Well, well, well ... after searching high and low for a pair of AirPods in Las Vegas and then in a few malls in PJ, I finally got my hands on one from MacStudio, Paradigm Mall. It seems that MacStudio and some of the retailers in PJ do get very small number of stocks per week.You just have to be there at the right time to grab it. And so, is it worth the wait and effort? Setting up is pretty easy. Pop the pods off the casing and the iPhone immediately recognize it and asked to connect. The connection was immediate, no waiting for seconds typical of other Bluetooth device. This is a great feature actually - when you need to use the AirPod, just pop it into your ear and it immediately give an audible ding. No waiting for seconds. You wouldn't want to wait when you have a need to connect and speak to someone. I guess that's the difference the Apple W1chip is making vs other Bluetooth device which does not have W1 chipset. The iPhone immediately gave the AirPod a name.
