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Real Reason Apple Released the New AirPods
- Thread starter ram130
- Start date
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TL;DW: the battery on Gen 1 is degrading quickly, and cannot hold a charge nearly like being brand-new.
To this, I can personally testify.
To this, I can personally testify.
This. Totally agree. I wasn’t gonna upgrade at all, but then I remembered when I’m on the phone riding my scooter and get a battery alert a hour later. I got pissed each time. I looked at solutions and it’s crazy expensive to replace just one battery lol. What better ways to incentivize sales.
Honestly it was this or galaxy buds, but those are even worse on iPhone it seems. I’m wondering if I should wait for the rumored Powerbeats Pro.
Personally, I wouldn’t wait for the PbP because I’ve never had issues with AP falling out of my ears, or sweat contamination (just my own use. YMMV.). Plus, I highly doubt the battery life will be substantially better than AP, but I’m open to being wrong.
Last weekend the AirPod battery life issue came up during an after-work happy hour, and virtually all of the early adopters were livid. "I can't listen to a one hour conference call" for example. Real people, real complaints.
The first gen AirPods are lemons - Apple should replace them all for free. $150/year for ear pods is the worst Apple tax yet.
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I’m wouldn’t agree that they’re lemons, but they are definitely a first-Gen product. I think Apple should offer 1/2-off Gen 2 with a Gen 1 core exchange.
Yeah, I stand partially corrected. The battery life does seem better. I can see the PbP being a hit for a lot of people.
I started seeing this in the forums, and even if I was tempted for a pair, that issue, basically was the last nail in the coffin for me not to buy it. I'm not willing to spend that much money every other year for ear buds.
The AirPods are so convenient that I look at the replacement cost as a business expense ( when they have to be replaced)
Sadly I agree. It’s why I wasn’t turned off when they said no sound improvement. I reminded my self of the convenience.
I don't think that a two-year life cycle for a battery that small is very unreasonable when you consider that a lot of people used them literally all day, every day for much of that time. That's a whole lot of cycles for a really tiny battery.
Right, but that's a very short time for a pair of headphones to last until they become useless.
My current pair of headphones is around 10 years old.
I got mine in January 2017. I use them one at a time. I used them heavily for 4 months: 5-6 hours a day on conference calls. Then, 1-3 hours a day. Now, I get 25-40 minutes a day. Now, most of the time they just stop - no warning sound.
I am curious - maybe just replace the earpods? They've been recharged about 1000+ times, easily. The case perhaps a few hundred times.
I am curious - maybe just replace the earpods? They've been recharged about 1000+ times, easily. The case perhaps a few hundred times.
So looks like I’m getting the Powerbeats Pro with a $120 discount from my Apple Watch 3 trade in gift card. I’m wondering if I should do a review on them lol
Yeah, you could since the case might still be good. I got the AirPods 2 and lost my case during a bike ride. Now I’m using my AirPods 1 charging case. Seems to still be holding up ok for 1.5 years of use.
I’d actually recommend the Powerbeats Pro for you base on your usage lol. Long battery life on those.
Yeah, you could since the case might still be good. I got the AirPods 2 and lost my case during a bike ride. Now I’m using my AirPods 1 charging case. Seems to still be holding up ok for 1.5 years of use.
I’d actually recommend the Powerbeats Pro for you base on your usage lol. Long battery life on those.
What makes you think the gen2 are better? They're still new and may have the exact same issue.
I was ready for the upgrade as the battery on my gen 1's were down to only 1 hour 45 minutes on a charge and were having connection issues.
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it's $69 dollars per airpod so it's more cost effective to just buy a new set.
I got mine in feb 2017 and when I upgraded them in March 2019 I was getting about 1 hour 45 minutes use per charge.
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Are those headphones wired or Bluetooth?
Anything with a battery in it is going to degrade over time.
Battery life is measured in (full) charge-discharge cycles, not years. As I’ve pointed out before, if your AirPod batteries are failing it’s because you’ve literally loved them to death.
The alternative is to make the AirPods bigger so you don’t need to cycle them as deeply or as often, and that’s a trade off I’m not willing to make.
$160 over 2 years is $0.25 a day. I don’t see this as expensive for something I get that much use out of.
Funny how people are embracing wireless as the future yet going wireless requires you to pay several times more for essentially the same experience you had when stuff was wired.
I only upgraded my AirPods because the battery life on my first gen pair was degraded. I did not get the pair with the wireless charging case and paid the same as I paid for my first gen AirPods.
Looks like imma able to get the Powerbeats Pro for $145.
I think that’s his point. Battery degrading quickly and forcing you upgrade. Causing the expense vs not. He’s pointing the overhype of the tech and battery hasn’t caught up yet.
I think that’s his point. Battery degrading quickly and forcing you upgrade. Causing the expense vs not. He’s pointing the overhype of the tech and battery hasn’t caught up yet.
Exactly. I've been using the same $50 pair of wired earbuds for the past 4 years. Everyone I know that uses wireless earbuds has either lost a bud or had to replace the whole thing because of the battery degrading to nothing.
Also nothing beats switching between devices on wired buds. Takes literally a second.
All true. And I ain’t fighting it. For me since going fully wireless, it’s kinda hard to go back after a while when you get use to things connecting right away once in your ears, and not having to untangle wires, not having to worry about them while you’re biking, putting em in your pockets and so on. Also, now that technology has moved on, and requiring me to also carry an adapter, it got more annoying. So I just force myself to go fully wireless.
So for now. I don’t mind. My beats and AirPods lasted two years without issue. Now I’m just tryna get a more in between solution. Not too bulky and have good sound plus battery life. I think the Powerbeats Pro gonna last me for a while. I am worried about the air tips wearing out after a few months. Just like my wired in ear ones.