AirPods: Thoughts and experiences

By slj, 1 November, 2016

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

Hi all.
It kind of surprises me not to find a topic about the new AirPods yet, so here goes... :)
I got really excited then I heard the new AirPods being announced. I'm not sure if they are out in the US or not, but there are already a lot of reviews out on the internet.
My thoughts:
I could imagine myself using the AirPods everyday as my primary headphones in a lot of siturations. Only use it in one ear while talking in phone if I wants to, and use both when I wanna hear things in stereo.
I have two iPhones: One for private use and one for my job. I have two Macs, using my Macbook air as my primary computer, and I have an Apple tv 4th gen as well. I could imagine the AirPods switch between all those devices while being home, which would be so fantastic.
When traveling, they would switch between both of my iPhones, and Bluetooth makes it easy to wear while walking, so my cane don't brakes the cable. Very importantly, the way the AirPods and EarPods fits into the ears makes it able to hear what's going on around you, which is a must for me when traveling. that means, because they are Bluetooth and very small, I can just keep wearing those when raveling and still be able to hear everything around me. Yes, I can also do that with the Aftershockz headset, but the AirPods are just much easier to wear. Just like the EarPods, without the cable.
The caring case with the battery is just, wow! I imagine that fit very nicely into my jacket pocket.
An other very important thing to mention is that the AirPods supports other Bluetooth devices than the Apple products as well, which I wanna use with my Blaze ET handheld daisy player.
The only two bad things I have to say about the AirPods are the following:
1: They are easy to drop because they are so small. If you do, they can be difficult to find.
2_ Siri is needed to adjust the volume, or you have to do it on the device the AirPods is connected to. I am at a lot of places where I simply won't talk to my devices. Especially not just to turn down the volume, because someone is talking to me. Imagine someone talking to you, and you ask your phone to shut up... :) When using none Apple devices, I think you need to adjust the volume on the device you're connected to, which is pretty annoying.
Then, I don't hope there'll be any lag when using VOiceover when using the AirPods. Some Bluetooth headphones do lag so much so it's impossible to type on the keyboard, and others don't lag for some reason. I'm not sure on what makes this difference...
So, I'm really excited about the new AirPods, and I look very much forward to get them soon. Hopefully for christmas...
What are your thoughts and experiences, if they are out in the US yet?

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Comments

By Chris on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

Hello,

I want to know two things abut the Air Pods. First, is the latency problem common in Bluetooth devices finally gone? Is this latency only gone when using it with the iPhone 7? While we know it will connect to any device running iOS 10 or Sierra, I am still concerned we'll have to deal with latency on Macs and other devices. Is this W1 device a custom Bluetooth radio? Second, has Apple managed to fix the 8 KHZ mono mode that most Bluetooth devices switch to when using the microphone? I'd love to use Bluetooth devices with programs like Skype provided the device didn't switch to mono telephone quality sound. I can't stand that kind of audio. As with my first question, will these improvements only work with the iPhone 7? While I probably won't be purchasing these due to the rather high price, the technology intrigues me. If Apple has finally found a way to make Bluetooth audio as good as wired audio, this means I may switch to wireless audio for good as some point in the future. Hopefully it won't be proprietary like Apple's solution is.

By DrewWeber on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

Not out in US till at least January. Thanks for bringing your thoughts. If they are BT4 or above, (some other apple code), lag should be minimal. BT2 A2DP is where it's really noticeable.

By charles on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

My first thought was, and still is, that the price is too high for a set of ear buds, especially if they are easily lost due to their size.

By Holger Fiallo on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

Nice how long before you need to recharge them? Also $150 is to much. I am sure that others are creating one that probably better and less spensive. I will wait unless someone wants to give me a Christmas present. Any taker.

By jcdjmac (not verified) on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

Hey guys, I feel that the airpods are very nice, but I have a question regarding the placement: will they be active when I place them in the ears, in other words, will it automatically play music while in ear, and will it automatically pause media when takin' out of ear? and will it still work when used with iPhone 5s?

By kevinchao89 on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

AirPods have been delayed and are unavailable.

By david s on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

Hello,

I have a pair of Starky Halos which uses BT 4.0. There is no lag between my device and my Halos. From what I heard, the W chip will allow you to connect to Apple devices without having to pair them. If you have an older device or non Apple device, you can pair them the old fashion way.

The only complaint I have with the Halos is handoff feature. If I am watching a movie on my phone and try to switch to my iPad, the Bluetooth goes haywire. Either the BT connection drops, the left will go to iPad while the right goes to iPhone or nothing happens at all. I am not sure if the W chip will address this or Apple has come up with another solution. Currently, the only fix is to turn BT off on my iPhone before turning BT on on the ipad. BT 4.0 uses low power so a full charge should go a long way. The only downside with this is the pods are so small and BT 4.0 being low power, you might not have a very good range.

