Its been over two years since the originalAirPods were released, and theyve quickly become the most popular pair of wireless headphonesin the world. So many people, my self included, have been waiting patiently for a refresh.And thats exactly what Apple gave us on March 20th, although the product didntreceive as dramatic a change as some expected. Thats why many reviewers are calling thesethe AirPods 1.5, because supposedly next year Apple will release new AirPods again.Exceptwith major changes like a design overhaul, a black option, a matte finish, and maybeeven touch controls. But for now, lets unbox these new AirPods, see what they cando, and compare them to the original. This is Greg with Apple Explained and if you wantto help decide which video topics I cover, make sure youre subscribed and these votingpolls will show up in your mobile activity feed. And dont forget to check out ournew iGenius plush doll at appleexplained.com. Now these new generation of AirPods are thefirst to offer buying options. You can get them with a wireless charging case for $200,a standard charging case for $160, or you can buy the wireless charging case by itselffor $80 and use it with your previous generation AirPods. But one thing you cannot do is puta first and second generation AirPod in the same case.I bought the $200 model with awireless charging case from my local Apple Store the day they went on sale, and I didntrun into any issues with limited stock like I did back in 2016 with the original AirPods. So lets start with the packaging. Youllprobably notice not much has changed with the AirPods 2, except that if you purchasedthe model with a wireless charging case, itll have that listed right on the top. Also, thelightning cable that was featured on the back of the original AirPods box has been removed,likely to suggest to customers that you dont need a cable to charge this model. Althoughit does still feature a lightning connector and cable in case there isnt a wirelesscharging pad nearby. Now after we lift the lid were greetedby the familiar sleeve of Apple literature which by the way features text in a darkershade of gray than the previous generation and even has a touch of color inside the manual.But unfortunately these AirPods still dont come with any Apple stickers. Underneath that is where youll find themain event.The AirPods themselves tucked away inside of their charging case, whichis beautifully cradled in a cardboard insert. And lastly we have the lightning cable which,like I said before, is still included despite this model featuring wireless charging. AlthoughI should mention none of the AirPods being sold today include a wall adapter. Now lets move on and explore these newAirPods in more detail. Its design is virtually unchanged except for a few small tweaks. First,the LED indicator has been moved from the inside of the case to the outside. That wayyou can quickly peak at the AirPods charging level without having to open the case. Itstill uses the same color indicators: If the AirPods are inside, orange means the earbudsare charging, while green means theyre fully charged.Once the AirPods are removed,the LED indicates the battery level of the charging case. Green means it has enough batteryfor at least one full charge of your AirPods, while orange means it doesnt have enoughpower for even one charge of your AirPods. And when the charging case battery is at 100%,it will deliver four full recharges to your AirPods, which means you can use the earbudson and off for about 24 hours without having to connect the charging case to power. Andit takes just 15 minutes of charging to provide three hours of audio playback to the AirPods. Now there are a few other minor design changesthat you might find interesting. If you owned the original AirPods you might remember thelid making a clicking noise when moving it side to side, as you can see here [demo] Andthis wasnt a flaw effecting just a small percentage of users, it was normal behaviorfor every unit. Not obviously this isnt a big issue since it didnt effect the productsfunctionality in any way, but it sure was annoying for many people.Well Im gladto announce that the new AirPods 2 charging case no longer clicks. Another small design change has to do withthe magnets. You see, pulling the original AirPods out of their case was a point of frustrationfor many users, especially those with larger fingers. Mainly because the earbuds were slipperyand hard to grip, and also because the magnets that held them in were pretty strong and requireda good yank to remove. But these new AirPods have magnets that are a bit weaker so removingthem is much easier than before.Lastly, the thumb scoop on the charging case has beenmade steeper, so its easier to catch your thumb on the lid, rather than missing andsliding off. So those are all the external changes madeto these new AirPods, now lets talk about the internal changes. Apple has equip theseearbuds with a new H1 chip which replaces the W1 chip featured in the original AirPods.Now what do these chips even do? Well actually quite a bit. The original W1 chip allowedfor easy pairing with