In 2010, when a customer wrote Apple (AAPL) to complain about his iPhone 4 dropping calls, Steve Jobs himself emailed back.
“You’re
holding it wrong,” he said. (OK, what he actually wrote was, “Just
avoid holding it in that way.” But that’s not quite as much fun.)
This
week, after a long delay, Apple’s AirPods finally started shipping.
Already, the world is full of complaints about their strange, detached,
dental-themed design. But if Steve Jobs were alive today, he might say:
“You’re complaining about them wrong.”
The AirPods are pretty great. Their strange design does present some problems—but not the ones everyone’s complaining about.
Here they are: Apple’s wireless, $160 AirPods.
Meet the AirPods
Starting
with the iPhone 7, Apple joined a growing list of phone makers that are
eliminating the headphone jack. Yes, Apple includes, in the box, a new
pair of wired earbuds (they attach to the charging jack) and an adapter
that accommodates existing ones.
But
Apple believes that it’s high time we eliminate the cords, the tangles,
the knots—and go wireless with our earbuds, the way we’ve gone wireless
with just about everything else.
Bluetooth
earbuds and headphones are nothing new. In fact, they now outsell wired
headphones, at least by dollar volume. But Apple’s earbuds are, as
you’d hope, far more elegant and slick than their rivals.
For
example, they come in a dental-floss box—I’m sorry, a white carrying
case—that doubles as a recharging battery. Fifteen minutes in the case,
and you’ve recharged the AirPods for another 3 hours of listening. (The
case itself charges over a standard iPhone Lightning cable.)
The AirPods all nestled in their charging case.
When
fully charged, the AirPods play for 5 hours—10 hours if you listen to
only one at a time, Apple points out—and the case holds enough juice to
recharge them for 24 hours of listening.
You
might scoff at the notion of listening to only one earbud at a time.
But in practice, that turns out to be a great way to listen—on the
train, on the plane, in a car, on foot—because you can listen to your
YouTube videos, phone call, or background music without becoming
isolated from your environment.
The Apple Touch
Sweet Apple touches abound in these things.
For
example, all you have to do to “pair” a new pair to your iPhone is open
the lid of the AirPods case. Within seconds, a picture of the AirPods
and the case appears on your phone’s screen, complete with the current
battery levels—and a Connect button. They’re now your phone’s voice—and,
thanks to Apple iCloud syncing, they’re now also available to play from
to your Mac, iPad, and any other gadget you’ve got, with no additional
pairing.
This process is so automatic, it doesn’t even deserve the term “pairing.”
(You
can use AirPods as normal Bluetooth earbuds with non-Apple equipment,
but you lose things like that auto-pairing and some of Apple’s
proprietary audio technology.)
This
is magic, too: When you take one AirPod out of your ear socket, to
answer the flight attendant, for example, your music pauses
automatically—and resumes when you put it back into your ear. Yes,
there’s an optical sensor in each one that recognizes when it’s in your
ear. Very slick.
When a call comes in, your music pauses automatically, and noise cancellation kicks in so your voice is clearer.
A
magnetic click holds the AirPods securely in the case, and another
magnet holds the case shut. You’ll spend hours snapping it open and
closed when you’re on phone calls or waiting for your Uber.
Siri is Her
Nobody
really thinks about this, but the AirPods’ ability to connect you to
Siri really may be the killer app. You double-tap either AirPod to get
an immediate, crisp “I’m listening” chime—and then you talk.
And
she speaks her reply, intimately and clearly, right into your brain.
(Except when she shows her answer on your phone screen instead of
speaking it. That’s such a drag.)
Now
you know why the AirPods have that goofy-looking stem pointed at your
mouth: It’s to aim their microphones at your voice. Siri’s recognition
through the AirPods is incredibly good, no matter how noisy your
environment. An AirPod+Siri comes as close as technology yet allows to
the in-ear computer made famous in the 2013 movie “Her.” (Tragically,
Siri doesn’t yet sound like Scarlett Johansson.)
Do They Fall Out?
The
AirPods are shaped exactly like the white, wired, standard EarPods that
they replace. If those feel comfortable in your ears, then AirPods
will, too, and vice versa.
So
let’s put this to rest right now: The AirPods don’t fall out. That
would be the ultimate audio dropout. (Thank you, thank you! Tip your
waitress.)
They
stay in snugly when you’re dancing, bopping, shivering. They stay in
under conditions when the wired EarPods would have fallen out. In other
words, here’s what most people miss: The weight and tug of the earbud
cord add to the falling-out problem, rather than solving it.
So if that’s what you’re worried about, forget it.
What
you do have to worry about is dropping the AirPods. They’re tiny and
shiny-slick; Apple may as well have covered them with Teflon. In the
three months I’ve been testing them, I’ve dropped ‘em a few times onto
the floor of the commuter train or the bowels of my airplane seat,
simply in the process of transferring them between their two homes: the
case and your earholes. (A replacement AirPod costs $70, although of
course you could always just forage in couch cushions in public places.)
And I’ll bet you anything that, in crowded cities, AirPod ear pickpocketing will become a thing.
If
you’re still freaked out by the notion of two, not-connected earbuds,
other Bluetooth wireless earbud designs are available, including two
from Apple’s Beats line that have over-hear hooks and other systems that
keep the earbuds on when you’re running, exercising, or standing
upright.
The Sound and the Fury
These
earbuds sound great. Easily as good as the wired EarPods, maybe better.
Easily as good as Bluetooth earbuds costing $200 or $250 from other
companies—so no, $160 really isn’t a gouging price. Partly that good
quality comes from the seal of your ear canal, and partly that’s because
of that extra layer of wireless goodness that Apple added on top of the
standard Bluetooth signal.
So you don’t need to worry about that, either.
Aside
from dropping AirPods as you handle them, the big drawback is this:
They have no buttons at all. You can double-tap to answer a call or
speak to Siri, but there are no volume controls, no Next/Previous Song
buttons. If you want to adjust the volume or skip tracks, you have to
use your phone—or speak to Siri (“Make the volume louder” or “Next
track,” for example). Neither is always convenient.
So
yeah, the AirPods introduce some hassles you didn’t have before. But
don’t forget how many hassles they eliminate: Untangling your earbud
cord when you pull it from your pocket or bag—every. Single. Time.
Plugging
it into your phone. Unplugging it. Getting it snagged on things.
Figuring out how to thread it on your winter jacket. Feeling it snap
against your neck when you’re jogging. Coiling it up and putting it back
when you’re done.
Often,
when I’m in a cab or a train, I don’t bother playing Facebook videos
people have posted. It’s just not worth the hassle of hauling out and
setting up the cords for such a short stint.
But it’s different in the AirPods Era. You open the case, put an AirPod in your ear, and hit Play.
None
of Apple’s latest efforts—Apple Watch, MacBook Pro, Apple Music—have
been critically acclaimed smash hits. But the AirPods are a different
story: Ridiculous amounts of cool technology packed into ridiculously
tiny space. It’s nice to see some of the old Apple magic.
