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AirPods don't “just work”

philip.design

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Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#711

Post by tobyjsullivan »

saiya-jin wrote: post #692
tobyjsullivan wrote: post #681

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 AirPo…

Man, you sure are overly optimistic. That part about bluetooth doesn't make sense, tons of products work reliably with similar dimension/weight restrictions as airpods. If Apple with its army of engineers can't make their products work reliably, how could have much smaller companies succeeded? Btw one of biggest disappointments for me with airpods (pro) is weak bettery life compared to competition. I am currently sho…

My only other bluetooth headset is a set of Bose QC35s. As sibling comments reported, quality is about par overall. I find UX of Bose is worse on all counts when working with multiple devices. And the battery life of my AirPods is less on a single use, but much better overall considering I can recharge in the case.

My airpods, generally, also have to put up with more. I don't use my Bose with my phone or on the go which is, generally, where the AirPods experience 90% of their quirks.

That makes for a poor sample size though so would absolutely love suggestions for more reliable alternatives.

Edit: apparently I don't know how to spell Bose

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#712

Post by myko »

After replacing mine 3x and my latest Pros just shitting the bed (the left one has a weird echo sound in it, but the Apple Store says it's fine so they won't do anything) I'm done with AirPods

Hopefully the Samsung Buds I have ordered are better

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#713

Post by WheatM »

tonymet wrote: post #651
ho_schi wrote: post #564

3.5 mm jack Nasty. Yes ;) I'm sorry but it solves these problems and I think most of us have more prominent issues. Bluetooth - and even overpriced Apple products - are usually working well with one connection only. And the headset profile needs to sacrifice quality for voice input. This is to large degrees a question about priority of the user. If you need good or even excellent quality - opt for a good headset and…

Let's stop to admire the excellent UX of the 3.5mm jack * tactile feedback when connected (it clicks, you hear it & feel it). * "find my device" : just pull on the wire * quickly switch between devices * instant pairing We just need a marketing guru to sell people on the 3.5mm wired headphones

No post body was provided.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#714

Post by arcticbull »

COGlory wrote: post #635
arcticbull wrote: post #620

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Extend that to AirPods Pro. My right ear cup crashes periodically - then I can only hear out of the left side until the watchdog timer engages and nukes the left cup too. I frequently have to reset it by holding down the buttons for 10 seconds in order to get it to connect to anything. It frequently disconnects and refuses to reconnect if I take off my mask out from under it. It stops detecting my head occasionally.…

Can I ask why you purchased them in the first place? They seemed very obviously to not be a $600 product from their announcement.

I used my Developer Transition Kit credit, as I'd already purchased an M1 laptop and had no need of anything else - other than headphones.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#715

Post by erichurkman »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #711
saiya-jin wrote: post #692

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, you sure are overly optimistic. That part about bluetooth doesn't make sense, tons of products work reliably with similar dimension/weight restrictions as airpods. If Apple with its army of engineers can't make their products work reliably, how could have much smaller companies succeeded? Btw one of biggest disappointments for me with airpods (pro) is weak bettery life compared to competition. I am currently sho…

My only other bluetooth headset is a set of Bose QC35s. As sibling comments reported, quality is about par overall. I find UX of Bose is worse on all counts when working with multiple devices. And the battery life of my AirPods is less on a single use, but much better overall considering I can recharge in the case. My airpods, generally, also have to put up with more. I don't use my Bose with my phone or on the go wh…

> I don't use my Boss with my phone or on the go which is, generally, where the AirPods experience 90% of their quirks.

My experience is the opposite. When I'm not on the go, the likelihood that my AirPods pick up the right device is slim -- like trying to connect to an iPad on a complete different floor vs. the phone I'm trying to make a call on.

When I'm on the go, the only device they can find is my phone, and all works great.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#716

Post by mrtranscendence »

The most annoying thing about my AirPods Pro, which I generally like very much ... my phone starts playing music from its speakers when I take the AirPods out of my ears (and was not previously listening to music). Not all the time, but maybe 15% of the time, enough to be annoying. I have no idea what's going on. I've tried googling it, but nobody else seems to be having this problem. I've combed through settings but nothing seems applicable. I think I'm stuck with it.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#717

Post by timtimmy »

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.

Apple engineers reading this: The painfully loud "PING" sounds on the AirPods Max hurt my ears when I switch from transparency to sound isolation mode. It's really unpleasant and I'm concerned this is damaging my hearing. The "ping" volume level should be customizable or at least quieter across the AirPods line.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#718

Post by asdff »

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…

>The strangest part is that the annoyances aren’t getting any better over time.

Like most of what apple releases lately. People claim apple maps is better now, but its still missing a lot of data around the LA area especially with local business that Google maps has no issue crawling, and generally shoddy navigational asks (like unprotected lefts). Siri has also gotten no better since its release 10 years ago now (wow), if anything it defers to coarsly googling my terms more and throwing me the first couple irrelevant results as a response. If I wanted to do that I would open a browser and touch to talk into the search field.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#719

Post by bvogelzang »

I just got Airpods for Christmas and I love them. Most of these annoyances revolve around the fact that you're using two devices at the same time. I do the same on a regular basis and run into some of these all the time. One that is not on this list:

Sometimes when I switch from my Mac to my iPhone, Spatialized Stereo does not kick in until I toggle the setting on my iPhone from off to on.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#720

Post by initplus »

arcticbull wrote: post #620
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…

Extend that to AirPods Pro. My right ear cup crashes periodically - then I can only hear out of the left side until the watchdog timer engages and nukes the left cup too. I frequently have to reset it by holding down the buttons for 10 seconds in order to get it to connect to anything. It frequently disconnects and refuses to reconnect if I take off my mask out from under it. It stops detecting my head occasionally.…

If you are experiencing all of these reliability issues, have them replaced by Apple. My original AirPods Pro had some serious issues. Firmware would update on only one of the pair, and so preventing them both from connecting to the same device. Or one would just crash frequently...

After having both replaced I have had zero issues since. I assumed it was some hardware quirks with earlier models.

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