Apple devices, maintained the connection between both earbuds to ensureaudio stayed in sync, established a strong bluetooth connection with its paired device,and worked with built-in sensors like the accelerometer and optical sensor to know whenthey were inserted or removed from your ears.And the new H1 chip does all of those thingsand more, and does them faster. For example the new AirPods will switch between your devicestwice as fast as you can see here [demo] theyll also pair with your Apple devices twice asfast [demo] and theyll have 30% lower latency while playing games. The H1 chip is also morepower efficient, so youll enjoy three hours of talk time instead of the previous two.But these AirPods deliver the same 5 hours of audio playback since Apple decided to includea new feature called hey Siri which eats up that extra power efficiency. You canactivate the voice assistant hands-free, which used to require a couple taps on an earbud,but there is one catch with this feature that I should mention. And that is, if you tendto use Hey Siri with an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or HomePod, then you may findthe feature quite a bit slower on the new AirPods. As you can see here, there is a delaythat doesnt exist when using the feature with other Apple products.[demo] Now that doesnt mean Hey Siri is uselesson the AirPods, I love being able to make voice commands when my hands are full. Butthe delay is something I had to get used to. And if youre someone who just doesntuse Hey Siri on any of your devices and you still dont use it after buying these newAirPods, then Id recommend disabling the feature altogether in the settings of yourdevice, that way your AirPods will get a couple hours of extra battery life. Just like theprevious generation, you can still activate functions like Siri, play/pause, next track,or previous track by double tapping on the designated earbud. Now when it comes to audio quality there hasbeen some confusion since Apple put this on their website: Sowhether youre playinggames, listening to music, or enjoying podcasts, youll experience higher-qualitysound.Now many people took that to mean the new AirPods had better sound quality than theprevious generation.But Marques Brownlee actually reached out to Apple and receivedclarification that there was no changes to the AirPods sound quality. Now lets discuss one of features Immost excited about and that is wireless charging. All it takes is a wireless charging pad toset the case on, and the orange LED lights up indicating that its charging. And whileI was disappointed that Apple cancelled their AirPower wireless charging mat which wouldvegone so well with these AirPods, there are still nice alternatives like the Nomad BaseStation which allows you to charge your AirPods, iPhone, and Apple Watch simultaneously. Setting up these new AirPods can be done evenfaster than before. If you have an Apple device, simply turn it on and open the charging case.A window will appear, then all you have to do is tap connect and youre done. And thanksto iCloud, your AirPods will automatically appear on every Apple product you own. Butif you want to use them with a non-Apple product, youll have to hold down the pairing buttonon the back of the charging case and locate the AirPods in your devices bluetooth settings.` Now theres one last point I want to makethat applies to all wireless earbuds.The batteries they run on are very small. EachAirPod contains a 93 milliwatt hour battery in its stem, and the benefit of this is aquick charging time, but the drawback is that their capacity begins to degrade noticeablyafter a year or two of heavy use. Today, my old AirPods that I purchased in December 2016only deliver about two hours of audio playback before losing battery. Which is a significantamount of lost capacity in just two years. But the nice thing about these new AirPodsare that they are more power efficient, so I plan on turning off Hey Siri after a yearor so once the batteries start to degrade in order to try and offset the lost capacity. So considering everything weve coveredin this video, what are my final thoughts about Apples second generation AirPods?Well if youve never owned them before now would be a great time to buy.And if you alreadyhave a wireless charging setup for your smartphone, I think its worth purchasing the wirelesscharging AirPods just for the extra convenience. If not, the $160 model would probably suityou best. And what if you already own the previous generationAirPods? Well, if you recently purchased them I would recommend waiting to upgrade untilnext year, since thats when Apples rumored to be delivering an update with some prettydramatic improvements. But if you were an early adopter of AirPods and youre experiencingmajor battery degradation, it might be worth upgrading to this new generation in orderto enjoy a full five hours of battery life again.Now if you want early access to my next video,be sure to join our Patreon community. And dont forget about our affordable new iGeniusplush doll available at appleexplained.com. Thanks for watching and Ill see you nexttime..
