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When Nintendo got rid of the headphone jack

arstechnica.com

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Re: When Nintendo got rid of the headphone jack

#21

Post by xuki »

shasheene wrote: post #12

This reminds me of the "feature phone" era in the early 2000s, where every phone had a proprietary charging port, proprietary headphone jack and the removable memory interface was not yet standardized on MicroSD. Thankfully European Union pushed for MicroUSB standardization. While vendors (like Apple) can still get around it by bundling an adapter in European markets, it was enough to push the entire industry to stan…

They have 2 MegSafe versions in 10 years (MegSafe was introduced in 2006), the 2nd one was necessary to make slimmer laptops. Same thing with 30-pin connector and lightning. Lightning was before USB-C and it's superior to the old 30-pin connector.

Btw, MegSafe is one of the best thing about MacBooks, I'm actually sad they're not using it in the new MacBook.

Re: When Nintendo got rid of the headphone jack

#22

Post by hrrsn »

shasheene wrote: post #12

This reminds me of the "feature phone" era in the early 2000s, where every phone had a proprietary charging port, proprietary headphone jack and the removable memory interface was not yet standardized on MicroSD. Thankfully European Union pushed for MicroUSB standardization. While vendors (like Apple) can still get around it by bundling an adapter in European markets, it was enough to push the entire industry to stan…

>Apple of course do it with constantly changing MagSafe variants

In the past ten years, there has been two variants of MagSafe adapters. You can adapt older chargers to the newer standard.

>choosing the superior (to USB2.0) reversible Lightning connector over the new industry standard, USB3.1 Type C.

Lightning (2012) is way older than USB Type-C (2014). Additionally, Lightning can handle USB 3.

Re: When Nintendo got rid of the headphone jack

#23

Post by byuu »

Bandai did the same with the Wonderswan devices, which competed against the Game Boy Color and Advance. The device was only released in Japan around '98 - '01.

And so now, if you want to use headphones with it (and you do; as not only do you get stereo instead of monaural sound; you get an extra channel of audio so you'll be missing certain sound effects in some games without them!), you get to buy one of these pricey ($60-80) adapters for it, plus shipping fees from Japan: http://www.ebay.com/itm/361198122142

Of course, if you really want to see the fun of removing standardized ports, look no further than the Gamecube's component cables, which sell for a cool $250+ today: http://www.ebay.com/itm/131939975870

So, yeah. I'm strongly in favor of industry standard ports, even if it adds a few pennies onto the cost or a few mm onto the device size.

Re: When Nintendo got rid of the headphone jack

#25

Post by covekeyboard »

jaimex2 wrote: post #20
chris_wot wrote: post #3

The difference here is that the primary purpose of an iPhone is to make phone calls. And uses multimedia, like music. Leading to this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z_wImaGRkNY

I'm starting to see a trend in the comments where anyone who actually posts something rational that makes sense gets down voted. He is right, no one used the Gameboy as a media player.

I didn't downvote, but I suspect he's getting downvoted because what he said is not rational, but actually a pretty bad rationalization.

The Gameboy Advanced SP is used to play video games, and I don't know of a single game on it that doesn't include music and sound-effects. In other words, 99% of the GBA SP's use case involves sound, in contrast to the iPhone, where there are plenty of apps that don't require sound, such as texting, browsing the web, looking at maps, etc.

Better to just accept that the SP not having a headphone jack was bad, but it sold anyway, and that the iPhone not having a headphone jack will be bad, but it'll probably sell anyway, instead of coming up with illogical post-hoc justifications for why it's okay for the SP but not the iPhone.

Re: When Nintendo got rid of the headphone jack

#26

Post by unimpressive »

chris_wot wrote: post #3

The difference here is that the primary purpose of an iPhone is to make phone calls. And uses multimedia, like music. Leading to this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z_wImaGRkNY

FTA:

"Why Nintendo, why why why why why? The speaker is just as tinny and pathetic as the GBA, and thus if you have any intention of playing a game with the sound on while in the presence of human beings around, you'll know that you'll get that glare. Try the same thing on a train or a plane (or better still, in a library) and your life won't be worth living. Headphone socket. Where the hell is it?"

I don't know if you've ever played a handheld in public, or been around somebody doing it, but you do not want to be that jerk who forces everybody on the bus to listen to Mario stomp red turtles.

Re: When Nintendo got rid of the headphone jack

#27

Post by chris_wot »

covekeyboard wrote: post #25
jaimex2 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm starting to see a trend in the comments where anyone who actually posts something rational that makes sense gets down voted. He is right, no one used the Gameboy as a media player.

I didn't downvote, but I suspect he's getting downvoted because what he said is not rational, but actually a pretty bad rationalization. The Gameboy Advanced SP is used to play video games, and I don't know of a single game on it that doesn't include music and sound-effects. In other words, 99% of the GBA SP's use case involves sound, in contrast to the iPhone, where there are plenty of apps that don't require sound,…

I don't tend to make many phone/FaceTime calls that lack sound. I also tend to enjoy listening to music and videos with sound. Could be just my illogical post-hoc rationalisation kicking in though.

Re: When Nintendo got rid of the headphone jack

#29

Post by chris_wot »

jotux wrote: post #19
chris_wot wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, what?

I use my smartphone almost entirely for texting and browsing. I think my monthly talk time averages 30-60 minutes. Observing my peers (20-40 something tech-savvy people) this seems to be the norm.

Still in the top 5 for most people!

Re: When Nintendo got rid of the headphone jack

#30

Post by chris_wot »

joemi wrote: post #5
chris_wot wrote: post #3

The difference here is that the primary purpose of an iPhone is to make phone calls. And uses multimedia, like music. Leading to this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z_wImaGRkNY

Mentioned in the article.

And downplayed by the following:

On the other hand, the GBA SP existed before Bluetooth headphones were a relatively cheap and widespread alternative to the wired standard. And Apple includes both Lightning headphones and a Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter in the box with the iPhone, which ought to ease the transition for many.

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