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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

#211

Post by lovehashbrowns »

zeroDivisible wrote: post #190
lovehashbrowns wrote: post #134

I'm pretty excited for the ROG Phone 2. I honestly hate the look of it; it's far too "gamer-y" for me. I mean, it makes sense since it's a gamer product. But everything else about it looks great. High refresh rate for the screen, double USB-C ports, really good battery life. And it comes with a headphone jack! If it has water resistance, that's what I'm gonna go for. Otherwise, I guess I'm gonna keep my Note9 for a w…

I didn't hear about ROG Phone 2 and it has some features which I really like, but I think the killer for me was lack of Micro SD and a better camera. If only there would be a flagship phone which has all: an awesome camera (I snap loads of photos, the whole "best camera is the one you have with yourself" mantra), big battery and a Micro SD slot, it would be an instant buy for me. So far I've been upgrading my Samsung…

I can understand the lack of focus on the camera, but yeah the missing MicroSD slot for a gamer phone doesn't make much sense to me. That seems like an important feature for that kind of phone to have.

Honestly, I'm very disappointed that Samsung also started stripping down its Note line. That's the phone that should have all the features--MicroSD, headphone jack, stylus, amazing camera, etc.

I'm in the same boat as you are. I've been going from Samsung phone to Samsung phone for ages now, but they've taken their "pro" line and started taking out "pro" features...just like Apple. :\

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#212

Post by robocat »

secfirstmd wrote: post #198
IkmoIkmo wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great points, although I would want to add a bit of nuance from my personal experience. One thing that often gets overlooked in pricing is depreciation. Flagship models tend to keep their value quite well, whereas budget models depreciate to next to nothing. Take the iPhone X, launched 2 years ago, used it's around $570 today, versus the $999 it launched at. Meanwhile, a $300 phone tends to drop down to $100 on the 2…

Also let's not forget security updates in relation to Android phones...A two year old phone today, two years down the line may well not be receiving them

1. New Android phones are different: Android 9 was redesigned to make security updates by Google a lot easier. I have been buying Nokia which are getting good security upgrades/updates (and cost a few hundred USD).

2. Browsing on Android remains secure e.g. Android 4.4 is still getting Chrome updates (I think Chrome is generally more secure than Safari anyway). iPhones become insecure to use when they stop getting updates because the browser is not updated.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#213

Post by Endy »

ryandrake wrote: post #111
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.

I sometimes can’t believe that after 3 years people are still feeling hurt about this thing. I mean, go ahead and vote with your wallet but wow, what a hill to choose to die on! I’ve been through the obsolescence of floppy disks, cassette tapes, optical media/drives, DB9 serial ports, parallel printer ports, composite video, RCA audio jacks, VGA and countless other display output jacks, yet this silly 3.5mm headphone…

All those technologies you named above are part of my daily life. I can't imagine not saving my (plaintext) writing on a floppy. I listen to CDs, and I watch DVDs. All of my video output is VGA or CGA. My DVD player uses RCA.

The 3.5 mm jack works - and it works well. I can connect audio devices together which were created a century apart. Heck, I use the same earphones in my phone, my computer, my TV, and my grandparents' record player. No software is required, no time is wasted "pairing". It just works. And I believe every piece of new tech should be held to the same standard - if it can't work as efficiently and as compatibly as a 3.5mm jack, take it back to the drawing board until it does.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#214

Post by ses1984 »

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?

>need?

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

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#215

Post by larkeith »

Kerrick wrote: post #154
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…

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?

Data point: I actively use my phone while plugged in 1+ hour per day, and often use it for 10+ hours of streaming music while plugged in. No 3.5mm jack is a dealbreaker for me.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#216

Post by lostgame »

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 terms of reason to upgrade - and intense consumer demand for such a product, I’m just starting to get sick of Apple not listening to what it’s userbase is asking for.

Shoving a limited number of options in our faces only works if the consumers actually want any of those options.

For a time, the ‘MacBook’ was lighter than the ‘MacBook Air’. For years, Apple’s flagship iOS phones wouldn’t even connect to their flagship MacBooks and MacBook pros without an additional cable or adapter.

They’ve killed the non Touch Bar MacBook Pro, while the industry laments the Touch Bar’s existence.

