More Crap from China: A Quick Review of Xiaomi E17 ANC

One of the items I picked up on Aliexpress was a Xiaomi E17 ANC "airpod-like" wireless earbuds. The whole design is obviously a "homage" to Apple's Airpods. I thought I ordered Blue, but I got a black one instead. 

The advertised features are 11db ANC mode, transparency mode (so you CAN hear people near you), and supposedly 20 hours playtime. Clearly, it's counting the battery capacity in the carrying case, not in the buds themselves. There are 2 sets of touchpads along either stem of the earbuds. 

It does come with a small wrist-loop that can be threaded through the opening on the side of the carrying case. There's a cutout in the loop, but no explanation on what it is for. Maybe for hanging onto things? 

To charge it, plug in a USB-C cable into the bottom. When LED over the Mi logo turns solid, the charging is complete. 

To pair it, simply flip open the lid near the device you wanted (recommended distance: 2 inches). The instructions says you should turn on BOTH Wifi and Bluetooth on the device (why?)

As said before, each bud has two control pads on the stem. But all of these work on either pad alone. Swipe up or down controls volume. Single tap is pause/play, double tap is fast forward, and triple tap is reverse. If a call comes in, single tap answers. Once I triggered Google assistant by accident, but there's no documented gesture for that. Touch and hold both touchpads to toggle between ANC and "transparency mode". That's it. That's all the documentation. No explanation on what the button on the charging case back does (seems to control charging of the buds?) 

 After using it a few days, the ANC does work, and yet... it doesn't feel like it doesn't do much. I have an air purifier in my room, and it's like a fan in the background if I turn it up to any setting beyond "whisper quiet". With E17's ANC on, I still hear the fan, just... more muffled. It's similar to wearing an earplug, or wearing over-the-ear headphone with a decent cushion seal. Switching to "transparency mode" just seem to turn ANC off. 

There were no spare silicone ear tips, just one set was installed, and they fit... "okay". I'll try to replace them with foam tips when I find some of my spares. 

It also does not do multi-point. It will pair with only ONE device. And that device had to "forget" about the E17 to allow it to pair with anything else. Maybe they consider that a security feature, heh? 

My MAIN problem with the E17 is its lack of battery life in the buds. I am only getting about 3 hours when one bud or the other starts beeping, indicating low power and needing a recharge from the carrying case. This severely affects my enjoyment of the device and makes me want to bring back out my Lenovo "neckband" or other Bluetooth headsets with far more battery life, even if they don't look as "cool". 

Overall rating: B-

The Quest For My Perfect Wallet Continues

 I have many different wallets as I keep looking for my optimum front-carry solution. Here are my requirements:

Ability to carry paper money -- say 5-10 bills, but NOT folded 3-4 times. 

ID Window -- either exterior or flip-up clear ID holder

A Frequently-Used Card pocket -- you have that card you ALWAYS use

Exterior pocket for RFID cards -- for tap-passes such as bus passes and building passes. 

Card sorter -- ability to carry a variety of cards and allow me to pick one out

Reasonably Compact -- for front-pocket carry, doesn't have to be minimalist

Extra wow features -- micro-pen? SIM card holder? key holder? Tether point for safety lanyard? 

So far, the wallets I've tried have not really been able to give me all capabilities, and I assure you, I have tried nearly a dozen different solutions. 

So what have I tried? They generally fall into these categories: card-holders, improved bifold, and innovations. 

Cardholders -- sometimes called "minimalist wallets", they really only good for holding credit card sized objects, with some extra gimmicks. The most famous was probably the Ridge wallet, and I have one of the clones I then customized by ordering some spare parts. so it has a money band on one side and a clip on the other (most only have one or the other). While it does hold up to a dozen cards, it lacks ID window, exterior pocket, or card sorter (well, you can sorta "push" on the indent which sorta pushes the cards out...). Being card-sized, it can't handle bi-folded money. Money had to be tri-folded or quad-folded to fit under the money clip or band. They generally lack too many features for long-term use, at least for me, but they may work better for you. 

Modified Bifold wallets -- I've tried several alternatives to the bifold, and some of these actually came close, as they handle paper money quite well. Some even have a coin pocket. And even if they don't have ID window, it's almost trivial to add one. But most of these don't have card sorter, and lost out on compactness over the minimalist wallets. And for those that did have a card sorter, it doesn't work that well. I've tried several Kickstarter wallets, such as a Mjolnir, Bando 2.0, and so on. But it seems most of them neglect the cash (paper bill) handling part. 

The oddballs -- there are some hybrid wallets that truly tried to innovate, but usually have their own compromises. 

The MiniMAX 3 -- technically a modified bifold, this one is actually pretty innovative in that it handles folded money quite well WHILE holds up to a dozen cards and a coin wallet. The external pockets are RFID compatible, but there's no ID window. There's technically no card sorter but technically it has 4 pockets each holding up to 3 cards, so sorting is not a problem. Keyholder is a bit of "meh".  Pretty darn close! 

The Suavell Slim Wallet -- this is a modified bifold that can take plenty of cards AND cash (bifold cash clip) AND an ID window... AND it has a pull-out card sorter. Basically, you pull on this tab, and the cards come out "fanned out" slightly. It has two outside slots for tap cards or frequently used cards, plus the card sorter and internal card slots. I've started using this instead of the MiniMAX 3 as a daily driver. It can use some special tricks, such as ability to hide a tile tracker, or optional / add-on accessory slot to make it stand out.  

Ekster Parliament Wallet -- this is primarily a cardholder with a money band, but it's so cool... Because it has a pushbutton at the bottom that fans your cards out. But it also commands a premium price. You can save a few bucks by getting the cheaper Senate cardholder, but it doesn't flip open like Parliament here. 

I will keep you all informed as I find more innovative wallets on Kickstarter and elsewhere.