Samsung Leaks Upcoming AirPods Competitor 'Galaxy Buds'

[I7guy]

Pairing is something that is done ONCE.
I have used several Bluetooth devices of various types and cannot say it had ever been complicated. I would likely never consider the simplicity or complexity of pairing when deciding upon a purchase, because it is only done ONCE and isn't difficult. If not obvious, RTFM

There's is more to the post than the pairing, which was left out of this response. And that is the ability to stream mono to the airpod, automatic ear detection, ability to display the charge and each airpod separately on the iphone, and so on. Not sure why the only thing commented on was the pairing, which basically consisted of just opening up the case and done, which is why it was mentioned in the first place.

As someone who is oft quick to comment to others on this issue, I would consider it mandatory that you clarify this when passing an opinion. I and others do not call people up on this as a rule, so I do not feel it necessary to do so.

Please follow the same sage advice you pass to others as well. As someone who also is oft quick to comment on others posts, the use of imo (or other similar verbiage) would let others know you are not passing off opinion as fact.

 

[Abazigal]

Pairing is something that is done ONCE.
I have used several Bluetooth devices of various types and cannot say it had ever been complicated. I would likely never consider the simplicity or complexity of pairing when deciding upon a purchase, because it is only done ONCE and isn't difficult. If not obvious, RTFM

Not in my experience.

For example, back when I was using my pebble watch, I found the watch frequently disconnecting (roughly once a week). To the point where I would have to keep repeating the pairing process, which was pretty cumbersome, because there were times when it just wouldn’t pair, even after I had forgotten the previous connection.

Same with my earlier wireless headphones. They just didn’t stay connected as reliably as my Airpods and Apple Watch have, and the range certainly wasn’t as far. I don’t know what Apple has done behind the scenes, but their wireless connections have been rock solid.

I daresay my Apple Watch and Airpods are truly the first set of devices where pairing has really been “fire and forget”.

If you wonder why I am such a fan, it’s little things like this that Apple gets right.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

There's is more to the post than the pairing, which was left out of this response. And that is the ability to stream mono to the airpod, automatic ear detection, ability to display the charge and each airpod separately on the iphone, and so on. Not sure why the only thing commented on was the pairing, which basically consisted of just opening up the case and done, which is why it was mentioned in the first place.

Please follow the same advice you pass to others as well. As someone who also is oft quick to comment on others posts, the use of imo (or other similar verbiage) would let others know you are not passing off opinion as fact.

As I said, I do not as a rule, or ever at all, call people up on statements they make as being an opinion, unless particularly important to a statement. That is why, as I clearly stated, is why I do not see the need to do so in every post.

 

[I7guy]

As I said, I do not as a rule, or ever at all, call people up on statements they make as being an opinion, unless particularly important to a statement. That is why, as I clearly stated, is why I do not see the need to do so in every post.

The point is, telling someone how to post and then not following their own advice is back to do as I say and not as I do.

Perfect example here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...tor-galaxy-buds.2169895/page-11#post-27102117

"Poor for the price". A subjective opinion or fact? At any rate I did not agree with that statement.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

Not in my experience.

For example, back when I was using my pebble watch, I found the watch frequently disconnecting (roughly once a week). To the point where I would have to keep repeating the pairing process, which was pretty cumbersome, because there were times when it just wouldn’t pair, even after I had forgotten the previous connection.

Same with my earlier wireless headphones. They just didn’t stay connected as reliably as my Airpods and Apple Watch have, and the range certainly wasn’t as far. I don’t know what Apple has done behind the scenes, but their wireless connections have been rock solid.

I daresay my Apple Watch and Airpods are truly the first set of devices where pairing has really been “fire and forget”.

If you wonder why I am such a fan, it’s little things like this that Apple gets right.

