Google's New True Wireless Pixel Buds Mimic Two Key AirPods Features

[mazz0]

I didn’t even know my AirPods could be located the way 🤯

They can’t in my experience!
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They can’t in my experience!

Just tested again. Two findings:

1) Nothing happens with the case closed.
2) When I opened the case they went into pairing mode again. This has never happened before. Could have been caused by the recent iOS update and phone restart, or perhaps Find My breaks the connection sometimes, dunno. I suspect the former.

Personally I think 1 is pretty wank. The case is easily small enough to misplace, and you can hear sound coming from headphones in a closed case*, so allowing it to work with the case closed would be very useful. Obviously switching off the chip when the case is closed is to save battery, but surely there‘s an energy efficient way to do this. Switch on Bluetooth for a fraction of a second every 30 seconds maybe?

*I tested it by putting them in while the sound was playing - took a few second to shut off

 

[CarpalMac]

Curious. I've seen that sentiment expressed several times by several people whenever a wireless earbud topic comes up. Why are people assuming transparency mode is dependent on having ANC? Afaict, ANC isn't a prerequisite for having pass through capability. Products like the Galaxy Buds and Jabra E75t don't have ANC but both have pass through modes: Ambient Sound for Samsung and Jabra has the terribly named Hear-Through mode.

As for the Pixel Buds having pass through, I doubt they do as well. The review on tom's guide doesn't mention it at all.

Must admit, it’s an assumption on my part. But my layman’s understanding is that pass through relies on a microphone to pickup sound waves to then reproduce them via the speakers. Surely if you have gone to this bother, ANC isn’t that much of a stretch to include? Therefore I wouldn’t expect to have one without the other.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

Erm, I’m quite an Apple fanboi, but I don’t think it’s very fair to suggest this is a one way street. Aren’t control centre and notification centre both copied from Android? And the tiles-based app switcher is from some other, now defunct, mobile OS isn’t it?

There are always lots of people who think companies (Samsung/Google etc) always copy Apple.
Last year when Samsung upgraded to their latest wireless earbuds, people insisted that these had been copied from Airpods.
Even after explaining that Samsung had released a pair of wireless ear buds with a charging carry case with a snap lid called Gear Icon X BEFORE Apple even announced Airpods, one person still maintained they were an AirPod rip-off, because they were available in white. Along with black and a blue colour. Bizarre.

 

[anson42]

Buds I have to stick into my ear canal = hard pass

Definitely understand that viewpoint. On the flip side, I started with Etymotics 25 years ago now and I have never looked back, only in ears for me when it comes to portable music and noise reduction.

 

[69Mustang]

Must admit, it’s an assumption on my part. But my layman’s understanding is that pass through relies on a microphone to pickup sound waves to then reproduce them via the speakers. Surely if you have gone to this bother, ANC isn’t that much of a stretch to include? Therefore I wouldn’t expect to have one without the other.

Every headset with a mic has basically always functioned like that... anything from the call center Plantronics headset, to the gaming headset little Timmy uses to yell racist invectives in Fortnite, to the mics on current earbuds. It's not a bother to go through. It's simply a function of the mic/speaker set up that has existed for decades. Think about it. The same mic that pics up your voice sound waves during a phone call and reproduces them via the speaker in your ear can be the same mic that picks up sound waves from the surrounding environment and reproduces them via the speaker in your ear.

 

[tCdemon]

I just ordered a pair last night...can't wait! Apparently I have "special ears" because the AirPods and AirPods Pro won't stay in at all...hopefully these will!

 

[bchery21]

I just ordered a pair last night...can't wait! Apparently I have "special ears" because the AirPods and AirPods Pro won't stay in at all...hopefully these will!

These look pretty decent so hopefully they work out for you!

 

[44267547]

I just ordered a pair last night...can't wait! Apparently I have "special ears" because the AirPods and AirPods Pro won't stay in at all...hopefully these will!

Which is strange to me. Not so much in the fact that they don’t fit you, but the AirPods generally rest on the outer most portion of your ear, where the Pros have to Insert deeper into the canal, which I find some experience the issue of where it pushes against the Cartlidge, causing discomfort. The Regular AirPods are a perfect fit for me, but the Pros as much as I like them, lasted 30 minutes causing discomfort unfortunately. It’s the ultimate caveat to purchasing any type of earbud, is there is no such thing as ‘one size fits all’

I will say, the ANC on the Pros was some of the best noise canceling I have experienced, and I have used plenty of competitors in comparison. Apple did a great job here. (And the Pros Are some of the loudest earbuds I’ve also used, the Galaxy buds Plus are a close second.)

 

[ian87w]

First thing in my mind when I saw this "wow, such a Samsung rip off".

Google is becoming an embarrassment for Android. The innovations are coming from the OEMs like Samsung and Huawei. Example, Android wear. Even when Google has no idea what to do with it, Samsung and Huawei continued tackling the smart watch market.

 

[nate13]

Aren’t there 3 copy cat moves? Pairing, find my device, and the “OK google” feature.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

There are always lots of people who think companies (Samsung/Google etc) always copy Apple.
Last year when Samsung upgraded to their latest wireless earbuds, people insisted that these had been copied from Airpods.
Even after explaining that Samsung had released a pair of wireless ear buds with a charging carry case with a snap lid called Gear Icon X BEFORE Apple even announced Airpods, one person still maintained they were an AirPod rip-off, because they were available in white. Along with black and a blue colour. Bizarre.

