
AirPods are now available - runesoerensen
http://www.apple.com/newsroom/2016/12/apple-airpods-are-now-available.html
======
FireBeyond
There's like a next-level Apple marketing babble on that page:

"AirPods introduce an effortless wireless listening experience packed with
high-quality audio and long battery life. These magical wireless headphones
use advanced technology to reinvent how we listen to music, make phone calls,
enjoy TV shows and movies, play games and interact with Siri, providing a
wireless audio experience not possible before."

Magical. Reinvent. Not possible before.

None of these words applies.

~~~
cocktailpeanuts
Maybe because... it IS a marketing page?

As much as I've also become an apple hater recently because of what they've
done to iOS10 and the new macbook pro, I think criticizing a marketing copy
for being a marketing copy is not fair.

~~~
plainOldText
What are some of the things you hate about iOS 10? I've also disliked a few
changes they've introduced, but after spending more time with the OS, I've
discovered that some changes were not as bad as I'd initially considered. It
was more a matter of getting used to.

I guess people don't like changes to the things they've grown accustomed to.

~~~
jobu
There are a lot of small things that are making me hate iOS 10.

1) Unlock process: When the fingerprint reader fails it now takes several
presses on the home key to get a keypad to pop up so I can input my code. With
previous versions I could just swipe when I knew the fingerprint reader would
fail (e.g. wet hands).

2) App updates: When apps are updating on my phone it decides it really wants
to stay on the home screen. I can swipe to get to the other screens, but it
goes back before I can tap any apps. Also, when I can get into an app they
tend to lag and crash more when updates are happening in the background.

3) Control Center (bottom menu): Trying to slide the brightness or volume
controls on the control center menus usually gets interpreted as a swipe to
the next control menu. I have to be very precise when touching them for the
sliders to actually work.

4) Safari: Auto-hide of the control buttons does help page visibility, but
showing them seems to be glitchy as hell. They appear and then disappear
before I can move my finger to tap them.

5) Crashes: At least daily now the whole phone crashes to a black screen and
then comes back to the lock screen a few seconds later. Seems to involve
location services.

Also, not exactly iOS 10, but the new Watch OS completely broke the usability
of the Weather app for me. Something that was fairly intuitive and useful is
now cumbersome and basically useless to me.

~~~
pfranz
Good news/bad news for 5. Try backing up and restoring. It's a huge pain and
shouldn't be required, but it does tend to fix outlier issues.

A friend has a 16gb iPhone and has managed to deal with that little space
until just recently. She'd run out of space completely, I'd hand-update apps
one-at-a-time trying to free up temp download space. Deleted her local music.
A few weeks later deleted her local photos. iMessage claimed 1gb of space,
it's a little opaque and manual to clean delete things. I finally convinced
her to delete all messages older than 1 year. She got 500mb back. The next day
her phone was full again without an obvious reason. Backed up her phone and
restored. Everything seems to be there and now she has 5+gb free.

I was having the battery issue they're fixing the 6s for. Because I knew
they'd ask I restored my phone (and grabbed yesterdays update because that had
a fix related to this, too). It seems to be fixed as well by restoring.

...but all of this is souring me on Apple. I wish I was more confident about
other options.

~~~
dep_b
You can clear out a lot of space by trying to download a huge movie from
iTunes. Just trying is enough. It will first purge all accumulated cruft
before telling you you still don't have enough space.

[https://www.cnet.com/how-to/out-of-space-on-your-iphone-
try-...](https://www.cnet.com/how-to/out-of-space-on-your-iphone-try-this-
magic-trick-to-free-up-more/)

~~~
pfranz
Even though people disagree, what Apple does there makes sense to me. It's
like all of my kind of tech savvy friends always complaining they're out of
RAM. It gets freed when you need it. Having empty space does you no good,
deleting caches prematurely wastes resources both deleting and regenerating
it. It does suck not having an accurate count of how much free space you have
when you're making sure you have space to download an app or take pictures for
your trip. I think it's terrible for so long Apple only sold 16gb phones and
the next size up was 64gb. They're also so stingy on iCloud space that most
people I know can't keep an iCloud backup.

However, in my case had I tried this and it didn't work.

------
erikpukinskis
I find this headphone war discussion a bit boring. The AirPods are much more
interesting as Apple's first foray into augmented reality.

If they add positioning, this product becomes Magic Leap without the visuals.
I don't think they see this as a music device, they see it as a new platform
for audio. Interesting things start happening when people start leaving one or
both in their ears all day. Arrival times in your ear at the bus stop. Ask
Siri for a price check while at the store, etc.

A cable to your phone makes the earbuds hard to forget. This makes it easy,
but the design details have to be right for you to truly forget they are in.

I know "forget they're in" doesn't sound like a groundbreaking feature,
because it's not connected to any obvious technical challenge, but I think if
they succeed at that it would in fact put these in a new category.