It’s one thing not to listen to your customers. Apple has always been a certain level of compromise (price, features) as compared to other options. It’s another thing to completely ignore industry and user base response. Reasons to make that compromise have run out for me, and are running out for others.

I have been an Apple-exclusive computer (especially laptop) user for 15 years. My next laptop will be a hackintoshed Lenovo.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#217

Post by twic »

PyroLagus wrote: post #120
twic wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just leave it plugged in, i don't think the glue is really necessary. I bought one of these, on the grounds of some good reviews on audiophile sites: https://www.hidizs.net/products/dac-cable It's tiny, so it just becomes part of the earphone cable.

Oh wow, I didn't know there were DAC cables, and this is pretty cheap as far as DACs go

It's quite a bit more than a stock phone adapter (46 USD vs 10-15 USD), but still a lot less than, say, a Dragonfly Red (200 USD). And far more compact than the latter.

I have the Sonata paired with some 30 GBP Chi-Fi earphones in my walking-around bag, and a Dragonfly Red paired with some 130 GBP Chi-Fi earphones in my cycling bag. The bike bag can afford to carry the bulkier equipment!

Now i just need to get a motorbike or something, so i can logically justify buying a Dragonfly Cobalt and some really nice earphones ...

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#218

Post by Rebelgecko »

ineedasername wrote: post #77
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 generally go for the prior model flagship, which with some careful shopping can often be found for 30-40% of the original price. For example my current phone is a pixel 2xl I got for about $260. It's significantly better than newer budget models but for roughly the same price. I should note that this price decline is much less significant for iPhones though.

IMO this is the best of both worlds. After Samsung released the S9 I was able to get my S8 for something like $250. And since it used to be a flagship I get a lot of the bells and whistles that budget phones often lack (water resistance, SD card slot, wireless charging, NFC, MST, good camera, etc).

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#219

Post by bscphil »

ryandrake wrote: post #111
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.

I sometimes can’t believe that after 3 years people are still feeling hurt about this thing. I mean, go ahead and vote with your wallet but wow, what a hill to choose to die on! I’ve been through the obsolescence of floppy disks, cassette tapes, optical media/drives, DB9 serial ports, parallel printer ports, composite video, RCA audio jacks, VGA and countless other display output jacks, yet this silly 3.5mm headphone…

> optical media/drives

They still make CDs, and in fact they're the only way to get many albums in a lossless digital format with no DRM.

> RCA audio jacks

You must not own a nice stereo amplifier. These are still the norm.

> VGA

90% of the classrooms at the university I work at have projectors with VGA only input. While it doesn't matter to me personally, I can see why some people want their laptop to be able to connect to these "obsolete" cables.

> It’s been probably 4 years since I’ve even used a device with a 3.5mm plug.

Well, good for you? Just like CDs and RCA cables, the 3.5 mm jack still works great. In fact it's the best (in terms of quality and reliability) consumer audio connector we've ever had, and probably ever will have. It's more than understandable why people would complain about having to switch to something that isn't as good. Just because you don't care about these issues doesn't mean that other people shouldn't.

Re: Best Smartphones That Still Have a Headphone Jack

#220

Post by astine »

bdcravens wrote: post #138
tablethnuser wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I may revisit Apple devices once they're done with their headphone jack fiasco. I like their recent privacy focus. I had used them in the past and even tried to take them into their third and fourth years, but they felt sluggish and had more and more app crashes as I fell behind the adoption curve. At their price point I'm absolutely expecting a 4+ year lifespan. I think Apple has a different vision though and is aim…

Apple is well known for removing things: floppy drives, optical drives, serviceable storage and RAM, serviceable batteries, F-key rows, FireWire ports, Ethernet ports, MagSafe, USB-A ports, matte-finish displays, etc. There’s always dissent. Yet they never reverse course.

"Yet they never reverse course."

That's because they don't have to. A lot of Apple customers don't even consider competing products. Apple could release a Macbook without a keyboard and there would still be a contingent of users willing to stick with it and explaining that you start to prefer it after a while. A lot of their decisions were good, or at least made sense in the long run (and were just introduced earlier than customers would have preferred,) but they're pretty much unaccountable at this point, I think.

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