How the fuck did Apple convince so many idiots that their product is superior. I just got an iPhone 14 that I have to use for work and iOS is absolute ass water. Holy fuck, it is so insanely bad that I compiled a list as a way to cope with it. But it really doesn't help as I still have to use it, and it feels like I'm wading through 3ft of shit in slow motion. It's absolutely perplexing how people think something with dog shit workflows and almost no customization is the better option. My Pixel with LineageOS runs circles around it.
Here's the thing: either you deal with wires, or you deal with batteries.
I don't like wires, but by god i can't stand batteries. You gotta charge them, they can run out, they degrade over time, they make the device more expensive, they're more complicated, also wireless transmittion (wifi/bluetooth) is less reliable compared to the simplicity and immediacy of you plug something in and it's almost impossible for it not to work. All of my shit is wired.
Though i admit wires vs batteries is circumstancial. I don't get wireless mice or keyboards, but i do get wireless headsets, you can go anywhere around the house, and when you're outside it doesn't snag on anything.
It feels like such a solution in search of a problem, why would I need wireless earbuds for possibly the single device I own that, if I'm using it, will never be more than wire-length away from my ears, it's literally either in my hand or in my pocket
I love a wireless mouse, since I realised it lasts much longer than a cheap wired mouse in my hands: because the cable eventually frays at the mouse end. (I do a lot of travelling.)
A cheap-ish wireless mouse with a single AA battery is easier to use, less hassle, and cheaper in the long run.
I haven't yet found a cheap wireless keyboard I like (except the tiny one I got for my Pi years ago, which is great for its use but not for normal everyday typing), and I don't have enough use case to try an expensive one over just using my laptop keyboard.
Wireless headsets... I'd like to like one, but the battery issue, plus the price, plus the lag... I still use wired earphones for now.
I used to think airpods were lame and dumb but now I love them.
Last month I bought a pair of padded headphones, analogue headphone jack with 2 sizes so it works for my interface too, with detachable cable. No bluetooth, no wifi, no special driver package, no LEDs: just headphones for only $18 while on sale.
Thank you, airpods. You've somehow made regular quality goods much more affordable by simply being the bigger gimmick.
It’s really not that bad, especially if you get ones where the case charges wirelessly. Then you just set the case on the charger when you get home or whatever. Admittedly that does require some investment.
This reminds me of the time my mom broke her leg and was in the hospital and a social worker came in and asked her if she was eligible for Medicaid and then my dad got so offended that someone could think she’s “low income” that he forcibly had her transferred out to a private hospital.
Medicaid is something that you have to be quite poor to get. It means you are poor enough that the government pays for 100% of your medical care. In the US it is a shame to be poor. It means you are a garbage human being who didn't try and is now leaching off the rest of us. Yes its a garbage country.
to add to the other comments, i qualified for Medicaid in the past only because my annual income was under 14400 per year. you have to be POORpoor. like "how are you alive" poor.
I still have never used wireless earbuds. I don't understand why anyone would prefer them over regular earbuds. The only benefit is not having a cord that could snag on something. But you need to charge them, keep them in range of your Bluetooth source, you risk losing one or both because they're so tiny, and they're expensive as hell and way overpriced for the garbage you're getting.
I'd rather pay $10 or less for wired headphones, be able to grab and go anytime without charging, plug and play immediately instead of wirelessly pairing them to a device and then having to manually pair them again anytime I connect to a new device, and then run the cable under my shirt so it doesn't snag on anything. Wireless earbuds are teaching us to put up with more BS in the name of hip trends.
I respect your choice and opinion on not wanting wireless earbuds but there's plenty of use cases for them besides just wanting to be hipster.
I have had jobs where I was moving around so much that even with the cord under my shirt they would tug and get pulled out, I have spent a comparable amount of money buying wired earbuds because they've gotten pulled and the cable ruined. Mind you, I'm a careful person but accidents happen, especially when you're listening to as much media as I am. I was in the top .1 percent on Spotify for the past couple years.
Wireless are more decreet for jobs where they are accepted but sorta looked down upon.
You use your wired earbuds on a devise that already uses a battery you have to keep charged, it really isn't that much effort to make sure the wireless ones stay charged and plenty last for a week of regular use. I personally just plug in my case at work every day so it's a non issue, and before I would just plug them in at night before sleeping like plenty of people do with their phones.
