I am strongly considering it as they fit many of the criteria I had.
TL
R: Exactly what I wanted (but at 3x the price). High end headphones for serious listening and these for casual or on-the-go use. They have the style I wanted (no in-ear or headphones), at least EarPod-level sound quality, and "all day" battery life with the case. Seamless switching between devices is a super nice touch. Price gave me pause, but I'm very picky about BT earbuds and this is the first pair I've every actually been interested in (don't like headphones for outside or on the go use).
----------------------
Until around August 2016 I never had any desire for Bluetooth headphones. Apple's earbuds were good enough for on-the-go and casual use. I have a pair of $250 wired headphones for at home serious listening. I even bought an iPhone SE partially for the headphone jack. Sure, wires are annoying when excersing (I've caught my arm on the treadmill and ripped them out of my ears many times or moved too far from my Mac and had them pull off), but it wasn't that big of a deal.
For some odd reason, I was riding in the car and the wire kept getting on my nerves. I decided that since EarPod quality was good enough for casual use, I'd get a cheap ($40) pair of BT headphones for car and casual use. THe issue for me was that I hate in-ear earbud and don't want to carry headphones around with me. I also disliked how most wireless buds actually do have a wire that goes around the back of your neck. I just found most of the alternatives off putting and the few bud-only wireless devices seamed gimmicky or too limited in battery life.
I was surprised when Apple Announced the AirPods and that was actually the most exciting thing about the event for me. THe instant pairing is nice (not necessary), but the seamless switching between devices is a HUGE things that really only Apple can pull off due to their hardware/software advantage. THe sound quality was on par or slightly better than the EarPods which is fine with me for casual use, they have the same shape as the EarPods which are actually the
most comfortable earbuds I've every used, though this varies by person. I don't think they look bad, though I'd like a black mode. THey're just Earpods with no wire.
The biggest thing for me was the case. A super sleek carrying case ensures that I won't lose them (the Earpods have never fallen out of my ears). My only pause was the 5 hour battery life which meant I'd never buy them. I'm away from the house for more than 5 hours at a time and wasn't going to carry around a charger. When Apple revealed that the case was a charger that enabled 24 hours of listening I was sold. That is exactly the kind of elegant solution I'd expect from Apple.
However, when I saw the price I wasn't sold. After about 3 days of consideration I'm thinking of going for it. It's about 3x more than I wanted to spend and don't really have $150 of sound quality, but their the only bluetooth set that matches the comfort, style (no headphone or in ear), and battery life I want. They're not insanely priced compared to competing products and they seem so futuristic.
I'd like touch controls though. THey're small and descrite for use in the office, bus, etc.
I think AirPods are Apple's most interesting accessory right now (barring the Apple Pencil). They're not perfect and maybe not even "great" now, but in a few year when the W3+ chip improve, sound quality improve, and battery life improves I can see these being the future of mainstreamed listening. Or at least, this style will be.