Positional audio would seal the deal. You can walk around your kitchen and it
would feel like your invisible conversation partner was in the room with you.

~~~
amlib
But what about the possibility of losing the earpieces? They don't have a
cable and don't secure into your ear like a hearing aid or even a normal
bluetooth device. If they are so comfortable to the point of the user
"forgetting they are there" the rate at which people will lose these things
might be huge.

They don't dangle from a cable when falling like normal headphones or
Bluetooth headphones that have a cable between each earpiece. Since it's also
so comfortable, the user might not even notice they lost an earpiece
immediately if they are not listening to anything. (which will specially
happen if the user has incentives to use it day long).

And more annoyingly, you will most likely lose just one of the pair. Will you
be able to buy just one eapiece and pair it alongside the old pairless
earpiece? I don't think so...

edit: fixed wording as eric_h pointed out

~~~
jbigelow76

        >But what about the possibility of losing the earpieces?
    

It's interesting to see how many people seem want to stop the conversation at
"you're bound to lose one so what's the point."

10-15 years ago people the argument could have been made about cell phones,
"why carry a phone you're bound to leave at a restaurant or on a train..."

If the AirPods or wireless mini computers in your ears become so integrated
into our day to day lives one falling out will become obvious pretty quick.
And the price will drop, maybe not for the Apple versions, but what about
Google Now in $40 wireless earbuds in two or three years?

~~~
amlib
Ultimately that's what is going to limit the success of this product. It's not
just one issue, you also now suddenly have to manage 3 pools of battery for a
single device with that unnecessary dental floss container thing. I don't
think this is good design, at least not in the function over form sense. If
apple wasn't so stubborn they could just have linked both earpieces with a
cable and a small battery in the middle eliminating both, the extra battery
pool and "losability" problems. The price could also come down since there is
no need for the dental floss device.

I don't want more batteries and dongles to carry around. A phone and a
headphone are already cumbersome in my pocket.

Eventually we will have batteries powerful enough to eliminate the need for
that dental floss thing, and the industry will finally standardize induction
charging making charging the earpieces anywhere a reality.. but until then,
apple is just ahead of the time.

But in a bad sense. Instead, they could just have made a product that is more
realistic with the technology we have.

~~~
jbigelow76
"Ultimately that's what is going to limit the success of this product." _in
reference to losability due to lack of dental floss between the earbuds_

I will politely disagree. If the automation/augmentation/functionality
provided is good enough then losability is a non-factor. If the capabilities
afforded by the wireless W1 chips don't live up to the hype then dental floss
ain't going to save them.

------
Scriptal
Why did they not make the charging port USB C?

I feel like a lot of this mess with needing a different dongle and special
wire for each product would have been less of a big deal if everything they
did just moved to USB C all at the same time. Now if you want to charge your
air pods with a macbook pro you need a cable to go from usb C to thunderbolt
(not included) or an adapter to use the previous-gen-usb to lightening cable
it does come with.

It feels to me like the different product development teams at Apple didn't
communicate with each other at all w.r.t. what ports to use.

~~~
derefr
Apple is standardizing on _two_ cables.

All of Apple's "accessories" (things that will _request_ charge from a host
over their cable: phones, tablets, keyboards and touchpads, and now
headphones) have a Lightning port.

All of Apple's "computers" (things that won't: computers that are wired for
power, and _devices_ that are wired for power like the Apple TV) have, or will
have, USB-C ports.

The vague middle case is laptops, like the new MBP: they _do_ charge over
their USB-C cables. But they'll only do this from a wall-socket power adapter;
they _won 't_ attempt to drain the battery of a _peer device_ they're
connected to.

Besides that HCI hint of charging semantics, though, Lightning is just
physically different in a few important ways that Apple relies on: for one,
the connectors are solid metal, so an upward-pointed male connector can be
used as a freestanding dock. That's not true of USB-C. Apple isn't going to
converge them.

~~~
refulgentis
Does that imply my USB C battery won't work with my new MacBook Pro? :(

~~~
dawnerd
It should charge. I have an Anker usb-c battery pack that I use to power my
2016 macbook.

~~~
ascagnel_
Any battery with USB-A and USB-C ports (or just USB-C ports if you go out and
get the USB-C to Lightning cable) that also supports USB-PD should be able to
charge both your USB-C laptop and phone.

I ended up getting this battery [0] from Anker, and it's done a great job with
my 2016 skinny Macbook and iPhone.

[0]
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015FMV3JE/ref=oh_aui_deta...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015FMV3JE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

------
AceJohnny2
> _" No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame."_ \-- Slashdot creator
> CmdrTaco/Rob Malda about the iPod in 2001.

I'm not saying these will have the impact of an iPod, but I am entertained by
the amount of naysaying here.

For one thing, how often have you fiddled with the knots in your headphone
cord? It's frustrating enough to prevent me from using them in situations
where I otherwise would.

~~~
skyyler
I find it interesting that you use that quote as an example of naysaying.
Within a few months of the iPod's introduction, they introduced higher storage
options. Though the Classic line never got wireless, the HUGELY popular iPod
touch had wireless. Both of his complaints were eventually rectified by Apple
in the iPod line.

~~~
CardenB
But the iPod was already a huge success despite those shortcomings.

