A quick review of my AirPods over coffee

About a month ago my AirPods arrived in the mail just in time for my long trek to St. Petersburg, Russia to speak at HolyJS. I can't say anything that hasn't been written before, but they're really quite wonderful, and the battery life basically lasts all day when you keep them in the case.

But that's not why I'm writing the review. I'm writing because yesterday morning, as I was sleepily putting them in my ears to partake in an 7:45am work call, I accidentally dropped the right earbud into my coffee.

This was not a momentary splash in a near-empty cup mind you. It was a full-on deep-dive submersion to the bottom of a freshly poured, freshly brewed, probably-too-strong cup of French press coffee. It sank like a $160 stone.

I made an audibly pathetic noise as I was faced with a choice that surely Solomon himself would have sought council for. Do I pour out my first cup of the day or let my earbud surely perish in its silty depths? You read about such things but never think it could happen to you.

I quickly opted for sacrificing the steaming cup and fished out the earbud. After drying it off in a towel I looked at the clock and realized I had only two minutes before I was supposed to be on the call. Not expecting much I put the AirPods in my ears bracing for some kind of horrible sound.

Bwaum!

(Ed. Note: I could not find the Apple spelling guide for describing the AirPod startup sound)

To my astonishment it worked! And it sounded just fine and the person on the other end of the call seemed to understand as well as could be expected given caffeine level were lower than anticipated going into the call.

In short, though I do not recommend performing this test at home, I'm happy to report that these $160 earbuds are not as fragile as I'd feared.