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Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

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Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#171

Post by navigatesol »

chaostheory wrote: post #136
tablethnuser wrote: post #20

I've been using the budget Moto G+ line for the past four years. I can upgrade my phone every year around Black Friday and get the latest model for sub $200. The older phones still work well and get handed down to my less tech savvy family members. I'm not really sure what people are paying for when they get those $800+ beasts for phones. When I use a friend's I can tell they are higher quality; either they feel more…

> I'm not really sure what people are paying for when they get those $800+ beasts for phones. The main reason for us is the camera. We do not own a separate standalone camera anymore. You're not going to be able to take a time machine to take better pictures of the past, which is also why we keep replacing our phones every year. Also I prefer Apple's walled garden especially for the less tech savvy members of my exte…

>The main reason for us is the camera. We do not own a separate standalone camera anymore.

The next question then, is: how good of a camera does the average person need?

I'd fathom the vast majority of people viewing pictures are rapidly flipping through them on some app like Instagram. How much difference does the latest camera make for the average user, really?

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#172

Post by stuff4ben »

recursive wrote: post #168
stuff4ben wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I don't get the headphone jack obsession either. Bluetooth has been perfect for me and frees me from the cord. I can't stand tangled up cords that tickle my neck as I'm trying to listen to music.

For most people bluetooth is not perfect. For some, it's tolerable. For me, it's a pain in the ass that requires frequent re-pairing, mucking around with configuration, recharging headphones, and generally thinking about how to set it up and why it's not working. The total set of failure modes for wired headphones is much easier to understand.

For most? Hardly. Regardless, it's better than lugging wires around like it's 1990.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#173

Post by the-pigeon »

wilsonnb3 wrote: post #83
chuckgreenman wrote: post #18

I'm a single-issue voter when it comes to cell phones - if it doesn't have a headphone jack, I won't be buying it.

but, why? I sincerely don't understand why the headphone jack is the hill that so many people choose to die on. The $9 lightning to 3.5mm dongle has worked perfectly for me, as has my USB-c to 3.5mm dongle.

Because every single phone has all the other features I want. It's the one feature that is missing for them.

At the end of the day phones pretty much all do the exact same thing. There are little differences to form factor and different camera quality and all that.

But none of that will make any difference to your life for 90%+ of people. You don't need the best camera ever for your snapshots. And you don't need the fastest mobile processor to check your email.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#174

Post by chrisseaton »

magduf wrote: post #95
wilsonnb3 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but, why? I sincerely don't understand why the headphone jack is the hill that so many people choose to die on. The $9 lightning to 3.5mm dongle has worked perfectly for me, as has my USB-c to 3.5mm dongle.

Because people don't want to fuck around with a stupid dongle to have a feature that the phone should have had in the first place. Dongles get lost, and you also can't charge the phone and use the dongle at the same time. Maybe you don't think it's a big deal, but when the asking price of the device is $1k, any little annoyance like that is a legitimate deal-breaker: for that much money, it should have everything, in…

> for that much money, it should have everything

That’s how you end up with Homer cars. Get rid of the legacy junk and streamline on useful features I say.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#175

Post by magduf »

mikepurvis wrote: post #155
magduf wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because people don't want to fuck around with a stupid dongle to have a feature that the phone should have had in the first place. Dongles get lost, and you also can't charge the phone and use the dongle at the same time. Maybe you don't think it's a big deal, but when the asking price of the device is $1k, any little annoyance like that is a legitimate deal-breaker: for that much money, it should have everything, in…

The cost of a headphone jack at scale is a few cents. I'm pretty sure it's less about the cost and more about size/thickness, with moisture sealing as possibly a secondary concern. If you say that the battery is a little bigger because the internals of the phone didn't need to accommodate a headphone jack, does that make you feel any better? How often do you use not-your-regular-headphones (which would just have dong…

We've had waterproof phones with headphone jacks for ages, so that's not an issue unless you're incompetent.

