Hacker News Reader

Comment by eridius | Hacker News Reader

Actually they do. What's "magical" and "reinvented" is the fact that the AirPods seamlessly switch to whatever device you're currently using, so you can switch between your desktop, laptop, iPhone, and iPad without having to actually do anything to trigger the switch. In addition, it automatically pauses your music when you take your AirPods out of your ears (and resumes it if you put them back in).

View on HN

> The AirPods seamlessly switch to whatever device you're currently using, so you can switch between your desktop, laptop, iPhone, and iPad without having to actually do anything to trigger the switch.

Wait... Honest question: How?

Does it switch based on which input source is currently playing audio? What if more than one is playing at a time?

Yeah this feature sounds rife with good intention but no basis in reality as to how people actually use their computer/devices.

Honest question, useless answer

It's based on Handoff. Your devices already have a notion of which device you're currently using, which it uses to trigger Handoff (so you can resume an activity on your new device that you were just doing on a previous device). AirPods hook into that and switch input to the "current" device (but I believe only if it plays audio; that way picking up your iPhone won't disconnect you from your computer if you're not doing something audio-related. Of course, I don't have AirPods myself, so I can't verify, but I believe that's how it works).

My Plantronics headset [1] has been doing most of this for years. I keep it connected to my work laptop and smartphone simultaneously and can take calls on either device with seamless switching. It also detects when it is on my ear or not.

[1]: https://www.plantronics.com/us/product/voyager-legend-uc

And the Plantronics BackBeat PRO headphones: http://www.plantronics.com/uk/product/backbeat-pro

It sounds like that's just taking calls on both devices, right? AirPods intelligently route all audio, not just calls, and it does it based on the notion of what your "current" device is rather than whatever device is emitting audio (e.g. if you're using your iPhone, AIUI it won't switch to your computer just because your computer started playing audio).

They don't switch to the Mac automatically. You have to select them in the audio menu.

Is it actually seamless? As in zero seconds? I have headphones that "seamlessly" switch between multiple bluetooth connections. It has about a half of a second silence between switching which is a bit annoying though. That delay is what I thought a limitation of bluetooh, or are you talking about something different?

My Bose QuietControl 30s do this, although they are limited to 2 devices.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com