AirPods 4 | Review - video Dailymotion

Tom's Guide

Let’s unbox the brand-new AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation from Cupertino. We’ll also go over the biggest differences between the two AirPods styles when it comes to price, features, battery life and more.

Transcript

00:00I've got the new Apple AirPods 4 and Apple AirPods 4 with active noise

00:08cancellation here and we're going to unbox them talk about some of the new

00:11features and everything else you're going to want to know if you're

00:14considering picking a pair up. I want to start with the standard AirPods 4. These

00:18cost $129 which is the same starting price as the previous AirPods 2.

00:30This is more of a newer thing for AirPods instead of the plastic film that

00:55used to protect them here. This is like a papery, almost like the type of paper

00:59that you would get wrapped around like a takeout napkin.

01:21No charging cable in the box. So here we have the standard Apple AirPods 4. They

01:27kind of take on the design of the AirPods 3. We have those shorter stems

01:32and stems with capacitative touch controls. I definitely think this design

01:37looks a lot more modern than those long stems on the original AirPods and the

01:42second-gen AirPods. In addition to the visible differences, Apple said it

01:47redesigned all the internal architecture to benefit sound. So some things that

01:51we're going to be looking out for are deeper bass performance and crisper

01:56highs. Anyone who's going to make the upgrade can expect a couple of pro-like

02:00features to have been carried down. The first of which is voice isolation but

02:06then there's also head gestures which means when you put the AirPods in and

02:09you are getting a call that you don't want to answer you can shake your head

02:13no or you want to answer it shake your head yes. They also have personalized

02:17spatial audio. Spatial audio features have become far more standard within the

02:22wireless earbud industry so it's great to see that Apple's most entry-level

02:25earbuds now offer that feature that help tailor the soundstage to your ears as

02:30you're moving and listening whether it's for music, podcasts, movies, all that good

02:35stuff. And what I think a lot of people are going to be excited about, USB-C

02:40charging. This now means that all the AirPods models including the AirPods Pro

02:452 and the recently updated AirPods Max all use USB-C so there are no more Apple

02:51products that are coming out that have lightning ports and I think I think

02:56we've reached a milestone here. Let's talk about battery life. You're going to

02:59get five hours of active playtime plus 30 hours with the charging case although

03:05it is not a wireless charging case. That's one of the biggest differences

03:09with the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation so that's a good segue to

03:14open those up next. Here we are very similar looking box but on the back here

03:21it clearly says Apple AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation.

03:51If I'm showing them to you this way you definitely can't tell the difference

04:00between the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation but as I

04:04alluded if you look at the bottom of the case in addition to the USB-C charging

04:08ports on both, on the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation you're going to

04:13have the built-in Find My speaker that first debuted with the Apple AirPods 2.

04:17It's a huge upgrade in terms of convenience. I can't even tell you the

04:21amount of times that I've lost my AirPods Pro 2 and this feature in

04:24particular has saved me. The other important thing to note about the case

04:28on this model is that it has wireless charging so you can use it on your

04:33wireless charging pads but it's also compatible with an Apple Watch charger

04:37so you maybe don't have to carry as many cords around you if you're someone who

04:41has you know the whole Apple ecosystem going on. So the case definitely helps

04:46justify the higher $179 price tag for the AirPods 4 with active noise

04:52cancellation that is the same price that Apple sold the AirPods 3 for so this is

04:57kind of replacing that in the lineup. But in addition to the case as the name

05:02suggests what you're really paying for is active noise cancellation. Active

05:07noise cancellation in an open ear style bud is actually pretty unique. I haven't

05:12seen too many models out there that offer that flexibility and what open ear

05:16means in this context is that it doesn't have the silicon ear tips that

05:20you'd get with the AirPods Pro and for some people they find those silicon ear

05:24tips really uncomfortable. I actually know people who can't wear them because

05:28it causes moisture buildup in their ears leading to ear infections. Other people

05:32find the pressure uncomfortable so this model is gonna be that kind of hybrid

05:36solution and although I'm the first person who would think that the active

05:39noise cancellation quality couldn't be that good without a perfect seal I was

05:43very pleasantly surprised when I tried them out in the hands-on area. In a

05:47noisy environment I wouldn't expect the same degree of active noise cancellation

05:51that you would get with the AirPods Pro 2 but I did get to do a simulation where

05:54airplane sounds were fed via speakers into a room and it was quite noisy and

05:58when I turned active noise cancellation on it blocked out a good majority of

06:02that sounds. I would definitely be comfortable wearing these on like a

06:06medium-length flight I would say however battery life could become an issue with

06:11that because with active noise cancellation enabled these only get four

06:15hours of listening time and with the charging case that is up to 20 hours of

06:20listening time so that would be a big disadvantage of the AirPods 4 with

06:24active noise cancellation compared to the AirPods Pro 2. But on the bright side

06:29with the technology that powers active noise cancellation you also get

06:33transparency mode. These were so comfortable to wear with transparency so

06:37I could still be tuned into the world around me I probably would even not

06:40realize I had them in that's how comfortable they actually were but you

06:44also get like adaptive transparency. But my favorite feature and probably the

06:48biggest reason I would consider getting the AirPods 4 with active noise

06:52cancellation is that they have adaptive audio. Adaptive audio is the best of both

06:57worlds with transparency and active noise cancellation finding a good blend

07:01between the two to reflect your ambient sound so if there's loud sirens coming

07:05by loud sounds it'll automatically kick up that active noise cancellation but if

07:10it's just kind of you know quieter sounds it'll say hey we can we can keep

07:13it more in transparency mode and I feel like it's just a very natural way to go

07:17about listening and keeping these in for long periods of time without having to

07:22be switching between the modes as needed all the time. It kind of it's more

07:26ambient that way it does it more automatically I find it very convenient.

07:30So to recap we got AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation. These

07:35cost $129. These cost $179. I know I'm gonna be keeping a very close eye on

07:43when the first sales come to both because I'm expecting we're gonna see

07:46some really competitive pricing for these especially as we get into the

07:50holiday season. In case you couldn't tell I'm actually doing this unboxing from

07:54Apple Park the day after the Apple event so by the time you're watching this I've

07:58actually already conducted my full review of the AirPods 4 and it's linked

08:02right there in the description so be sure to go check that out. Otherwise you

08:06can see a shorter version of our unboxings over on social at Tom's Guide

08:10and as always I'm at Kate Kozich. Thanks for watching I'll catch you next time.

AirPods 4 | Review

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