New Apple AirPods review

AirPods with Wireless Charging Case.More magical than ever.The new AirPods-complete with Wireless Charging Case-combine intelligent design with breakthrough technology and crystal clear sound. Powered by the new Apple H1 headphone chip, AirPods now feature hands-free access to Siri using just your voice. And up to 3 hours of talk time on asingle charge.

Apple AirPods Pro design and specifications

The Apple AirPods (2nd Gen) launched earlier this year offer a handful of improvements over the original version, except in terms of design; the AirPods still look exactly the same and have an outer-ear fit. This design is among the most polarising things about Now, with the AirPods Pro, Apple has gone with a more traditional in-canal fit with rubber ear tips; we found that this made for a more secure hold as well as improved noise isolation, and also ensured that the active noise cancellation functioned properly.

The AirPods Pro are available in a single colour and finish white, glossy plastic. Love it or hate it, nothing signifies that you’re looking at a pair of AirPods quite like this design. The earphones themselves look quite different though, with shorter stems, bulkier earpieces, and larger sensor windows and vents than on the AirPods (2nd Gen). You also now get IPX4 sweat and water resistance with the AirPods Pro.

The AirPods Pro uses the same H1 chip as the AirPods (2nd Gen), and works over Bluetooth 5 ensuring quick and stable connectivity, hands-free ‘Hey Siri’ commands, and more. There is also what Apple calls ‘Adaptive EQ’; this allows the AirPods Pro to set the equaliser according to the shape of your ear, and seems to also affect sound quality according to the genre of music or type of sounds being played on the earphones.

Apple AirPods Pro software and features

Previous AirPods didn’t have too much going on in terms of software integration beyond basic function customisations and the ability to invoke Siri through gestures or the ‘Hey Siri’ command. With the AirPods Pro, things have changed a bit. You can still customise some functions through the Bluetooth settings on your paired iOS device and invoke Siri either through the force-touch sensor or hands-free, but there’s a bit more to the software as well. You can’t customise any functionality on an Android smartphone, and will need an iOS device to get the best out of the AirPods Pro.

There is also a ‘Ear Tip Fit Test’, which lets the device run a test to help you figure out which tips give you the best fit and noise isolation. We were able to get a good fit with all three sets of tips, although we personally preferred the large ones in terms of comfort. The charging case on the AirPods Pro sees one big change – it’s wider and shorter than the case of the regular AirPods to factor in the shape of the Pro earpieces. The rest of the design is familiar, with an indicator light on the front, pairing button at the back below the hinge, and Lighting port for charging the case at the bottom. The case comes with support for Qi wireless charging as standard; there’s no non-wireless option like with the 2nd Gen AirPods.

Battery

Battery life for the AirPods Pro is similar to that of the AirPods (2nd Gen) in terms of the number of hours you get out of the earphones and case, but it’s worth noting that this is with noise cancellation active on the Pro model. We usually got a little over four hours of continuous listening with these earphones, with noise cancellation switched on and the volume set to around 80 percent. The case let us charge the earpieces fully about four and a half times, for a decent total of around 22-23 hours of battery life per charge cycle.