Apple iPhone 3G S Headphones

Product Overview

The Apple iPhone 3G S headphones look a lot like their old packaged-in headphone offering, but feature a control pendant with a remote, mic, and volume control.

Speakers

The ear buds haven’t changed much. They’re still the kind that sit outside the ear. They don’t have sleeves, and their vitals are protected by a mesh screen.

Cable

The headphones have a neck split that’s similar to their predecessors. The slider is a bit different, however, as it’s only attached to one of the cables. We’re guessing this is to improve durability: if your headphones get caught on something and tugged suddenly, the neck split will break its hold. This should prevent the wires inside the cable from getting too jolted. Of course, this is a minor feature.

Additional Features

Below are some pictures of the remote and mic. The control pendant will let you perform basic playback functions, such as pausing and skipping between songs. You can also control volume. On the back of the pendant is the mic, which is a teeny-tiny metal circle.

In the Box

You know, we thought Shure was the king of pack-ins. Their headphones usually come with a few add-ons and like twelve sleeves. Apple manages to one-up Shure, however, by including an iPhone 3G S with the headphones. To our knowledge, this is the most awesome packaged-in extra we’ve ever gotten with a pair of headphones.

Durability (5.40)

This new model ups the durability quotient slightly, compared to other packaged-in Apple headphones. The main difference is Apple seems to have gotten wise to their horrible cord guard at the plug. In previous models, there really was no cord guard, which allowed the cable to bend very sharply at the plug. This wreaks havoc on the internal wires, causing wear and tear. These headphones have a slight cord guard. Though it isn’t a lot, it’s better than nothing.

The issue with these, however, is their sleeveless design. The giant mesh screen covering the front of the ear buds is like a blank canvas for ear grossness. As soon as any sort of grime gets on this thing, it’ll be very hard to clean out.

Aesthetics (5.00)

It’s hard to be particularly fashionable when your aesthetic is the over-done norm. No one notices in-ear headphones by brand. If they’re white, people will assume they’re iPod headphones. Even if you have the control pendant swaying around in the open, chances are everyone’s curiosity will have been sated by the ‘white = iPod’ assumption. Therefore, while these aren’t ugly by any stretch, they exist solely in the baseline of in-ear aesthetics. These are the headphones we judge other headphones by, for better or worse. Perhaps some company will make a hideous set that becomes more ubiquitous than the Apple headphones. If you are reading this in the future (which you obviously are since this isn’t a live stream), and such headphones exist, feel free to bump the aesthetic score by a few points. Chances are, however, the opposite will happen, á la the Motorola Razr: sure, they were trendy for a while, but once they became the norm their unique form factor lost all of its appeal.