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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

#381

Post by lloeki »

skgoa wrote: post #265
pookieinc wrote: post #213

We need to take into account _Accessibility_. A large use case that I've found most people seems to miss are individuals who are older and don't have much experience with bluetooth or wireless technology. I'm fine with Apple removing the headphone jack, but they've alienated so many people to find their own path when they don't include the adapter. Anecdotal example: I recently purchased headphones for my 65-year old…

> they've alienated so many people to find their own path when they don't include the adapter. My iPhone came with an adapter, though. I continue using the same headphones as I did with my old phone.

While I mourn the practicality of the embedded jack on my iPhone 8, I've had quite a few headphones in a row whose jack ended up failing due to the way my phone is placed inside my pocket, and a repair was impossible, so that was quite an unexpected improvement to have the adapter possibly fail and be replaced at a very small cost instead of a full headset† going bust.

† five actually (100-300€ price range), two of which the cord is replaceable (which I did) but how long will that specific cord be available?

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

#383

Post by lagadu »

Cogito wrote: post #232
city41 wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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…

Can't be thinness because the thinnest iphone ever is the 6s, which has a headphone jack and it can't be waterproofing because android makers seem to do waterproof phones with jacks just fine some of them even thinner than iphones too.

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

#384

Post by christopherwxyz »

Latteland wrote: post #318
m_mueller wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

maybe an industry standard that works like AirPods pairing?

Maybe go back to the industry standard that worked well for 100+ years, the headphone jack.

CD drives worked well for 30 years. Why not bring them back to all our modern devices, too?

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

#385

Post by lagadu »

Cogito wrote: post #249
yellowapple wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pi…

That would definitely be cool, we see them fairly often in modern scifi films/shows too nowadays.

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

#386

Post by lagadu »

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).

As someone who also EXCLUSIVELY buys phones with minijacks I'd say that they're definitely losing, considering that the brands that carry them right now seem to only be Samsung (rumored to drop them next year) and LG. Currently I use the oneplus 6 but they dropped it for the 6T so they're out of the race. It's starting to look like the next time I upgrade it'll have to be to LG and that's assuming they stick to it.

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

#389

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

mh8h wrote: post #39
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #3

The blog ends with the best and most insightful comment: And no human’s life is measurably better since Apple had the “courage” to remove the 3.5 mm jack. But a lot of our lives are just a little worse. The author also points towards active de-standardisation between Android and iOS: "if only there was one universal audio port they both could use" Apple gets an advantage from this with their iron-grip on compatible p…

Removing the headphone jack makes the waterproofing easier and more effective.

"You're holding it wrong"

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

#390

Post by sjwright »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #370
coldtea wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> From a security point of view, it's really worrying that a lot of users refuse to upgrade software because of the track record of Apple making devices less usable with every upgrade. A lot of users? iOS has the fastest and widest adoption rate for new releases of any mobile or not OS. Android specifically used to have awful fragmentation issues and phones never updated by the vendor 3 and 4 releases behind. APPLE I…

50% is "a lot of users". Ranting about Android doesn't change that.

His ranting style is unhelpful but the underlying point is sound—Apple device owners update the operating software at a dramatically higher rate and frequency than any other significant competitor platform. If there is a contingent of iOS device users “conditioned” to avoid upgrades, it would be impossible to prove this contingent exists statistically.

Frequent vocal complainers on internet forums probably only account for less than 0.01% of their installed base.

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