Apple seems to be good at figuring out which drawbacks are deal breakers and
which ones are not.

~~~
squeaky-clean
Was it an immediate success? If these graphs are true [0,1,2], it looks like
it took several years for it to really take off. It didn't really become a
huge success until the end of 2004, the same year they increased storage
capacity (for the second time), moved iPods to the click-wheel, and added the
iPod mini. Also the iTunes music store was released in 2003, and added Windows
support in late 2002.

"Apple’s total iPod sales climb past 10 million, with 8.2 million units sold
in 2004 alone" [0]

[0] [http://www.macworld.com/article/1053499/home-
tech/ipodtimeli...](http://www.macworld.com/article/1053499/home-
tech/ipodtimeline.html)

[1] [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/28/ipod-
sales_n_468000...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/28/ipod-
sales_n_4680000.html)

[2] [http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/01/29/apple-stops-
divulgin...](http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/01/29/apple-stops-divulging-
ipod-sales/)

~~~
MBCook
It was an immediate success with Mac users. Some PC users tried to use them, I
remember companies making combos of a FireWire PCI card and special software
to try to use it. I almost did it myself.

The sales explosion really happened when they released it for Windows. All of
a sudden a HUGE market was there and it snapped them up as fast as they could.

------
rconti
Not airpods, but I've gotta plug my amazing Bose QC35. I've never owned (or
seen the need for) noise-cancelling headphones, never thought I'd use wireless
headphones. But the QC35 caught my eye with the built-in mic (probably on a
day I had a phone conference). I bought them despite the steep $330 price, and
haven't looked back.

They're amazingly comfortable, the noise cancelling is best-of-breed, the
battery lasts AGES (far beyond the rated 20 hour (!!!) life), the sound
quality is epic, they play plenty loud, handle bluetooth handoff better than
anything I've used.. I just can't stop talking about them.

It seems like just a year or so ago bluetooth was still an impossible-to-pair
never-works-right pile of crap, and now it's turned a corner. I've always got
my FitBit, Apple Watch, and often my headphones paired to my phone. Everything
just works. I can be on a call on my headphones, hop in the car, and the call
seamlessly transfers to the audio system in the car (2016 VW Golf).

My phone and laptop both play sound through the headphones just fine, it keeps
both paired at the same time.

And they don't even support whatever high-resolution codec Apple uses (aptx or
the other one, I can't remember). But the sound quality has to be heard to be
believed, the noise cancelling makes tiny details in the music way more
audible than ever before.

I'm not in the market for AirPods, but I'm a total believer in wireless
headphones now.

~~~
iddqd
I'm returning my pair of Bose QC35 today.

The built in mic is terrible to the point I couldn't use it for video
conferencing. Had to switch to the mic on my MBP to be intelligible.

I haven't figured out if I like the noise cancellation or not. It leaks voices
a lot, and when it's quiet there's a very faint constant background noise.
Feels like I just replaced one noise with another. It also gives an illusion
of a change in pressure in your ears when you put them on, but maybe that's
something you get used to.

Sound quality is ok at low volume but it's very uninteresting overall. Maybe
I've been spoiled by my other headphones.

Also, my head is really big, and they aren't really comfortable for me longer
than and hour or two.

I'll agree that the bluetooth handoff implementation works great though.

Overall, if they were < $200 I'd kept them around, but $330 is just to pricey
for what you get.

I'll be keeping a close eye on this space in the future though. I'm expecting
some great innovation in the coming years.

~~~
rconti
I haven't heard what my own voice sounds like on the built-in mic, so I can't
disagree with you there-- however, I've been able to use them without
(apparent) problem in loud datacenters, which frankly surprised me.

My 'main' headphones are Audiotechnica M50s which are, of course, cheaper, but
damn well should be without noise cancelling or BT. I use them with an
external DAC+headphone amp, but I prefer the QC35 at all volumes (short of
ear-splitt, which the Bose won't do-- but at least they don't clip, ever!)

I sorta agree on noise cancelling tech. Of course voices leak, that's normal.
But I, too, sometimes wonder if I'm just replacing one set of sounds with
another. Where I really like them is in addition to music. Just by itself,
meh.

------
MrQuincle
They should have used the cigarette butt picture:

[https://www.cnet.com/products/apple-
airpods/preview/](https://www.cnet.com/products/apple-airpods/preview/)

Regarding specs:

\+ Bluetooth

\+ No cables

\+ 5 hours battery life

\+ Charging case with total 24 hours battery life

\+ Automatically turn off when removing from your ears

\+ Key synchronization via iCloud (makes pairing process simpler - and could
make sharing process simpler as well - but is Apple-only)

\+ Peripheral to Apple Watch

\+ Including microphones and double-tap to activate Siri (no direct volume
shortcut)

~~~
hobarrera
> Key synchronization via iCloud (makes pairing process simpler - and could
> make sharing process simpler as well - but is Apple-only)

So you can't actually use these on your [non macOS] laptop? Wow, requiring two
pairs of headphones certainly is a huge dis-qualifier.

