Hands-On with the $159 Google Pixel Buds
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
Ideally, what I'd like to see to make myself, and I'm sure some others, a buyer is a free replacement program. I'm more than willing to support awesome software if I don't have to worry about it's backing hardware breaking so easily, especially something a lot of folks jam in their pockets.
I would imagine they have a standard manufacturer's warranty, and if you have a decent credit card, that warranty is usually extended.
Does warranty covers broken hardware? If you step on these buds, is google going to replace them?
Obviously it's better to have 90 days of accidental damage protection than to have none, but my wired earbuds are a couple of years old and would cost maybe $20 to replace with another decent pair.
I can tell from the design that I will never wear those ear buds. There is no way to create a decent seal in the ear using just hard plastic, so the sound will suffer for music, and that's the main reason I buy earbuds.
I'm not a snob about music stuff, but for around 100 USD I get a decent pair of earbuds that create a proper seal and gives me good music quality. I'd love the features, but I'm not going to sacrifice the main reason I use in-ear headphones in the first place - the ability to relatively cheaply have good quality sound.
One important difference besides the fit, is that earphones are more sound-isolating as well, allowing you to listen at lower volumes and save some of your hearing.
When I'm out and about I have to balance sound quality with not getting hit by a bus. For me anything I wear outside needs to let in outside noise.
I haven't tried them outside, the sound of an approaching car seems like something they would filter out but they might have some smarts to them.
Also, which earbuds do you think the AirPods are copy-cats of? The only real wire-free buds out when they were announced were the original Bragi ones which were priced over $100 higher, had lower battery life, and were larger.
The tit-for-tat here is getting silly. If you have a Pixel, buy Google's if you have an iPhone buy Apple's. If you have neither buy a few pair for $3 and laugh at the fools wearing the $160 ones.
That being said, I've used the Apple ones and actually feel like they're a reasonable value at the price. The ease of pairing them (open the box with an iPhone nearby) will spoil you. They also are findable with the "Find my iPhone" app, based on their last known position which is a critical feature for such an easy to lose item.
Haven't tried the Google ones, but do think real time translation is a "magical" feature that Jobs would have loved -- assuming it's easy to use and works well. I'm the type to work my ass off learning a new language when traveling, so it does make me feel like people are cheating. But that's a feeling that we should all be getting used with tech advancements.
Apple is never the first or second or even third entrant into a new market, but when they do enter they're usually the best by a significant margin.
Managing to best everyone else at their best feature is what the AirPods do but nothing they do is innovative.
When you Google the word "innovative" that's almost the definition that comes up, only slightly different punctuation. Google says "featuring new methods; advanced and original."
In any case it's stating that to be innovative the method must be new, advanced, AND original. If it's not all three, then it's not innovative.
Also, it's an example of a fairly obvious technology just waiting for the tech to make it possible, as depicted several years ago in the movie Her.
I think what is shitty is their retail game. They're not even close to competing with Apple on this one. I've also heard a lot of conflicting stories about their support. That would be my biggest concern buying a phone or product from them. (I do have the nexus 6p but thankfully never had to contact support.)
Given how fast phones become outdated, and battery life deteriorate, 200$ is what I want to pay for a phone if I have to replace it every other year...
I lose and break headsets all the time. For me they are consumable. That's way too expensive for consumable.
If Moto could put a decent camera in there (go ahead and charge me an extra $50), it very well could be my ideal phone.
AKA no rooting for recent updates.
They really should come back with a smaller form factor at a lower price.
Shame as the Nexus line (especially the 4) was affordable and effective for everyday tasks. I still use the 4 as a media controller and web browser.
Outside of the phones which stop getting security updates, that says more about the success of marketing rather than any real requirement. If you aren't hung up on needing to have the latest hardware, you can buy an iPhone every 4 years and not miss anything other than, perhaps, the need to uninstall something like Facebook's bloated apps.