While I might be a committed apple fan boy these days I have never actually queued up for a new product on launch day. That is until the AirPods were released. I’m not sure what attracted me to them most but I was certainly fed up of of tangled and snagging wires enough to make an early morning trip into town. I wasn’t the only one either but I was the first! Turns out it was just as well I did get there early as the Apple Store in Reading only had three for launch day.
Of course they were beautifully packaged as ever and the case that the AirPods live in is just beautifully tactile with the lid making a wonderful “snap” when you flick close the lid. It really is terribly satisfying and probably pretty annoying for those around – a bit like cracking of your knuckles in public!
Pairing with an Apple device is a breeze, although it took me a while to work out how to switch between the speakers and the AirPods on my Mac (click on the volume control on the menu bar item). It’s also relatively simple to pair them with other devices too. I’m not sure how many devices you can pair with at once but I am up to four and going strong.
The AirPods are visually the same earphones that are provided with the iPhone, only with the cords cut off and this does cause people to stare. I’m not sure why that would be but it does seem to cause people to do a double take even now. So if you find the existing iPhone earphones uncomfortable then it is going to be the same with these too. Audibly the sound quality sounds pretty similar too to me but then my ears aren’t what they used to be given years of abuse.
So you might be excused for thinking that I am luke warm on the AirPods. Absolutely not. They are tremendous. They are incredibly convenient, so small that there really is no issue with slipping them into your pocket and having them with you all the time. The case, which also acts as a charger, means that they stay charged (as long as you remember to charge the case). And the sound quality is good enough for listening on the go.
Downsides? Well I worry that I might lose one but my paranoia has so far ensured that isn’t the case. And quite frankly nothing else – they are superb, go buy.