~~~
SimpleMinds
I think that's the W1 chip reference - when you have multiple devices signed
to one iCloud (mac, iphone, ipad?) you pair with one of them once, then for
other devices they are "just there", in list of available devices. You don't
need to separately pair with each one. Tiny but useful. Other than that they
are normal BT headphones (I believe)

~~~
MrQuincle
Yes, for Apple Homekit for example the long term keys for bonding are stored
online, so this means you can access from a different device without the
authentication process.

For headphones it doesn't make much of a difference. However, if you're
manufacturing more devices that all needs to be setup and shared with multiple
people it's a pity that the key deployment is Apple-only. That is, I don't
know of an official way to get to the keys to get a seamless experience across
vendors.

------
usaphp
A lot of people here seem to be complaining about them falling out of their
ears, while non of them actually tried to wear them first. Also everyone is
stating things like this "I will use them two or three times during rush hours
in London, bump into a couple people". But for me personally - I only use
headphones while at my desk and I love current EarPods because unlike many
other in-ear headphones they do not create any pressure onto my eardrum, I can
wear them all day without any fatigue whatsoever, having a wireless version so
I can stand up and walk around often sounds perfect to me. Also the only time
when current EarPods are falling out of my ears is when the cable gets pulled
or tangled on something, without a cable I don't see how they can fall out
easily.

~~~
pjc50
I guess this depends on your ears; I've never had a pair of in-ear phones that
don't fall out after 5 minutes.

~~~
jdc0589
this is a ridiculous suggestion price wise, but check out custom IEMs. They
are expensive as hell, but I have no issue spending money on something I use
for HOURS every single day.

Sound quality is often much much better too.

~~~
mslev
Shure SE215s. Not all that expensive, but for the price they're an amazing
IEM. You can also get a cable that has a mic/remote in it.

~~~
Tarq0n
Those are regular IEMs. By custom parent comment means ones with a casing made
specifically to fit inside your ear. Random example:
[http://vaiopocket.up.seesaa.net/image/sleek5.jpg](http://vaiopocket.up.seesaa.net/image/sleek5.jpg),
these can cost 3-4x more than a regular pair.

------
grandalf
I'm very curious how this product will sell. Considering that I routinely lose
or break ear phones and occasionally put them through the clothes washer, I'm
very unlikely to invest $150 in a pocket sized pair (I do have some high end
cans that i use now and then which are too large to be easily lost or
accidentally submerged).

As the owner of an iPhone 7, I have encountered some frustration from not
being able to charge and listen to headphones at the same time. I realized
that if lightning cables were USB, I could just use some sort of hub.

But it seems that Apple has declined to offer a splitter, leading to many
shoddy attempts for sale on Amazon, most with fewer than three star average
ratings.

Viewed as an independent gizmo, these are a great idea and will appeal to some
people. But viewed as an alternative to the convenience of the 1/8th inch jack
on the back of the phone, a lot is left to be desired.

The picture of the futuristic woman wearing them evokes the single-ear
bluetooth headset, only worn over both ears.

~~~
2muchcoffeeman
I have a pair of Westones that are slightly more than $150 but have reasonable
after market replacement cables.

$150 doesn't seem so bad to me but: \- Not in ear \- No lanyard

------
johnhenry
I don't know the best place to say this... I'm always a little sad whenever
Apple announces earphone related technology -- their earphones simply do not
fit in my ear; they simply fall out. I wonder if anyone else has the same
problem? Or problems with other specific pieces of technology?

~~~
giarc
I have the exact same problem. They just aren't a great fit. I walk my dogs
every night for 1 hour and enjoy listening to podcasts during this time. I
tried some Mopow bluetooth earbuds but they weren't any better. I'm
considering some large headphones this holiday season.

On a lighter note, I live in Canada so for 6 months of the year, my toque
holds the Apple earbuds in my ears.

~~~
mesh
It might be worth trying in ear ear buds. I use etymotic ER6s

[http://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones.html](http://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones.html)

which are in ear and noise blocking. They also have different size attachments
so you can get a good fit, although they cause ear fatigue sometimes if you
keep them in for extended periods (i.e. hour plus).

~~~
giarc
Look kind of similar to these that I have tried [0] but still don't fit well
with the various attachments. Maybe my ears are weird.

0- [https://www.amazon.ca/Mpow-Bluetooth-headphones-Wireless-
Ear...](https://www.amazon.ca/Mpow-Bluetooth-headphones-Wireless-
Earbuds/dp/B00W4YU578/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1481692095&sr=8-3&keywords=mpow)

------
pawelwentpawel
Beats X which are wireless too seem to have a cool solution for keeping them
close to the user - there is a cable which stays behind the neck. As well, you
can magnetically clip them together. And... get them in red - much easier to
find!

I like the idea of AirPods. Unfortunately, my main concern though is that I
will use them two or three times during rush hours in London, bump into a
couple people on the tube and they'll be gone.

~~~
achompas
Are BeatsX actually available in red? They're postponed to February, and only
black and white are listed as colors.

~~~
pawelwentpawel
You're right! I own red wired ones which made me completely sure that the new
ones will feature this colour too. Too bad.

------
snegu
The use case that I'm interested in is being able to have just one bud in my
ear (to be able to hear what's going on around me) without the other one
dangling. To me, that's worth the money.

