I had the E8’s and returned them after just 3 days. Great sound, but terrible tap controls made them a real PIA to use. A shame because they had most of what I value in a pair of earbuds.
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Kuo: AirPods With Wireless Charging Case Expected in Early 2019, All-New Model in Early 2020
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I had the E8’s and returned them after just 3 days. Great sound, but terrible tap controls made them a real PIA to use. A shame because they had most of what I value in a pair of earbuds.
Oh..I don't know. Volume control? Sorry. My ass isn't walking around talking to Siri.
user replaceable batteries would be a welcome feature getting tired of throw away products with high price tags.
Completely agree. Touch is not reliable at all. The skip feature (2 taps) is like a Harry Potter's spell: it needs practice and magic to get it done. I really like the sound, however is a little high on treble. Calls in wind/noising conditions are a big no.
Pairing is great. I have some disconnects when turning my head and my phone is pocketed. I can live with those, but I'm really disappointed with the building quality. The paint in the magnet ring around the contacts started to peel right away...
If there are over 700 million active iPhone users, the 5% translates to more than 35 million sets of AirPods sold already. Not bad for something that was widely ridiculed for its price and looks.
I think most of us forgot about those rumors. Yes, exactly, the new AirPods won't necessarily have any improved audio features, but primarily add health monitoring features. BT 5, and perhaps better battery life and Siri. Oh and colors.
Holy cow, I hadn't considered that. That's terrible. Knowing this, Apple should never replace just one at a time.
Yes, touch is very poor on these. I gave a pair to my Mom, and she can't get the touch to work at all. Not sure why. She should be able to pick up a call just by tapping, and likewise end the call, but it never works for her. That's a major fail in my book. Otherwise they are a great solution because she uses them solely for phone calls, so she always has one charged up and ready to go when the other one runs low on charge.
It's painful ... I can now watch the percentage drop every 15-20 seconds.
To be fair, I don't exactly know if the battery is really losing charge that fast, because the percentage shown on the iPhone seems to jump around so much -- earlier today, I put my AirPods on when I got into my car (they had been in a fully charged case for the last few hours). By the time I had driven about 3 blocks, it was down to 80%. After I got to my destination, the batteries showed 84%. Then they went up to 98% while in the case (had been over 90 min, so I would have expected 100%).
I have tried doing a full reset of the AirPods but that didn't do anything. Is there anything else I should try, or am I just going to have to wait for the next release then replace?
Your guess is as good as mine. I normally never have any issues with Apple batteries, in iPhones, iPads, Macs, etc. For some reason these just didn't last.
Perhaps I haven't tried enough of the devices - do you find that the Sennheiser are as good as the Shure (or other higher-end wired in-ear monitors)?
I agree that the AirPods are not audiophile quality, but when in a relatively noisy environment, or when listening to podcasts recorded at relatively low bit-rates, they seem to function adequately.
I currently use lower-midrange in-ear buds, such as the Shure 500 series, and AKG, but none really seem to overwhelm me. I have accumulated quite the collection (it's now at the point where my 12 yr old uses the Shures as his in-ear monitor while playing the drums...), and still haven't found something that really knocks my socks off, so I keep asking opinions to figure out what I should try next. Given my history of rejecting the sets that I've tried, I'm a bit hesitant to drop $500-1000 on a custom set only to find out that I don't like them... Any suggestions are welcomed
Couldn’t disagree more. Try walking the streets of NYC or traveling on a commuter train. Having to set the iPhone volume to max just to hear a podcast or semi drown out external noise is just not a great experience.
Finally got my pair a few days ago and really love them. Great connectivity, sound and a very comfortable fit and - this goes for all Bluetooth earbuds, of course -it feels great to not have a cable that gets caught on my collar or tangled up in my pocket .
Why not? Especially if the Airpods is already considered underpriced to begin with.
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Technically, the claim says "up to 5 hours", not "minimum 5 hours" or "close to 5 hours". So even if it gets only 1 minute, the claim is still true. We must interpret "as written". Can I join Apple's legal team now?
The Simpsons,Treehouse of Horror VIII.
1:56 Bomb shelter salesman: "This baby is called the Withstandinator. It can take a 6 megaton blast. No more, no less."
Technically, the claim says "up to 5 hours", not "minimum 5 hours" or "close to 5 hours". So even if it gets only 1 minute, the claim is still true. We must interpret "as written". Can I join Apple's legal team now?
