Decent alternative to airpods?

[heycal]

I have an iphone 6, and may soon get an iphone 7, or possibly a Galaxy S7. I currently use a wired headset, and I'm sick of the tangled mess. I'd like to get wireless earbuds, which I've never tried, and see about 1 million of them on Amazon, some of them sketchy looking at too good to be true prices.

I don't want to spend 160 bucks on the Apple airpods, and I may be switching to Android anyway. Can someone recommend wireless earpods that will work with both iphone and android, cost 50 bucks or less, and have volume control on the pods themselves along with other useful features? (I'm told one needs to touch the phone itself to adjust volume with the apple airpods, which is annoying.) I primarly use them for calls, podcasts, Siri, etc, and not music, so symphonic music quality is not of huge importance to me.

Any tips on all this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Quu]

AirPods work with Android.

 

[cyclingplatypus]

At your price point additional functionality will be limited to non-existent. You will get a mic and volume control and that is about it. That said, swing by your local tj maxx/marshalls and pick up a pair of bluetooth buds for under $20 to test them out.

Personally I find the AirPods worth the price as it is easy to switch between iphone/ipad/mac - as Quu said, on non-iDevices they work as normal bluetooth buds.

 

[heycal]

At your price point additional functionality will be limited to non-existent. You will get a mic and volume control and that is about it. That said, swing by your local tj maxx/marshalls and pick up a pair of bluetooth buds for under $20 to test them out.

Personally I find the AirPods worth the price as it is easy to switch between iphone/ipad/mac - as Quu said, on non-iDevices they work as normal bluetooth buds.

Thanks, maybe I'll check out those places. I do see many on Amazon that offer all sorts of features -- the desired volume control, and control of phone calls and, I think, Siri -- at $20 or below, but the companies seem suspect. I would be happy with anyone set of wireless ear buds that could handle basic functions and sounded ok on calls. Don't feel the need for high end at this point.

Do the Apple airpods work on bluetooth as well? Are all wireless earbuds bluetooth, or do some work differently? (I imagine bluetooth means some battery drain, but that's ok if not extreme.)

 

[Strelok]

Do you need them to be 2 buds without a wire at all? If not, the Jaybird X2 or X1 can probably be found for close to $50 and are pretty good.

 

[heycal]

Do you need them to be 2 buds without a wire at all? If not, the Jaybird X2 or X1 can probably be found for close to $50 and are pretty good.

I'd prefer two buds without any wire, yes.

 

[AustinIllini]

These are apparently quite good. Only $32

http://bgr.com/2017/12/28/true-wireless-earbuds-amazon-discount-q5/

 

[Ralfi]

I have an iphone 6, and may soon get an iphone 7, or possibly a Galaxy S7. I currently use a wired headset, and I'm sick of the tangled mess. I'd like to get wireless earbuds, which I've never tried, and see about 1 million of them on Amazon, some of them sketchy looking at too good to be true prices.

I don't want to spend 160 bucks on the Apple airpods, and I may be switching to Android anyway. Can someone recommend wireless earpods that will work with both iphone and android, cost 50 bucks or less, and have volume control on the pods themselves along with other useful features? (I'm told one needs to touch the phone itself to adjust volume with the apple airpods, which is annoying.) I primarly use them for calls, podcasts, Siri, etc, and not music, so symphonic music quality is not of huge importance to me.

Any tips on all this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks, maybe I'll check out those places. I do see many on Amazon that offer all sorts of features -- the desired volume control, and control of phone calls and, I think, Siri -- at $20 or below, but the companies seem suspect. I would be happy with anyone set of wireless ear buds that could handle basic functions and sounded ok on calls. Don't feel the need for high end at this point.

Do the Apple airpods work on bluetooth as well? Are all wireless earbuds bluetooth, or do some work differently? (I imagine bluetooth means some battery drain, but that's ok if not extreme.)

Just to answer your queries on the Airpods;

Siri can adjust volume for you...you only need to say "Set volume 80%" (or whatever volume will work in your environment) & you won't need to keep telling Siri to "lower/increase volume".

Airpods are Bluetooth 4.0 compatible. They work extremely well over Bluetooth. 27m is my longest distance from my phone fyi.

They may be overkill/priced however, since you won't be using them for music. They do function very well for calls though.

 

[heycal]

Just to answer your queries on the Airpods;

Siri can adjust volume for you...you only need to say "Set volume 80%" (or whatever volume will work in your environment) & you won't need to keep telling Siri to "lower/increase volume".

Airpods are Bluetooth 4.0 compatible. They work extremely well over Bluetooth. 27m is my longest distance from my phone fyi.

They may be overkill/priced however, since you won't be using them for music. They do function very well for calls though.

Asking Siri to change volume is better than nothing, but not ideal. Not sure why the airpods wouldn't include this simple function that the old wired earbuds have.

When you say the airpods are "bluetooth 4.0 campatible", does that mean they exclusively use bluebooth technology, or is there some other method of connecting they can use?

These are apparently quite good. Only $32

http://bgr.com/2017/12/28/true-wireless-earbuds-amazon-discount-q5/

Thanks. These look ok, but not able to adjust volume on earpod themselves unfortunately.

 

[Ralfi]

Asking Siri to change volume is better than nothing, but not ideal. Not sure why the airpods wouldn't include this simple function that the old wired earbuds have.

When you say the airpods are "bluetooth 4.0 campatible", does that mean they exclusively use bluebooth technology, or is there some other method of connecting they can use?


Thanks. These look ok, but not able to adjust volume on earpod themselves unfortunately.

Nah they're just Bluetooth.

Volume tap gestures are very possible with software updates btw. The last major software upgrade for Airpods introduced different tap commands for each Airpod for eg. No reason why volume can't be added to the list of possible tap gestures for one/both Airpods.

 

[cyclingplatypus]

Nah they're just Bluetooth.

Volume tap gestures are very possible with software updates btw. The last major software upgrade for Airpods introduced different tap commands for each Airpod for eg. No reason why volume can't be added to the list of possible tap gestures for one/both Airpods.

Volume control would be a welcome choice. I have mine setup for next track/previous track...volume up/right - volume down/left would work for me.

 

[MjWoNeR]

Volume control would be a welcome choice. I have mine setup for next track/previous track...volume up/right - volume down/left would work for me.

Yeah, we should definitely have that choice.