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AirPods don't “just work”

philip.design

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Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#681

Post by tobyjsullivan »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #47

I generally enjoy my AirPods. They are occasionally quirky, but most of the time they really do “just work” for me. The annoyances are annoying when they happen, though. The strangest part is that the annoyances aren’t getting any better over time. At first I assumed that they were growing pains of an early product launch. Yet now we’re years into the AirPods experience and they continue to be just as quirky as when…

I've similarly found AirPods both "just work" from a user experience, especially compared to alternative bluetooth audio devices, and also are quirky from a reliability standpoint. There have been fixes pushed out in past, particularly with the earlier models, where fixes could be done via OTA firmware updates.

The remaining quirks all feel related to Bluetooth tech and, specifically, the low-power available to AirPods (compared to, say, my giant Bose headphones).

I can only speculate but I think AirPods are currently limited by the bluetooth tech itself. What I expect we'll see is apple will ship a version with a proprietary radio system. They probably won't be compatible with non-Apple devices but they'll be 10x better than today's AirPods (more reliable, simultaneous audio from multiple devices, even better battery life, etc.).

There's no guarantee Apple will pull this off. But I'd bet it's far more likely there's a team of engineers dedicated to this strategy as we speak than that Apple just "gave up" on one of their best-selling product lines as soon as the MVP proved there was a huge market.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#683

Post by apricot13 »

My airpod pros work better than my airpod pro max's but both buggy.

- if your listening to your airpods and answer a phone call on your apple watch the speaker it chooses is not the airpods its your watch! so I'm thinking wow they're speaking really quiet only to realise its coming from my watch!

- switching audio devices while on a call takes far too long

- when I switch my audio output on my iphone sometimes the whole phone hangs. Seems to be fixed now but it was a problem for such a long time that I'm too scared to change audio devices on my phone

- when I connect to my mac sometimes they just wont reconnect and I have to reboot

- when I connect to my mac, then my phone or I disconnect them for a while when they come back the audio jumps up to max. I'm scared to use them with my mac because of this!

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#684

Post by duderific »

AtNightWeCode wrote: post #611

It is a fashion and convenience tool. Poor sound quality. Comes with the general Bluetooth problems. The funniest problem I had was on the subway and some bored kid next to me opened and closed the lid back and forth. For some reason this spammed my phone with connectivity messages to the point that I could not use my phone.

I think the sound quality is remarkably good given the size and form factor. It's not comparable to over the ear headphones of course, but that is a different use case.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#686

Post by barkerja »

gnicholas wrote: post #631

Automatic device switching is hell. These two anecdotes happened since I read this article 10 minutes ago: I was listening to a podcast using AirPods and my iPhone. Someone reacted to a message I’d sent, which paused the podcast. When I tried to resume a second later, my AirPods had magically connected to my computer instead of my phone. WTF! Still listening to the podcast and setting up a FaceTime call for my kid on…

If device switching is more of an annoyance/issue than it is a pleasing feature, you can configure it. And it's configurable per-device.

When AirPods are connected, go into the bluetooth preferences, select "Options" next to the connected AirPods. Change the value for "Connect to This Mac"

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#687

Post by TylerE »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #585
BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #465

It's weird to me how many people are like "yeah but every other bluetooth is worse". I have Airpod Pros and experienced every one of these issues and many more on the regular with them, but my several years old now Bose QC 35II never have any of these problems, still last like 5 times as long on battery after years of recharge cycles, interact better with two simultaneously connected devices, have better signal range…

I don't know about "every other Bluetooth," but I certainly experience different problems with other Bluetooth devices. :) My regular experiences: - The AirPods Pro and AirPods Max generally work well. I've experienced most of the annoyances the OP lists occasionally, but not regularly, although the "autoselect the device want you want" outsmarts itself semi-regularly. (Not quite enough to make me disable it, but it'…

I have to wonder if it's time to just say screw Bluetooth, and deploy a new standard that's specially oriented for audio.

Requirements aren't crazy. It just needs to support uncompressed 96/24, full duplex.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#688

Post by MereInterest »

Jcowell wrote: post #330
wccrawford wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I overheard someone the other day ranting about Android phones and their broken SMS support. They apparently didn't realize it's actually Apple that has the buggy code/design and will try to send proprietary data to a non-Apple device.

Can you elaborate more on this

See my comment here[0]. Apple added application-level support for non-standard features not supported by SMS. When Apple sends message through the Message application, it selects either iMessage or SMS, based on whether there exists an iMessage connection, and whether the recipient has an iMessage account. This includes for things that are not representable by SMS. Reactions in the Message application, sent to a non-Apple device, show up as nonsense replies, such as "Liked an image", or "Liked 'The full text of the thing you just sent them.'".

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30085322

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#689

Post by krferriter »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #465

It's weird to me how many people are like "yeah but every other bluetooth is worse". I have Airpod Pros and experienced every one of these issues and many more on the regular with them, but my several years old now Bose QC 35II never have any of these problems, still last like 5 times as long on battery after years of recharge cycles, interact better with two simultaneously connected devices, have better signal range…

I think part of the problems you describe is the failings of the bluetooth stack in MacOS, not the Airpods themselves. I have had bluetooth device issues in MacOS on a brand new Macbook, and of course MacOS offers no advanced control options or access to underlying defaults it plugs into device and connection configurations, and there are forum posts about issues going back many years with no acknowledgement by Apple and seemingly no plans for a fix.

My main problem with Airpods is the physical design, which simply refuses to stay in my ears at all, rendering them totally useless, even if I'm just sitting relatively stationary at a desk.

My Samsung Galaxy Buds have been doing pretty well, though I just started having a problem where the left earbud is extremely quiet.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#690

Post by StevePerkins »

Tsiklon wrote: post #623
StevePerkins wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't sound like simultaneous-connection support is inconvenient. It sounds like Bose's buggy implementation of it is inconvenient. Back when I used to lug around over-the-ear headphones, I mostly used a $50 pair of bluetooth headphones by Taotronics (a no-name, fly-by-night company that doesn't even seem to exist in Amazon's catalog now). And they work flawlessly with two simultaneously connected devices.

Taotronics were one of the brands banned from Amazon last year for inflating user reviews[1]. [1] - https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/1/22703276/amazon-banned-br...

Huh. Looks like the company behind my "Taotronics" headphones are the same people who made the "Vava" USB hub that I use with my Mac (and which has been more reliable than Anker's that I've paid twice as much for).

Stupid. They would have done just fine relying on organic reviews, but now they have the death penalty. It's like watching Richard Nixon get Watergated out of office, because he thought he needed an edge to beat George freaking McGovern.

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