Pairing isn't difficult nor does it come often, I've had my buds for 3 years and I've had to pair to 3 things. My phone, pc and laptop. I would argue having to run the cable under your shirt has wasted more of your time than the occasional pairing of wireless to a new devise ever would.
They used to be expensive, there's a bunch now that have decent quality for 30 to 40 bucks and some of the best are around 100. Here's a site if you wanna browse through some reviews from a trusted source.
Wireless isn't a hip trend it's the future. The proof is that you're carrying a wireless phone with you instead of using landlines or public phones and you probably use some sort of plastic card to pay for stuff instead of carrying all your cash with you at all times.
No hate, everyone is free to do what works best for them. By all means if wired works great for you have at it.
I have a set of decent ones and still think they're inferior to wired ones in a lot of ways. Bluetooth is always janky, they have a noticeable delay when watching videos especially when I use them with my PC, It might just be that I have weird ears but they constantly shift around and disconnect despite trying different sized rubber things and they're expensive and you can't easily replace the batteries when they inevitably wear out.
I prefer wired, bit the industry doesn't fucking care what consumers want.
You can't vote with your dollars when Apple cuts it and Google and Samsung follow suit. You (we) are just screaming into the void mostly.
For what it's worth, the real airpods innovation in my mind was the charging case, and while there are plenty of crap ass basic immitators there are also some decent midrange contenders that do great for day to day listening.
Crinical and others reviewed the Moondrop Space Aage well, so for $25 I tried them. Which is a good price point because I dgaf if I lose them. I tried their slightly more premium Moondrop Golden Ages and loved them. They are miniature planar drivers, so the sound is very clean. It's not as good a amp powered monitors of course, but for for any kind of mobile casual listening it's pretty excellent.
I say all this really to say that as the wireless buds have become truly cheap, and the quality floor has raised on some of them, they aren't actually trash options anymore. I still like having a headphone jack but I miss it less now. As long as I charge the case once a week, for my listening habits, it's more than enough.
Sony still makes phones with headphone jacks, they also have kickass cameras. I'm rocking an xperia 5 v and its been great. The only thing its missing is a removable battery.
I tried them when apple removed the headphone port. No cable is nice but no battery is incomparably better.
I gifted one of my parents a BT headset for zoom and the battery on that legitimately lasts a long time. I think currently BT headsets would be my choice if I went back to wireless. I bought some for work (for the office) and tested the range out last week - actually impressive connection from my laptop. Waiting 10 years for tech to mature is my happy place.
A benefit is that they are so small that I can have them as a part of my stuff I always carry without thinking about and use whenever and easily put them away. With wired its always neccesary to roll them up and then run them under the shirt so they don't get caught on things.
That "only" reason is my primary (but not only) reason. Having had too many headsets I had to replace because only one ear would work. Wasn't worth the hassle to keep replacing em. In addition, I like a lot of the noise canceling and remote control features good wireless comes with. Not that you couldn't get those from wired, but a lot of the good ones I've seen don't have much controls.
Yet another reason, my phone, which I chose for the screen size, unfortunately has no headphones jack.
I do currently use wired headphones for my pc, both work and fun, but I started this after my wireless of about 5 years fell apart(plastic degraded, the electronics still work). While the audio quality is higher and my new desk mic is highly superior as well, I do miss being able to walk around my room or get a drink and still listen to conversations.
Anyone who adamantly states such a position of yours is stuck in their own use cases and thinks everyone has the same needs and priorities. I'm not you, and you aren't me, and we use our devices differently.
I got a cheap Skullcandy pair of wireless headphones for slow days in the office to pop in and listen to a podcast in one ear but not be obvious about it in case a board member wandered up for assistance (as they did not infrequently in that job)
As soon as I left that job those earbuds stopped being used. Like, I get it it's cool, and you don't have to detangle the wire, but I just prefer not eating earbuds/headphones when I don't have to
One falls out, hangs from the wire to the other ear. Rather than falling to the dirty gym bathroom floor in piss. Always worth it, and so much less expensive for the same audio quality. Also I can touch the earbud and not have it think I'm signaling to pause the audio.
The joke is that someone is using traditional headphones with a 3.5 mm jack. This confuses the kids, who have never seen anything but AirPods. Their mother sees this and says, "This neighborhood isn't safe," a deliberate exaggeration of the reaction people living in the Apple ecosystem have to traditional headphones.