First day experience with Apple’s AirPods
Yesterday I got my AirPods and the experience has been phenomenal. Here are few observations I thought it would be worth-while sharing.
Decision Making
I was looking for wireless headphones to would connect well to my iPhone 7 Plus as well as to my MacBook Pro and would have high quality Microphone.
My main use-cases are conference calls, podcasts & music (in that order).
My short-list was Bose QC35 and AirPods.
Fred Wilson’s opinion almost convinced me to go with the QC35 but I changed my mind in the last minute.
I picked the AirPods mostly because:
- In-Ear vs. Over-Ear — I’ve had (and currently have) many high-quality head-phones and I’ve found that I use In-Ear much more frequently.
The simple truth is that the best headphones are the ones you have with you :) - Versatility — I can use the AirPods for running & exercising
- Carrying — I can easy put the AirPods in my pocket while I will not walk around with the QC35 on my neck and I prefer to avoid carrying a bag
- Price — $159 for AirPods vs. $349 for Bose QC35
- Micro USB vs. Lightning cable — It happened to be that all my wireless equipment uses Lightning connector and having Micro USB another cable everywhere I work from adds a bit more clutter
- Music & Noise Cancellation Quality — Surprisingly I’ve very happy with the AirPods music quality and their ear isolation which provides a decent passive noise cancellation
The Aha moment
Yesterday for the first time I’ve listened to music while cooking in years. Why? because I cook while the kids are asleep so using the speakers is not really an option.
I do have few amazing wired headphones but have the wires around me while cooking is something I never really considered.
While cooking I walked around the house forgetting the phone in the Kitchen and the music continued flawlessly. Given their tiny size the supported distance was a delightful surprise.
Siri Integration
The AirPods are sensitive to touch and by double tapping on them they invoke Siri (in their default behavior). While the concept is great launching Siri is a cumbersome and a very slow way to achieve a task.
I’ve found switching double tapping behavior to do Pause/Play is extremely useful and can be done while cooking or any other activity as long as you have one finger available. Much easier than operating the phone.
The AirPods also automatically detect when you take them off and they pause the music but in many situations I found the tapping to be easier/faster way to quickly pause music, talk & resume instead of taking them off and on again.
My impression so far
Highlights
#1 — Sound quality is very high, higher than what I actually expected
#2 — They are so light weight that I barely feel they are there
#3 — Double click on AirPods to Pause/Play is awesome
#4 — Case is pretty near. The magnets that pull the AirPods in are surprisingly strong
Wish-List
#1 — AirPods connect to a single device at a time. Receiving a call while listening to a music from the computer will not give any indication unless using a iCloud/MacOS and even than if I want to take the call from the phone I need to pair it. I would have loved to have the QC35 similar functionality — being able to pair with multiple devices and seamlessly switch between them
#2 — I would love to see the tap controls enriched. Most specifically moving to next track and controlling the volume would be awesome
#3— The sound indication that the battery needs recharging happened 10 seconds before the battery died. While this is not horrible, for calls having a slightly longer head notice would be helpful
The Future
My kids take the internet for granted. They expect connectivity to be available all the time and on all devices, anything less than that surprises them.
Using the AirPods today made me think what would be their expectations from wireless and being surprised that we used to walk around with cords hanging from our ears to our phone (and not even mentioning a dedicated music player :)).
