Just me or is clicker more difficult to engage accurately in iOS6?

[robaroo]

I have an iPhone 5. Using the clicker, I double tap to go to next song and tripple tap to go to previous song. This was done effortlessly in pre-iOS 6 and pre-iPhone 5 devices. It became second nature and worked every time.

However, in iOS6 (or is it in iPhone 5?), it seems that double clicking more often than not pauses the song instead of going to next song. I find myself getting caught between pausing and playing and pausing and then going back to beginning of song. It's become very frustrating to actually get it to go to the next song.

When double clicking, the threshold between pausing a song or going to next song seems to be a matter of just milliseconds. Don't even get me started on triple clicking. I've wanted to throw my iPhone 5 against a wall trying to triple click to a previous song and ending up going three or four songs forward.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[bripab007]

Since you've got an iPhone 5, presumably you're using the new headphones with completely new mic/volume/play/pause module, right?...

 

[TJ61]

Am I doing something wrong?

By definition, yes.

But, seriously, it would not be surprising if they changed the timing of the clicks without mentioning it. From your description, it sounds like either your double clicks are too close together so that they're being interpreted as one click, or your remote is faulty and one of the clicks is not registering.

I would suggest seeing how slow you can go with double clicking before you change from advancing a track to simply toggling between pause and play. Be deliberate with your clicks to avoid possible missed clicks. Your solution may be to slow down.

Regards,
Tom

 

[robaroo]

Since you've got an iPhone 5, presumably you're using the new headphones with completely new mic/volume/play/pause module, right?...

I am using the new clicker. I didn't know something changed with them. Can you point me to new documentation?

By definition, yes.

But, seriously, it would not be surprising if they changed the timing of the clicks without mentioning it. From your description, it sounds like either your double clicks are too close together so that they're being interpreted as one click, or your remote is faulty and one of the clicks is not registering.

I would suggest seeing how slow you can go with double clicking before you change from advancing a track to simply toggling between pause and play. Be deliberate with your clicks to avoid possible missed clicks. Your solution may be to slow down.

Regards,
Tom

I don't think it's hardware related because it does actually work after a few tries.

It usually goes something like this:

• *CLICK CLICK* song stops playing.
• *CLICK* (just to see if i'm still on same song or maybe went into a song that starts out silent) same song starts playing. SIGH!
• *CLICK CLICK* finally goes to next track.

The first try (after not having double clicked for a while) almost never works. The second try usually works.

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i found the documentation here: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/earpods_user_guide.pdf

but it looks like all the click controls are the same. so not sure what click changes were made, if any....

 

[bripab007]

The controls are identical. The clicker itself is entirely new (as evidenced by iFixit's iPhone 5 teardown, by external visual inspection and by touch/feel). And it's possible the new clicker switches have slightly altered response timing or something, or perhaps iOS 6 running on iPhone 5 responds more quickly than you're used to with your old iDevice. Or you could even have a pair of faulty EarPods.

The most likely scenario in all of these is probably that you're not quite used to the new clicker buttons (maybe the click is not quite as perceptible to your fingers, maybe the larger center button is easier to mis-click, etc.).

 

[TJ61]

The first try (after not having double clicked for a while) almost never works. The second try usually works.

Maybe that's because you're inclined to be more deliberate, and thus slightly slower, with the second attempt. I'd still suggest trying to go a little slower on your first attempt and see how it works.

Regards,
Tom

 

[TJ61]

but it looks like all the click controls are the same. so not sure what click changes were made, if any....

Pardon the two posts in a row -- just realized this comment may be in response to what I said. I didn't mean that the functions changed (i.e. 2 clicks for advance, 3 for reverse, etc), just that they MAY have made a change to the delay time required between clicks. Implementing dead time between clicks in the operating system would be a way to "debounce" the switch. Perhaps the new switches used in the earpods have different switch bounce characteristics requiring a slightly longer dead time.

The above is a WAG on my part -- just barely know what I'm talking about -- but it may be reason to experiment with your click speed.

Regards,
Tom