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

AirPods don't “just work”

philip.design

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 966 posts

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#191

Post by thenerdhead »

Here's a few more:

- Airpods sometimes do not charge when in the case. Usually need to pull it out and put back in again.

- Knowing what airpod(s) and case are charging. The UI on the phone, the open the case sliding window, the widgets, and the case light itself are not very useful.

- Spatial audio working on some apps but you're not usually aware if it's on until you tilt an ear one way to confirm.

- Out of ear detection sometimes doesn't work well and will drain the respective airpod.

- No preference list of what devices should have precedence over others. Especially when working on 2+ devices.

- Hand-off calls is a weird UX. Why would I answer a phone on my iPhone by default when it's clear I have airpods connected and being used?

- The transparency / noise cancelling dance. Not sure if there's a preference, but it feels random which one is on by default. Always do a double check at the gym or when running as outside noise sounds loud.

Still the best headphones and experience in my opinion and have enabled me to achieve a hell of a lot more because of them. Easily worth the price for how much I use them.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#192

Post by notapenny »

justinator wrote: post #54
d23 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How’s that an anti-pattern? With dark mode, it’s more in style than ever now.

It's an accessibility problem, especially for people (like me) who have astigmatism. But y'all don't look away from white text on black background to a bright light source (like a page of black text on a white background) and get a "burned in" impression of the previous page in your vision? Lucky you. Dark mode is fine, please let the user choose to have dark mode when she wants to.

Out of sheer curiosity, is it just the white on black and would a "softer" light-grey on dark-grey be better for you? Or just generally light on dark?

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#193

Post by toyg »

m12k wrote: post #13

>Annoyance 4: Sometimes, only the left or right AirPod plays sound. Taking them in/out of your ears doesn't fix it, you need to put it back into the case and take it back out, which sometimes, doesn't fix it. So you need to put your AirPods in/out of your case two or three times to fix it. I run into this too, anyone know what's up with that? Is there some "listen with only one headphone in" feature that I'm accident…

Yes, it's meant to reproduce the traditional one-earplug bluetooth experience for busy people. It also allows one to effectively bypass battery limits: if you hear the battery alert, you take one earplug off and put it in the case - it charges so quickly, it makes it doable to put it back on before the other dies, and then you recharge the other.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#195

Post by dimmke »

chii wrote: post #156
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Y’know what headphones really did “just work” though? Wired headphones, circa 2017. Their battery life was infinite. You could “pair” them in seconds to any device with a headphone jack, aka any device, because we’re in 2017. Oh, and they were cheaper and better for the environment. Courage, indeed. And this is why I’m currently typing my comment on an iPhone 6S...

I used to be like you. Then i tried, for real, a pair of bluetooth headphones. The disadvantages of the bluetooth is by far outweighed by the wireless advantage. The mobility, flexibility and convenience of no tangles and accidental wire pulling and causing phone to drop - all worth it. And wireless UX is only going to get better. Wired is dead.

It's also pretty much confirmed at this point that the next pair of AirPods won't be using bluetooth - which they will get a lot of shit for but is probably necessary to address a lot of these issues.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#196

Post by megapolitics »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #100
dt2m wrote: post #63

All valid annoyances, but I really think OP should try using another brand of Bluetooth headphones for a week just to get some perspective of how well AirPods "just work" compared to the competition. Manually having to re-pair once in every blue moon, one earbud playing while the other isn't, no automatic device switching without having to go through the Settings app everytime, A/V desync, dodgy mic quality, earbuds…

Y’know what headphones really did “just work” though? Wired headphones, circa 2017. Their battery life was infinite. You could “pair” them in seconds to any device with a headphone jack, aka any device, because we’re in 2017. Oh, and they were cheaper and better for the environment. Courage, indeed. And this is why I’m currently typing my comment on an iPhone 6S...

>Their battery life was infinite.

However, the life of the cable was a few months at best in my experience.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#198

Post by ericmay »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #100
dt2m wrote: post #63

All valid annoyances, but I really think OP should try using another brand of Bluetooth headphones for a week just to get some perspective of how well AirPods "just work" compared to the competition. Manually having to re-pair once in every blue moon, one earbud playing while the other isn't, no automatic device switching without having to go through the Settings app everytime, A/V desync, dodgy mic quality, earbuds…

Y’know what headphones really did “just work” though? Wired headphones, circa 2017. Their battery life was infinite. You could “pair” them in seconds to any device with a headphone jack, aka any device, because we’re in 2017. Oh, and they were cheaper and better for the environment. Courage, indeed. And this is why I’m currently typing my comment on an iPhone 6S...

I wouldn't let the lack of a headphone jack deter you from upgrading a phone if you wanted. You can get one of those adapter things and just leave it attached to your headphones if you wanted. I know people think it's annoying that you even have to do this but it's an option. I bet you can get one for free from a friend even.

I do have a nostalgic feelings for the iPhone 4s and headphones. I wish there were products out there that excited me in the same way my first iPhone did.

Post reply on HN