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Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

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261–270 of 395 posts

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I really don't think you are Apple's target audience. I am a creative professional - which, historically, was a very important part of Apple’s user base; and the reason I still use their products. The ecosystem and workflow of using an iPhone or iPad to write a simple musical idea in GarageBand on the subway, and then finding it already on my iCloud on my MacBook Pro at home, so I can open it up in Logic and refin…

I'm a dev and like the touch bar. Ask me anything

1) Would you like a physical function bar as well?

2) Do you use anything to customize the Touchbar to your liking? (I haven't used OS X in quite a while, and haven't heard of anything)

3) How's the rest of your keyboard doing? Do you like it?

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consider a headphone jack mandatory for two main reasons. First, wireless earphones don't have adequate battery life (not to mention that the last thing I need is yet another thing that requires daily charging). Second, after trying out a variety of bluetooth earphones, I've yet to find one that doesn't give me periodic problems (dropped connections, etc.) Since Bluetooth doesn't offer anything that I consider adva…

Buy headphones with a Lightning or USB-C cable on them? No dongles, no Bluetooth, no wireless. Everything you ask for.

Then I'd need an adapter to plug it into my other audio devices.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#263
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…

I have pretty much never charged my phone and used it at the same time. The cord is too short, and cords that are long enough are unwieldy. Plus, the cord sticks out right where my hand wants to hold the phone. Is this something people actually do in any situation except low-power emergencies?

Wanting to listen to music on your phone that is plugged in at your desk seems like a pretty reasonable use case to me

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

>need? "Need" doesn't factor into it. People want the latest and greatest.

At this point, if I don't have a phone with a good camera, I'll have to go buy a new standalone camera- probably a point&shoot- in order to satiate my need for documentation and taking photos of my kids.

Also, nobody here seems to mention convenience- carrying around a smartphone is a great replacement for the calculator, watch (possibly with an integrated stopwatch, if you don't get anything too fancy,) walkie-talkie, stress toy, fidget spinner (there's an app for that), elephant, newspaper, or tabloid that might otherwise be on their person.

Utility!

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#265

Apple’s lack of follow-up to the iPhone SE means the SE is still the best iPhone with a headphone jack. I honestly can’t believe Apple did an iPhone event without introducing a new model in that size. I know at least a dozen people (especially women) who had been saying for at least a year that until the SE had a replacement, they’d be using one, or swapping to Android. With the weakest offerings for iPhones yet, in…

Are there any examples of flagship Android phones that are similar in size to the iPhone SE? I doubt Apple just forgot about the SE, and it also seems unlikely that someone high up just made a gut call that the SE size is over. It seems more likely that this userbase you're talking about just isn't as big as you think, and isn't big enough for the R&D of redesigning the SE to be worthwhile for Apple, at least not yet.

Just to offer some counter-anecdotes, I've noticed a lot of women have the larger Max sized iPhone, since you get all the benefits of a big screen but it still fits fine in most purses. I carry my phone in my front pocket most of the time and the iPhone X/11 Pro size is perfect for that, I have no need to go down to the SE size. The only people I know using the SE are people who live in the Bay Area and work in tech who want to make a point of doing something contrarian and joining the tech backlash. And what better for this hipster crowd than discontinuing the phone altogether, so now you can only buy it used and having one becomes even more of a statement?

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#267

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.

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.

Bluetooth works almost perfectly for me too, and I still use my phone's headphone jack from time to time. And the 3.5mm headphones I use work immediately with every other device I own. It's just a basic and useful enough feature that it doesn't make sense to remove it.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a dev and like the touch bar. Ask me anything

1) Would you like a physical function bar as well? 2) Do you use anything to customize the Touchbar to your liking? (I haven't used OS X in quite a while, and haven't heard of anything) 3) How's the rest of your keyboard doing? Do you like it?

1. Personally, no.

2. I love BetterTouchTool – I use it at work and at home. Ambivalent towards the touch bar without it, LOVE the touch bar with it.

3. My mid-'16 personal Macbook has the "stuttering keyboard" issue – extra characters typed if not careful. I haven't been doing much side-work lately so I can ignore it, but it's a real pain in the ass for sure. Haven't had that issue on my 2018 work Macbook (yet).

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#269
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like this? https://www.geargeek.co.uk/type-c-to-3-5mm-headphone-jack-au...

Dongles wear out the USB-C port.

The USB-C port is designed for 10,000 cycles, so you can plug/unplug your dongle/power 5 times a day for 5 years without wearing it out, which seems like it would be good enough for most people.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, it's not like it's empty space in there. Looking at the insides of an iPhone X, it's clear that something would have to give to make room for a new and quite sizeable connector: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+X+Teardown/98975#s182... In any case, I fundamentally agree that it's not worth the tradeoff; I use an iPhone 5S and find it perfectly serviceable (and charmingly small and light). But some peopl…

Supposedly, previous iPhones had a lot of empty space near where the headphone jack would have been. Enough space for this guy[1] to drill a hole and install Apple's DAC in it. [1]: https://strangeparts.com/bringing-back-the-iphone-headphone-...

Ha, I can only assume that on account of the obvious controversy, this was done by the engineers so they'd have an option to reverse course if the executives had a last-second change of heart. Once it was clear they really did have that space to work with, they filled it up with stuff.
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