The best wireless headsets for iPhone are better



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The Apple AirPods have dominated the truly wireless headset sector and have maintained their crown since their release late 2016. The changes introduced in AirPods 2, or AirPods (second generation), as described by Apple, do not shake the boat, but help The AirPods keep their lead.

Yesterday morning in the UK, I received my AirPods with wireless charger, so I had about a day to feel them. Most of the changes are obvious, but improvements to the wireless formula are welcome. The wireless charge remains a question mark for me, largely thanks to the persistent lack of a certain charging mat. Here is what is new …

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AirPods have the same appearance as the first generation. The four headsets are on my desk, two of the original set and two of the new AirPods. You can not distinguish the buds. I mixed them up at one point and had to inspect the level of grime in the speaker grilles to determine which one was new and which was old.

Keeping the same design, all those who liked the first generation AirPod will be at home. Naturally, this also means that they will be just as frustrating for people whose ears are incompatible with EarPod type earphones. Fortunately for me, I am in the old camp. I think that Apple will diversify the AirPods into at least two different styles at one time.

AirPods with wireless charging case

The AirPods are very good for me and the new models are no different. My main complaint with the design of the ear cups is the seam around the cup, which you can feel with your fingers, see with your eyes, and slowly fills with dirt and grime. The new AirPods do not do anything about it. In fact, it seemed that the seam was even more visible out of the box than it was with the first generation. I realize how much a new pair exposes this Negress is probably a chance of the draw.

Assuming you buy the $ 199 model, the AirPods loading case is different from the one we had before. The pinhole LED moves from the inside of the cover to the front panel, which allows you to see the state of charge when you drop it on a wireless charging stand, even if that spoils somehow the aesthetics of homogeneous plastic. The wireless charging case is a little heavier than the normal case because it contains the components needed for the Qi charge and has a redesigned hinge. You can see from your eyes that the hinge has changed; they even dropped the reflective finish for a metallic matte look. It still closes with this iconic break though.

Low latency and faster connections

Apple attaches great importance to the fact that the H1 chip replaces the W1 chip in the new AirPods. They offer longer talk times, faster connections when switching between devices, lower latency for real-time sounds (like when you're playing), and the addition of "Hey Siri" always on the go. listening.

I have not yet had the chance to check if the longer claims are legitimate. I suppose that is probably correct and corrects a common complaint with the first generation; the battery will discharge quickly when the speaker and microphone are active for phone calls. However, the biggest question regarding battery life is how long battery performance "on the first day" can last. I think a lot of people who switch to AirPods 2 this week are simply owners of AirPods 1, which have seen their life span deteriorate dramatically as the low-capacity batteries inside the earpieces age relatively quickly. Apple did not say if it was improving or not, but I would not expect it too. The chemistry of batteries must evolve.

You will certainly notice that the new AirPods connect faster and switch from one device to another much faster than the older generation. You can throw them in your ears and it only takes a few seconds to switch to the Mac when you select the audio source in the menu bar. The switching is not instantaneous, but instead of 5 to 8 rotations of the charging screw in the Control Center, you only get 2 or 3. That makes a big difference.

The lower latency is also noticeable. When I get bored, I play Crossy Road on my phone, slipping the unscrupulous chicken around the cars. When I wore first generation AirPods, I always left Crossy Road in mute mode because the delay between performing the action and listening through the ears was too long. The AirPods 2 significantly improve this feature, so that music playback and sound effects enabled is now bearable, given the reduced sound delay.

(Some early commentators on the Web have noted that AirPods 2 offer superior audio quality when playing music, and I can not see any noticeable improvement over the first-generation AirPods.I think the difference people hear comes from The AirPods have been filled with slime in the last two years of use, which affects the volume and clarity of the sound if not cleaned properly.)

Hey Siri

The addition of Hey Siri still running is a surprisingly important progress for the product. Talking in the air is much more natural than the double strike gesture. For public places, self-awareness always prevents one from talking to oneself while walking in the street. In the privacy of my own home, I have no qualms about saying "Hey Siri" and talking in the air to skip a track or change what I'm listening to. iPhone, iPad, HomePod, watch. Many devices listen to the "Hey Siri" trigger around me, yet the inclusion of this feature in the new AirPods does not seem redundant.

