Amazon Working on Alexa-Enabled Wireless Earbuds to Rival AirPods

[cmaier]

For iPhone users will be tough to match AirPod integration. “Hey Alexa...” “please unlock your phone and launch the Alexa app so...”

 

[Ankaa]

I suspect the firePods will turn out to be amazingly similar to the Bragi Dash, and as I recall Bragi was recently bought by a mysterious entity.
Regardless, while you can argue sound, the dash isn’t as good in a technical sense as Airpods, and I doubt shoehorning in Alexa will be that great. At least not without significant redesign.

Yeah, upon seeing the announcement this morning I hoped to a second that Amazon might have bought Bragi - but the details that are known about the upcoming Amazon earbuds speak against it. Like that it does require a phone (=no internal storage) and the look will resemble AirPods.

I couldn't care less about Alexa (or Siri for that matter) on earbuds. And while there certainly is room for improvement with the Dash, the concept in itself is innovative enough that I'm still surprised no-one is really been following it. It can't be technically limitations alone and now imagine what companies like Apple or Amazon could do with the concept, having the cash behind it.
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What year is this? 2013? Internal storage within the headphones is something only a small percentage of people would use when there is Spotify and Apple Music to stream from. It just isn't worth the cost to build in. People think nothing of carrying their phone while working out (or wearing a watch capable of streaming or that has internal music storage).

As far as waterproof - the AirPods are pretty good in my experience. I run very long distances in them often and shorter distances regularly. I've even used them in the rain. I've had mine for well over a year and they're going strong.

One word: Swimming.

And this might come as news to you if you're from the US, but unlimited data plans are still not a thing in other parts of the world and hence most people do not stream music.
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Where exactly could you fit even an SSD in an AirPod? It’s amazing enough that they each have a battery, a mic, a driver, and a BT chip.

As for making them “waterproof,” it’s completely unnecessary. The only liquid one would expect to come into contact with AirPods is sweat, and they have no problem handling that. Hell, I ran mine through the wash and they were perfectly fine after they dried.

Bragi Dash. Look at it.

 

[Nicksd84]

Does everyone miss the point that AirPods are awesome because of the w1/h1 chip wrapping around Bluetooth and integrating with iOS. Connecting an amazon offering will be like any other Bluetooth headphones. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

 

[gnipgnop]

Amazon wouldn't be doing this unless they were afraid of something.

 

[tooloud10]

Again, they aren't competing with AirPods if they can't run on iOS.

They’re BT, so they’ll “run on iOS” just fine for a lot of us.
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Connecting an amazon offering will be like any other Bluetooth headphones.

Because connecting regular BT headphones to an iOS device is such an exhausting action?

 

[Baymowe335]

They’re BT, so they’ll “run on iOS” just fine for a lot of us.
[doublepost=1554430852][/doublepost]

Because connecting regular BT headphones to an iOS device is such an exhausting action?

But that would be a more unusual case, agreed? If you want wireless earbuds, you’re likely going to use the Apple product.

AirPods still work best with iOS and Amazon would not work as well as AirPods with iOS.

 

[Nicksd84]

Because connecting regular BT headphones to an iOS device is such an exhausting action?

Yes. Especially switching between iPad, personal phone, and work phone during the day.

 

[BvizioN]

I welcome this personally, I use Alexa for everything. IMO Siri was never able to compete with it.

I personally don't get it why people are so obsessed with having a personal assistant on their ears but perhaps they use earphones/earbuds in a different way. I love my AirPods and use them all the time but I have never used Siri on them. Never found a single reason to use it, if I am honest,.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Jeff Bezos couldn’t even protect his phone from Saudi hackers yet millions of fools would trust him with the data collected by Alexa devices.

Jeff Bezos is the World's richest man:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47817833

That makes him a target by nation states regardless/despite what products he puts out. Who is Tim Cook over at Apple? A guy who is CEO of a company that makes popular Bluetooth earphones. Of course "Saudi hackers" aren't interested in him.
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Does everyone miss the point that AirPods are awesome because of the w1/h1 chip wrapping around Bluetooth and integrating with iOS. Connecting an amazon offering will be like any other Bluetooth headphones. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

I think you are taking crazy pills or have swallowed the Apple cool-aid. The W1/H1 chips are chips that handle the pairing of Bluetooth devices, nothing more nothing less. If you don't have a problem pairing a standard piece of Bluetooth equipment then these chips do nothing for you (but hey, Apple gave them a cool name right?).

And by "integrating with iOS" do you just mean working? because surely that's a given, oh and I'm sure the target for these earphones is all Bluetooth devices not just Apple users and their phones.

 

[StevieD100]

They will come with "audio offers" for a $50 discount

They'll need an Amazon Prime subscription to work after the first month... (possibly)

 

[Patriks7]

All of this time, effort and expense wasted on these stupid earbuds when you could have just left the headphone jack in your phones.

