
AirPods and the Three Stages of Apple Criticism - MBCook
https://medium.com/@ReThinkReviews/airpods-and-the-three-stages-of-apple-criticism-fed70b84e435
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romwell
How about one stage of Apple (and numerous other tech) criticism instead: I
hate sluggish things.

AirPods are sluggish.

That is, they introduce worst-in-class latency of about 1/3 of a second[1].

Why do I care? Because making music is nauseating when you press a key, and
the sound doesn't come right away. Even latency as low as 1/100 of a second is
felt[2] - that's about the standard for acceptable latency.

Rhythm games are likely out of question too (unless the devs took care to
measure and compensate for this latency).

When iProducts came out, there was a huge emphasis of them being a creation
tool for artists and musicians. AirPods show that, sadly, this is no longer
the emphasis.

In general, latency of all kinds plagues all the products we use, to the point
where Apple IIe was more responsive than today's juggernauts[3].

But as for AirPods in particular - they _are_ a flawed product. Good for you
if your use case is not affected by the flaws.

[1] [https://stephencoyle.net/AirPods](https://stephencoyle.net/AirPods)

[2] [https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/q-how-much-
latency...](https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/q-how-much-latency-
acceptable-virtual-piano)

[3] [https://www.extremetech.com/computing/261148-modern-
computer...](https://www.extremetech.com/computing/261148-modern-computers-
struggle-match-input-latency-apple-iie)

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blackflame7000
I'll be the first to admit I never thought I would buy them. Way over priced I
said. So I bought some standard bluetooth headphones on amazon for 30$ and
they worked well but eventually the weight of their connecting strap started
to bother me.

After another amazon binge, I decide to go light and try a 4 start knockoff
product that seemed like they would do the trick. At first, they were great,
the second song was good too and then low battery. After a full charge, the
best I ever got was 1 hour. I only got to use them for a few weeks because one
day the entire innards came out with the charging cable for one of the
KnockoffPods.

So having the iWatch, which has does wonders for my health, I gave in and
purchased the most expensive Easter egg I've ever seen. But from the moment I
put them on you could tell why they are worth the price.

First, the battery life is excellent and the idea to add a battery pack into
the storage case was great.

Second, the ability for the headphones to sense when they are in your ear is a
nice touch and the tap for siri is convenient too.

However the think I like the most is that with the iwatch3 and airpods, I can
still have my phone capabilities with me without all the distractions of the
iphone.

