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Opinion: I'd rather have a headphone jack and a microSD slot than AI in my phone

news.ycombinator.com

41–50 of 97 posts

Re: Opinion: I'd rather have a headphone jack and a microSD slot than AI in my phone

#42
post #15
post #2

Why would they give up on three sources of extra revenue?

I can understand the upgrade required for extra storage and AI subscriptions, but what revenue is earned from the elimination of the headphone jack? I can only see the marginal costs of adding one in, but for consumers who want it, it'd be a sales tactic.

Bluetooth earphones are devices with a really limited lifespan.

You can use like 2 charges in a day easily and that a lifespan of one to 2 years.

For a lot if vendors it isn't a notable difference, for apple with the air pods it's MASSIVE

Re: Opinion: I'd rather have a headphone jack and a microSD slot than AI in my phone

#44
post #11

Where to move from Samsung A52? There is no alternative below 1000 EUR.

Alternative in what sense? I think most, if not all, modern Xperias have both headphone jacks and microSD slots. I'm not sure how they are when it comes to android updates though.

Re: Opinion: I'd rather have a headphone jack and a microSD slot than AI in my phone

#45
3.5mm jack, microSD and removable batteries is the holy grail.

The only reason these aren't included anymore on flagship phones is because companies think they can upsell you on BT headphones, cloud storage plans and extended warranties. They're building for shareholder value, not the customer.

Plenty of midrange and low end phones still come with the jack and microSD, but removable batteries seem to be extinct.

Re: Opinion: I'd rather have a headphone jack and a microSD slot than AI in my phone

#46
post #35

I've got a Sony Xperia phone from last year. It's got a headphone jack and sdcard slot, waterproof, latest chipset etc. Plus a very close to vanilla Android. Yet they sold so few that Sony are pulling out of the US phone market. It seems to me that folks who say they want those things don't actually want them that much.

Sony hasn't been relevant in the phone industry since the transition to smartphones. Samsung, Huawei, Lenovo and others sell millions of phones with these features, but the flagship models still exclude them.

Re: Opinion: I'd rather have a headphone jack and a microSD slot than AI in my phone

#47
post #45

3.5mm jack, microSD and removable batteries is the holy grail. The only reason these aren't included anymore on flagship phones is because companies think they can upsell you on BT headphones, cloud storage plans and extended warranties. They're building for shareholder value, not the customer. Plenty of midrange and low end phones still come with the jack and microSD, but removable batteries seem to be extinct.

Good thing that EU is bringing the removable batteries back.

Re: Opinion: I'd rather have a headphone jack and a microSD slot than AI in my phone

#48

> Curious how others feel about this. I would rather have none of these things, but if I had to choose, AI sounds more useful.

"sounds" being the operative word. I don't consider being able to erase something on a photo, or add something to be a compelling enough use case. The AI demos I've seen have been pretty pathetic relative to the hype they're trying to build.

Re: Opinion: I'd rather have a headphone jack and a microSD slot than AI in my phone

#49
post #2

Why would they give up on three sources of extra revenue?

Thinking like this is how we end up with gadgets that can be barely be called pocket computers.

Thank God that the computer industry came of age before iOSsification began. Need to connect to wired headphones? Buy a dongle. Need more storage? Pay for iCloud. Want to program on your iPad? Jump through a million hoops and end up using a remote desktop solution.

Re: Opinion: I'd rather have a headphone jack and a microSD slot than AI in my phone

#50
post #48

> Curious how others feel about this. I would rather have none of these things, but if I had to choose, AI sounds more useful.

"sounds" being the operative word. I don't consider being able to erase something on a photo, or add something to be a compelling enough use case. The AI demos I've seen have been pretty pathetic relative to the hype they're trying to build.

I agree for the most part. I'm pretty bearish on most AI stuff, I was not interested in the Apple Intelligence stuff announced at WWDC beyond having a Siri that might be able to answer a question directly instead of sending me to a Wikipedia article.
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