Tag: AirPods

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Cyber Monday tech deals from Amazon Canada are live now

If you missed out on the mega deals from Amazon Canada’s ‘Black Friday’ sale, don’t worry, we have your back and have a list of Amazon’s ‘Cyber Monday’ deals.

All of these deals are live now and run until November 29th at 11:59pm ET/8:59pm PT.

Below are all of Amazon’s Cyber Monday offers:

Check out all of Amazon Canada’s Cyber Monday deals. 

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though MobileSyrup may earn a commission on purchases made via these links.

Source: Amazon 

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Amazon has Apple’s 2nd-gen AirPods for $20 off

Amazon is currently offering Apple’s AirPods (2nd generation) for $159.99.

This is a $20 discount from the earbuds’ regular $179.99 price tag. It’s also worth noting that the AirPods are also sold and shipped by Amazon, rather than a third-party vendor.

The second-gen AirPods offer wireless connectivity and calling capabilities. A charging case is also included to enable the headphones to reach a 24-hour battery life.

You can order the AirPods from Amazon here.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though MobileSyrup may earn a commission on purchases made via these links.

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Costco discount AirPods Pros by $42, other retails follow suit

While Apple’s AirPods Pro generally cost $329, Costco has discounted the high-end earbuds with the MagSafe compatible case for $289.

It’s important to note that you’ll need to be a Costco member to take advantage of the deal. While this is a bit annoying, it does mean that you get Costco’s excellent return policy. The retailer is one of the few in Canada that actually accepts used earbuds.

On another note, Best Buy has the AirPod Pros with the standard Wireless charging case down to $249, but these appear to be sold out in most places — at least near my in Toronto.

Shoppers Drug Mart has the same model of AirPods on sale for $299, which is only a $30 discount. Still, you could redeem Optimum Points on this deal.

If you don’t think you want AirPods with silicone ear tips and active noise-cancelling, you can check out our review of the new 3rd-gen AirPods to see if they’re more your speed.

Source: Costco, Shoppers Via: iPhone in Canada

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Costco discount AirPods Pros by $42, other retails follow suit

While Apple’s AirPods Pro generally cost $329, Costco has discounted the high-end earbuds with the MagSafe compatible case for $289.

It’s important to note that you’ll need to be a Costco member to take advantage of the deal. While this is a bit annoying, it does mean that you get Costco’s excellent return policy. The retailer is one of the few in Canada that actually accepts used earbuds.

On another note, Best Buy has the AirPod Pros with the standard Wireless charging case down to $249, but these appear to be sold out in most places — at least near my in Toronto.

Shoppers Drug Mart has the same model of AirPods on sale for $299, which is only a $30 discount. Still, you could redeem Optimum Points on this deal.

If you don’t think you want AirPods with silicone ear tips and active noise-cancelling, you can check out our review of the new 3rd-gen AirPods to see if they’re more your speed.

Source: Costco, Shoppers Via: iPhone in Canada

Categories
Mobile Syrup

New AirPods 3 last a little longer if you disable Spatial Audio

It turns out that Spatial Audio head tracking features use up to an hour of the new AirPods’ battery life.

With the feature turned off, the earbuds work for around six hours, according to Apple. However, if you’re an Apple Music subscriber and listen to new tracks with Spatial Audio enabled, you’ll only get five hours of battery.

This isn’t super detrimental since five hours is still a fairly long time to listen to music straight. What’s more interesting from this discovery is how Apple doesn’t seem to be reporting a similar battery drop for the AirPods Pro, which also features head tracking with Spatial Audio.

This seems new. Did something change with Spatial Audio?

Yes. When Apple announced 3D audio was coming to Apple Music, there was no head tracking involved, so it used less on-earbud-hardware. Then, in late September, the company enabled a feature allowing AirPods Pros and AirPods Max to take advantage of dynamic head tracking.

So while many users are still listing to music in Spatial Audio (Dolby Atmos) with regular headphones, those with AirPods Max, Pros, and now gen 3 AirPods will feel as if the music is coming from their phone or device. This means that when you turn your head, more sound will come out of whatever ear is closer to the device playing music.

Most people without new AirPods will still feel the music move around them if they have supported headphones or earbuds, but AirPods users get to interact with the music subtly. While I haven’t tried it out on the new AirPods, it’s subtly immersive on the AirPods Max and makes Spatial Audio even more appealing than it already was.

