I'm very happy to see better competition with Apple's AirPods. And visually, these look fantastic -- distinct but just as tasteful.
The lack of active noise cancellation still seems to leave Google a "generation behind" here, but playing catch-up is still a great thing.
But more than anything, I'm fascinated by the "Adaptive Sound" mode. Seriously, for years I've wanted my headphones (and laptop speakers) to auto-adjust their volume based on both the signal and ambient noise. If it works well, I hope to see the concept spread pretty much everywhere as an option.
Yeah, no active noise cancellation or "transparency mode" equivalent is just a massive bummer. It's hard to compete with the AirPods when you're missing the two most impressive features.
Lacking active noise cancellation doesn't leave them a generation behind. They're aimed at the Airpods not the Airpod Pros given both feature-set and price. Honestly, these are between the Airpod and Airpod Pro in terms noise cancelling and sound. Google can add a Pro model at a higher price point to compete with the Airpod Pros if they'd like.
Google Pixel Buds: $179, passive* noise cancellation
Apple Airpods: $200, no noise cancellation
Apple Airpods Pro: $250, passive* + active noise cancellation
* For the confused, passive noise cancellation in earbuds is when they form a seal with your ear canal to block external sounds. The Google Pixel Buds do this with the different sized silicon sleeves they include, just like the Airpod Pros do. Active noise cancellation is when the headphones have microphones that sample outside noise and feed an inverse sound wave to your ears to cancel out the external sounds.
Something I've noticed recently as I'm watching all of these specials on TV with celebrities at home.
Almost every one of them is using an AirPod.
I was shocked at just how many celebrities are using AirPods for these (theoretically) high production shows.
I noticed that SNL seems to have switched from AirPods in week one to pro lav mics this week, but otherwise it seems like everyone already owned the AirPods.
It'll be interesting to see if Google can eat some of their market share.
Motorcycle helmet speakers have adaptive volume, at least at the quality end of the market.
You can't quite walk around everywhere with a helmet on, but I do give it a good try with my flip up - I'm rarely stopped when shopping etc. - twice in 13 years.
It would be cool if it could (somehow) detect a person speaking directly to you and automatically lower content being played while raising the external microphone volume—assuming it has a feature similar to AirPod Pro’s transparent mode.
IMO the real killer feature of AirPods is that they seamlessly "just work" when pairing, switching devices, taking them out, etc., and it's vanishingly unlikely that Google got this right.
"Get real-time translations right in your ear". This immediately made me think of the babelfish from Hitchhiker's Guide. Looking forward to reading some reviews of these.
Had a Google hangouts meeting with a US and an AU participant, and I'm from Sweden, and amazingly enough Hangouts (or is it Meet now?) can provide close to real-time closed captions (subtitles), with a very high degree of accuracy. It also shows who is saying something, so subs may be,
PartA: Who's going?
PartB: I'm going.
PartC: When is it?
What boggles my mind is why it doesn't immediately after the meeting end, Hangout would send you a transcript of the meeting. This would be a crazy USP.
If it's anything like the previous generation of Pixel Buds, then the real-time translation comes with a bit of a caveat.
It's the same as using Google Translate in conversation mode, but without needing a phone to understand what the other person is saying. For two-way communication you do still need your phone though, because that will display the translation of what you just said back to the person you're speaking to.
It's still pretty cool, but it's not the futuristic technology it makes it out to be.
> Listen all day long.
> Get up to 5 hours with a single charge,
If quarantine has taught me anything, it's that 5 hours is not all day lol. I've switched to wired headphones because my wireless weren't working for me working/walkingaround/etc all day, unlike when I was working and I'd only wear them during the commute in, gym, and commute home.
I recently gave in and picked up a Fiio BTR3. 11 hours, decent quality, and I get to continue using my nice, comfortable IEMs. I'll probably wind up getting a better-quality unit in the future. Even though it's still one more thing to charge, at least the sound is decent (not on the same level as a desktop amp, but I wouldn't expect that).
