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

371–380 of 428 posts

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#371

Post by Nullabillity »

SiVal wrote: post #324
sosborn wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is the improvement I am missing here? I think what you are missing is that different people value things differently. These don't make sense for you? That's fine, don't buy them. They don't make sense for me either, so I don't buy them. However, I can understand how it would make sense for someone else. Arguing the money aspect doesn't make sense because we never know a person's income, expenses and savings. $…

Like you, I haven't chosen to get them for myself, but I got them for my wife who loves them. Reasons: I have pockets big enough to always be holding my phone, and I can just run a wire up from my pocket under my shirt and into my ears. No snags. She doesn't have such pockets and wouldn't wire herself in any case. She cares about fashion. I'm a programmer. I care about more important stuff like compilers and her. We'…

Basically every generation of phones' regressions are based on looking at what Apple manages to get away with, and copying it. Even if I would never buy their junk myself (or encourage anyone else to), it's basically impossible to get away from their aftershocks.

Unremovable batteries? Apple got away with it from the start. Hell, they even managed to get people to pay ridiculous markups to replace them after it was discovered that they tampered with device performance.

Unremovable storage? Just look at what Apple manages to charge for storage upgrades!

Dropping the headphone jack? iPhone 7 got away with it, and drove the sale of plenty of adapters.

USB-C? Well, if Apple could get people to buy new Lightning devices and chargers...

These are standard "features" now. Every phone has this now. There are no other options for me to "vote for" with my wallet anymore, even though I always did when the I had the option to. There is no way for me, as a single consumer, to get away from this bullshit.

Fashion doesn't spring up from thin air. It's crafted by people. With agendas. And accessories to sell.

Hell, nobody seemed happy about any of these changes when they were introduced. But the manufacturers had the pockets to outlast the outrage. And eventually, fashion changed.

And, just maybe, ask why on earth a whole industry exists around fake pockets, and what accessories they exist to sell.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#372

Post by indianhippie »

zpeti wrote: post #22

Funny how there's so much criticism everywhere for these products yet you step outside and loads of people have them. Usual reaction to Apple products I guess.

AirPods have a lot of criticism? I would understand that if you made the same claim about iMac, Mac mini, iPad mini, i9 MacBook Pro or the stupid butterfly keyboards.

AirPods sold 36 million units and everyone and their grandma got it on Christmas. They have been sold at most holidays.

I personally think this is one of the best device Apple has created in a long time. It’s not for everyone but once you get used to it, you won’t go anywhere without them.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#373

Post by jasongill »

yourduskquibble wrote: post #239
metafunctor wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, just had an amazing two years of trouble-free wireless audio conference calls. Never again!

> I had a call yesterday and the Airpods were beeping that they were dying at the 20min mark, and didn't make it to 30min on the call. > I love the form factor, and I just ordered the "new" Airpods, because I am hoping the battery life has improved - the old ones are basically a disposable item after the first year, from my experience. The OP complained about battery life and the $200 "disposable" headphones he bough…

I am complaining, yes, that the battery wore out much faster than I expected, but other than the battery life I love them. The new one is supposed to have much better battery life, and it's only $160 for something that I said I use every day, so it will be worth it if they are better.

Even if they aren't, and I had to buy a pair every year, that's like 50 cents a day for something that I enjoy using (until the battery dies)

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#374

Post by greedo »

exergy wrote: post #341
maxmunzel wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The environmental Argument is interesting as I am thinking about getting AirPods precisely because Im sick of throwing away my regular in Ears because the headphone jacks keep breaking when I carry them crumbled in my jeans. (I hate having them tangle around while not in use). As an earlier poster pointed out: It all depends on your use case and preferences.

Shure, and many other good companies, make earphones with removable cables. These MMCX cables can be bought relatively cheaply (decent ones on Amazon france seem to be about EUR 15 onwards). Even better, the ones that come with the earphones are burly as fuck, and as I said, mine have lasted three years with no damage or loose soldering to report.

I did a review of Shure in ear monitors. They sent me their entire product lineup, though I only reviewed two of their products. The highest priced monitor had a cable break 2 years later, with only minimal use in that period. They had/have outstanding customer support for this class of monitor, and replaced it for free. Cable broke 6 months later. They would have replaced that too, but I didn't pay for the monitors, and felt like it was right to push it. These are the type of in ear monitors musicians use on stage during performances, and easily run of $1k. They sounded fantastic, but they were as reliable as Apple's $30 corded airbuds.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#375

Post by lugg »

sosborn wrote: post #302
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?

