Growing up in the 70’s, I came to love the sound of The Ventures spinning from the vinyl of my parent’s turntable. Instrumental grooves like Out of Limits, Penetration, Telstar, Pipeline, Windy and Warm, Sleep Walk and the all-time favorite, Walk Don’t Run.
These, and many others, are saved in my Spotify library where I looked forward to hearing them through Google’s latest noise canceling earbuds. However, you should definitely walk and not run while doing so.
That’s right.
Don’t run. Don’t jog. Don’t bend over. Don’t do yard work. Don’t make sudden head movements.
Don’t do anything that might jar these new buds loose!
They just don’t hold well in your ear… at least not for me. I’ve nearly lost them a few times already. In fact, one just plopped in the pond while doing some garden work recently. I fished it out, threw it in a cup of rice and all is well, but this new shape is definitely disappointing. What holds them in place, mere suction?
Sorry, that’s not good enough.
Not to mention the added potential of knocking one loose by swiping forward to increase the volume. How does a feature like this pass usability testing? …swipe forward to increase volume and backward to decrease it? Why not swipe UP and DOWN?? Doesn’t that make more logical sense? Sheesh!
MAJOR DESIGN FLAWS
I think these are major flaws when compared to how much more secure the first design held in place.
It’s like you need a pair of buds for every occasion: the originals for high-impact, high-energy activities and this new version for no-impact, low-energy use.
For example, my old buds are solid and still get used when I don’t care about blocking noise, like while out hiking. Yet these new buds are perfect when traveling on an airplane. The noise canceling feature works beautifully while I just sit there quietly for however long the flight takes (nice battery life improvement).
Combining these scenarios into a Best of Both Worlds solution would be awesome, but once again, that’s asking for another Pixel cake that I want to eat here too!