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AirPods libreated from Apple's ecosystem

(github.com)
1424 points moonleay | 2 comments | 16 Nov 25 00:01 UTC | HN request time: 0.545s | source
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isoprophlex ◴[16 Nov 25 06:17 UTC] No.45943174[source]▶
From a bit further down the page

> Bluetooth DID (Device Identification) Hook > Turns out, if you change the manufacturerid to that of Apple, you get access to several special features!

I hope Apple gets slammed hard by some regulatory body. Apparently there's absolutely zero magic reasons why their airpods are unable to connect to non-Apple devices; pretend you're an iPhone and you're in.

EDIT: read "unable to connect" => "unable to expose advanced functionality", ofc they connect just fine

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exitb ◴[16 Nov 25 06:36 UTC] No.45943230[source]▶
AirPods can connect to any device and perform on par with other Bluetooth headphones. This is about availability of special features which require a dedicated driver non-Apple devices are not expected to have.
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xps ◴[16 Nov 25 10:44 UTC] No.45944080[source]▶
They don't report battery status to non-Apple devices. This is a pretty basic feature and without this I wouldn't consider them to perform "on par" with other Bluetooth headphones.
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CharlesW ◴[16 Nov 25 17:41 UTC] No.45946874[source]▶
You're proving the parent commenter's point that "this is about availability of special features which require a dedicated driver non-Apple devices are not expected to have", because there is no standard way in BLE to report more than one battery value. Wireless earbuds are a device pair, each with its own battery.

Apple, like every other vendor, does not have a choice but to implement this as a proprietary characteristic. Pre-BLE, other vendors copied Apple's de-facto `HFP AT+IPHONEACCEV` standard for reporting battery levels to the OS.

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thayne ◴[16 Nov 25 18:21 UTC] No.45947181[source]▶
> Apple, like every other vendor, does not have a choice but to implement this as a proprietary characteristic. Pre-BLE, other vendors copied Apple's de-facto `HFP

They could publish the details, and not block other manufacturer details, so that it is easier for other platforms to develop drivers for them. Or develop a new standard that works for their earbuds.

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TylerE ◴[16 Nov 25 18:40 UTC] No.45947315[source]▶
Or… just report whichever one is lower, which is the value 99% of people care about 99% of The time.
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manmal ◴[16 Nov 25 23:01 UTC] No.45949248[source]▶
I often use just one of them, and then I want to know that one‘s battery.
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freedomben ◴[16 Nov 25 23:08 UTC] No.45949296[source]▶
If you're only using one, it seems fine to have only one battery level report. I don't see the problem
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1. smileybarry ◴[17 Nov 25 03:57 UTC] No.45950734[source]▶
No, in that case they'd want both to be reported separately so they could use the AirPod with the higher charge.
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2. exe34 ◴[17 Nov 25 10:28 UTC] No.45952369[source]▶
whichever one you're using will be reporting its battery level. if you want to know the other one, swap them around.