I've never seen a phone where the battery extended down to near the headphone jack.

If I put a dongle permanently on my headphones, how do I use them on another device that has a standard 3.5mm jack?

Thickness is only an issue for Apple fans. No one else actually cares if a device is 0.2mm thicker.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#176

Post by JohnFen »

flumberbug wrote: post #63
LoSboccacc wrote: post #45

weird there's no mention of the mi a3. under display fingerprint scanner, the headphone jack, Android One and an interesting price. if it wasn't for the 720p display it'd be a best buy

> If it wasn't for the slow fingerprint scanner, it'd be a best buy. Fixed.

Personally, I couldn't care less about the fingerprint scanner since I'm not going to use it anyway.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#177

Post by stuff4ben »

schwap wrote: post #157
stuff4ben wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or how silly it is you're using wires when bluetooth speakers and bluetooth-enabled radios have been around for the past 10 years or so...

Yeah, sure sounds like fun doing the entire bluetooth "oh, let me pair, wait it's not coming up in my list, maybe you need to unpair first..." etc. dance over and over instead of just swapping out a cable in a second.

Tangled cords, frayed and broken cables, finding room for those cables...yeah no thanks. And maybe you need better devices, never a problem on my iphones. Just pop in my airpods and just works. Or start my truck and it just works. Or switch on my bluetooth speaker and it just works. Seriously, bluetooth has evolved to the point that wires don't make sense to me anymore.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#178

Post by recursive »

stuff4ben wrote: post #172
recursive wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For most people bluetooth is not perfect. For some, it's tolerable. For me, it's a pain in the ass that requires frequent re-pairing, mucking around with configuration, recharging headphones, and generally thinking about how to set it up and why it's not working. The total set of failure modes for wired headphones is much easier to understand.

For most? Hardly. Regardless, it's better than lugging wires around like it's 1990.

> it's better than lugging wires around like it's 1990.

That's just like, your opinion, man. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but bluetooth kind of sucks. If I have two devices that just stay paired together forever, it seems to work fine. But if there's ever any change, I usually have to spend 30-60 seconds fucking around and turning BT on and off, or re-pairing, or selecting output devices or something. Wired headphones are simple, don't need recharging, and they work when I want them to. So much like non-smart-light-bulbs, I do think sometimes 1990-style things are better. And I don't think I'd use the word "lug" to describe carrying something that weighs an ounce or less.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#179

Post by chrisseaton »

winternett wrote: post #23

I got a Nokia 7.1 for around $300 and it has the headphone jack and a Micro SD slot, another feature that phone makers are getting rid of... Phone memory is terrible these days, I have a huge collection of Mp3s and wav files I don't want to give up, despite bluetooth stuttering at times in my car. Putting low onboard memory on modern phones should be a crime when USB sticks with 128GB plus are selling for $15... They…

> They do that to boost streaming and data charges...

Which phone manufacturers make any money from streaming and data charges?

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#180

Post by tln »

navigatesol wrote: post #171
chaostheory wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not really sure what people are paying for when they get those $800+ beasts for phones. The main reason for us is the camera. We do not own a separate standalone camera anymore. You're not going to be able to take a time machine to take better pictures of the past, which is also why we keep replacing our phones every year. Also I prefer Apple's walled garden especially for the less tech savvy members of my exte…

> The main reason for us is the camera. We do not own a separate standalone camera anymore. The next question then, is: how good of a camera does the average person need? I'd fathom the vast majority of people viewing pictures are rapidly flipping through them on some app like Instagram. How much difference does the latest camera make for the average user, really?

For low light situations, the latest phones can make a big difference over a budget phone like Moto G6. Faster photo taking, better stabilization, do make a difference when taking anything moving.

FWIW I used Moto's for a couple of years and really like them. I used to get my wife's iphone for picture taking but now my pixel 2 is all I need.

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