I have had Airpods for a year and a half now and Bose QC35 for almost two years and I am incredibly glad they took away the headphone jack to make these better. It feels like a small thing, but the freedom wireless headphones bring is big (for me at least). I now use them in a lot more situations than I would have before.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

I have had Airpods for a year and a half now and Bose QC35 for almost two years and I am incredibly glad they took away the headphone jack to make these better. It feels like a small thing, but the freedom wireless headphones bring is big (for me at least). I now use them in a lot more situations than I would have before.

How does having (or not having in Apple's case) a headphone jack "make these better"?; the headphone socket has nothing to do with how your wireless headphones perform.

 

[Nicksd84]

I think you are taking crazy pills or have swallowed the Apple cool-aid. The W1/H1 chips are chips that handle the pairing of Bluetooth devices, nothing more nothing less. If you don't have a problem pairing a standard piece of Bluetooth equipment then these chips do nothing for you (but hey, Apple gave them a cool name right?).

And by "integrating with iOS" do you just mean working? because surely that's a given, oh and I'm sure the target for these earphones is all Bluetooth devices not just Apple users and their phones.

Nope that’s not what I meant at all, but I really enjoyed your belittling post!

And being that this is an Apple site they would be compared to Apple products and how they’re used. If they handle calls just as well as AirPods and come in significantly cheaper then great! Would be a great offering for lots of people. However, I think AirPods have an inherent advantage of how they connect and switch between Apple devices that standard Bluetooth connections thus far have been unable to match.

 

[atikalz]

"Amazon is aiming to offer better audio quality than the AirPods"

This wont be very hard to do I guess

Airpods sound amazing!

 

[dilbert99]

Jeff Bezos couldn’t even protect his phone from Saudi hackers yet millions of fools would trust him with the data collected by Alexa devices.

What you think that is the worst hack?

So when Apple was hacked, all their customers were fools?
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If your argument is that they should’ve left the headphone jack in the phones, then why has Bluetooth grown exponentially where all these manufacturers are creating their own wireless Bluetooth earbuds? Seems that the headphone jack is fading where Bluetooth has become more predominate in improving with sound and battery life. Not everyone cares about the 3.5 mm Jack.

I use both bluetooth headsets and wired ones. Would be nice to have the choice.

 

[bbeagle]

Wasn't the article a year ago something like:
Apple Working on Siri-Enabled Wireless Speaker to Rival Echo

?

 

[ipponrg]

I have had Airpods for a year and a half now and Bose QC35 for almost two years and I am incredibly glad they took away the headphone jack to make these better. It feels like a small thing, but the freedom wireless headphones bring is big (for me at least). I now use them in a lot more situations than I would have before.

Are you saying Bluetooth wasn’t a good option before they took away the headphone jack?

 

[fourthtunz]

All of this time, effort and expense wasted on these stupid earbuds when you could have just left the headphone jack in your phones.

yeah but, now they make money off the adapter and the headphones

 

[AppleZilla]

Selling my AMAZON Eeros as soon as I pick a replacement. Don't want Amazon spying on us at home, or abroad.

No Google hardware. No Amazon hardware. Period.

 

[danmorgz]

A simple cellular connection from the Airpods case.. Stream apple music, that'd be nice

 

[macguru212]

AirPods are the new iPod. Give them internal storage and the ability to work with Siri for playback controls offline, and they're a full on iPod replacement.

Beyond the functionality, AirPods are the 2019 status symbol as iPod's white earbuds were in the early 2000's.

I'm not surprised to see other big names coming in to compete with arguably Apple's most popular product right now.

Which is why as time goes by I really wish these were in-ear earphones. Sound leakage, sound isolation, and my big ears (the wired buds fall out constantly) kill the AirPods for me.

 

[P_Devil]

Will they call them FirePods?

They'll go great with my cutting-edge Fire Phone.

Imagine that, Amazon released a product that failed. How is your AirPower charger working for you? 3rd gen butterfly keyboard holding up? How about that first gen. Apple TV or the G4 Cube? Oh wait, that was too expensive for anyone to afford. So Amazon failed with their smartphone. Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, and many others have all failed in various other ventures. That's whay companies do.

 

[Knightcastle]

I welcome this personally, I use Alexa for everything. IMO Siri was never able to compete with it.

Seriously?

"Alexa, turn the lights on"
"Sorry, I don't see any lights called the"

 

[cocky jeremy]

Alexa, please tell the NSA what I'm doing right now.

 

[EvilEvil]

Does everyone miss the point that AirPods are awesome because of the w1/h1 chip wrapping around Bluetooth and integrating with iOS. Connecting an amazon offering will be like any other Bluetooth headphones. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

They sound terrible though with all the tech packed in!