Tech-N-Things

As a Android user, nothing Apple related should connect with me. They are the enemy and they represent the walled garden that most android users hate and fight against, right? The sheep we wolves only want to eat. We don’t want to be like them and refuse to march to their beat. We Android user stand for freedom.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let me pause the music I’m listening to on my AirPods Pro connected to my Samsung Z Fold. That’s right, I’m listening to my AirPods Pro on my Samsung Fold 7. That’s even with access to my Samsung Buds 4 Pro, Bang & Olufsen, Bowers & Wilkins, Sennheiser, Sony, Technics, and many, many earphones designed for the Android system that have more features than AirPods 3 Pro. I have voice controls and translation access on things like Samsung Buds and/or Earfun Air Pro 4+. I have better battery life on the Sonys and others too. Heck, I even have an app that lets me adjust EQ and see the battery percentage and other features. I mean, there’s no competition, and yet they are still in my possession, and I still can’t help but put them on because they feel so good, sound amazing, and have arguably the best ANC and best Hear-Through, period.

Look, I’m not here to claim that there is nothing that sounds better, but boy, do these hit every box for my ears. The openness and soundstage with the imaging are just special. While it’s not the only earphone that has these things, the way Apple does them just feels and sounds different and unique. They aren’t going to be the most in any category, but they are like the most perfectly balanced earphone sound for all categories. It doesn’t have the hardest bass; they have the right bass. They don’t have the highest treble; they have the right treble. You get it?

They just know how to deliver a well-balanced, checked-box sound presentation that’s amazingly special in its presentation. They have that magic ability to disappear with the hear-through levels it has, making it truly feel like the music is just happening around you and not in your ears. And I think that’s probably my favorite feeling it delivers. No earphone does what these do in hear-through, and that’s one of the biggest things for me in sound. That illusion that music is happening without a source. Fooling your brain into thinking this is the key to magic. It’s one of the main reasons why people wear them all the time: the convenient nature and natural feeling it brings. It’s so comfortable that it doesn’t make you feel like you need to hurry up and get them out of your ears.

They are still one of the best-looking earphones in the world today. I know that because their design is copied left and right. Everywhere you go, they are present in someone’s ears within 20 feet of you, or at least it feels like that. It’s the only earphone I have ever had that I run into someone else who also has them. I put on Sony and Sennheiser, Bowers & Wilkins, Bang & Olufsen, or any other brand and walk in the mall or airport, and I will never run into a single person who has them in their ears. Not the case with AirPod Pros. And yes, this could be a negative for some. But sometimes the overall usefulness of a product overrides the need to stand out and be different, and Apple is a master at this process.

Now, the biggest misinformation is that AirPods won’t work on Android phones. They do. You can get access to the basics that all other earphones give you. You can make phone calls, listen to music, play, pause, rewind, forward, and use ANC and Transparency mode. The only things you don’t have are the features Apple connects with their ecosystem: translation, heart rate, Siri, etc. But the funny thing is that earphones like Bang & Olufsen Pi8 don’t offer any different features beyond the basic ones you have with the AirPods Pro 3. This is the same with many earphones. Only special earphones like the Samsung Buds 4 and Sony XM6 have features that extend past the basics. People buy $400-$500 earphones like Devialet, Gemini, and Noble earphones that have even fewer abilities for Android. And yet, they can’t provide ANC and Transparency mode like Apple can, even on Android.

Look all I can say is these earphones sound amazing, have ultimate tier ANC and Hear Thru. I can sleep in them and they amazingly portable and have a great amount of battery for my needs. Things like Asmr, Audio books, Movies, and Music is amazing. And of course noboby has a clearer phone ability than Apple in a normal phone call environment. It just is something that is so special that not even having a different operating system makes it impossible for someone to get into them still.

Sure, I might be the only person in the world sporting their Fold Z 7 with AirPods Pro 3s. But hey, at least that’s something that might make me stand out from the pack if that’s what I need. If not, who cares, right? At the end of the day, who knows, maybe I will end up getting an iPhone next. Maybe that’s pushing it, but one never knows once Apple comes out with their Passport iPhone. Right now, the Samsung Fold 8 just doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t feel like a phone at the passport port size. Don’t know if Apple can improve that. Right now it feels like a gimmick, mostly, especially with step down on the  camera and absence of a meaningful upgrade in battery life to match the cost. I have a feeling that Apple will do something different or better to redefine the world again.

The biggest question you still might have is why not just use the Samsung buds 4 pro if it has more features and made for your phone?

• They just keep copying off Apple without even trying
• Their ANC isn’t like Apple’s, at all
• Their hear thru isn’t like Apple’s.
• Their phone call quality isn’t as good as Apple’s
• Their controls aren’t as exact as Apple’s.
• The features that they have for Google voice don’t always work.
• They don’t fit like the Airpods do.
• Their translation option isn’t really as polished as they make it seem

Basically, the only thing it does have over Apple is the voice controls which is a killer feature. But I would take superior ANC, Hear Thru, better fit, and better phone call clarity over voice controls.