4 ms·

Yes, but looking at Apple, Google, HTC, Samsung and recent history, I think it will come down to this: https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/ . I'm almost

Yes, but looking at Apple, Google, HTC, Samsung and recent history, I think it will come down to this: https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/ . I'm almost certain that whatever Apple developed for the Airpods will not be shared with other companies. And whatever other companies push forward as a "Standard" will not replace the Apple Solution in the near future. Even replacing apples crappy AFP Network Protocol took 13 years, until SMB finally took over in macOS Mavericks. And even then, they used their own implementation instead of the official "Standard" one.

m_mueller 8y ago
I wouldn't be so sure - it will take years for sure, but industry has many times come up with decent standards in the past - ethernet, USB, PCI, just to give a few examples. Bluetooth as a network protocol also seems to be fine with its latest revisions, it's just the pairing that sucks - if Apple can do it on top of bluetooth I think others should also be able to.
- lowercased 8y ago
  > if Apple can do it on top of bluetooth I think others should also be able to. they're only "doing it" with their own limited hardware combinations. the experience of pairing any random bluetooth devices even in ios is still mediocre overall.
  - zimpenfish 8y ago
    Anecdata: I have 19 Bluetooth devices on my iPhone (gamepads, speakers, headphones + dongles, watches, etc.) - of which, I'd say, only one gives me trouble[1] and none really were problematic for pairing. [1] Cricut Air but then it also has trouble talking Bluetooth reliably to my Windows 10 desktop; I'm not blaming this on iOS just yet.
- threeseed 8y ago
  Actually kind of curious about this. Because I bought the Sony 1000MX3 and its pairing at least with one device is much faster and more reliable than Airpods. It definitely is worse with multiple devices however.
  - InternetOfStuff 8y ago
    Anecdotally, Sony BT headsets are pretty good (I'm currently on my fourth set, I wear them out eventually). In my personal experience they have decent sound, pair reasonably easily (through NFC and "normally"), and the connection is pretty stable. Pairing partner were various Samsung Galaxies. I recommend Sony BT headphones. That said, I also use the 3.5mm jack regularly :-)
- pizza234 8y ago
  It's not just the pairing that sucks. Everything sucks, in every possible way (although pairing is the least problematic, in my personal case). I have several BT devices, and I never know how they're going to work in the next month, when the next software update is going to be applied. Ubuntu's BT stack (bluez) is well-known to be trash, however, I was surprised when my Android phone BT's stability took a dip after some "security" updates.
- dhimes 8y ago
  if Apple can do it on top of bluetooth I think the heart of the problem lies here. It's the fact that we have to pay solid attention to the UI when we make these changes- and we have to care about the UX. This thread is focusing on bluetooth, but I had this experience when iOS updated their text-message interface. I guess there are more buttons to push now, but what is missing is being able to attach a photo that you've already taken by tapping an icon next to the text entry. Now that only opens a camera, and you have to go to the "lower level" to attach a pic that you've already taken. No big deal, right? Now, if you were going to change your UI and add an icon that signifies attaching a photo, what would your icon look like? If you were going to hunt for one, what would you expect to look for? They use something that doesn't call to mind photographs in my mind[1]. It took me an annoying amount of time to figure out this change because I was in one of those situations I was trying to get the picture off quickly. In fact, this whole trend of replacing labels with icon and having no mouseover fallback is a huge time-sink. Now, that might have been Apple's icon for a long time, but the fact is I never needed to know that before. It was in a place that was obvious (next to a camera or something, I really don't remember what it changed from). I mean, am I seriously supposed to know what this means[2]? [1] http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/photos-app-icon-mac.jpg http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/photos-ap.... [2] https://boilingpointdev.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/game-center2.png https://boilingpointdev.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/game-cen...
tjohns 8y ago
Regarding SMB... there isn't an official "standard" implementation outside of Microsoft's walls. Apple used to use Samba, but had to drop it in MacOS 10.7 when Samba switched from GPLv2 to GPLv3. I can't really fault them for making a change based on licensing concerns.

m_mueller 8y ago

I wouldn't be so sure - it will take years for sure, but industry has many times come up with decent standards in the past - ethernet, USB, PCI, just to give a few examples. Bluetooth as a network protocol also seems to be fine with its latest revisions, it's just the pairing that sucks - if Apple can do it on top of bluetooth I think others should also be able to.

lowercased 8y ago
> if Apple can do it on top of bluetooth I think others should also be able to. they're only "doing it" with their own limited hardware combinations. the experience of pairing any random bluetooth devices even in ios is still mediocre overall.
- zimpenfish 8y ago
  Anecdata: I have 19 Bluetooth devices on my iPhone (gamepads, speakers, headphones + dongles, watches, etc.) - of which, I'd say, only one gives me trouble[1] and none really were problematic for pairing. [1] Cricut Air but then it also has trouble talking Bluetooth reliably to my Windows 10 desktop; I'm not blaming this on iOS just yet.
threeseed 8y ago
Actually kind of curious about this. Because I bought the Sony 1000MX3 and its pairing at least with one device is much faster and more reliable than Airpods. It definitely is worse with multiple devices however.
- InternetOfStuff 8y ago
  Anecdotally, Sony BT headsets are pretty good (I'm currently on my fourth set, I wear them out eventually). In my personal experience they have decent sound, pair reasonably easily (through NFC and "normally"), and the connection is pretty stable. Pairing partner were various Samsung Galaxies. I recommend Sony BT headphones. That said, I also use the 3.5mm jack regularly :-)
pizza234 8y ago
It's not just the pairing that sucks. Everything sucks, in every possible way (although pairing is the least problematic, in my personal case). I have several BT devices, and I never know how they're going to work in the next month, when the next software update is going to be applied. Ubuntu's BT stack (bluez) is well-known to be trash, however, I was surprised when my Android phone BT's stability took a dip after some "security" updates.
dhimes 8y ago
if Apple can do it on top of bluetooth I think the heart of the problem lies here. It's the fact that we have to pay solid attention to the UI when we make these changes- and we have to care about the UX. This thread is focusing on bluetooth, but I had this experience when iOS updated their text-message interface. I guess there are more buttons to push now, but what is missing is being able to attach a photo that you've already taken by tapping an icon next to the text entry. Now that only opens a camera, and you have to go to the "lower level" to attach a pic that you've already taken. No big deal, right? Now, if you were going to change your UI and add an icon that signifies attaching a photo, what would your icon look like? If you were going to hunt for one, what would you expect to look for? They use something that doesn't call to mind photographs in my mind[1]. It took me an annoying amount of time to figure out this change because I was in one of those situations I was trying to get the picture off quickly. In fact, this whole trend of replacing labels with icon and having no mouseover fallback is a huge time-sink. Now, that might have been Apple's icon for a long time, but the fact is I never needed to know that before. It was in a place that was obvious (next to a camera or something, I really don't remember what it changed from). I mean, am I seriously supposed to know what this means[2]? [1] http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/photos-app-icon-mac.jpg http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/photos-ap.... [2] https://boilingpointdev.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/game-center2.png https://boilingpointdev.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/game-cen...

tjohns 8y ago

Regarding SMB... there isn't an official "standard" implementation outside of Microsoft's walls. Apple used to use Samba, but had to drop it in MacOS 10.7 when Samba switched from GPLv2 to GPLv3. I can't really fault them for making a change based on licensing concerns.