With the Galaxy Note 20 launch just a week away, all eyes will be on what upgrades Samsung brings to the table. While the chipset might remain unchanged, there might be a silver lining. While Samsung flagship like the Note series and the S series are powered by Snapdragon chipsets in the US and European markets, they come with Exynos chipset in Asian markets such as India. It often tends to lose out on the performance front against Qualcomm Snapdragon counterparts. However, a new leak suggests some good news in this regard. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 release date, price, news and leaks Upcoming smartphones in India: Specs, launch date, price (Image credit: Samsung/WinFuture) According to a tweet by Anthony, a Youtuber, Samsung Galaxy Note 20 will continue to be powered by the Exynos 990 chipset, but with major improvements in terms of the performance and efficiency. These optimizations should bring it closer to the Snapdragon 865 series. He even suggested that it is almost li...
The long-awaited AirPods 2 are finally here, and according to Apple, they will deliver "faster connect times, more talk time, and the convenience of hands-free Siri."
The second generation AirPods 2 come with a standard charging case or a wireless charging case and are available to order on the Apple website or Apple Store app from today, or from physical Apple Stores from next week.
Apple has just rolled out the new iPad Air (2019), iPad mini (2019), and a brand new iMac (2019), so the AirPods 2 represent the latest in a stream of new hardware launches ahead of the March 25 video streaming launch event, which is expected to see the launch of a new Apple streaming service.
We originally expected the AirPods 2 to be radically different form their predecessors thanks to trademark and Bluetooth SIG filings, but judging from the official press release, this doesn't seem to be the case.
The trademark filings said that the second generation AirPods will be a health and fitness device, in addition to being a pair of true wireless earbuds – again, Apple hasn't made any mention of any biometric features in the new AirPods 2.
We also heard separately that the AirPods 2 would come in black and white, be both waterproof and offer active noise-cancellation, rumors which don't appear to have manifested in the final product.
Apple also hasn't made any mention of improved sound quality, but we will let you know how they sound as soon as we get our hands on them
One rumor that did prove to be accurate, was wireless charging and Bluetooth 5.0 - but instead of being an improved thanks to an updated W2 chip, Apple has designed a H1 chip, which is made for headphones specifically.
Curious what else the second generation of Apple's true wireless earbuds have in store for us? Read on below.
- Are there AirPod alternatives? Yep, here are the best true wireless earbuds
Apple AirPods 2 release date and price
- When are they out? The AirPods 2 are available to buy now from the Apple website, and the Apple Store app from today (March 20), and will be available to buy in physical Apple Stores early next week.
- How much will they cost? The AirPods 2 cost $159 (£159/AU$249) with a standard charging case, or $199 (/£199/AU$319) with a wireless charging case. Customers can also buy the wireless charging case separately for $79 (£79/AU$129), and get either of the cases engraved for free during checkout on the website or Apple Store app.
Image credit: Apple
Apple AirPods 2: design and features
Despite their divisive design, the Apple AirPods sold very well – you just have to jump on public transport and see just how many of them are poking out of music fans' ears on the way to work to note they've overcome any early online ridicule.
At first glance, the new AirPods 2 look very similar to the original Apple AirPods. Again, they're completely cable free, drawing battery from a pillbox-like charging case, with stem-like protrusions from the buds, meaning most of the next-gen improvements can be found under the hood.
Here's what we know so far:
Better wireless connectivity and more efficient battery life
First up is a newly-designed H1 chip which Apple has built specifically for the headphones. It improved connectivity pairing times, as well as the efficiency of the battery life, which Apple claims will give you 50 percent more hands-free talk time. The original AirPods offered 5 hours of use, with a total 24 hours of battery life when taking into consideration their charging case, for comparison
"Hey Siri" functionality
Another significant addition is that of hands-free "Hey Siri" functionality. Pop the AirPods 2 into your ears, and you'll be able to use the voice assistant command to place calls, change songs and more – basically anything Siri can do, direct from the AirPods 2, without needing to pull your iPhone out.
Wireless charging
The AirPods 2 ship with a charging case, though Apple is also introducing a new Wireless Charging Case for the earbuds, using Qi-compatible charging mats to power the case without having to stick a cable in. This is, presumably, in anticipation of the launch of Apple's long-awaited Air Power charging mat. The new Wireless Charging Case will also be compatible with the first-generation AirPods 2.