> What is the improvement I am missing here? I think what you are missing is that different people value things differently. These don't make sense for you? That's fine, don't buy them. They don't make sense for me either, so I don't buy them. However, I can understand how it would make sense for someone else. Arguing the money aspect doesn't make sense because we never know a person's income, expenses and savings. $…

Dunno if you've used them but you might find this insight helpful if you're ever keen on them in the future,

I find the sound quality argument hillarious. They barely block any outoutside noise, which is great for the commuter use case. You want to hear traffic and train/bus stop announcements.

They're perfect for that use case.

They're not meant for sound quality but they aren't nearly as bad as people would think by how much this is brought up.

If you want quality / noise cancelling on your commute go for Sony mx3's.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#376

Post by d-sc »

dgritsko wrote: post #63
zpeti wrote: post #22

Funny how there's so much criticism everywhere for these products yet you step outside and loads of people have them. Usual reaction to Apple products I guess.

Is it possible that the people criticizing them are not the people buying them?

I have a feeling it’s more of an emotional self-rightous rant similar to the ones people have when picking their favorite football team or car brand. I’ve read many of the anti apple comments around here - and most of the criticisms have solid reasoning. But, I still got a new MacBook Pro, and low and behold it works great.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#377

Post by arebours »

Nullabillity wrote: post #371
SiVal wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like you, I haven't chosen to get them for myself, but I got them for my wife who loves them. Reasons: I have pockets big enough to always be holding my phone, and I can just run a wire up from my pocket under my shirt and into my ears. No snags. She doesn't have such pockets and wouldn't wire herself in any case. She cares about fashion. I'm a programmer. I care about more important stuff like compilers and her. We'…

Basically every generation of phones' regressions are based on looking at what Apple manages to get away with, and copying it. Even if I would never buy their junk myself (or encourage anyone else to), it's basically impossible to get away from their aftershocks. Unremovable batteries? Apple got away with it from the start. Hell, they even managed to get people to pay ridiculous markups to replace them after it was d…

I feel what you're saying. I myself am very disappointed (not to say displeased) with late Apple products and I'm currently in the process of moving away from macOS and iOS. But I'll stick to my AirPods.

They are _the_only_ wireless earbuds on the market that you don't push inside your ear canals, and I absolutely abhor the in-canal ones. They also look nice, work great, I wear them for hours almost every day. Even put them on for quick calls. Probably one of the best technology products I've ever owned.

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#378

Post by tangue »

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?

+1 and mini-jack headsets doesn't need an additional power plants. Think about it when in the next keynote they'll say how "green" and "clean" they are ...

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#379

Post by FPGAhacker »

baxtr wrote: post #316
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 love my AirPods. I am in full panic mode when I realize that I forgot them at home (happens rarely). They are the best Apple products in years. Why? Because they simply work, seamlessly. Product development in perfection. Can’t be charged while being used? Who cares? They last long enough. 1 out of 50 times I wear them they run out of battery. Charging them takes 5 minutes, so it’s not a big deal. Also, the whole p…

"They are the best Apple products in years. Why? Because they simply work, seamlessly. Product development in perfection."

I can't remember ever trying to use headphones/earphones and not have them "just work."

Re: AirPods with Wireless Charging Case

#380

Post by userbinator »

lm28469 wrote: post #32
Daniel_sk wrote: post #5

The issue is that you have tiny chemical batteries inside and they deteriorate with use and time, so it will hardly hold any charge after 3 years (some report much faster deterioration). Does Apple replace those batteries? How much does it cost? And can it be done outside of US? (e.g. in EU countries with no official Apple Store presence). Otherwise it's pretty expensive to pay $200 for a pair headphones and throw th…

You're not expected to keep them that long, it's targeted to people who buy the new generations pretty much as soon as they are released. Who's going to pay 30%-50% of a new version to replace his airpods or apple watch battery ? [0] It's the same with all these hi tech gadgets relying on tiny glued/soldered batteries. You can't replace them yourself because it's either proprietary hardware or you need to literally b…

I often hear people saying that making such things repairable would entail massive increases in complexity and less thinness/etc., but in this case it's relatively easy to imagine how Apple could have made the batteries in each AirPod replaceable (as for the charging case, that one is pretty trivial...) while maintaining the dimensions and weight:

https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/30055-49077-999-Air...

This is a metal-cased cell, like an AAA battery, only smaller. They could simply make the "stem" of the AirPod unscrew from the top to access the battery. They came up with an unserviceable design because they didn't want to, not because they couldn't. Think of things like quartz watches too --- they have just as small if not smaller dimensions, and yet you can still replace the batteries in them. (And if you think threads of that size are impossible for Apple... look at the few screws that hold iPhones together.)

Post reply on HN