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

fastcompany.com

461–470 of 741 posts

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

#461
post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a good supply of Chinese phones that include a headphone jack. If the iPhone is a product you don't like, just buy another phone. It will be cheaper and will do the same and probably more. It may take a while to get used to a different OS, but I've seen my parents switching between iPhone and Android without problems so I don't think your father (about the same age) will have more difficulties.

One would think Android phone makets would take this as opportunity given the massive uproar. But instead they are absolutely determined to blindly follow Apple off the cliff. Now many major Android phones have not only removed headphone jack but even introduced unnecessary notch even though they don’t have FaceID!! The lack of independent thinking is stunning among leading Android phone makers and very sad thing for…

Phones have long since left functionality for fashion. The notch is in season this year, no one cares why.

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

#463
post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So this is the sound I hear every time an old TV is on! Thank you.

> the sound I hear every time an old TV is on Ah that would be the flyback transformer. Plainly audible to us these days now that most TVs don't have them any more. (I think GP is talking about something else btw) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyback_transformer

Most of the time in non-old devices it's a bad (either of quality or age) capacitor whining. It's infuriating enough in itself but can give me nausea on top of it!

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

#464
post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally quite well. Pairing means your devices know to look for eachother, and the bitrate of music streaming over Bluetooth combined with the low range means you'll need some unrealistic congestion before things really start to fail.

unrealistic congestion before things really start to fail. aka public transit...

Or any busy street crossing with lots of cars.

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

#465
post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were removed only when few people used them because there was a better alternative. Many, many people use headphones with 3,5 mm plugs and it is not at all clear that the alternative is better.

Well it is pretty clear that the alternative is at least satisfactory. Because iPhone sales aren't dropping because of the headphone jack and people seem to be enjoying Bluetooth headphones given how popular those are.

Bluetooth was a step sideways. I like not having my cable get stuck under my chair wheels but holy fuck its annoying to use when you have multiple devices.

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

#466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I probably wouldn’t have bought AirPods if my phone still had a 1/8” jack, and every time I have had to use wired earphones since have been worse than if I had my AirPods on me. So here’s one human who disagress with the first bit.

Which is why, I'm assuming, the author added the last bit, which sounds like it covers your exact experience: every time I have had to use wired earphones since have been worse than if I had my AirPods on me

I’m simply countering the absurd blanket statement “...no human’s life is measurably better...”

Mine is. The statement is false.

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

#468
post #17

100% agree with this. Its pretty interesting that I almost never use headphones anymore now because bluetooth headphones require a few things: 1) preplanning/foresight in charging the headphones 2) refer to number 1. I have 2 really nice pairs of bluetooth headphones, and almost NEVER use them. Guess what pair gets used almost daily? my 15 year old beyerdynamic DT770s. 3.5mm or ¼" plug, closed back. Not really the mo…

I also still use my DT770s as my daily headphones when I'm at my computer. I wish I had bought the Pro version way back when, as I believe it has detachable cables, and also higher resistance... it's difficult to modulate the volume on my desktop, as even 4-6% can be loud enough in some circumstances and there's not a lot of room for fine control at that level. In any case, I have had mine around the same length of t…

Aha, the DT770 Pro are awesome! And they do exist in 80 and 250 ohms variants, which would probably have solved your volume problem...

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

#469
post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t use wired headphones, but I imagine that I would just leave the adapter on them 24/7?

>but I imagine that I would just leave the adapter on them 24/7? Except people often use same headphone with both - phone and pc, so you will have to remove the adapter anyway.

Thats one of the most fatal flaws. Apples proprietary plugs aren't even standard across their own devices.

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

#470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but looking at Apple, Google, HTC, Samsung and recent history, I think it will come down to this: https://xkcd.com/927/ . I'm almost certain that whatever Apple developed for the Airpods will not be shared with other companies. And whatever other companies push forward as a "Standard" will not replace the Apple Solution in the near future. Even replacing apples crappy AFP Network Protocol took 13 years, until SM…

I wouldn't be so sure - it will take years for sure, but industry has many times come up with decent standards in the past - ethernet, USB, PCI, just to give a few examples. Bluetooth as a network protocol also seems to be fine with its latest revisions, it's just the pairing that sucks - if Apple can do it on top of bluetooth I think others should also be able to.

if Apple can do it on top of bluetooth

I think the heart of the problem lies here. It's the fact that we have to pay solid attention to the UI when we make these changes- and we have to care about the UX. This thread is focusing on bluetooth, but I had this experience when iOS updated their text-message interface. I guess there are more buttons to push now, but what is missing is being able to attach a photo that you've already taken by tapping an icon next to the text entry. Now that only opens a camera, and you have to go to the "lower level" to attach a pic that you've already taken.

No big deal, right? Now, if you were going to change your UI and add an icon that signifies attaching a photo, what would your icon look like? If you were going to hunt for one, what would you expect to look for? They use something that doesn't call to mind photographs in my mind[1]. It took me an annoying amount of time to figure out this change because I was in one of those situations I was trying to get the picture off quickly.

In fact, this whole trend of replacing labels with icon and having no mouseover fallback is a huge time-sink. Now, that might have been Apple's icon for a long time, but the fact is I never needed to know that before. It was in a place that was obvious (next to a camera or something, I really don't remember what it changed from).

I mean, am I seriously supposed to know what this means[2]?

[1] http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/photos-ap....

[2] https://boilingpointdev.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/game-cen...

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