Why I am not convinced by AirPod and will never buy one

[Costino1]

Apple could use clips when designing the AirPod. You can then prying the clips and open the AirPod. Then service the battery from there. But I don’t know, Apple designed AirPod this way, they must have some valid reason.

It's for water protection. Sadly for you, everything is sealed and not user serviceable due to ensuring it is watertight.

 

[steelfemur]

Posts like this always read as “I can’t afford these so here’s how I’m making myself feel better about it”. Not trying to be rude but this reasoning doesn’t make any sense. Wired headphones take up far more landfill space than wireless and get thrown out far more often.

Even if they did allow you to replace the batteries on your own, you’d still be throwing those batteries into a landfill. As someone else pointed out, it’s only $50 for out of warranty battery replacement in a few years if you’re that concerned about it.

 

[mcaswell]

Reportedly the APP has a "button" style battery (I heard it was the same as the Sony WF-1000XM3)... I wonder if this will last longer than the super-skinny cylindrical battery on the originals.

 

[Closingracer]

AirPod is neat, it doesn't require wire connection and it automatically connects to iOS or Mac without need to go through bluetooth connection. It support all shorts of Siri capability and of course, the most recent annouce with Siri. I seen more and more AirPods on the street and that worries me.

Colleague of mine who purchased the first generation AirPod at launch day and the battery could not hold any charges. The battery can bearly makes more than 10 minutes of phone call. $250CAD (219 with 13% sales tax in Ontario, Canada) is now a paper weight. Of course, you can argue about Lithom-ion battery is going to loss charges over time and Apple can not defy chemistry physics. I get that.

However, due to the design of AirPod, it is impossible for battery get replaced. Of course, there is no warranty on that thing after three years of use. $250 dollars AirPod is more like $80 subscription for him now. He has to go shell out either 371CAD for the AirPod Pro or other $250 for the AirPod (without wireless charging case) and he will still facing same problems few years down the road.

Apple has been go down to this rabbit hole for while now. Apple is desgining their product as disposible items without possibilities of upgrade or repalce component. The AirPod is designed as disposbile items and millions or billions of this tiny wireless speakers will ends up in landfills.

I am not going down this path as I am not prepared to shellout couple hundrands of dollars for pieces of disposible wireless speakers, this is completely waste of money and it could be enviromental disasters.

For now, i will keep use my cheap lightning headphones that comes with the phone. It is free, it does not need battery to operate and it will work everytime i plug in. Unless Apple comes up with a magic solution that allows users change battery, I am not going to purchase AirPod.

Congratulations you want a trophy for writing this ? Or a high five ? Who cares SMH.

 

[Closingracer]

It's commendable from the OP, they have point. There is only so much space on this Earth we can chuck all of these plastic AirPods into. A shame but as others have pointed out that's the way Apple (and other companies) want to do business. As long as Tim's backyard isn't the dumping ground for said plastic it's somebody else's problem to sort out.

Apple is far from the worse offender.

 

[Closingracer]

I don’t know how others do. But I keep my headphones around. I have my iPhone 5 earbuds around and the lightning headphone around.

Wired headphone does not contain batteries, which contains toxic chemicals. If we dispose these millions of AirPod improperly, these batteries are harmful to environment.

We as first world countries aren’t doing great job on garbage disposal. Until we figure out a way of processing these garbage, I will avoid AirPod.

From computers to cellphone, I like to keep them as long as possible and replace broken parts if I can. I still using my 2006 Acer laptop for light browsing, I assembled my desktop, so I can throw as little as possible and reuse most components, I only brought ThinkPads, which I can get hard drive, memory replaced when problem occurs.

So why are you using a phone , tablet or laptop to write this? The batteries are bigger. Maybe you should just live off the grid in Yellowstone Park or something. Would help the environment then.

 

[Closingracer]

By you not buying one set of AirPods it won’t make one difference. Apple will still make the same amount. The AirPods to me are so much easier to use and I find myself taking care of them more than the wired ones.

He has an agenda leave him alone lol

 

[Ralfi]

Reportedly the APP has a "button" style battery (I heard it was the same as the Sony WF-1000XM3)... I wonder if this will last longer than the super-skinny cylindrical battery on the originals.

It’d be handy if we had specs of that battery. Maybe a teardown vid reveals some deets.