~~~
rjvir
I think that might not be possible with AirPods. One of it's features is that
it stops playing music when you take out one of the ears.

~~~
snegu
No, it looks like you can listen to just one:

"Optical sensors and motion accelerometers work with the W1 chip to
automatically control the audio and engage the microphone, giving you the
ability to use one or both AirPods."

------
josteink
> AirPods to deliver high-quality audio and industry-leading battery life in a
> completely wireless design. AirPods deliver up to five hours of listening
> time on one charge

5 hours and then I have charge them? That won't even last me a work-day.

Count me out.

~~~
iddqd
If you charge for 15 min you get another 3 hours of usage.

------
bnastic
Ordered, delivery in a week. I have a couple of Bluetooth earphones that are
all pretty poor in UX department and not-so-horrible-but-still-subpar in the
sound quality department. I am hoping these will prove to be much better in
both.

------
sumitgt
I use one of these cheap ones: [https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Headphones-
Wireless-Sweatpr...](https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Headphones-Wireless-
Sweatproof-
Cancelling/dp/B01HZ9QDY0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1481662711&sr=8-3&keywords=wireless+headphones)

For someone who listens to mainly podcasts, I found them to be really really
convenient. And the wire between the two pods makes it seem a bit harder to
lose compared to AirPods.

------
jjuhl
To me these seem pretty stupid. Major features (to me) of ear-buds with wires
and 3.5" jack are: 1) being attached with wires means I don't easily lose them
when they slip out of my ear/hand/pocket. 2) the 3.5" jack actually keeps them
pretty solidly attached to my phone (again, less risk of losing them). Walking
around with two loose tiny objects seems less than ideal - at least to me; I'd
lose them within days.

~~~
matwood
I used to think this way until I bought a pair of JLabs bluetooth ear buds.
Now, I hate using wired headphones because the wire is literally always in the
way. I hate being forced to keep my phone right next to me, and snake a wire
around.

Now, in the gym, I can throw my phone in my gym bag and not worry about it
while working out. I'll never go back to wired.

~~~
seanwilson
> Now, in the gym, I can throw my phone in my gym bag and not worry about it
> while working out. I'll never go back to wired.

Exactly, doing anything active with wired headphones on isn't fun. They keep
getting snagged in things and get pulled off your ears.

~~~
maaaats
Don't think one can be too active with these ones, though. Looks like shaking
your head will make them fall out. No silicon that shapes it to the ear, no
over-ear stuff or anything that should make it sit.

~~~
davidcelis
Many reviews have stated the opposite: that, despite the reviewers feeling
like the airpods would fall out when in motions, they stayed in just fine
despite shaking heads and jumping up and down.

------
ArlenBales
I would like to try these, but the AirPod/EarPod form factor is just painful
to my ears. I can never wear them for longer than 30 minutes at a time. Must
just be my ear anatomy.

On the other hand, Panasonic makes simply the most comfortable earbuds I've
ever worn, even for 8+ hour sessions, for $10:
[http://a.co/4ztIdDw](http://a.co/4ztIdDw)

------
mcintyre1994
Has anybody got standard bluetooth headphones and found a way to reliably use
them on multiple Apple devices? Mine are usually paired to my phone, and it's
just not worth the hassle of unpairing and pairing repeatedly until the
Macbook picks them up as unpaired and lets me try to pair with them, which
works about half the time. Maybe my Macbook's bluetooth is just broken.. This
is kinda disappointing though because I know it'll never get fixed, because
why bother when if I just bought headphones from them I wouldn't have the
problem?

~~~
Viper007Bond
That's not an Apple issue -- Bluetooth doesn't support that. I've never seen
any Bluetooth device that can be paired to multiple devices at one time
without having some type of device switcher button.

~~~
theshrike79
Now you have: [http://www.sonymobile.com/global-
en/products/accessories/ste...](http://www.sonymobile.com/global-
en/products/accessories/stereo-bluetooth-headset-sbh70/specifications/#tabs)

Way under 100 monetary units, IP57 protection, aptX support. Integrates
perfectly with iOS (I can see the remaining battery right in the header and
dashboard).

------
Justin_K
Title should read available in 4 weeks. Hard to call them available when they
haven't even shipped from China.

~~~
OberstKrueger
When they first went up a few hours ago, delivery date was on the 20th or
21st. They're just backordered to January now.

------
BHSPitMonkey
Bose makes a set of noise-canceling earbuds that are marketed for all-day
wear, as a general way of filtering out noise. They want you to leave them in
during face-to-face conversations (to help isolate the other voices from the
background) or train rides (just to silence everything).

[https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/earphones/qui...](https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/earphones/quietcontrol-30.html)

------
jsatk
I truly do not get the hype around this.

~~~
nomel
Oh come on, have some fun.

We're slowly moving into that future tech world that we saw in movies and
dreamt up when we were kids. These are wireless _earbuds_. My first pair of
wireless headphones used IR, took two AA batteries, were huge, heavy, and
sounded horrible once you started losing sight of the transmitter!