So far, I've been relying heavily on Siri's "Get Up to Talk" feature on Apple Watch for my voice command requests. Now that the AirPods are at my disposal and I call when they are in my ears, I see myself preferring this way to Siri before anything else. You can safely talk to your AirPods and not worry about all the other devices that wake up at your command. Having AirPods means that the paired device becomes the leader and all other Siri customers do it. The AirPod "Hey Siri" even beats the HomePod in order of priority.

If you use Siri with AirPods, your phone's screen with Siri transcript will turn on even when your phone is locked in your pocket. This was also the case with the first-generation AirPods. Besides the detection of the word hot, the AirPod obviously transmit your request to the connected device (this requires the latest software updates such as iOS 12.2 and macOS 10.14.4). It would be better if the AirPods could handle basic commands such as 'Play / Pause' or 'Next Track', thus speeding up the most frequent voice checks and removing any dependency on the availability of a data connection.

A discreet improvement of the second generation AirPod lies in the fact that the sound quality of the Siri voice is much clearer. It sounds as good as listening to music or a podcast. With the first-generation heads, the quality of the sound would drop dramatically each time the microphones are turned on. I do not know if this is enabled by the H1 chip or Bluetooth 5 or whatever, but it's a significant improvement in the experience.

Wireless charging

The last thing to discuss is the addition of wireless charge Qi for the case. When you drop your AirPods charging box onto a charging mat, the status light turns orange. After a few seconds, the light goes out. The first time I did that, I thought I had accidentally hit the file and that the load had stopped. Unlike most other existing Apple products, the AirPod charge indicator does not stay on during charging.

That's pretty dumb because it also means that the box has no visual ability to signal that it has reached a 100% charge. To check the charge status, you must either search the battery widget of the device to which the AirPods were last connected, or you must remove the AirPods from the Qi charger, then open the cover so that the LED indicator State turns on again for a few seconds.

Of course, the behavior of the LED is no different from that of the original AirPod case when you have connected a cable. The difference is that every time I used a Lightning cable, I had no doubt that the AirPods did not really load. Wireless charging does not have the same tangible reliability.

As a supporter of AirPower, I have not purchased a Qi charging station since the September 2017 event – the same event that debuted with the AirPods wireless charging case for the first time . I have a single RavPower Qi charger with which I test the AirPods 2. The charger is quite small and has a thick rubber surround around the circumference of the inductive part. The inductive circle is not much bigger than the AirPods. As such, I have already hit the AirPods several times to charge, then a minute later, they did not charge. Placing the AirPods Neutral is effective, but if you put so much mental effort into recharging it, I feel like you'd better connect a nearby Lightning cable.

AirPods become hot to the touch when they are inductively charged. In terms of charging speed, the wireless charge seems to add about 8% every ten minutes to the carpet. Performance may vary depending on the carpet you use. Some Qi carpets handle heat more efficiently and can charge the case faster.

Assuming that the AirPower mats are delivered as advertised, I think many of these cases come off. The AirPower charging mat promises that the charging case can be placed anywhere on its surface and that it will charge. There should not be a way to guess yourself. The state of charge of the case will also be visible on an iPhone that also loads on the carpet.

The wireless charge case does exist to complete the story of AirPower, but the novel has not been released yet, which throws a key in the vision. It will be really nice to put a phone, the Apple Watch and the AirPod at night, without having to worry about anything.

If you do not think you'll get an AirPower carpet or other multi-device wireless charging solution, you can get away with the $ 159 AirPods and be a very satisfied customer. You can easily spend a few days before having to charge your AirPods, and connecting a Lightning cable for half an hour is not a chore. The wireless charging capability is convenient, but a $ 40 premium, just to add a wireless charge, does not add value. I paid for it with tight teeth only because of the potential AirPower.

The second-generation AirPods solve the problems. The main attraction of the AirPod is unchanged and as good as ever. If you are on the fence, now is the time to intervene. Existing AirPod customers should probably wait until their current pair disappears to buy the new model. And personally, I would not pay $ 79 either.

Expect more hands-on coverage of the new 9to5Mac AirPods later this week.

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