It has been a while since I last wrote a blog or review.  I was very busy at work and at home during the past 6 months or so.  Hence, I thought I’ll use this is a short review of the Apple AirPods that I got from the Lazada Sales in April 2018 to restart my ‘blogging engine’.

I’ve been using Apple products ranging from iPhone (3GS to the recent XS Max) to Mac Mini and Mac Books.  Hence, when the Apple AirPods was announced, I am pretty excited to get it to pair with my Apple iPhone 7 Plus back then.  The normal retail price of the Apple AirPods is S$238 at the Apple Store.  During the Lazada Sales in April 2018, the Official Apple Store in LazMall ran a Flash Sale selling the Apple AirPods at only S$188.  Though I was overseas at that time, traveling on a train, I jumped on the deal quickly before the slots of the Flash Sale ran out. 🙂  The delivery of the Apple AirPods took less than 3 days from the point of my order.  Meaning, before I’m back from my trip, the Apple AirPods are already sitting on my table back home.  Kudos to the efficient delivery of Lazada.

The box of the Apple AirPods carries the typical clean and lean design of all Apple Products.   The front of the box only carries the pictures of the Apple AirPods itself while the back shows the charging case of the Apple AirPods.

Unboxing the Apple AirPods, besides the sleeve containing small booklets of the typical declaration and government required information, the Apple AirPods contained in the charging case sits nicely in the notch in the centre of the box.

The charging case for the Apple AirPods provides both charging via lighting cable and also Qi-based wireless charging.  The external facade of the charging case is smooth and shiny which worries me a bit, wondering if it will be able to handle the wear and tear of daily usage.  There is a big round button at the rear of the charging case which will be used during pairing to devices such as iPhones or iPads.

The top cap of the charging case of the Apple AirPods opens up with a nice clean snap.  Inside, the cavities are designed to hold the AirPods.  There is a green LED that will light up when u remove one of the AirPods.  The AirPods followed the same design as the charging case with smooth curves and shining exterior.  I especially like the chrome tip at the end of the vertical part of the AirPod.  I thought it a nice design touch by the Apple designers.

The pairing process of the Apple AirPods is quite easy and straight forward.  Once you turn on the Bluetooth on your iPhone and press the round button at the charging case, the following screens should guide you through the pairing of the Apple AirPods fairly easily and quickly.  Once connected, you can also see the battery status of the Apple AirPods and its charging case on your iPhone.

So how’s my experience with the Apple AirPods?  The first feeling I have when I put the Apple AirPods in my ears is that they seem to be a bit loose.  Somehow, the cavity in my ear is much bigger than the Apple AirPods.  When I tilt my head or makes big movements, the Apple AirPods will slip out from my ears.  As Apple does not cater for different size adapters for the Apple AirPods to fit for different types of ear sizes, I do not think I’ll be able to do exercises with the Apple AirPods.  Besides this, the Apple AirPods are very light and feels virtually non-existence in my ears.  For the sound quality, the Apple AirPods sounds ok but they not noise-cancelling and will not block out all ambient sounds.  One way to improve these ambient disturbances is to turn up the volume but do watch out for your eardrums.  One interesting observation I made was that when you remove the Apple AirPods from your ear, the music will also pause on your iPhone.  This is a nice gesture especially if you are listening to an audiobook or a piece of sound that you do not want to miss at all.

Overall, I would say that Apple fanatics should not miss out on the Apple AirPods.  But if you are looking for high-quality sound playbacks or noise-cancelling features, maybe give the Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) or the Sony WH1000XM3 a go.