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

Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

kevinrooke.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 696 posts

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#81

Post by askmike »

Kylekramer wrote: post #22

I've idly thought that Spotify should get into hardware. Headphones and/or speaker, purchase it connected to your account, and one touch button to a stream of music you like. Obviously a million times easier said than done, but has to be a better margin business than where they currently are and would be good lock in.

A headphone that only works with Spotify? My Bose QC that I can use for anything (including Spotify - with a single on button to connect to bluetooth controlled via my phone or laptop) isn't really inconvenient or anything.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#82

Post by radlad »

rolltiide wrote: post #62
gz5 wrote: post #40

Amazing how Apple managed to make the first cool MP3 player, then the first cool smartphone and now the first cool bluetooth headset. For almost 20 years now, Apple has owned electronic fashion. Sony for example was unable to parlay its Walkman dominance into similar positions with new devices. And make no mistake about it - a huge portion of these sales are people buying Apple's marketing - not buying the tech itsel…

The tech is cool too Zero people have been swayed by the observation that the components can be acquired for cheaper And the non-iOS phone users that are married to “how much control they have” have touched an iphone since 2014.

Sorry to burst your bubble, I'm a long-time Android user who switched to the iPhone 6S for about a year and a half, then back to a Pixel 2. Following its release, I bought the iPhone XS expecting to love it and be done with Android.

Oh, how wrong I was. Siri is still garbage, CarPlay is terrible compared to Android Auto. And there's nothing even similar to Google Home. Apple's hands-free story is completely nonexistent which is fine if you've never used a decent hands-free ecosystem, but it's very hard to switch back to.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#83

Post by reaperducer »

madrox wrote: post #76

A couple years ago, I got a bit of saltwater in my iPhone and the headphone jack failed. Since the next generation of iPhone (the iPhone X) was about to come out, I held onto it for a couple months and bought AirPods. I then realized this was Apple's real reason for eliminating the headphone jack. It had nothing to do with courage. It was about eliminating a deeply ingrained user habit so they could solve the problem…

I then realized this was Apple's real reason for eliminating the headphone jack.

To do away with the point of failure that you so aptly illustrated by getting salt water in your phone?

I wouldn't have bothered with the AirPods if my headphone jack had continued to function.

That's you, though. There are clearly millions and millions of people who don't want wires.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#84

Post by sleepinseattle »

fizixer wrote: post #71

Do Airpods have a built-in microphone, and audio/ambient mixing (with ratio controllable through the phone)? I can't believe this feature is not standard on today's headphone products, especially digital ones. edit : Thanks for the responses. Looks like Airpods pro do have this feature. Thumbs up!

AirPods Pro do—“transparency” mode—but you can’t control the amount of mixing.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#85

Post by simias »

f1refly wrote: post #66
gz5 wrote: post #40

Amazing how Apple managed to make the first cool MP3 player, then the first cool smartphone and now the first cool bluetooth headset. For almost 20 years now, Apple has owned electronic fashion. Sony for example was unable to parlay its Walkman dominance into similar positions with new devices. And make no mistake about it - a huge portion of these sales are people buying Apple's marketing - not buying the tech itsel…

>now the first cool bluetooth headset [citation needed] Honstly every time I see someone wearing earpods I can't take him seriously anymore, they look _so_ bad. There's a lot of options on the market, and airpods are the ugliest of them all.

I tend to agree with you, I find them pretty ugly and weird looking, but it's also clear that we're outliers here. Those things are hugely popular.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#86

Post by rooam-dev »

School-Cotton wrote: post #14
rooam-dev wrote: post #6

Apple Ecosystem, Apple's way - create a problem and a solution at the same. I wonder what's the ratio among the owners, who bought vs. who received them as a gift.

> create a problem and a solution at the same "Wires are annoying" and "other Bluetooth headphones suck" were not problems created by Apple.

They removed the wired option which created a problem for some and offered a solution. Yes, I know about the dongle, already lost 2 of them.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#87

Post by Psyonic »

fizixer wrote: post #71

Do Airpods have a built-in microphone, and audio/ambient mixing (with ratio controllable through the phone)? I can't believe this feature is not standard on today's headphone products, especially digital ones. edit : Thanks for the responses. Looks like Airpods pro do have this feature. Thumbs up!

Airpods Pro do. Along with noise cancelling that's the main improvement.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#88

Post by nathancahill »

mrguyorama wrote: post #56
taurath wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A “single purpose music box” would be neat to me. Maybe it controls all the speakers in my house, informs me of concerts coming up, let’s me set a mood, and most importantly doesn’t care about anything else. I feel like every gadget being in one is gonna start breaking down now that software interop is more of a thing.

Chromecast is $35 and will play spotify and other apps pretty darn well.

They did a recent promo with Google where you get a free Google Home Mini if you're a subscriber. So I don't think they are getting in to hardware.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#89

Post by read_if_gay_ »

wiredfool wrote: post #33
skyyler wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't differ from their other offerings... Their laptops and phones do not have replaceable batteries, why would their headphones?

The batteries in the other items are replaceable, it’s just not easy. In my understanding, the AirPods batteries simply aren’t replaceable at all.

Then it’s just a matter of what you think is easy enough to be called replaceable. I would wager for most consumers a MacBook battery is not in that category.

Re: Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?

#90

Post by nathancahill »

Waterluvian wrote: post #26

Has anyone found any info/study on "average likelihood of losing or damaging an airpod in a given year"? That's all that's stopping me from buying this and other premium products. I love premium products but not if I have to replace them every year.

One of the first reviewers of the Macbook Air lost it in a stack of newspapers.
Post reply on HN