Lets hope Apple test the batteries on the pods really well. To have your phone get hot in your pocket or even catch fire is preferable to having a device in your ear get hot or catch fire. This is the reason I chose a non rechargeable Halos vs. their rechargeable counterparts.

By Justin on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

I doubt they will work with the 5S. Probably works with the 6/6s or 7 and newer! About the latency thing, as they use a bluetooth like algorithm it'll probably still be present. I don't think you'll get the same kind of responsiveness that you get with wired headphones. I heard somewhere that they will have a 20 hour listening time and a five hour talk time. And yes, they will activate when put in ear and deactivate when removed from ear. There's optical sensors in the earbuds. I'd recommend doing a search on apple insider for more info about the airpods as there's a hold on release info.

By slj on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

In reply to by jcdjmac (not verified)

You can look up the information on Apples website to answer most of your questions. Yes, they will turn on when you put them into your ears, and turn off again when you take them out. They'll start to play music but I hope this can be turned off. Yes, they'll work with the iPhone 5S, and pares automatically when using IOS 10. They can be pared with other devices as well as usual headsets.

By slj on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

Hi.
I clicked reply on soem of the posts, which didn't worked as I expected. I'm sorry for that.
Most of your questions is answered on Apples website:
http://www.apple.com/airpods/
Yes, they are pricy. I look forward to hear about it when you've found some simular headphones for a lower price.

By Brian Giles on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

Pricy, yes, but I bet they'll last. The one thing that makes normal earbuds not last is the wire. I've gone through 6 or 7 pairs of ear pods since I've started using them. They're great to use when out and about. Losing the Air pods is another thing entirely though. I bet it won't take long to read about people misplacing them after they come out. I don't like the idea of having to use Siri to adjust volume though. There are times when using Siri just isn't appropriate. I think I read somewhere that people have f^found that voice activation is mostly used at home or in the car. One time I was out to lunch and I wanted to know what song they were playing, so I asked Siri, and someone walking by said "I don't know". I had to explain that I was talking to my phone. Kind of embarrassing lol. t

By charles on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

In reply to by david s

Nobody can comment on their experience with the new Apple product, because it isn't available. Thoughts, based on personal opinion, should be OK. Thoughts and opinions on this product would be on topic. Thoughts and opinions on other Bluetooth ear buds would, I think, be off topic.

By david s on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - 00:48

Hello,

I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple adds the air pod to a feature called hearing devices. In my case, I triple click on my home button and I get a choice of VoiceOver or hearing devices. Before, hearing devices, it was labeled hearing aids. I suspected they renamed it in anticipation of rolling out hearing devices such as the air pods.

I don’t understand how Siri would be able to adjust the volume to your liking. If it’s too low, you ask Siri to increase volume, and if it’s still not loud enough, you will need to activate Siri again and again to get the volume to what you want. Maybe on the next iPhone, they will remove the volume up and down buttons too? LOL Anyway, if they add the air pod to listening devices profile, you will be able to adjust the left or right volume as well as bass and treble.

By jcdjmac (not verified) on Friday, December 23, 2016 - 00:48

Hi All, to @roosterloop the airpods are out now, but they are currently out of stock. expect 6 weeks for delivery.

By Chuck on Friday, December 23, 2016 - 00:48

Is anyone having any success using the AirPods with an Apple Watch running voiceover, and an iPhone 6 running VoiceOver?

I have tried to use the Airpods, but the lag between when the iPods connect each device is incredibly long. Much longer than any other Bluetooth device I have.

Is this something that I am doing wrong?
Chuck

By jcdjmac (not verified) on Friday, December 23, 2016 - 00:48

Chuck, probably not. It might be different, depending on what device you own. I don't have airpods, so I can't tell you, until I receive them, probably next year.

By Chuck on Friday, December 23, 2016 - 00:48

In reply to by david s

Hello,
I found the easiest way to adjust volume with Siri on the AirPods is to ask Siri to adjust volume to 90%, 50%, whatever.
Works great!

Chuck

By Chuck on Friday, December 23, 2016 - 00:48

Hello,
while I cannot get my AirPods to work with both my Apple Watch and iPhone simultaneously, I have been listening to some music on my iPhone. The sound quality of the AirPods is excellent. They have good bass response, and filter out a lot of background noise.

Also, the microphone is fantastic! I've never use a Bluetooth headset that I could dictate with any degree of accuracy. The AirPods got every word right of three emails that I sent tonight!

Chuck