Sure, it's a small step in mass-market technology, but that's the only way
tech moves forward for most of the world. It's never really existed before,
it's something new!

Some of us find advancements in tech exciting, whether it's some incremental
advancement in AI, or an incremental advancement for silly earbuds.

If you think in terms of small increments, you'll never see, or be impressed
with, the big changes that are happening around you.

~~~
i386
Thank you. Not sure why people are acting so jaded when we're getting all of
this cool stuff that was scifi even less than a decade before. The future is
cool.

------
rememberlenny
Ships January 12th

~~~
askafriend
That's because the December shipments sold out in minutes. Contrary to the
pessimism in this thread, people really want these.

~~~
gergles
We have no way of knowing how much people wanted these. Apple could have
released 50 of them or 50,000.

------
lolive
Can we expect a better sound quality, when compared with actual earpods?

~~~
dzhiurgis
Apparently not. Which sucks, because I'd love better quality (dual drivers and
all) earpod style headphones. I heard (kek) Amazon Premium has some decent
ones, but they don't ship international.

~~~
lewisl9029
Yes. I was actually fairly excited to see the Airpod announcement because it
might inspire more companies to release wireless earbuds (that don't have to
go inside your ear canal and block outside noise)...

There are plenty of cheap, great sounding earbuds out there (Head-Fi has a
whole 1000+ page thread discussing them: [http://www.head-
fi.org/t/441400/earbuds-round-up](http://www.head-fi.org/t/441400/earbuds-
round-up)), but literally none of them are wireless. Right now I'm resorting
to hacks like using earbuds with removable cables and bluetooth cable
replacements like these: [https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Custom-Made-
Wireless-Blu...](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Custom-Made-Wireless-
Bluetooth-4-1-Earphone-Upgrade-Cable-Suitable-For-
IE8-IE80-SE215-535/32518253149.html)

------
blhack
Just a quick resources-share (since this is turning into a thread that is
complaining about earpods): These headphones
([https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ELYQJI/ref=oh_aui_sear...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ELYQJI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1))
might be my favorite headphones EVER.

The sound is good (at least as good as I've ever heard from earbuds), they're
cheap, but most importantly, they TWIST into your ears instead of simply
pressing.

This emulates what you'll find in really high end, custom-fit earplugs.

They absolutely will not fall out unless you PULL them out.

------
jarboot
I just got some cheap Bluetooth headphones and they changed how I listen to
audio. It's so much more immersive and convenient.

While these are expensive and may not be popular among the slashdot/hn crowd,
Apple knows which way the wind blows.

------
skynetv2
Why is Apple so obsessed with calling everything "magical". If anyone believes
this is magic, they also need to believe Apple employs wizards & witches.

~~~
Fnoord
Because for the less informed customer that is descriptive, and allows those
customers to enter the reality distortion field.

It is the same with "Air", "Pod", iSomething", and "Pro". Meaningless
buzzwords. Then again, every company has their set ("Surface", "ThinkPad",
"Yoga", "Zen"). Trust me, it has nothing to do with real yoga or zen. I'll
refrain to make a comment on "Pro".

Just ignore the buzzwords, insofar that they don't tell you anything about the
quality of the product and instead look at price/feature/quality comparisons
and make up your own mind.

~~~
JorgeGT
At least ThinkPads are described according to MIL specifications, not
references to alleged witchcraft.

------
mullsork
> Advanced sensors detect when AirPods are in your ear and can automatically
> play and pause your music.

I've been thinking about this for a while now. Whenever I'm asked for
directions or something on the train/commute to and from work I wish I could
just take my headphones out and they'd be smart enough to instantly pause and
rewind the podcast/audiobook a second or two.

~~~
pvdebbe
I don't get why players don't do that -- rewind a second or 10, especially
when listening to podcasts or audiobooks. When you resume listening, you have
no context at all!

------
kefka
This is very much the "Apple" style, and gave me a laugh.

[http://4dpavshx5ly3quwy2v9yv83i.wpengine.netdna-
cdn.com/wp-c...](http://4dpavshx5ly3quwy2v9yv83i.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/09/airpodaccessory.jpg)

Seriously, I have very little to add to this. It's overly expensive wireless
earbuds to go alongside a failure of 3.5mm jack.

~~~
zatkin
Removing the audio jack also removes a whole market of products that were
taking advantage of the audio jack for non-audio purposes (e.g. the Square
dongle). Now that the audio jack is gone, companies like Square will have to
pay Apple a licensing fee to use the only available port on the iPhone, and
even companies that want to attract consumers of their audio products to be
used with iPhones will have to get licensing from Apple as well.

~~~
throwanem
> Removing the audio jack also removes a whole market of products that were
> taking advantage of the audio jack for non-audio purposes (e.g. the Square
> dongle).

