AirPods don't “just work” • Hacker News Board

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#511

Post by bart_spoon » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 4:50 PM UTC

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...

They also snagged on everything, got tied up in knots in your pocket, the wires would give out all the time requiring you to buy new ones, were obnoxious to use when exercising, and limited the physical distance you could move from the device you were using to about 2 feet.

There are issues with wireless headphones, but they also solve a lot of genuine problems with wired ones.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#512

Post by baxtr » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

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...

That's just not true. They never just worked for me at least.

- Cables would get cluttered in my clothes

- Cables would eventually all break at one point

- The cables were a mess in a any jacket / bag

- The microphone was making weird sounds when they hit my face and and people would complain

- etc.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#513

Post by hamandcheese » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

I’m curious if any of these annoyances are better when using with an M1 mac.

For example, plugging in my dock (with two 4K monitors attached) is always super slow and janky and takes several seconds for the monitors to display anything. Supposedly on the M1 this is instant.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#514

Post by guggle » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

megapolitics wrote: post #196

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...

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

I'm smiling at this while enjoying music on my 20 years unmodified Senheiser HD25.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#515

Post by dpark » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 4:54 PM UTC

jamestanderson wrote: post #505

dpark wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But they could make even more profit by adding a headphone jack and allowing folks who want wireless buds to use them. How would this generate more profit for Apple?

For one thing, I'd buy an iPhone again.

I wonder how many people have actually stopped buying iPhones due to the removal of the minijack. I bet it’s noise to Apple’s revenue. I also expect that they save more in the hardware simplification than they lose on sales.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#516

Post by sokoloff » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 4:54 PM UTC

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…

I have a couple pairs of other "quite cheap" BT earbuds from Amazon and they're all quite good ergonomically. They paired easily, stay paired, charge automatically, etc.

I don't use them as a microphone very often (as I have an arm-mounted Blue Yeti), but when I've had to use them, they also worked without me getting complaints from the other side.

Maybe Airpods are wildly better somehow, but I can't see how much better they could be versus the totally acceptable experience I've had with the cheap ones.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#517

Post by dpark » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 4:56 PM UTC

wtetzner wrote: post #476

dpark wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but the choice has been made for all people who do not experience that What are you talking about? Is someone stopping you from using wired earbuds?

You're not technically stopped, you just have to pay extra money to get an adapter, with the additional downside that you can no longer charge the phone while using those headphones.

Did they stop including the dongle in the box? I haven’t bought phone in a couple of years so I honestly don’t know.

I can understand the complaint about charging. Although the fanboy answer is of course wireless charging.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#518

Post by flavmartins » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 4:57 PM UTC

dont__panic wrote: post #475

mattnewton wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are pros to wireless headphones and the right choice for many people, but the choice has been made for all people who do not experience that. I personally use Bose over ear heaphones that have an optional cable you can attach and connect and it has come up an incredible number of times. There is so much pain if you switch for more than two devices, forget to charge, at unsure something is paired, etc that all g…

Exactly. Removing the headphone jack is incredibly hostile to those of us who want to use wired headphones, and clearly motivated by the insane profits of wireless earbuds. And the worst part? It's working. Just look at the AirPods business and you'll see exactly why Apple does it. For myself, I'm sticking with an older phone and IEMs with replaceable cables. Super happy with it because I'm OK with the tradeoff of de…

You could always get the dongle to support the wired headphones. My teen daughter is using it now that she has lost her airpods.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#519

Post by ASalazarMX » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 4:59 PM UTC

lowercased wrote: post #25

rogual wrote: post #3

Annoyance 8: When I'm using the (good) noise cancelling of the AirPods to eliminate distracting background noise so I can focus, after a few hours the battery will run down to 15% and trigger the EXTREMELY LOUD "PING-pong-pong-pong" low-battery noise, right in my ear, without warning. And it's Apple, so of course you can't turn it off.

AirPod Pro 4, coming in 2025, will like have a feature to let you choose custom alert sounds, tied to ios 19. And it will be heralded with enormous classy custom Helvetiral fonts in a multi parallax scrolling site announcing "we've heard the future, and it's quiet". Or... "If you listen carefully, you can hear the future". Or they'll provide haptic in-ear custom vibrations in AirPod Pros 5, and their slogan will be "…

Better yet, AirPods Pro 4 will allow you to adjust the volume of the warning tone, AirPods Pro 5 will allow you to customize it. AirPods Pro 6 will undo that but allow you to disable the tone and use haptic feedback. Then AirPods Pro 7 will allow you to adjust the volume of the warning tone, and customize it.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#520

Post by tarunkotia » Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 4:59 PM UTC

I love the AirPods but stopped using it because of what I have been reading about EMF radiation emitted constantly even when not in use by AirPods. I still need to read-up more about it till then I am using the wired headphones.

https://www.macintoshhowto.com/hardware/extreme-emf-exposure...