Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) Review – Solid Upgrade With Better Battery

Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) costs Rs. 17,500 in India. The 3rd-Gen AirPods are available in only one colour option, i.e. White.

The Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) packs the following items inside the box:

• Pair of Earbuds
• Charging Case
• Lightning to USB Cable
• Documentation

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Before we talk more about the Apple AirPods (3rd Generation), let’s see what on-paper specs look like:

• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5
• Supported OS: iOS and Android
• Weight: 4.28 grams (earbud); 37.91 grams (case)

The design of the new AirPods features a familiar glossy white finish that Apple has always favoured, and it’s only available in the white colour option.

They look like the Apple AirPods Pro (review) rather than the second-generation AirPods because of their shorter stems, making them more streamlined and elegant. In fact, if you put the AirPods in your ears, it’s tough to tell them apart from the more expensive Pro earbuds.

These stems have touch-capacitive force sensors, just like the AirPods Pro, that let you control the music by squeezing the stem. I found the touch controls to be very responsive, and especially the little “click” sound that you hear when your touch is recognised.

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Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) does not come with ear tips, and the speakers go straight into your ears. Since the AirPods don’t have ear tips, they don’t have the perfect seal, but that doesn’t imply they don’t sound good, which we’ll talk about later in this review.

The lightweight design of the AirPods 3 contributes to their overall comfort. The AirPods 3 are super lightweight (weighing just 4.28g each) and won’t make your ears heavy. They fit snugly in my ears. I went for a light jog with them and the AirPods didn’t fall out of my ears. Good job.

The AirPods (3rd Generation) comes with an IPX4 rating, which means they can handle sweat while working out or walking in the rain.

The sound quality of the Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) seems to be a big step up from what came before. They have new custom-built, low-distortion drivers as well as high dynamic range amplifiers.

Even though these earbuds do not have the deep bass as other similar earbuds, they appear to have been fine-tuned and authentically sounding. The mid-ranges are lively and faithful, and the vocals are crisp and clear.

AirPods 3 also have Adaptive EQ support, so they should be able to provide a more personalised audio experience for each user. Using this technology, the earbuds can be tuned in real-time, depending on how the buds fit in your ear.

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Spatial Audio support is yet another feature of the AirPods 3. It’s perfect for watching movies or listening to music with Dolby sound. It monitors your head movement and makes the necessary adjustments to the sound so that it gives you an experience where you feel like you are sitting in the middle of a surround sound setup.

Sad to say that AirPods 3 don’t have the noise-cancelling feature that the Pro model has. The most significant challenge for them is the ambient noise. They are unable to block anything, so just forget about listening to music or podcasts while working in the office or walking on the roads.

On the other hand, if you use it for audio calls, an acoustic mesh will cover the outer side of the microphones to reduce wind noise and improve the clarity of your voice.

I have to say that the battery life of the Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) has been improved quite a bit. According to Apple, you can get up to six hours of music playback or up to four hours of calling time from the earbuds themselves, and the case can charge the buds an additional four times for a total of thirty hours of battery life.

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All of that sounds good, but if you turn on Spatial Audio, the battery life drops to five hours. Although you don’t have to worry even if the battery level drops, as a 5 minutes of quick charging will give you an hour of music playback.

It also features MagSafe compatibility, which is the first time for an AirPods case. However, you can also choose the earbuds using the regular lighting cable bundled in the box.

When it comes to pairing, the Apple AirPods (3rd Generation) have a one-touch feature that automatically connects the earbuds to your iOS devices. They support Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, so you can also use them with Android phones. However, Android users won’t get any advanced features like long squeeze, pause-on-removal, and other features.

The AirPods 3 now have a skin-detect sensor to identify whether the earbuds are in your ears or not. This allows it to automatically pause the music if you remove your earbuds.

A few extra features are available if you own an iPhone, including the ability to activate Hey Siri hands-free, Spatial Audio, and dynamic head tracking during Group FaceTime calls, as well as Apple’s Find My network.

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In addition, you’ll be able to use the Announce Notifications feature. It allows Siri to read out your time-sensitive updates from apps like Messages or Reminders.

Spatial audio was one of the best things about AirPods Pro, and now it’s available on AirPods 3rd-Gen as well. It gives supported movie soundtracks and music from Apple Music a surround-sound effect, which is a really immersive experience.

You will also get the Audio Sharing feature which allows your Apple device to connect to two AirPods simultaneously. A great feature if you are watching a movie of listing to music with a friend.

It’s really disappointing that you can’t change the music volume directly from the earbuds. For that, you would need to get your hands on the phone.