. About once a week, I used to get my wire snagged and it would sometimes yank my pho…

Note that even at relatively low volumes, sleeping while listening to something can cause hearing damage. There's an interaction between both the volume and the duration of sound exposure. If you're using your device to drown out other sounds, that might be too loud.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#267

Post by achompas »

asdff wrote: post #232
paultopia wrote: post #127

I actually bought these. Yes, it's a pile of money, wireless charging for AirPods probably isn't all that useful (though I may grab a new wireless charger for the desk where my AirPods usually sit anyway), etc. But, reality is: AirPods are by far the most convenient way to casually do anything with apple products and headphones. Stick 'em in a pocket, and if you want to listen to music or be on a conference call, pul…

I just can't get over the fact that people are dropping $160 ($199 now) to get the same earbuds they've been shipping with every iPhone (unless Apple took that out of the box too), but without a wire. Does my wire get snagged and the earbud falls out? Sure it does, but that probably happens to me once every 6 months and that doesn't get me pissed off enough to hand apple $160. Airpods don't come without their costs,…

"Earbuds without a wire" is a reductive characterization of the AirPods. The audio delivery mechanism leads to a bunch of quality-of-life changes:

- You don't need your device on your person. I leave my iPhone around the house somewhere and use these while cooking, or run with AirPods + Apple Watch (cellular not required, I just download podcasts or audiobooks).

- You are not tethered to a listening device. I don't worry about the cable catching on kitchen drawer handles or gym equipment (this happened to me way more often than every 6 months). I can jump from phone podcasts to a video call with a few clicks or taps, instead of changing headphones or transferring cables.

- Your call quality improves dramatically from wired headphones. Others are complaining about background noise, but wired headphones are far worse, with their microphones on their remotes (IIRC). I hated "speaking up" by holding the little remote to my mouth.

The concerns you mention are also minimal in practice. The case has excellent battery life, requiring a charge only weekly or so. If you're on a streak of calls, you can charge one AirPod at a time to stay connected. I have also used mine for over 18 months almost daily, and the battery has been fine.

Are AirPods a convenience? Yes. But there's always a market for convenience.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#268

Post by ericd »

sa1 wrote: post #224
zachberger wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure it is, most phones have outstanding ambient noise cancellation, something that AirPods does not seem to have.

Ambient noise cancellation is not the same thing. Most headphones do it passively by having a closed-back design. It blocks noise from reaching your ears, not the microphone. Active noise cancellation is not the same thing either. See https://krisp.ai/ for what you really need, and this is not something best done at the physical device level.

Pretty sure they're referring to ambient noise cancellation using the microphones to make it so the background noise doesn't come through your microphone to the other participants while on a call.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#269

Post by nmjohn »

visarga wrote: post #184

They should first make AirPods that can connect reliably to BlueTooth. Half the time I need to connect mine to my MacBook Pro I need to massage the BT and Speaker icons for 20 seconds.

I used to have similar issues, however they have gone away after I stopped ever clicking the bluetooth icon, and only ever paired them via the speaker icon. Not sure if our problems are related or not, but may be worth trying.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#270

Post by city41 »

Phlarp wrote: post #72
aczerepinski wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple removed headphone jacks from their phones, so some AirPod owners probably would have been happy to not own them and continue with traditional headphones.

If you are a fan of this earbud design they package a pair with a lightning connector in every iphone. Apple has successfully turned the airpods into a fashion/status symbol, which was their goal. "only smelly android users have headphones with a CORD"

Apple has been doing that with headphones ever since the iPod came out. iPod commercials featured black silhouetted people with the bright white headphone and cord contrasted on top[0]. Like AirPods today, it used to be a status symbol to have white headphones as that basically meant they came from Apple.

[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlHUz99l-eo

Post reply on HN