AirPods: Thoughts and experiences

Hello,

I want to know two things abut the Air Pods. First, is the latency problem common in Bluetooth devices finally gone? Is this latency only gone when using it with the iPhone 7? While we know it will connect to any device running iOS 10 or Sierra, I am still concerned we'll have to deal with latency on Macs and other devices. Is this W1 device a custom Bluetooth radio? Second, has Apple managed to fix the 8 KHZ mono mode that most Bluetooth devices switch to when using the microphone? I'd love to use Bluetooth devices with programs like Skype provided the device didn't switch to mono telephone quality sound. I can't stand that kind of audio. As with my first question, will these improvements only work with the iPhone 7? While I probably won't be purchasing these due to the rather high price, the technology intrigues me. If Apple has finally found a way to make Bluetooth audio as good as wired audio, this means I may switch to wireless audio for good as some point in the future. Hopefully it won't be proprietary like Apple's solution is.

Not out in US till at least January. Thanks for bringing your thoughts. If they are BT4 or above, (some other apple code), lag should be minimal. BT2 A2DP is where it's really noticeable.

My first thought was, and still is, that the price is too high for a set of ear buds, especially if they are easily lost due to their size.

Nice how long before you need to recharge them? Also $150 is to much. I am sure that others are creating one that probably better and less spensive. I will wait unless someone wants to give me a Christmas present. Any taker.

AirPods have been delayed and are unavailable.

Hello,

I have a pair of Starky Halos which uses BT 4.0. There is no lag between my device and my Halos. From what I heard, the W chip will allow you to connect to Apple devices without having to pair them. If you have an older device or non Apple device, you can pair them the old fashion way.

The only complaint I have with the Halos is handoff feature. If I am watching a movie on my phone and try to switch to my iPad, the Bluetooth goes haywire. Either the BT connection drops, the left will go to iPad while the right goes to iPhone or nothing happens at all. I am not sure if the W chip will address this or Apple has come up with another solution. Currently, the only fix is to turn BT off on my iPhone before turning BT on on the ipad. BT 4.0 uses low power so a full charge should go a long way. The only downside with this is the pods are so small and BT 4.0 being low power, you might not have a very good range.

Lets hope Apple test the batteries on the pods really well. To have your phone get hot in your pocket or even catch fire is preferable to having a device in your ear get hot or catch fire. This is the reason I chose a non rechargeable Halos vs. their rechargeable counterparts.

I doubt they will work with the 5S. Probably works with the 6/6s or 7 and newer! About the latency thing, as they use a bluetooth like algorithm it'll probably still be present. I don't think you'll get the same kind of responsiveness that you get with wired headphones. I heard somewhere that they will have a 20 hour listening time and a five hour talk time. And yes, they will activate when put in ear and deactivate when removed from ear. There's optical sensors in the earbuds. I'd recommend doing a search on apple insider for more info about the airpods as there's a hold on release info.

Pricy, yes, but I bet they'll last. The one thing that makes normal earbuds not last is the wire. I've gone through 6 or 7 pairs of ear pods since I've started using them. They're great to use when out and about. Losing the Air pods is another thing entirely though. I bet it won't take long to read about people misplacing them after they come out. I don't like the idea of having to use Siri to adjust volume though. There are times when using Siri just isn't appropriate. I think I read somewhere that people have f^found that voice activation is mostly used at home or in the car. One time I was out to lunch and I wanted to know what song they were playing, so I asked Siri, and someone walking by said "I don't know". I had to explain that I was talking to my phone. Kind of embarrassing lol. t

Hello,

I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple adds the air pod to a feature called hearing devices. In my case, I triple click on my home button and I get a choice of VoiceOver or hearing devices. Before, hearing devices, it was labeled hearing aids. I suspected they renamed it in anticipation of rolling out hearing devices such as the air pods.

I don’t understand how Siri would be able to adjust the volume to your liking. If it’s too low, you ask Siri to increase volume, and if it’s still not loud enough, you will need to activate Siri again and again to get the volume to what you want. Maybe on the next iPhone, they will remove the volume up and down buttons too? LOL Anyway, if they add the air pod to listening devices profile, you will be able to adjust the left or right volume as well as bass and treble.

Is anyone having any success using the AirPods with an Apple Watch running voiceover, and an iPhone 6 running VoiceOver?

I have tried to use the Airpods, but the lag between when the iPods connect each device is incredibly long. Much longer than any other Bluetooth device I have.

Is this something that I am doing wrong?
Chuck

Hello,
while I cannot get my AirPods to work with both my Apple Watch and iPhone simultaneously, I have been listening to some music on my iPhone. The sound quality of the AirPods is excellent. They have good bass response, and filter out a lot of background noise.

Also, the microphone is fantastic! I've never use a Bluetooth headset that I could dictate with any degree of accuracy. The AirPods got every word right of three emails that I sent tonight!

Chuck

What about the delay with voice-over?