I have a pair of the first generation Pixel Buds in my draw. One of my most frustrating product experiences of recent years. They didn't last that long in use (~5 hrs IIRC) so would frequently have to go back into the case to recharge, if I was lucky. The connections to the charge points in the case were so flakey that it was hit and miss if they would charge at all. Sometimes I'd pop them in at night, think it was ok as the LED was pulsing. But come the morning they'd be as flat as they were the night before. This happened SO many times I really started to hate them.
And they didn't block any ambient sound, so were pretty much useless in noisy environments.
Eventually I gave up, went in a different direction and purchased a pair of SONY WH-1000XM3 over ear headphones. What a world of difference. Gorgeous sound, comfortable, noise cancelling (or ambient sound) and 30 hours of battery life. My buds have just sat gathering dust ever since. Don't want to use them ever again, and it's put me off buying anything like them in future.
Does anyone else really struggle with comfort when using headphones which go into the ear canal (IEMs)? I know there is better sound isolation, but for some reason I cannot stand the minor pressure of them in my ears.
I've always used in-ear headphones but also always felt fatigue from the pressure.
But the AirPods just don't have it. It's more like they sit at the edge of your ear instead of burrowing inside it, and they explicitly use some kind of vent to equalize pressure as well.
Visually, these look like they operate in roughly the same way.
I've tried everything including the Airpods Pro, and the only earbuds small enough to not cause my ears discomfort are the Klipsch X11i and X12i. They use some of the smallest balanced armature drivers made by Bosch.
Have you tried comply-style foam tips? I feel pressure with the standard silicone tips that iems tend to come with, but I've been able to wear foam ones for hours without discomfort. The only issue imo is that the foam tips do wear out and break down over time. I haven't actually tracked how long they last, but from memory I think I get about 6 months out of a pair of foam earbud tips.
I don’t like them either. I also don’t like the sound isolation. It makes me feel sort of numb and out of touch when I walk around with such headphones.
No earbuds fit me, though I don't see anything immediately wrong with my ears.
I use IEM because the regular old plastic ones that sit in the ear give me actual physical pain after 5 minutes of them just sitting there, it's incredible. And the only brand of IEM that don't fall off are BOSE ones, which are oval shaped and have that little stability wing like these ones from Google.
Do you realize how insanely hard that actually is to do?
It's not like you just localize some webpages and add a currency option to your payment.
You've got to deal with certification, taxes, customs, warehousing, shipping partners, warranties, refund, and all with wildly varying levels of government agency cooperation and efficiency.
Apple is the only consumer company I know of who does this well, because it's their main business and they have the money and have gigantic teams of people who do this as their main job. And even then people complain about the sometimes vastly higher worldwide prices.
Now Google obviously does manage to eventually get these products out internationally. But it's pretty understandable that they sell in the US as soon as they can, and also can't necessarily predict the exact date they'll be available elsewhere.
(And yes you can work with local distributors, but that doesn't solve all problems, presents its own set of complex challenges, and sometimes may simply not be economically viable -- e.g. their cut will make the product non-profitable, and there isn't a market to sell at a higher price.)
Yes, this is very annoying. Personally I have a Pixel 2(which I might consider swapping for 5 later this year, depending on what they throw in it) but this is a pure joke. I got mine about 2 months before the Pixel 3 was released and even then, almost a year after it's official launch, it was nowhere to be found in most countries. My phone before that just gave up and I happened to be on a holiday in Poland and by pure coincidence the Pixel 2 was available in one of the large retailers. Mind you, it wasn't available in any of the shops they had in Krakow(second largest city) so they shipped it from Warsaw.
I can understand it not being available in small countries like Bulgaria in my case. There are one or two shops where you can find them for almost double the price which is a joke to say the least. And yes, in all these years I've only seen 2 or 3 other people rocking Pixels. But come on.... Poland? They have a population of almost 40 million...
And this is their flagship hardware product, I'm not talking about things which are much more trivial, like buds or whatever.
C. Support products after launch (Still annoyed that they abandoned the Pixel C tablet after an Android update that broke the graphics drivers, leaving GLES games/apps very unstable)
Is there a reason they announced this a few hours before earnings?