Source: 9to5Mac

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Apple’s AirPods Pro available for $249 at Best Buy

Now that Apple’s 3rd-gen AirPods have been unveiled, Best Buy Canada has decided to discount Apple’s high-end wireless AirPods Pro.

Currently available for $249, the AirPods Pro are $80 off from the Apple Store’s usual price of $329.

The AirPods Pro feature IPX4 water, sweat and dust resistance along with improvements over the 2nd-generation AirPods, including impressive active noise-cancelling and better sound quality. They support adaptive EQ, a transparency mode and 4.5 hours of battery life with one charge and up to 24 hours with the charging case.

When MobileSyrup’s Patrick O’Rourke reviewed the AirPods Pro, they received an impressive 9/10 score.

Purchase the AirPods Pro or learn more about the Best Buy deal here.

It’s worth noting that London Drugs and Visions Electronics also have the AirPods Pro listed for $249.99 each.

Follow the links to head to Best Buy, London Drugs or Visions Electronics.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though MobileSyrup may earn a commission on purchases made via these links.

Source: Best Buy

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Apple’s 3rd-gen AirPods vs the 2nd-gen AirPods

Here’s how Apple’s new 3rd-gen AirPods stack up against their 2nd-gen predecessor.

The first thing worth outlining is Apple’s full AirPods lineup. At the bottom end, there are the AirPods ($179). Above that are the new 3rd-gen AirPods at $239, and then at the top of the spectrum, there are the AirPods Pro at $329.

Outside of this trifecta, there are also AirPods Max and several Beats earbuds with similar features.

But for now, let’s compare the 2nd-gen AirPods to their new 3rd-gen successor.

The looks

Compared to the original AirPods, the new wireless earbuds are a little smaller and sit at a bit more of an angle in your ears than the AirPods Pro.

You could easily mistake them for AirPods Pro from a distance, but up close, you’ll notice that they don’t feature a silicone tip and are a little smaller. This will likely make them less effective at keeping out background noise, but they’ll also take up less pocket space.

The new AirPods (3rd gen) also feature a slight indentation on each stem that’s lets you squeeze them to ‘play/pause’ your music or hold to access Siri. While this new control method doesn’t add more functionality, it’s definitely a less convoluted way to control audio than an ill-defined touch-sensitive zone.

Features

Apple says that its new AirPods feature better sound and have a more accurate mic than their predecessor. This is likely an accurate claim given how old the audio architecture and design of the original AirPods are.

Further, the new Buds and their case are IPX4 water-resistant, ensuring they should be able to withstand a few drops of rain just like the AirPods Pro. The new AirPods also include dynamic head tracking and a MagSafe compatible Wireless charging case.

All of the buds, including the originals, support Hey Siri and feature Apple’s H1 chip for seamless connections to Apple products.

3rd-gen AirPods

Where the new AirPods excel is that they have the longest battery life of all of Apple’s AirPods. Each earbud can last for 6 hours on its own and 30 hours total with the charging case.

They also feature skin sensors in each ear designed to ensure they’re better at auto-pausing and playing audio when they’re in your ears. Apple says the old optical sensor can be fooled by being placed in a pocket or on a table, emphasizing that the new design works more effectively.

Source: Apple 

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Apple shakes up second-gen AirPods with lower price, AirPods Pro with MagSafe

According to some changes on Apple’s website, the second-gen AirPods are now cheaper, while the AirPods Pro now ship with a MagSafe charging case — both interesting changes if you’re not sold on the company’s fancy new AirPods.

Starting with the second-gen AirPods, the price has dropped from $219 to $179, making it cheaper than ever to get into AirPods. Unfortunately, the new, lower price doesn’t include the wireless charging case for the AirPods 2.

It’s still available separately (for a hefty $99) if you want, but at $278 total before tax, you might as well just get the new third-gen AirPods for $239.

Speaking of charging cases, the comparison page for Apple’s AirPods lists the AirPods Pro as having a ‘MagSafe Charging Case.’ The same is listed under the ‘What’s in the Box’ section on the AirPods Pro store page. It’s not clear if this means the AirPods Pro now ship with a MagSafe-compatible charging case, since technically the AirPods Pro case worked with MagSafe before.

MagSafe charging pads offer backwards compatibly with the Qi standard, which means that AirPods Pro and other Apple devices that support Qi wireless charging, but not MagSafe, can still charge with them.