You seem confused between two quite different Bluetooth functions.
Pairing and connecting. I do not see why one would need to un pair and then do a new pairing if one has connectivity issues. This sounds like the advice an Apple "genius" might suggest. Perchance your anecdotal experiences with Bluetooth connectivity are due to subpar Apple hardware.
[doublepost=1550441958][/doublepost]

The point is, telling someone how to post and then not following their own advice is back to do as I say and not as I do.

Perfect example here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...tor-galaxy-buds.2169895/page-11#post-27102117

"Poor for the price". A subjective opinion or fact? At any rate I did not agree with that statement.

I am happy to pass a subjective opinion. I do not see the need to state it as such as I do not as a rule, or ever at all, call people up on making opinions or subjective jstatements. I was not calling someone up on making a subjective statement in the post you quoted.

 

[Abazigal]

You seem confused between two quite different Bluetooth functions.
Pairing and connecting. I do not see why one would need to un pair and then do a new pairing if one has connectivity issues. This sounds like the advice an Apple "genius" might suggest. Perchance your anecdotal experiences with Bluetooth connectivity are due to subpar Apple hardware.

It seemed pretty clear to me.

Simply put, my pebble watch was technically paired to my iPhone, but I wasn't getting notifications pushed to my watch. The only way to fix the problem was to repair the watch, by first "forgetting" the connection in the bluetooth section of the settings app, then repairing it all over again. And even then, I ran into occasions where the watch simply failed to pair again, resulting in a fair amount of frustration.

And while we are on the topic of the pebble watch, that thing had pretty bad build quality. The charging pins had a habit of corroding pretty easily when exposed to sweat, leading to my watch not charging unless I scraped away the layer of corrosion with a fingernail, and of course, this was just kicking the can down the road.

I know - it costs just a fraction of the price of an Apple Watch, but I guess there is some truth to the saying "You get what you pay for" at the end of the day.

Same with my wireless headphones (Jabra). Once in a while, it would just fail to work, and my only real solution was to erase and repair it again, like what I did with my Apple Watch.

Perhaps it is, like you said, due to subpar apple hardware. But my anecdotal experience has been that my "subpar" iPhone, my "subpar" Apple Watch and my "subpar" AirPods, have proven to be far more reliable when used together than when it was just my iPhone + pebble watch + third party wireless headphones.

So the sad reality was that for me at least, these supposedly superior third-party hardware (as touted by some members here) wasn't offering me more of what I wanted (a seamless integrated experience which just worked right out of the box), but was instead saddling me with more problems and more frustrations that I had to contend with.

Which brings me back to my original point - specs don't matter. Only the end experience does. That is the truth I have learnt after having used Apple products all these years.

 

[Dave.UK]

It seemed pretty clear to me.

Simply put, my pebble watch was technically paired to my iPhone, but I wasn't getting notifications pushed to my watch. The only way to fix the problem was to repair the watch, by first "forgetting" the connection in the bluetooth section of the settings app, then repairing it all over again. And even then, I ran into occasions where the watch simply failed to pair again, resulting in a fair amount of frustration.

And while we are on the topic of the pebble watch, that thing had pretty bad build quality. The charging pins had a habit of corroding pretty easily when exposed to sweat, leading to my watch not charging unless I scraped away the layer of corrosion with a fingernail, and of course, this was just kicking the can down the road.

I know - it costs just a fraction of the price of an Apple Watch, but I guess there is some truth to the saying "You get what you pay for" at the end of the day.

Same with my wireless headphones (Jabra). Once in a while, it would just fail to work, and my only real solution was to erase and repair it again, like what I did with my Apple Watch.

Perhaps it is, like you said, due to subpar apple hardware. But my anecdotal experience has been that my "subpar" iPhone, my "subpar" Apple Watch and my "subpar" AirPods, have proven to be far more reliable when used together than when it was just my iPhone + pebble watch + third party wireless headphones.

So the sad reality was that for me at least, these supposedly superior third-party hardware (as touted by some members here) wasn't offering me more of what I wanted (a seamless integrated experience which just worked right out of the box), but was instead saddling me with more problems and more frustrations that I had to contend with.

