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I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

fastcompany.com

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Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#241

Post by yellowapple »

jamesrcole wrote: post #96
ddingus wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What charges the case? No need for a phone that requires an adapter. There are great phones that drive all audio gear nicely. Those phones will win in the market too. Cost / benefit ratio is more favorable. Has been, will continue to be, and that will be true because digital audio does nothing new. Video does! We have great reasons for DV. Those do not apply to audio. Ears are not like eyes.

> No need for a phone that requires an adapter. There are great phones that drive all audio gear nicely. Those phones will win in the market too. Why do you say they'll win?

They won for me at least, given that I'm typing this on a phone with a headphone jack (a OnePlus 5T).

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#242

Post by jamesrcole »

yellowapple wrote: post #241
jamesrcole wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No need for a phone that requires an adapter. There are great phones that drive all audio gear nicely. Those phones will win in the market too. Why do you say they'll win?

They won for me at least, given that I'm typing this on a phone with a headphone jack (a OnePlus 5T).

It should go without saying that a fact about a single person's purchase says nothing about what phone characteristics will win out in the market.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#243

Post by hutattedonmyarm »

city41 wrote: post #202
eksemplar wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could they have build the iPhone XS with a jack? Because if they couldn’t, I’d argue that everyone who owns one benefits from it not having a jack. The real annoyance for me isn’t the lack of the jack, it’s that they haven’t also replaced the jack on the MacBook line yet.

Why couldn’t they build it with a jack? Due to the thickness? I’m typing this out on my iPhone 6 (which I will keep until it disintegrates because of its headphone jack) and it is plenty thin. I think only Apple themselves are obsessed with thin devices.

The 6 is the thinnest of them, 6S and onwards are all thicker

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#244

Post by acjohnson55 »

Cogito wrote: post #225
goldfeld wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, since I like to write, have more so lately, have started a newsletter before and was planning to start a similar one soon, I'll bite. Except if Poe's law comes bite me and it wasn't in earnest (checked your comment history and you don't seem to make trashy comments like me), what'd you like to read about in this style? Technology, technological change, society, languages, editors, open source? What periodicity wo…

Just finished Snow Crash! It's really good; as I was reading it I would stop and check the date it was authored. It holds up very well.

Snow Crash is great. I actually just finished Zodiac yesterday and only realized after the fact that it's 30 years old. I'm starting Seveneves now, and it's already blowing my mind.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#245

Post by yellowapple »

eksemplar wrote: post #148
S_A_P wrote: post #17

100% agree with this. Its pretty interesting that I almost never use headphones anymore now because bluetooth headphones require a few things: 1) preplanning/foresight in charging the headphones 2) refer to number 1. I have 2 really nice pairs of bluetooth headphones, and almost NEVER use them. Guess what pair gets used almost daily? my 15 year old beyerdynamic DT770s. 3.5mm or ¼" plug, closed back. Not really the mo…

Weird, I noticed no difference between using the headphone jack headphones or the usb-c headphones I guess I can’t charge my phone and use headphones at the same time, but I really couldn’t before either considering the length of the charging cable. But I guess you must always be charging your phone since the usbport is occupied?

Personally, I regularly charge my phone and listen to music through the 3.5mm jack at the same time when I'm driving (my car doesn't have Bluetooth, so I have to use one of those 3.5mm-to-cassette adapters). Using a phone that doesn't have a 3.5mm jack would mean needing to burn quite a bit more money to somehow wire up my car for Bluetooth if I want to still be able to do these things.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#246

Post by buboard »

chillacy wrote: post #183
mark-r wrote: post #37

I'm voting with my wallet. My household will never have a phone that is missing the 3.5mm jack.

This comment is bound to age poorly ;) Unless 3.5mm headphone jacks will be around in 50 years who knows.

i mean, people buy turntables nowadays. new ones, not just vintage and antiques. Audio equipment tends to age veery slowly

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#248

Post by elp »

arvinsim wrote: post #195
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a few people on HN who seem to have a weirdly emotional affection for the iPhone's lack-of-headphone-jack. One guy argued that it was all worth it because it reduces dust infiltration, another because it makes it more water-resistant. (Yeah.) I can see why someone who's never used wired earbuds wouldn't care one way or another, but I really don't understand this sort of attachment.

It's as if the presence of the headphone jack offends them. Like, what significant negative does having a headphone jack have?

A more cynical person than me would suggest that its almost like some of them are being paid.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#249

Post by Cogito »

yellowapple wrote: post #238
Cogito wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thinness and waterproofing are the two things I've heard that lead to removing the jack. Neither seems insurmountable, but if you want to try and remove as many obstacles as possible in the search of those two things then the headphone jack is apparently one of the simpler ones. Speakers, camera lens, physical buttons, charging, and data transfer are the remaining ones I can think of, and many of those have already b…

Samsung's been shipping waterproof (or at least water-resistant) headphone-jacked phones for years now.

Exactly, I think there are solutions for more or less everything I listed, or solutions could be found if necessary.

I think the headphone jack is a very practical component of the phone, and miss it regularly, but removing it does remove a few limitations on the designer.

At some point, in perhaps the not too distant future, I wouldn't be surprised if phones had been reduced down to look like not much more than a piece of glass. Maybe even a piece of flexible glass!

That's definitely been the trend for a while now, and things like edge to edge screens and wireless charging move us further in that direction. Thankfully neither of those seem to have necessitated the removal of some other function. There have been other casualties other on this path to simplification, such as the removal of the physical home button, but I don't think any which leave as big a gap as the headphone jack.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#250

Post by jamesrcole »

glogla wrote: post #247

So you're okay with hurting other people, especially the elderly, disabled and poor, because you get something. I guess admitting that takes "courage" as well?

[People downvoting this, care to explain what you think is incorrect or invalid about the points it makes?]

You need to explain how Apple removing headphone jacks from their phone hurts these people.

And why do you think it couldn't provide any benefit to any of them, either? (e.g. read the bit about AirPods here https://www.apple.com/lae/accessibility/iphone/hearing/ . Or consider how not having cables might help prevent accidents with the elderly, because there's no cables to get caught on things).

The most laughable thing about your comment is the notion that Apple is somehow forcing phones without headphone jacks upon people. Because of course it is not possible to buy any phones that have headphone jacks.

(do you also realise that it is still possible to use 3.5mm headphones with all Apple phones? So how much harm can be done even if people do want to use such headphones?)

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