Apple AirPods don’t have a single cord, and thus, they are considered to be the first true wireless earbuds. The AirPods are more expensive than some of its competitors, but they offer good sound quality and respectable battery life.
Rolling Stone described the AirPods: “And while $159 is still a pretty penny to spend on far less than audiophile-grade headphones, it’s a bargain for the experience of walking around, totally wire-free, with a personal soundtrack pumped directly into your brain.”
Furthermore, it is much easier to connect AirPods to your smartphone, than it is to connect other Bluetooth headphones. Forbes referred to these as “magic.” They said:
“That’s right folks, these Bluetooth wireless headphones require no button pushing or connection with the physical world. They are simply magical. Many wizards worked tirelessly on either the optical sensor and motion accelerometer technology or the marketing campaign. The lines are blurred. Magic does that.”
Taking into account the size of these earpieces, five hours of battery life seems pretty impressive and after they run out of power you just put them in the charging case. However, finding these AirPods is really difficult and the columnist Maren Estrada stated:
“At this point, it seems like Apple’s AirPods might never be in stock regularly at Apple stores. The company’s truly wireless earbuds were first released all the way back in December, and yet they’re still impossible to buy unless you’re willing to basically stalk your nearest Apple store location and snag a pair the moment they’re made available.”
In the meantime, Apple offered an alternative to AirPods called the BeatsX wireless earbuds. They connect to your iPhone using the advanced W1 chip, the same way the AirPods do, but the earpieces are paired together with a cord. However, the BeatsX are really easy to connect, they are comfortable and stable, and you won’t hear the outside noises. However, these earbuds are likely to fall out often during a workout, and its power button is really hard to find.
According to CNET, they deserve four starts:
“The BeatsX is a comfortable, lightweight, water-resistant, neckband-style Bluetooth headphone with a secure in-ear fit and good sound quality. It pairs instantly with Apple devices, rolls up to fit in an included carrying case, and charges quickly via Lightning, not MicroUSB.”
The BeatsX are really easy to find, unlike the AirPods, but the long cord can be tangled up, a problem you wouldn’t have with AirPods. At first, removing a 3.5mm jack from the iPhone 7 was a shock, but Apple and other companies introduced plenty of wireless headphones, which means that the headphone jack will become the thing of the past sooner or later.