Which brings me back to my original point - specs don't matter. Only the end experience does. That is the truth I have learnt after having used Apple products all these years.

The pebble was released six years ago. Tech has evolved since then.

Plus when talking about quality, remember one was made by a trillion dollar company, the other by a kickstarter campaigne.

 

[Abazigal]

The pebble was released six years ago. Tech has evolved since then.

Plus when talking about quality, remember one was made by a trillion dollar company, the other by a kickstarter campaigne.

And so is there any wonder why I ultimately choose to shop from a trillion-dollar product which so happens to make all the products in that ecosystem, and is thus in a position to ensure that they all work well together?

To its credit, the pebble watch did whet my appetite for a proper smartwatch, but it also convinced me that since I was using an iPhone, the only company who could get the smart watch experience right (for me) was the one that also manufactured the smartphone I was using, through their control over hardware, software and services.

Is it cheating that Apple gets to make use of APIs that no other OEM has access to? Perhaps. But that's not my battle to fight. My job is to identify which products work best for me, and as far as I am concerned, that's Apple.

 

[I7guy]

And so is there any wonder why I ultimately choose to shop from a trillion-dollar product which so happens to make all the products in that ecosystem, and is thus in a position to ensure that they all work well together?

To its credit, the pebble watch did whet my appetite for a proper smartwatch, but it also convinced me that since I was using an iPhone, the only company who could get the smart watch experience right (for me) was the one that also manufactured the smartphone I was using, through their control over hardware, software and services.

Is it cheating that Apple gets to make use of APIs that no other OEM has access to? Perhaps. But that's not my battle to fight. My job is to identify which products work best for me, and as far as I am concerned, that's Apple.

When you said apis it reminded me of what I remember at the time, when Microsoft was cheating on it's spreadsheet benchmarks against the competition by using hidden windows apis.

I don't think Apple is using apis that other vendors don't have access to, I believe there isn't another vendors "Apple watch" on the market as the time, effort and expense of development is too much for anyone except a major company to have it be ios centric. This is one place where android marketshare is a plus. Not to mention the r&d to develop the ekg had to be significant, although now that apple has broken that barrier, I'm sure other watches will be incorporating that same functionality over time.

 

[Abazigal]

When you said apis it reminded me of what I remember at the time, when Microsoft was cheating on it's spreadsheet benchmarks against the competition by using hidden windows apis.

I don't think Apple is using apis that other vendors don't have access to, I believe there isn't another vendors "Apple watch" on the market as the time, effort and expense of development is too much for anyone except a major company to have it be ios centric. This is one place where android marketshare is a plus. Not to mention the r&d to develop the ekg had to be significant, although now that apple has broken that barrier, I'm sure other watches will be incorporating that same functionality over time.

Well, I remember finding it frustrating that I couldn’t respond to notifications on my pebble watch, though it would later support limited quick reply functionality on android. So Apple is clearly reserving some form of functionality for their own products which they are not opening up to third parties. Likewise, only the Apple Watch can make use of Siri and Apple Pay. I do also agree that part of the reason is that Apple also has the resources, and the incentive to devote to the Apple Watch as they have.

At the end of the day, it is what it is.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

That's $50 each AirPod and $50 for the case. Like I said, if the convenience is your ONLY concern, AirPods are great. Their sound quality has a lot to be desired. IMO

Is that actually $50 per AirPod? I know that the case is $50 by itself.
[doublepost=1550505210][/doublepost]

If you dislike the look enough to not use it to begin with, then that's not a better design either, is it?

No. That's different.

Connectivity Issues are objectively testable, and if true, are useful to potential customers.

"Look" Issues are completely subjective, and therefore useless in a general way, unless significant percentages of potential customers agree (which they don't seem to).
[doublepost=1550505377][/doublepost]

....and easy to spot when they fall out
[doublepost=1550269906][/doublepost]

Research = finding first article that supports your argument

Pretty compelling, even as a single data-point, since it was the MANUFACTURER that offered that Opinion.