Yep, Air Pods took off because Apple removed the jack, and suddenly bluetooth headphones became a necessity unless you were willing to suffer lightning/dongle land. The most extraordinarily successful marketing/sales con-job I've seen since the introduction of soldered in SSDs and RAM.

 

[russell_314]

I have a house full of Apple products and I am sending this from my iMac. But lets be real here. All companies copy from each other. We the customer benefit greatly from this practice.
Apple has copied things from the Android space numerous times. Heck the ability to copy and paste....any iPhone with a display larger than 4.7 inch is thanks to coping Android phones. Then there is wireless charging OLED displays and so many more features.
I for one am thankful they copy from each other.

Copying other designs does help with the end product. In China where copyright laws are pretty much ignored companies are able to make products that are better. A good example is Apple didn’t put Qualcomm modems in the iPhone due to copyright laws. They literally had to make an inferior product because of this. If Apple was able to ignore the copyright laws they could make a better iPhone.

Of course there’s more to this since copyright laws mean money for whatever company develops it. I’m just referring specifically to the end product and how it could be better when laws don't prevent copying.
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Yep, Air Pods took off because Apple removed the jack, and suddenly bluetooth headphones became a necessity unless you were willing to suffer lightning/dongle land. The most extraordinarily successful marketing/sales con-job I've seen since the introduction of soldered in SSDs and RAM.

Yes because if Apple didn’t remove the jack no one would ever buy Bluetooth headphones and we would still be carrying wires around everywhere. 🙄🙄

Bluetooth is a con job wow LMAO

 

[jamezr]

Copying other designs does help with the end product. In China where copyright laws are pretty much ignored companies are able to make products that are better. A good example is Apple didn’t put Qualcomm modems in the iPhone due to copyright laws. They literally had to make an inferior product because of this. If Apple was able to ignore the copyright laws they could make a better iPhone.

Of course there’s more to this since copyright laws mean money for whatever company develops it. I’m just referring specifically to the end product and how it could be better when laws don't prevent copying.

To be clear...we are not advocating copying designs per se. That was not part of the discussion. We were talking about copying features from one platform to another. Not violating copyright laws.

 

[russell_314]

To be clear...we are not advocating copying designs per se. That was not part of the discussion. We were talking about copying features from one platform to another. Not violating copyright laws.

Ah yes "features".. Yea we couldn't advocate breaking the law

 

[CarpalMac]

Every headset with a mic has basically always functioned like that... anything from the call center Plantronics headset, to the gaming headset little Timmy uses to yell racist invectives in Fortnite, to the mics on current earbuds. It's not a bother to go through. It's simply a function of the mic/speaker set up that has existed for decades. Think about it. The same mic that pics up your voice sound waves during a phone call and reproduces them via the speaker in your ear can be the same mic that picks up sound waves from the surrounding environment and reproduces them via the speaker in your ear.

But are non-passthrough headsets actually doing that? Is the speaker playing my voice back through to me whilst I speak? My understanding of Full Duplex is that whilst allowing you to speak and hear at the same time, it doesn't play yourself back. Makes me think back to the days of suffering horrendous feedback!

I haven't used a basic headset for over a year now so can't remember what it was like. I used my Airpod Pro's yesterday for a call and with both ANC & Passthrough disabled, they certainly weren't playing my own voice back to me. I am not trying to be argumentative, just not seeing it. Or should that be hearing it... Your line in the first paragraph:

The same mic that pics up your voice sound waves during a phone call and reproduces them via the speaker in your ear can be the same mic that picks up sound waves from the surrounding environment and reproduces them via the speaker in your ear.

is the basis of what I expect for ANC to work, which is why if that is there then I would expect the headphone to have ANC as well as the controller from that point must be pretty simple to achieve, as all it is looking for is repeating wave patterns that it can then cancel out.

 

[stylinexpat]

Ah yes "features".. Yea we couldn't advocate breaking the law

Fast forward to today If you thought it was just the Chinese who get accused of copying..

Koss suing Apple over basic concept of wireless connection to headphones and speakers | AppleInsider

Koss is suing Apple over the concept of wirelessly connecting to headphones or speakers, and is alleging that nearly all of Apple's current product lineup is in infringement of Koss-held patents.

appleinsider.com

 

[anson42]

Fast forward to today If you thought it was just the Chinese who get accused of copying..

Koss suing Apple over basic concept of wireless connection to headphones and speakers | AppleInsider

Koss is suing Apple over the concept of wirelessly connecting to headphones or speakers, and is alleging that nearly all of Apple's current product lineup is in infringement of Koss-held patents.

appleinsider.com

You don't actually have to be consciously copying a design for a company to feel you are infringing on its patent. In my career as an engineer I have been actively discouraged from reviewing patents to ensure I am not tempted to copy a means to a solution. If my working design happens to match that of an existing patent, then I have created it without prior influence and it must be proven in court that it is actually infringing. Companies that have the resources may have IP lawyers review the work being done to avoid future claims of infringement but as an engineer I'm working in a patent-less vacuum, not actively copying anything but trying to attain a desired product goal.

 

[russell_314]

Fast forward to today If you thought it was just the Chinese who get accused of copying..

Koss suing Apple over basic concept of wireless connection to headphones and speakers | AppleInsider

Koss is suing Apple over the concept of wirelessly connecting to headphones or speakers, and is alleging that nearly all of Apple's current product lineup is in infringement of Koss-held patents.

appleinsider.com

They're suing Apple because they have deep pockets. They're saying they own the patent to ALL wireless audio
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