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AirPods are now available

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Re: AirPods are now available

#501

Post by nicky0 »

gurkendoktor wrote: post #339
jodrellblank wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pick up bluetooth device. It's dead. Press and hold buttons. Wave phone around. Turn bluetooth off and on. Press and hold buttons again. Blue lights appear. Stare at empty pairing list. Wonder why it's not working. Curse at it. If they can make wireless not-be-shitty, that will count for 'magical' and 'not possible before' afaiconcerned. Except, Apple laptops are plagued with "wifi broken after sleep", so I have no h…

Not to mention that AirDrop has been a disaster since its inception, and I haven't heard a single good thing about unlocking Macs wirelessly with the Apple Watch.

Airdrop works great for me.

Re: AirPods are now available

#502

Post by nicky0 »

gurkendoktor wrote: post #339
jodrellblank wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pick up bluetooth device. It's dead. Press and hold buttons. Wave phone around. Turn bluetooth off and on. Press and hold buttons again. Blue lights appear. Stare at empty pairing list. Wonder why it's not working. Curse at it. If they can make wireless not-be-shitty, that will count for 'magical' and 'not possible before' afaiconcerned. Except, Apple laptops are plagued with "wifi broken after sleep", so I have no h…

Not to mention that AirDrop has been a disaster since its inception, and I haven't heard a single good thing about unlocking Macs wirelessly with the Apple Watch.

Airdrop works great for me.

Re: AirPods are now available

#503

Post by acjohnson55 »

eridius wrote: post #299
FireBeyond wrote: post #7

There's like a next-level Apple marketing babble on that page: "AirPods introduce an effortless wireless listening experience packed with high-quality audio and long battery life. These magical wireless headphones use advanced technology to reinvent how we listen to music, make phone calls, enjoy TV shows and movies, play games and interact with Siri, providing a wireless audio experience not possible before." Magica…

Actually they do. What's "magical" and "reinvented" is the fact that the AirPods seamlessly switch to whatever device you're currently using, so you can switch between your desktop, laptop, iPhone, and iPad without having to actually do anything to trigger the switch. In addition, it automatically pauses your music when you take your AirPods out of your ears (and resumes it if you put them back in).

My Bose QuietControl 30s do this, although they are limited to 2 devices.

Re: AirPods are now available

#504

Post by nicky0 »

hobarrera wrote: post #425
MrQuincle wrote: post #154

They should have used the cigarette butt picture: https://www.cnet.com/products/apple-airpods/preview/ Regarding specs: + Bluetooth + No cables + 5 hours battery life + Charging case with total 24 hours battery life + Automatically turn off when removing from your ears + Key synchronization via iCloud (makes pairing process simpler - and could make sharing process simpler as well - but is Apple-only) + Peripheral to…

> Key synchronization via iCloud (makes pairing process simpler - and could make sharing process simpler as well - but is Apple-only) So you can't actually use these on your [non macOS] laptop? Wow, requiring two pairs of headphones certainly is a huge dis-qualifier.

You can use them, just not the iCloud auto-sync feature.

Re: AirPods are now available

#505

Post by qq66 »

jws wrote: post #486
amlib wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what about the possibility of losing the earpieces? They don't have a cable and don't secure into your ear like a hearing aid or even a normal bluetooth device. If they are so comfortable to the point of the user "forgetting they are there" the rate at which people will lose these things might be huge. They don't dangle from a cable when falling like normal headphones or Bluetooth headphones that have a cable bet…

Western women are comfortable clipping far more expensive diamonds, pearls, and gold to their ears. Sometimes they fall off and you look for them. Sometimes you lose one. This is sad. Life goes on. (Apple has already said there will be a way to replace a lost single unit.)

Earrings need to either fail structurally or tear through your earlobe to be lost. Apple AirPods don't need to do either, they can just fall out.

Re: AirPods are now available

#506

Post by wapz »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #495
wapz wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This analogy is pretty bad because most people who clip expensive accessories to their ears don't usually go jogging or commuting through very crowded trains/buses. I don't think losing them is going to be the main problem of the airpods though. I think they're too early for their time but have potential in the future.

“This analogy is pretty bad because most people who clip expensive accessories to their ears don't usually go jogging or commuting through very crowded trains/buses” Have you never seen anyone jogging or on a train or a bus?