 

[brucemr]

It's $49 to replace the battery out of warranty: https://support.apple.com/airpods/repair/service#battery

It is $98 for a set of Air pods. $49 for charging case. So about $150 to replace batteries in all.

 

[rillrill]

I’m kind of with you, OP. I think its lame that the battery can’t be replaced for a reasonable price. I get why it can’t, the design, and glue, and whatever else Apple does to get their products so thin and light. Nevertheless, for the price, it’s too wasteful. I ordered me first pair of Knockies, so I’ll see how those are. I don’t think they‘ll last any longer than official AirPods, but at least I’m not shelling out $150+ every two-three years for them.

 

[ET iPhone Home]

AirPod is neat, it doesn't require wire connection and it automatically connects to iOS or Mac without need to go through bluetooth connection. It support all shorts of Siri capability and of course, the most recent annouce with Siri. I seen more and more AirPods on the street and that worries me.

Colleague of mine who purchased the first generation AirPod at launch day and the battery could not hold any charges. The battery can bearly makes more than 10 minutes of phone call. $250CAD (219 with 13% sales tax in Ontario, Canada) is now a paper weight. Of course, you can argue about Lithom-ion battery is going to loss charges over time and Apple can not defy chemistry physics. I get that.

However, due to the design of AirPod, it is impossible for battery get replaced. Of course, there is no warranty on that thing after three years of use. $250 dollars AirPod is more like $80 subscription for him now. He has to go shell out either 371CAD for the AirPod Pro or other $250 for the AirPod (without wireless charging case) and he will still facing same problems few years down the road.

Apple has been go down to this rabbit hole for while now. Apple is desgining their product as disposible items without possibilities of upgrade or repalce component. The AirPod is designed as disposbile items and millions or billions of this tiny wireless speakers will ends up in landfills.

I am not going down this path as I am not prepared to shellout couple hundrands of dollars for pieces of disposible wireless speakers, this is completely waste of money and it could be enviromental disasters.

For now, i will keep use my cheap lightning headphones that comes with the phone. It is free, it does not need battery to operate and it will work everytime i plug in. Unless Apple comes up with a magic solution that allows users change battery, I am not going to purchase AirPod.

Sadly, everything you buy id disposable. I need a washing machine. It's better to buy new that get the old one fixed. Disposable is what these manufacturers prefer to get your money. The lifespan of things are getting shorter, for manufacturers to make you spend more frequently. It's so sad.
[automerge]1574576300[/automerge]

 

[macintoshmac]

I am not going down this path as I am not prepared to shellout couple hundrands of dollars for pieces of disposible wireless speakers, this is completely waste of money and it could be enviromental disasters.

For now, i will keep use my cheap lightning headphones that comes with the phone. It is free, it does not need battery to operate and it will work everytime i plug in. Unless Apple comes up with a magic solution that allows users change battery, I am not going to purchase AirPod.

I get this. AirPods are no doubt a great product that offer different and arguably more convenient possibilities over standard issue wired headphones, but these are also no doubt forced upon Apple users.

When there was a 3.5mm jack, I could charge my phone and listen to music same time, with a pair of headphones of my choice. That was all I needed. At that point, AirPods could be a beautiful addition to my life, at a time of my choosing.

Today, with no 3.5mm jack, I need to have a charged phone to listen to music when in bed, and that is pure greed and use of force on part of Apple. Now, I need AirPods or any other pair of wireless headphones if I want to charge my device and listen to music simultaneously.

And on top of that, the Mac has a 3.5mm jack whereas the iPhone does not, so I need two different pairs of headphones if I were a guy who only preferred listening to music via headphones and not through the Mac-lineup's speakers. 3.5mm jack was never a problem to begin with. I could carry a pair of my choice and listen on both iPhone and Mac. Today, I need to carry lightning headphones for the iPhone and another pair if I were to listen on the Mac.

That frail wire adapter is out of question if I were to carry only Apple-supplied headphones (lightning connector) since that would not go anywhere on the Mac lineup. In that scenario, I need to carry my larger headphones with 3.5mm connector. In any way, convenience is crippled in favour of wireless.

AirPods that were an addition, a convenience and choice, have become almost a necessity since the option and convenience of 3.5mm jack and simultaneous charging is taken away.

It was a greed-driven decision on part of Apple for taking away that jack, it had nothing to do with courage to move on or to make the product better for anything.

This is the primary reason I will not purchase AirPods. Second is battery and its life, of course, versus price paid for AirPods in my country.