It’s possible Apple’s just branding this behaviour as ‘MagSafe,’ but considering the third-gen AirPods charging case actually supports MagSafe, I don’t think it’s a stretch that Apple stealth-updated the AirPods Pro case too.

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Apple revamps its original AirPods with new design and better sound

When Apple pulled back the curtain back on its first-generation AirPods back in 2016, the world was doubtful of the wireless future the tech giant was pushing. Still, within a few months, AirPods seemed to appear everywhere and now in 2021, wireless earbuds/headphones are standard and don’t even include a 3.5mm headphone jack anymore.

To carry that mantra forward, Apple has revamped its base-level Airpods with a few new features to help keep up with the growing competition. The new AirPods look a little more like the AirPods Pro with shorter stems and a smaller overall size.

Notably, the AirPods get rid of the touch-sensitive zones and replaces them with stems that users can squeeze to play/pause audio. This is the same implementation that OnePlus uses with the OnePlus Buds Pro, and it works well there, so I’m excited to see it come to more earbuds.

While these buds might look almost identical to the AirPods Pro, they’re notably missing the small silicon ear tips and instead look more like a traditional AirPod. While this helps keep that classic Apple EarPod feel, it doesn’t work great with sound isolation, so you’ll still be able to hear some background noise while wearing these.

These new AirPods also feature adaptive EQ to match the sound being pumped out of your earbuds to match sure that no matter the fit users can expect accurate music playback.

Apple is also pushing dynamic head tracking with the new AirPods, making them work with the 3D audio effect the AirPods Max and AirPods Pro feature.

Finally, Apple says that with the AirPods’ new MagSafe compatible charging case, users will expect 30 hours of total battery life. The AirPods are also water-resistant this time around, allowing you to wear them in light rain or while working out.

In Canada, the new AirPods start at $239.

For all of our coverage from Apple’s event, follow this link.

More to come…

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Here’s what to expect from Apple’s October 18 ‘Unleashed’ event

Just as rumours predicted, Apple will hold another hardware event on October 18th. However, unlike its previous events, this latest invite doesn’t hint at what we might see beyond the word “Unleashed.”

However, several leaks and rumours point to the tech giant finally revealing its long-awaited MacBook Pro refresh and several other Mac refreshes.

Here’s everything we expect to see at Apple’s October 18th event:

MacBook Pro refresh

Out of all of the rumours circulating surrounding Apple’s event, this one is likely the most reliable. According to Bloomberg‘s often-reliable Mark Gurman, Apple’s next-generation MacBook Pro will release in two variants, including a 14-inch and 16-inch version powered by an upgraded version of the M1 chip called the M1X.

The redesigned MacBook Pro is also rumoured to feature reduced bezels, support for up to 32GB of RAM and adopt an entirely new squared-off design that falls more in line with Apple’s other devices like the iPad Pro and the iPhone 13 series.

There are also rumours sourced from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo related to an SD card slot, HDMI port and MagSafe making a return to the MacBook line with this redesign.

While Apple is also reportedly working on a refresh of the MacBook Air, rumours point to the new version of the lightweight laptop being revealed in 2022.

Mac mini and iMac

Along with the MacBook Pro, several rumours point to Apple showing off a new Mac mini powered by its M1X chip. It’s unclear if the tiny computer will also get a redesign, but a report courtesy of MacRumors points to additional ports and an increase to 32GB of RAM.

Though we haven’t encountered any concrete rumours regarding a new iMac Pro, there’s a possibility we could see Apple’s high-end all-in-one computer get a refresh. The new iMac Pro will likely feature a design similar 24-inch iMac Pro (2021), including its squared-off design. That said, given this is Apple’s high-end iMac, and the company has a history of offering its more powerful devices in fewer colours, we likely won’t see the M1X-powered iMac Pro in hues like ‘Yellow,’ ‘Blue’ or ‘Orange.’

3rd-gen AirPods

After months of rumours, there’s a possibility that Apple could finally reveal its 3rd-generation AirPods at its upcoming October 18th event.

At this point, an entry-level AirPods refresh has been rumoured for years, with speculation pointing to the new version of the wireless earbuds featuring some form of noise-cancellation and a design similar to the AirPods Pro.

Since the last AirPods refresh was way back in 2019, the wireless earbuds are long overdue for an update, and if Apple plans to drop the wireless buds before the holiday season, this is likely the company’s last opportunity.

Keep an eye on MobileSyrup on October 18th for all the news direct from Apple’s big event.

Source: Bloomberg, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, (2)