They look good, but I don't see it on par with the AirPods that have noise cancellation, sweat and water resistance. And given Google's inability to support their hardware products past a few years, doubt these would take off (but I hope they do).
Probably an attempt to offset the bad news of this quarter’s revenue. “This last quarter sucks, sure, but look at what will boost our revenue next quarter!”
I recently bought an iPhone SE after entertaining the thought of maybe waiting for the new Pixel phone. For reasons already mentioned by others here, I feel like I'm done with Google hardware. The iPhone is by no means perfect and sure, it restricts me in what software I can download and use, but at least it works. I don't want to run obscure adb commands, follow online tutorials or try other roms from xda-developers anymore for basic functionality to work because my device software is badly done, abandoned or both. I'm too old for that, and the SE is decently priced too for what you get.
Yeah, I really don't get why they don't just release them everywhere. The same for all their products btw. In the Netherlands they still sell the old Google Wifi (1st gen), which is apparently their main product as it is the first thing you see when you go to the store site here.
The question is, is the battery replaceable? As with Airpods, I won't buy any product that automatically becomes trash after 2 years, and I hope others will too. It is not sustainable and it is time for consumers to refuse this notion. Sure, these little pods won't tip the scale very much, but the practice is sending all the wrong messages.
In true google “organizing the world’s information”-fashion this page is not available in certain countries and you are not even informed that you have been blocked or that you tried to go somewhere “you shouldn’t”
This silent blocking makes me unreasonably angry.
Why is it a secret that google is selling a phone or a set of earbuds? Why can’t they acknowledge that it exists?
I'll be looking at the reviews with interest. I wanted to like the original Pixel Buds but the first pair I got were duds (though support was good about shipping me a new pair) but then the second pair eventually died and wouldn't charge. I'm hoping these work better. I looked at reviews for the originals after I bought them and the reviews weren't great, so maybe I should have looked at them before...
I like the auto-volume adjustment as long as you can put a max volume on it. If the ambient noise is loud, I don't want my music to get even louder so I can hear it over the noise; I worry about protecting my hearing. If anything, I'd rather the buds decide to just turn off if they decide the noise is too loud to play over.
I will always have a difficult time deciding to buy a new hardware from Google (maybe except Pixel phone because I have read some good things here and there on HN about it and my wife have been using it for about six months now and does not have a major issue so far although she said the UI is really confusing/annoying at times) after buying two Google home minis at two different times only to end up with both only being half-functional after just about a year of light use.
Good: I have Echo and I can tell that the AI in Google Home (mini) is more advanced than that in Alexa.
Bad 1: Every time my wife (who uses Pixel phone) and I (I have an iPhone 6) connect via Bluetooth to our Google home minis, it drops after a few minutes consistently even when we are using YouTube, which is Google's own app. We tried all kinds of ways that we can find online to reset these Home minis, and still that connectivity issue still persists. That went on for about 8 months and now, both of these minis (bought separately 3-4 months apart) are no longer connectable through Bluetooth. I really wonder if other Google Home owners face the same issue.
Bad 2: Google Home app is very confusing to use. Another bad example is--I have the temperature metric set to Celcius (I grew up in a non-US country) and both of these minis no longer read temperature in Celcius (after reading it for about the first six months of use) despite how many times I attempt to reset it in the app connected to my Google account. I don't know if it has to do with the firmware upgrades or the app upgrades that has failed to update the parameters within, but even as a relatively tech-savvy person, I still have trouble understanding the UI and worse, how to get these minis do such simple thing as reading out temperature in the metric that I want to use.
Marvellous! Another product with non-replaceable batteries. Hostile to both consumers and the environment. Really sad to see that all these big companies don't care even to the smallest degree about all their own environmental pledges.
The website seems to want to be an Apple website. But this one just murders my phone. Does anyone know of any blogs that do an in depth look at how popular pages are implemented or is that impossible with modern minification?
I'd kill to learn why two very similar sites are just so different in performance.
[+] [-] dang|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crazygringo|5 years ago|reply
The lack of active noise cancellation still seems to leave Google a "generation behind" here, but playing catch-up is still a great thing.