I'm referring to more expensive earrings and necklaces that are used for parties and special occasions. Most people don't wear $600 earrings while going on a jog. The ones who wear expensive earrings to work generally don't have a commute on a crowded bus or train either. There are plenty of exceptions though.

I've seen plenty of men with the stud earrings that are probably upwards of $400 that go jogging and do everything as normal but I've never heard of those falling off.

Re: AirPods are now available

#507

Post by mrb »

rl3 wrote: post #436
amlib wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what about the possibility of losing the earpieces? They don't have a cable and don't secure into your ear like a hearing aid or even a normal bluetooth device. If they are so comfortable to the point of the user "forgetting they are there" the rate at which people will lose these things might be huge. They don't dangle from a cable when falling like normal headphones or Bluetooth headphones that have a cable bet…

> Since it's also so comfortable, the user might not even notice they lost an earpiece immediately if they are not listening to anything. Is it possible Apple could implement some sort of loss alert mechanism for this? Ideally each earpiece would have a low-power heartbeat even when in your pocket to continually verify they haven't been lost.

Good idea. The iPhone could vibrate/ring when it detects an earpiece is getting out of range (ie. fell behind when walking). Or the one earpiece left in your ear could tell you "you lost the other one" :)

Re: AirPods are now available

#508

Post by Twisell »

beedogs wrote: post #470
jen729w wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's such a cynical, boring view. I'm sorry, but it is. You really think that Apple removed the headphone jack to make a bit more cash? Seriously? Hand-on-heart honestly, you think that's why? Come on. I think it's because they love cool new things. Thank f k they do because, frankly, nobody else seems to be doing anything interesting. I know, I know, they're not perfect. AirPods are late. They're expensive. I know…

No one I know uses Siri, by the way. I've literally never heard anyone in the office ask Siri a question. Never heard it in public, either. It's not really a thing outside of the tech bubble, I reckon. I'm positive most people will still be using cheap wired headphones 3 years from now. If you're willing to lay money on it, I'll take any bet you offer.

I'm not a morning person so I usually have 6 alarms on my phone. So every morning I ask my Siri to "turn off all the alarms" before I jump on my shower.

There is like 4-5 others simple interactions like that that I do in private every day and it's totally worthwhile.

Re: AirPods are now available

#509

Post by eridius »

lewisl9029 wrote: post #329
eridius wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually they do. What's "magical" and "reinvented" is the fact that the AirPods seamlessly switch to whatever device you're currently using, so you can switch between your desktop, laptop, iPhone, and iPad without having to actually do anything to trigger the switch. In addition, it automatically pauses your music when you take your AirPods out of your ears (and resumes it if you put them back in).

> The AirPods seamlessly switch to whatever device you're currently using, so you can switch between your desktop, laptop, iPhone, and iPad without having to actually do anything to trigger the switch. Wait... Honest question: How? Does it switch based on which input source is currently playing audio? What if more than one is playing at a time?

It's based on Handoff. Your devices already have a notion of which device you're currently using, which it uses to trigger Handoff (so you can resume an activity on your new device that you were just doing on a previous device). AirPods hook into that and switch input to the "current" device (but I believe only if it plays audio; that way picking up your iPhone won't disconnect you from your computer if you're not doing something audio-related. Of course, I don't have AirPods myself, so I can't verify, but I believe that's how it works).

Re: AirPods are now available

#510

Post by eridius »

srhngpr wrote: post #314
eridius wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually they do. What's "magical" and "reinvented" is the fact that the AirPods seamlessly switch to whatever device you're currently using, so you can switch between your desktop, laptop, iPhone, and iPad without having to actually do anything to trigger the switch. In addition, it automatically pauses your music when you take your AirPods out of your ears (and resumes it if you put them back in).

My Plantronics headset [1] has been doing most of this for years. I keep it connected to my work laptop and smartphone simultaneously and can take calls on either device with seamless switching. It also detects when it is on my ear or not. [1]: https://www.plantronics.com/us/product/voyager-legend-uc

It sounds like that's just taking calls on both devices, right? AirPods intelligently route all audio, not just calls, and it does it based on the notion of what your "current" device is rather than whatever device is emitting audio (e.g. if you're using your iPhone, AIUI it won't switch to your computer just because your computer started playing audio).
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