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POLL: Are you a fan of AirPods? Tell us why in your replies.
It seems like AirPods are a bit like Marmite - you either love them or hate them. While they hurt my ears after I wear them for too long and the sound quality doesn't compare to my over ear Sennheiser I still love my AirPods for days where I'm doing lots of calls on the move or working out at the gym. They are incredibly intuitive and love the tap functionality.
What's your view?
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Replies
I think their killer feature is the automatic pairing. They did an amazing job leveraging hardware and software to replicate any experience of the alternative (putting wired headphones in - you just put them in).
The sound quality is sub-par because they don't fit snuggly. I much prefer the Jabra Elite 65t's
They don't fit in my ears. Can't stand using them. Jabra Evolve Active 65t have been great. My wife uses Airpods, and seems to like them, but she doesn't use half the features.
The old, wired Apple pods kept falling out of my ears. I couldn't take more than a couple of steps before they'd pop out. For some reason Airpods stay in my (unusually large?) earholes - even on a long run. I wasn't expecting to love this product so much, and definitely wouldn't have bought a pair at first, but I was given some as a gift from Apple and now I can't go without them. I find it strange that many people think they look weird... I mean, they look exactly the same as the old wired pods, just without the cables. I don't understand why the cabled version looks fine to people, but the wireless don't. And I couldn't care less.
@simondingle Everyone seems to agree those Bose are the best for drowning out plane sounds. I use my Sennheiser Urbnites on the plane and for long journeys - they aren't noise cancelling but they provide an immersive listening experience which I love.
@simondingle haha that's a good point that folks complain about the aesthetics when they look just like the old ones. I was reluctant to invest at first, too but now i'm so glad I did. I actually find them most helpful when on the move or working out at the gym.
Apple hit another home run again with this product, like the did with the iPhone, they weren’t the first but they got right what others weren’t seeing.
It is only in its second generation, third generation just hit the news but not the the shelves yet. The iPhone that made Apple the smartphone maker that everyone else had to measure its product, was the unapologetically designed 4S, still the best smartphone design ever.
After another 3 iterations, our jaws’l fall to the floor.
To another 40%, you don’t know what your are missing. Buddies, I feel sorry for all of you
I love my AirPods. I have tried other wireless earbuds but they all block out sound and I want to be aware of my surroundings. That's the #1 feature for me.
I really like them for commuting (lack of noice canceling is a feature in this case) but the mic is breaking quite easly with just a bit of water and that is so ridiculous for this price.
They're soooo convenient! Definitely not going to win any awards for sound quality, but if I'm going from A to B, doing laundry or anything like that, throwing my Airpods in my ears to listen to my music wire-free is fantastic!
@aaron_kazah I used to think the same thing, and now I've owned both versions 1 and 2...and gave the old ones to my GF so didn't lose them!
they fall often and riding Nyc train while listening to podcasts is a joke. I often now just wear one at a time because of battery and fear of losing them. Wished that if no sound was playing and 1 of them falls out, an alert sound would still play.
My wife and I are on a long European holiday in a somewhat fractious relationship - she's the sole breadwinner supporting a startup founder who's only just launched a product after a couple of years of non-earning struggle. Using AirPods, we've found a new way to connect by easily sharing music whilst we're walking around some amazing places in Croatia. They make it so easy to share whilst walking together, with the flexibility to tackle uneven trails and be a few feet apart.
@andydentperth1 what a beautiful story! I'm so glad you found this amazing way to use them to connect on your travels. I can totally relate to that feeling of being the non-earner as you bootstrap. Its a crazy life yet we live it!
I have a more loving relationship with them now that I only use them for conference/video/phone calls and listening to podcasts while running around doing errands. I love that they don't really block outside noise and that they kind of effortless hang in my ear, even if it means they might fall out from time to time.
Their battery life is pathetic. Their out of the box performance is good, but after about 18 months of use the batter life quickly goes to about 40% - 50% of factory new. Very disappointing considering their exorbitant cost. I'm sure these AirPods cost about $6 a piece to make so I'd be okay buying a new pair once a year if they weren't so overpriced.
My daily music wear are Sennheiser True Wireless buds. They make the AirPods sounds like garbage (and should for the price), but the microphone quality in the AirPods is still hands down the easy winner!
@russbrown00 Sennheiser are so good! I have a pair of over the ears I use on journeys and to listen to music when I can't play it aloud. I haven't tried their True Wireless buds though.
@russbrown00 I have a wired Bowers & Wilkins Monitors headphones, they are really good, I will never use wireless headphones to listen to lossless compressed or simply uncompressed music.
Left channel or right channel will go out randomly. The tones that signify low battery will be heard when they are fully charged. Fit is fine, super convenient, happy to pay for a premium product, they just plain don't work well.
@eve_hammond yes I know what you mean - I resisted buying them for a while for this reason but then my friend showed me the keyring she bought to keep her AirPods in and I bought that and *never* let myself leave them anywhere except in there or in my ears.
I have never used Airpods. but i can say exactly the Panasonic is the best headphones that i used.
Airpods are successful because they improve by some margin almost every frustrating aspect of using earbuds. Combined together they let you put them on and get them back to charge in seconds, without context switching, and with zero cognitive effort.
Other earbuds offered some of these improvements before them, but only Airpods offer them all in a package. This respects Apple's (mostly lost) tradition of only adopting a new UX paradigm when they're ready to knock it out of the park.
Obviously i like a lot 🤘
While there are plenty of people using the AirPods for fitness, that isn’t what they’re made for. If you want to hit the gym with true wireless ‘buds, check out the PowerBeats Pro. These have an IPX4 certification to protect against sweat, 10 hours of constant playback, and of course the around-ear hook design to keep these in place while you move around.
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