Except that it doesn't. Yes, you have to use an adapter now, and that's
slightly (but only slightly) more clumsy than before, but "Square readers
don't work any more!" is a particularly tired piece of FUD, which it would be
nice not to see spread around any more by people such as HN participants who
really should know better.

~~~
archagon
OK, how about things like the Apogee Jam[1] and MIDI adaptors? As far as I can
tell, there aren't any MFi-certified Lightning splitters that support both
data IO and audio out. (Usually it's just audio out + charge — and poor audio
at that.)

[1]:
[http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/jam](http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/jam)

~~~
throwanem
Well, how about them? That's a reasonable concern, and a major problem for
people who want to use such devices with an iPhone 7. They aren't Square
readers, though, or any other kind of device that uses the headphone jack for
data, and it's inaccurate, disingenuous, and unhelpful to claim that such
devices no longer work.

------
benwad
Honest question: if these become ubiquitous (i.e. the majority of OEMs remove
the headphone port on phones and everyone uses some kind of wireless
headphones) wouldn't the interference make them unusable in a crowded place?
How many channels are available, and is that enough for a whole bus full of
people using wireless headphones?

------
annerajb
AirPods are now orderable.

------
DoodleBuggy
Very curious how long battery life actually is.

Also, will Apple include these within iPhone box to replace the clunky new
lightning things?

~~~
snuxoll
You think Apple's going to include a pair of headphones they sell for $160 in
the box, when they can provide the super-cheap lightning earpods instead to
incentivize you to get so frustrated that you upgrade?

Hell, I know I ended up picking up a Jabra Halo Smart because I got so annoyed
having to deal with the stupid dongle to use my $10 pair of Sony AS200's and
the cheap Chinese Kinivo bluetooth headphones I had had substantially worse
audio quality than even these cheap wired ones.

I thought about the AirPods, but I'd lose them in a heartbeat. I'm constantly
forgetting where the hell I put my headphones as is, at least my Halo Smart is
big enough that I can find it easily - if I lost one of the little AirPod's I
would end up tearing my house apart looking for the dumb thing.

~~~
DoodleBuggy
Losing one in particular could be annoying. Does one work when it's pair is
missing? Can you buy a single one as a replacement?

~~~
manmal
Yes they do work alone, iPhone will even switch to mono. About the
replacement, don't know yet, but I think Apple support will let ppl buy them
individually.

------
brandon272
I love wireless headphones. But the main downside to these for me is that it
doesn't look like they will improve upon sound quality and sound isolation (or
lack thereof) in the traditional wired Apple Ear Pods.

------
antiffan
A feature I'd love to see: sync to AirPods.

I imagine it won't happen because in some ways it's kind of backwards, but I
hate running with my phone, especially because I have a huge 6+.

It seems like a simple thing to just want to be able to take some of my
music/podcasts with me running, but it's not realistic unless I own a separate
iPod shuffle that I then have to deal with. Adding a small amount of memory to
AirPods would make this possible and relatively seamless.

~~~
prawn
Presumably you would have to sync the iPod Shuffle equivalent as you would the
AirPods. Maybe the issue is more with their syncing? (I know I find it
annoying.)

DHH from 37Signals mentioned on Twitter recently that he has two iPhones - 6+
and a 6. Larger one for around the house, in bed, etc and the other when out
and about. It struck me as an almost affordable luxury for some people, if you
can endure any syncing hassles.

~~~
jodrellblank
_almost affordable luxury_

Is it markedly different from having an iPhone for portability and an iPad+4G
for around the house?

~~~
prawn
On the surface it would seem not, but going by my usage, I think there's a
difference. Since getting a 6+, my iPads go largely unused. There are 3 iPads
in my house and my wife and I both regularly watch streaming content on our
phones. I think it's because you tend to have your phone with you as you move
from the kitchen to the couch to the home office to read/watch before bed,
etc.

For DHH, I guess it's a combination of that and the fact that he doesn't want
something as large as a 6+ in his pocket all the time.

But in terms of having the two devices, then little different. Obviously an
affordable luxury given that many households would have phones and a tablet. I
just hadn't thought of it being two different sizes of phone before.

------
copenbacon
I'd really just like a battery that doesn't die after the 4th iOS update

------
donatj
Do they _only_ work with Apple products? Could I use them with an Android
phone?

~~~
Alupis
There already is a plethora of wireless earbuds/headphones on the market...
and has been that way for years. No need to buy these overpriced ones to get
wireless.

~~~
mikestew
Your comment would be more useful had you answered his question instead of
expressing your dislike for the product in question. There are plenty of
dissenting comments that you could latch onto to express the latter.

------
plg
still says "ships in 4 weeks" for me (canada) (the article says they will be
available in stores, and start shipping, next week)

------
saddestcatever
Are now available*

*beginning next week.....

------
analog31
Startup idea: A string that attaches them to your phone, so you don't lose
them.

------
ben_jones
FINALLY. I have exactly $159 burning a hole in my pocket. Thanks Apple!

------
gigatexal
eh the beats X headphones are the ones I am going to get -- I can't be having
these q-tips falling out of my ears

------
eMumbaBlog
Got a pair already. whoot whoot.