The Simpsons,Treehouse of Horror VIII.
1:56 Bomb shelter salesman: "This baby is called the Withstandinator. It can take a 6 megaton blast. No more, no less."
Just read the article again... if I am reading its right 100-110 million units a year is the estimate. That is a huge amount of revenue. That comes out to $160 billion a year or thereabouts. Do I have this way off? I was thinking a year ago they would do maybe 5 billion a year or something.
"We attribute AirPods' dramatic growth (14–16mn, 26–28mn, 50–55mn, 70–80mn and 100–110mn units in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively) to 1) the upgraded model with wireless charging support to benefit shipments to launch in 1Q19, 2) the all-new design model to boost replacement demand to launch in 1Q20, 3) an innovative user experience, and 4) high integration with iOS and Mac products. In summary, AirPods is Apple's most popular accessory ever, and it currently has the best growth momentum among Apple products."
"We attribute AirPods' dramatic growth (14–16mn, 26–28mn, 50–55mn, 70–80mn and 100–110mn units in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively) to 1) the upgraded model with wireless charging support to benefit shipments to launch in 1Q19, 2) the all-new design model to boost replacement demand to launch in 1Q20, 3) an innovative user experience, and 4) high integration with iOS and Mac products. In summary, AirPods is Apple's most popular accessory ever, and it currently has the best growth momentum among Apple products."
...
Technically, the claim says "up to 5 hours", not "minimum 5 hours" or "close to 5 hours". So even if it gets only 1 minute, the claim is still true. We must interpret "as written". Can I join Apple's legal team now?
The Simpsons,Treehouse of Horror VIII.
1:56 Bomb shelter salesman: "This baby is called the Withstandinator. It can take a 6 megaton blast. No more, no less."
Nevertheless, I can corroborate his claim that battery life is getting worse on the Airpods. 5 hours is true on a fresh pair, but after close to 2 years, I find I barely get 2 hours of podcast listening. I typically don’t listen that long at a stretch (the last time, it barely lasted the iPad keynote on my Apple TV), but I guess it can be a tad alarming to see the battery life drop at such an accelerated rate.
Still, 2-3 years seems par the course for wireless headphones. It’s been a good run. Will probably look at upgrading my Airpods and Apple Watch next year.
I’m happy with the sound quality for situations I use them for; mainly traveling. There’s room for improvement, particularly in the mid ranges but that’s a caveat of most in-ear/earbud speakers.
Mostly what I’d like to see are touch controls. I’d love if they put a tiny touch strip along the side that you could slide your finger up/down to adjust volume. Maybe tap gestures switch its current functionality so for example triple tap to make the slider a scrubber.
I got mine customized at Blackpods.store but it looks like they're not taking any new orders. I know Colorware offers the same service, though: https://www.colorware.com/p-743-apple-airpods.aspx
I really cannot understand people who say they are ok for situations like traveling, meaning they do not have many demands or expectations from such situations! That’s quite strange! Don’t you need high quality sound while traveling? Only sitting on your sofa you need good sound? Not all in ears as you write, suffer from mid frequency problems. It’s just AirPods that present so thin mids and most importantly non existing low bass, due to the non existent seal to the outer ear or ear canal. In ear or over ear headphones are quite capable of reproducing all frequencies but ear buds like the AirPods, due to their small size in conjunction with no seal, cannot produce low frequencies at all. As a result the audio spectrum stays “naked” of any warmth, giving mainly scratching highs and thin mids. This is the sound of AirPods, unfortunately! I’ve got them from the first month of release and even though I find them the best idea in audio, ever, I believe they are not meant for high quality music listening. They are mainly made for phone conversation since also in that use scenario you need to hear your own voice, thus you do not want seal. BeatsX and Studio3 are offering thousands of times higher quality sound, deep low frequencies and full spectrum representation. I believe that Apple is in desperate need of true wireless in ears, not ear buds, so that they can offer you the desired noise isolation, whenever you need to really enjoy your music and not the metro rails’ extreme noise!
I found a good deal and bought them last months: I'd say it is one of the best products Apple has ever made.
To be perfect they should be in-ear, or at least have that option to provide better sound isolation. I'd also love other colors like black but it's less important.
To be perfect they should be in-ear, or at least have that option to provide better sound isolation. I'd also love other colors like black but it's less important.