But more than anything, I'm fascinated by the "Adaptive Sound" mode. Seriously, for years I've wanted my headphones (and laptop speakers) to auto-adjust their volume based on both the signal and ambient noise. If it works well, I hope to see the concept spread pretty much everywhere as an option.
[+] [-] thebean11|5 years ago|reply
They sure look cool though.
[+] [-] JohnTHaller|5 years ago|reply
Google Pixel Buds: $179, passive* noise cancellation
Apple Airpods: $200, no noise cancellation
Apple Airpods Pro: $250, passive* + active noise cancellation
* For the confused, passive noise cancellation in earbuds is when they form a seal with your ear canal to block external sounds. The Google Pixel Buds do this with the different sized silicon sleeves they include, just like the Airpod Pros do. Active noise cancellation is when the headphones have microphones that sample outside noise and feed an inverse sound wave to your ears to cancel out the external sounds.
[+] [-] jedberg|5 years ago|reply
Almost every one of them is using an AirPod.
I was shocked at just how many celebrities are using AirPods for these (theoretically) high production shows.
I noticed that SNL seems to have switched from AirPods in week one to pro lav mics this week, but otherwise it seems like everyone already owned the AirPods.
It'll be interesting to see if Google can eat some of their market share.
[+] [-] barrkel|5 years ago|reply
You can't quite walk around everywhere with a helmet on, but I do give it a good try with my flip up - I'm rarely stopped when shopping etc. - twice in 13 years.
[+] [-] adwi|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tfehring|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] samcrawford|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] retSava|5 years ago|reply
PartA: Who's going? PartB: I'm going. PartC: When is it?
What boggles my mind is why it doesn't immediately after the meeting end, Hangout would send you a transcript of the meeting. This would be a crazy USP.
[+] [-] sunnyam|5 years ago|reply
It's the same as using Google Translate in conversation mode, but without needing a phone to understand what the other person is saying. For two-way communication you do still need your phone though, because that will display the translation of what you just said back to the person you're speaking to.
It's still pretty cool, but it's not the futuristic technology it makes it out to be.
[+] [-] _ZeD_|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rezeroed|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] komali2|5 years ago|reply
If quarantine has taught me anything, it's that 5 hours is not all day lol. I've switched to wired headphones because my wireless weren't working for me working/walkingaround/etc all day, unlike when I was working and I'd only wear them during the commute in, gym, and commute home.
[+] [-] what_ever|5 years ago|reply
I think it could work for me given the case provides 24 hours of listening time. I sure don't mind taking 10 minutes break every 2 hours or so.
Disc: Googler.
[+] [-] hajile|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kleer001|5 years ago|reply
Which we'll all be working on when the surface of the planet becomes inhabitable and the survivors have to live underground.
/s
[+] [-] jmcnulty|5 years ago|reply
And they didn't block any ambient sound, so were pretty much useless in noisy environments.
Eventually I gave up, went in a different direction and purchased a pair of SONY WH-1000XM3 over ear headphones. What a world of difference. Gorgeous sound, comfortable, noise cancelling (or ambient sound) and 30 hours of battery life. My buds have just sat gathering dust ever since. Don't want to use them ever again, and it's put me off buying anything like them in future.
[+] [-] smhg|5 years ago|reply
https://blog.google/products/pixel-buds/pixel-buds-now-avail...
[+] [-] kernelbugs|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crazygringo|5 years ago|reply
I've always used in-ear headphones but also always felt fatigue from the pressure.
But the AirPods just don't have it. It's more like they sit at the edge of your ear instead of burrowing inside it, and they explicitly use some kind of vent to equalize pressure as well.
Visually, these look like they operate in roughly the same way.
[+] [-] Sephr|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] doppelganger27|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Ididntdothis|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 1_player|5 years ago|reply
I use IEM because the regular old plastic ones that sit in the ear give me actual physical pain after 5 minutes of them just sitting there, it's incredible. And the only brand of IEM that don't fall off are BOSE ones, which are oval shaped and have that little stability wing like these ones from Google.