 

[torana355]

Not in my experience.

For example, back when I was using my pebble watch, I found the watch frequently disconnecting (roughly once a week). To the point where I would have to keep repeating the pairing process, which was pretty cumbersome, because there were times when it just wouldn’t pair, even after I had forgotten the previous connection.

Same with my earlier wireless headphones. They just didn’t stay connected as reliably as my Airpods and Apple Watch have, and the range certainly wasn’t as far. I don’t know what Apple has done behind the scenes, but their wireless connections have been rock solid.

I daresay my Apple Watch and Airpods are truly the first set of devices where pairing has really been “fire and forget”.

If you wonder why I am such a fan, it’s little things like this that Apple gets right.

I have an LG urbane watch, Beats x and the amazing Sony 1000x-m3's and none of them have ever randomly disconnected. I paired them all once to my S9 when I purchased them.

 

[ipponrg]

And so is there any wonder why I ultimately choose to shop from a trillion-dollar product which so happens to make all the products in that ecosystem, and is thus in a position to ensure that they all work well together?

You have to remember why some Kickstarter campaigns were created in the first place. They were trying to solve problems that existed but had no solutions at the time. It's where inventors go in pursuant of their vision. When you are funding a campaign, you really are making a gamble that you believe in them and that they will deliver. There is a chance that they won't deliver which is the crappy thing about Kickstarter, and why I won't buy anything from an inventor unless it's from a reputable company.

Do you remember when inventors were coming out with USB-C hubs or 3rd party magsafe adaptors because Apple created a problem out of nowhere? Clearly there was a desire amongst the community to address this. Unfortunately, most of these inventors had to reverse engineer the problem to create their solutions which is why many solutions are not initially 100% reliable.

 

[I7guy]

You have to remember why some Kickstarter campaigns were created in the first place. They were trying to solve problems that existed but had no solutions at the time. It's where inventors go in pursuant of their vision. When you are funding a campaign, you really are making a gamble that you believe in them and that they will deliver. There is a chance that they won't deliver which is the crappy thing about Kickstarter, and why I won't buy anything from an inventor unless it's from a reputable company.

Do you remember when inventors were coming out with USB-C hubs or 3rd party magsafe adaptors because Apple created a problem out of nowhere? Clearly there was a desire amongst the community to address this. Unfortunately, most of these inventors had to reverse engineer the problem to create their solutions which is why many solutions are not initially 100% reliable.

There are always those looking to solve some issue. Printer cartridges with proprietary chips come to mind.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

While I agree on the concept of judgement, you know why people do people AirPods, right? Just to show off. Plus Apple nowdays considers itself as a fashion company. So if its a bad fashion design, why is it judgmental to say that AirPods are DB looking.
[doublepost=1550278593][/doublepost]
Are you serious? All iPhones are using Samsung display. Without Samsung display, you won't be having iPhones.. how about that?

Actually, that isn't true. I thought it was true, too, and it WAS true of the OLEDs (but no longer true, I think). But there are actually other OEMs of the LCD Displays in iPhones (and maybe iPads, too?) See:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...o-get-second-supplier-for-oled-iphone-screens

https://9to5mac.com/2018/03/30/japan-display-iphone-lcd-losing-capital/
[doublepost=1550508141][/doublepost]

The Apple Watch has a cell version that is still tethered and shares a number with a cell phone. I want a cell enabled watch that is neither tethered or shares a number as I don’t want a separate cell phone at all.

Thanks for the clarification. Obviously, I don't understand the finer-points of LTE-Equipped Apple Watches...

 

[harriska2]

Actually, that isn't true. I thought it was true, too, and it WAS true of the OLEDs (but no longer true, I think). But there are actually other OEMs of the LCD Displays in iPhones (and maybe iPads, too?) See:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...o-get-second-supplier-for-oled-iphone-screens

https://9to5mac.com/2018/03/30/japan-display-iphone-lcd-losing-capital/
[doublepost=1550508141][/doublepost]
Thanks for the clarification. Obviously, I don't understand the finer-points of LTE-Equipped Apple Watches...