Image credit: Apple
What's missing?
It looks as though the new AirPods are missing quite a few of the features they were rumored to have, including waterproofing and fitness tracking capabilites.
Back in July Apple filed a patent for biometric sensors which would allow the AirPods 2 to take on fitness tracking capabilities like those seen in the Jabra Elite Wireless. This followed another patent filed in March, which further fueled the rumors.
Another patent from July suggested that Apple was working on some pretty nifty tech for how the earbuds handle outside noise as well as dissipating pressure from inside the ear canal.
The patent outlined a valve system that would allow sound to escape your ear canal to avoid that weird reverberating effect that occurs when you speak with earbuds in your ears.
The patent then goes on to describe how the earbuds would handle ambient noise, using a microphone to filter in noise from the outside world so that you can remain aware of your surroundings while still hearing your music.
As for any difference in sound quality, Apple has yet to reveal any differences between the generations. We'll update you on how the AirPods 2 sound once we've given them a play.
- Need something now? Here are the best truly wireless AirPod alternatives around
Now that the AirPods 2 have been officially launched, we can see that there are a few rumored features that haven't made the cut.
Here's what we felt was lacking in the original AirPods, and were originally hoping to see in the new generation:
Noise-cancellation
Only a couple of years ago, companies were struggling just to get true wireless earbuds working, but now the goalposts have already shifted to packing more and more functionality into their shells.
The Sony WF-1000X manage to include noise-cancellation technology inside their diminutive shells, and we were hoping see similar functionality make it to the second generation of AirPods.
Apple’s fancy ambient noise technology outlined above suggested the company is thinking along these lines, but it looks like it never made the final cut.0
Physical controls
Apple isn’t much of a fan of buttons, but there are some cases where they save you a lot of time and effort, and headphones are one of these instances.
On-board controls have become an almost essential feature in headphones in recent years, allowing us to control music playback and volume without having to struggle to get our phones out of our pockets.
Now the AirPods did allow you to control music in a sense, but they relied entirely on Siri, Apple’s voice assistant.
On the one hand Siri is much more powerful than the usual button controls by allowing you to request specific songs, for example.
But on the other hand, Siri comes with some pretty big limitations. It doesn’t work without a Wi-Fi connection, it can only play music from Apple Music (so not Spotify), and probably most problematic of all is the fact that it forces you to speak out loud to control anything - hardly ideal if you want to listen to music on the bus.
The original AirPods already had a touch-sensitive control for activating Siri, so we’d like to see this extended to controlling music directly. The BeoPlay E8’s have shown how this can be done with simple tap controls, and we felt it was time for Apple to follow suit – unfortunately the tech giant has declined to add touch controls for music.
That being said, having "Hey Siri" functionality should make controlling music with the AirPods 2 easier than the originals.
Changeable ear tips
Apple likes to rely wholly on sleek white plastic, but we weren’t a fan of the lack of rubber tips on the original AirPods, especially when there’s no cable to catch them if they fall.
We want any true wireless earbuds to feel nice and secure in the ears, and including a number of changeable ear tips so we can select those that perfectly fit our ears would be the ideal way of achieving this.
One individual in the TechRadar office even went to the length of fixing some rubber tips from an alternative pair of headphones onto their AirPods to make them feel more secure.
We weren't expecting Apple to change it's rather rigid design aesthetic, and it hasn't with the AirPods 2.
Better Android pairing
Given that Apple likes to ensure all its products are designed to work as a family this has little chance of happening, but we’d love to see the AirPods play slightly nicer with Android phones.
On iPhones, pairing is a dream. You simply hold the AirPods near your phone and they connect more or less automatically.
However with Android the process is a lot more complicated and involving jumping into settings menus to select the AirPods manually. We’d love to see Apple simplify this process for the AirPods 2, though we're not holding our breath.
Different designs and colors
We get it, Apple likes white things. But in an era where iPhones and iPads are available in a range of different colors we’d love to see this same courtesy extended to the AirPods.
We just want our headphones to match our phone and our Apple Watch; is that so much to ask?
Although Apple has experimented with different colors for its various devices, its earbuds have always stayed the same iconic white, and the AirPods 2 have followed suit, despite rumors of a black version.
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