------
amaks
What's the battery life?

~~~
davidsawyer
From the website:

>you can listen for 5 hours on a single charge

------
caogecym
I won't be superised this product will lead to a absolute failure

------
bertomartin
might be one of the few duds Apple's ever produced. Let's see.

------
andrei_says_
I feel incredibly satisfied by my decision to never buy them.

------
RCortex
$160...for wireless earbuds + mic. I mean I have the money to throw away
but...why. They look ok, kinda odd, but not like call center headsets at
least.

You could buy a DS for that much right? That's about how much the ps2 slim
costed back in the day.

------
OliverJones
"double-tap" ?? Isn't that jargon used by snipers to describe the use of two
rounds of ammo?

~~~
wmeredith
Yes. Do you find it confusing in this scenario? Do you think they mean shoot
twice?

------
brentm
I thought the public more or less rejected hang from the ear style Bluetooth
earphones because they look awkward. I don't think making them white and
giving you two is going to fix the perception. Although these may work much
better than the old style I am not sure it offsets the reason a lot of people
do not like this type of earphone.

~~~
redial
Judging by the outcry for the delay, and the available units immediately
selling out, that seem to be a non issue.

------
remarkEon
These look extraordinarily uncomfortable, especially if I'm supposed to have
them in my ears more than usual headphones - or even as long as my current
model. If Apple is trying to make an in-ear controller ala _Her_ , I do not
see these as something I'll pick up.

Curious. Will there be third-party headphones that work here?

~~~
Namidairo
Third party headphones should work just fine, I don't see Apple breaking A2DP
just to push their own product.

The fancypants features like iCloud sync and inserted ear detection though, I
suspect that'll take some manufacturers some reverse engineering or exchanges
of money for details.

------
mgo
I will not buy a phone without a 3.5" jack period. I'm not buying ridiculously
expensive wireless headphones that are objectively worse (worse quality than
wired alternatives, added hassle of charging them plus much more expensive).

~~~
rstupek
I will not buy a computer without a 5" floppy drive. I will not buy a computer
without a 3.5" floppy drive. I will not buy a computer without a CD drive etc.

Seems Apple is just always ahead of the crowd in getting rid of things.

~~~
tribby
this is a false analogy. the CD drive was an improvement on the 3.5" floppy.
the 3.5" floppy was an improvement on the 5" floppy. bluetooth is an
improvement in form (no more wires), but a downgrade in function as the audio
quality is diminished.

~~~
neotek
I hear people saying this a lot, but I'd be willing to bet that at least 90%
of consumers would be incapable of telling the difference between Bluetooth
and wired audio in a blind test.

Also, given that the vast majority of earbuds people use are sub-$20, I bet
the audio quality isn't that great to begin with.

~~~
tribby
if 90% of consumers are incapable of telling the difference then why would
apple use such an expensive DAC in their phone? I can't speak for everyone,
but it's a pretty noticeable difference to me especially considering my
hearing isn't very good to begin with.

~~~
neotek
Because (a) Apple doesn't like to half-arse things, and (b) Apple knows its
consumer base includes people who like to use very expensive headphones.

------
equalarrow
My only problem with these is they're not comfortable. No, I have not worn a
pair, but the speaker part is just like the current standard headphones and
I've never found those comfortable. I think the pairing and siri integration,
etc is all nice though.

I still have a $25 pair of Sony earbuds I bought in an airport store years
ago. They are comfortable, sound great and have the mic support. Sure, they
have the cord which is annoying, but I've tried Shure, Bose and a lot other
wired & bluetooth earbuds and none of them sound as good as the Sony pair I
have.

It's too bad Apple didn't include some kind of silicone adapter for comfort
because if they did, I would consider the AirPods. But again, they're just
uncomfortable.

Oh, and my wife likes her Apple headphones because they let a lot of outside
sounds in. That's another reason I don't like the Apple headphones and I have
a pair of Beats for noise canceling when I want it. I didn't see anywhere that
the AirPods had noise canceling, so you're probably going to hear a lot of
background noise when using them.

------
scythe
Why have the stupid white thing hanging down? You don't need it anymore. There
used to be a wire coming out of it, but now there's not. They could have made
it look like anything, but now it looks like I'm foaming at the ears.

Furthermore, why isn't there a better way of attaching these to your ear? I
hate shoving a piece of dirty plastic into the innermost part of my ear. It'd
be much nicer to have something with that shark-fin rubber piece[1] or the
over-ear clip[2].

1 - [http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/bose-soundsport-in-ear-
headphone...](http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/bose-soundsport-in-ear-
headphones/4160271?cm_mmc=google-_-productads-_-
Unisex%3ARecreation_Entertainment%3AGadget_Tool-_-5028882&rkg_id=h-051e76a73260aeda4b9fd28f31561c42_t-1481668246&adpos=1o9&creative=57224590673&device=c&network=g&gclid=CJ-8mKyc8tACFc5bfgodKqMMFQ)

2 - [http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/pd/powerbeats3-wireless-
beats...](http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/pd/powerbeats3-wireless-beats-by-dr-
dre-
earphones/pid-11809010/pgid-11809406?k_clickid=e60f9f83-52e0-4edc-9768-5ba7961f99f1&cp=usns_kw_nike_null_pla!g!c!nobr!&k_clickid=e60f9f83-52e0-4edc-9768-5ba7961f99f1)