[+] [-] GuB-42|5 years ago|reply
In my case, the most comfortable tips came from a no-name cheap pair. So I guess it is one area where fit is more important than anything else.
[+] [-] pattisapu|5 years ago|reply
http://tinyurl.com/yb6qfpes (Koss over-the-ear headphones example)
[+] [-] novia|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] a254613e|5 years ago|reply
A. Launch products, both software and hardware, worldwide (or at least majority of countries).
B. Launch products with clear dates and not just "Join a waiting list". At least in German store that's the only option.
[+] [-] crazygringo|5 years ago|reply
It's not like you just localize some webpages and add a currency option to your payment.
You've got to deal with certification, taxes, customs, warehousing, shipping partners, warranties, refund, and all with wildly varying levels of government agency cooperation and efficiency.
Apple is the only consumer company I know of who does this well, because it's their main business and they have the money and have gigantic teams of people who do this as their main job. And even then people complain about the sometimes vastly higher worldwide prices.
Now Google obviously does manage to eventually get these products out internationally. But it's pretty understandable that they sell in the US as soon as they can, and also can't necessarily predict the exact date they'll be available elsewhere.
(And yes you can work with local distributors, but that doesn't solve all problems, presents its own set of complex challenges, and sometimes may simply not be economically viable -- e.g. their cut will make the product non-profitable, and there isn't a market to sell at a higher price.)
[+] [-] axegon_|5 years ago|reply
I can understand it not being available in small countries like Bulgaria in my case. There are one or two shops where you can find them for almost double the price which is a joke to say the least. And yes, in all these years I've only seen 2 or 3 other people rocking Pixels. But come on.... Poland? They have a population of almost 40 million...
And this is their flagship hardware product, I'm not talking about things which are much more trivial, like buds or whatever.
[+] [-] bluescrn|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gadnuk|5 years ago|reply
They look good, but I don't see it on par with the AirPods that have noise cancellation, sweat and water resistance. And given Google's inability to support their hardware products past a few years, doubt these would take off (but I hope they do).
[+] [-] falcolas|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ayoisaiah|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grey-area|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] hnarn|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jspaetzel|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] copperx|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bnt|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bobviolier|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tabs_masterrace|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wodenokoto|5 years ago|reply
This silent blocking makes me unreasonably angry.
Why is it a secret that google is selling a phone or a set of earbuds? Why can’t they acknowledge that it exists?
[+] [-] losvedir|5 years ago|reply
I like the auto-volume adjustment as long as you can put a max volume on it. If the ambient noise is loud, I don't want my music to get even louder so I can hear it over the noise; I worry about protecting my hearing. If anything, I'd rather the buds decide to just turn off if they decide the noise is too loud to play over.
[+] [-] rayshan|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] programmertote|5 years ago|reply
Good: I have Echo and I can tell that the AI in Google Home (mini) is more advanced than that in Alexa.
Bad 1: Every time my wife (who uses Pixel phone) and I (I have an iPhone 6) connect via Bluetooth to our Google home minis, it drops after a few minutes consistently even when we are using YouTube, which is Google's own app. We tried all kinds of ways that we can find online to reset these Home minis, and still that connectivity issue still persists. That went on for about 8 months and now, both of these minis (bought separately 3-4 months apart) are no longer connectable through Bluetooth. I really wonder if other Google Home owners face the same issue.
Bad 2: Google Home app is very confusing to use. Another bad example is--I have the temperature metric set to Celcius (I grew up in a non-US country) and both of these minis no longer read temperature in Celcius (after reading it for about the first six months of use) despite how many times I attempt to reset it in the app connected to my Google account. I don't know if it has to do with the firmware upgrades or the app upgrades that has failed to update the parameters within, but even as a relatively tech-savvy person, I still have trouble understanding the UI and worse, how to get these minis do such simple thing as reading out temperature in the metric that I want to use.
[+] [-] notechback|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alexpetralia|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danschumann|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Waterluvian|5 years ago|reply
I'd kill to learn why two very similar sites are just so different in performance.