It is confusing indeed. I think Apple tethers to an iphone (not ipad, not mac) for sales. I won’t be upgrading if they continue this path. All my devices (iphone, ipad, watch, mac mini 2018) are frozen on operating system version. I’ve stepped off their roller coaster.

 

[Abazigal]

I have an LG urbane watch, Beats x and the amazing Sony 1000x-m3's and none of them have ever randomly disconnected. I paired them all once to my S9 when I purchased them.

Good for you. I am simply sharing my experiences with third party hardware and how they have ultimately led to me making the purchasing decisions that I did.

Neither is more right or wrong than the other. I just find it weird that when I share my own experiences, I am somehow always dismissed as not being representative of Apple’s user base, or that my needs don’t matter. But when others talk about even more niche use cases like an iPad running macOS, suddenly they seem to know what’s best for Apple and Apple is expected to bend over backwards to cater to them, or it will be even more evidence that Apple is not innovating.

This place is funny.

 

[Melab]

I think you are in the MAJOR minority here. Its unfortunate youve had issues, but most people I know that try airpods once will never go back to anything else. Also airpods give me the most range of any bluetooth device ive ever used. It out ranges Surface headphones by like 50ft in my experience. Did you try replacing your phone when you had these issues?

If I had a pair, I'd use them, but $159 is too expensive for me. I'll stick to knockoffs.

 

[torana355]

Good for you. I am simply sharing my experiences with third party hardware and how they have ultimately led to me making the purchasing decisions that I did.

Neither is more right or wrong than the other. I just find it weird that when I share my own experiences, I am somehow always dismissed as not being representative of Apple’s user base, or that my needs don’t matter. But when others talk about even more niche use cases like an iPad running macOS, suddenly they seem to know what’s best for Apple and Apple is expected to bend over backwards to cater to them, or it will be even more evidence that Apple is not innovating.

This place is funny.

Your post that i originally replied to insinuated that its normal for third party bluetooth accessories to have connectivity issues, i was simply playing devil's advocate and pointing out that it has not been the case for me with bluetooth products from 3 different brands working as advertised. There are also plenty of reports of Apple Airpods having connectivity issues so clearly Apple Does NOT get all the little things right. I respect your choices and i'm happy you have found a Brand that you trust but as i keep saying there are plenty of other products that also work well, if not better.

 

[AppleScruff1]

They’re getting pretty desperate at this point. AirPods, watches, stores, its all not going to work unfortunately. Guess they gotta give it a go though.

And I thought that Samsung released wireless earbuds before Apple.

 

[DNichter]

And I thought that Samsung released wireless earbuds before Apple.

I think you are right (watch too), but now they are doing a whole new re-branding of their ecosystem. Everything is under the Galaxy name now. That is what all feels kind of desperate to me and is unlikely to work out for them considering the competition in the android market.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I think you are right (watch too), but now they are doing a whole new re-branding of their ecosystem. Everything is under the Galaxy name now. That is what all feels kind of desperate to me and is unlikely to work out for them considering the competition in the android market.

What about when Apple went with Apple Watch instead of iWatch?

 

[harriska2]

Is there a place to learn more about the watch. Their website sucks! All I can see is that it costs $279.

 

[Johns12]

I think you are right (watch too), but now they are doing a whole new re-branding of their ecosystem. Everything is under the Galaxy name now. That is what all feels kind of desperate to me and is unlikely to work out for them considering the competition in the android market.

Maybe they are desperate because of the competition with other Android vendors. What would you have them do, nothing?

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

It is confusing indeed. I think Apple tethers to an iphone (not ipad, not mac) for sales. I won’t be upgrading if they continue this path. All my devices (iphone, ipad, watch, mac mini 2018) are frozen on operating system version. I’ve stepped off their roller coaster.

Are you saying you AREN'T upgrading the OS on those products, or CAN'T?