So Far, with… Apple AirPods

First, a little about how I use earphones.

Music Worker, Podcast radio

I tend to listen to music all day while working. At the moment, I use my noise-cancelling Bose headphones for that, because they really do create a little bubble of focus.

The rest of the time, I use an older pair of Plantronic Wireless Earbuds to listen to podcasts relentlessly. Whenever I leave the house, they are in my ears — partly as a way to fill those little gaps of time, and partly at times like commuting, to stop me looking at screens more. Generally, I’ll just put in one ear, leaving the other dangling on a cord.

There’s also another gap: I listen to podcasts around the house too, on speakerphone.

So, that’s me. Now, AirPods:

Surprisingly comfortable (vs excruciating EarPods)

I’ve always found the default earphones that ship with iPhone unbearable. Terrible quality, sound leakage and, more of all, violently unpleasant for longer than about 5 minutes, digging into sensitive corners of lobe.

It’s a relief to find AirPods don’t have this problem for me. I’ve had them in for a few hours so far and they almost invisible — especially because they feel strangely light.

The little floss box

This is the most “Apple”-feeling part of the experience. It’s all about magnets — helps the lid click closed and helps the Pods slide perfectly into storage.

And connecting for the first time is about as easy as plugging in a 3.5mm jack. Maybe easier…

Shifting between devices

Really nice to switch from listening to a podcast on iPhone while going to make a coffee then back onto my MacBook. If further gens of Apple Watch let it act more independently for streaming and similar, I could imagine that providing great value too.

I’ll also lump in here that it has been perfect in handling one earphone (which I’m using most of the time) versus two. Simply take it out, back in the box, and after a quick pause you are back on.

Now I hear it move to mono, it also makes me realise I was getting a bit of a weird experience of stereo content using just one earphone of my previous bluetooth set.

Using voice

From shopping list items, to taking out contact lenses, to cooking, to remembering to get some prescription lens sunglasses next March, I set a lot of reminders. This seems a handy way to keep that going — although if I have my phone in hand, I can’t imagine I’d use it instead of using the button.

On text generally though, I think Siri still has some way to go to catch up with Google.

Stupid Siri

The Siri irritations go further. The first time you ask for something that seems reasonable (or just don’t hit the right trigger phase) and it says “OK, I found this on the web for you”, is infuriating.

H-app-less

I don’t use iTunes or Apple Music. Like a lot of people I use Spotify. As a result, lots of little features for playing or controlling music just don’t work. This feels really arbitrary at this point and I can’t see why it couldn’t be fixed, especially now Siri controls are starting to bleed into things like Mondo.

Sounds fine.

There’s nothing here for an audiophile. But you already knew that. Songs that should send a shiver down your spine are strangely hollow and there’s a kind of thudding but meaningless bass.

These are good enough for casual and have a clarity beyond my previous bluetooth ‘phones — but think of them as background drivers, not something to concentrate on. Great for podcasts.

Ultimately…

It reminds me a little of when I got my first iPod. It was just a music player. You couldn’t really do anything that wasn’t possible before — you just listen to music. But oh was it a shiny and thrilling little object that brightened up the day.

AirPods feel similar. And for something I use so much, those little moments add up. It’s about as worth the price as the Apple Watch is. If those kinds of things put a smile on your face, there’s no flaw in the product itself that should put you off.

If these start shipping with the iPhone in a couple of years time, I think they will have a real impact on a lot of those who may bemore sceptical today.