Belkin's $40 Lightning Adapter Lets You Listen to Music and Charge Your iPhone 7 at the Same Time

[KingofGotham1]

Wouldn't worry about him - anything to support Apple.

Meanwhile office workers and students who listen at their desk while charging will have to rearrange their lives around their device's battery because ol' Tim is sweating the asset until he cashes out.

Dreadful stuff and only the very worst fanboi can defend it.

Rearrange their lives?? My god it's an adaptor, literally for students and people at a desk you could get the apple dock that has the audio jack built in, if this is "rearranging your life" I'd hate to see how you handle...you know, actual change. "Omg they are out of oranges! Now I'm gonna have to rearrange my whole life to eat a banana or go to another store or just wait until the oranges come back in stock, or get orange juice, this is too much to handle"

 

[Max Portakabin]

I'm actually happy to see so many people taking issue with this. I hope they don't buy the phone. It'll just increase my chances to get 1 for myself and one for my wife tonight.

I seriously don't get it. I would think the benefit of helping to make the phone water resistant would be worth the loss of a port that is using 50 year old technology.

Again, the issue isn't really the loss of the headphone jack (a lot of people are complaining about that) but that Apple is shipping a product where you can't charge AND use the included EarPods at the same time.

A problem for many students, office works, air and rail travellers.

Can people consider others and why that might be an issue or does MR host the most self obsessed users on the web?

 

[danielwsmithee]

"This accessory is not supported by iPhone"

That will only happen after the next software update

 

[nielsvandepas]

I haven't read all posts in this thread, so this might have been said before.

Since this adapter is made to be able to charge your phone and to listen to music (and for nothing else if I understand it correctly), I would suggest that they also produce a version which has one Lightning port for charging and a "regular" 3.5mm port for "regular" headphones. That removes the need for 1 adapter…

I can understand why Apple is doing this. I mean, it is true that the 3.5mm jacks have been around for a long time. Sometimes you just have to drop something in favour of new technology (I'm glad that they removed the big parallel port before the first iPhone was released). Now I just hope that the audio quality has been improved.
The only thing that I wish they had done differently is to not use Lighting but some other "public" standard, which could be included in other (non-Apple) devices. Now you're pretty much stuck to iPhones when you get the new earpods, you can't even use them on your Mac I believe (not without an adapter at least).

 

[yngrshr]

Ah, I see, you're including the s cycle. I was assuming the 2017 device would be called the 8 or something completely different because it's the 10th anniversary phone. Carry on.

Still thinking it is just the "iPhone" minus any numbering.

 

[roland.g]

If they have this already, it won't be long until we see cases like a battery pack case that plug in to your lightning port, and have lightning and audio port on the bottom.

 

[DevNull0]

What a tried and failed analogy. There is no viable replacement for the wheel- there is for the headphone jack.

Actually, any shape can be used perfectly well as a wheel. You just need a compatible ground surface. And round is the correct shape for a flat ground.

Here's an animation of a square wheel running along an inverted catenary surface. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_wheel#/media/File:Rolling-Square.gif

So, actually ditching the wheel would be ideal for Apple's current mindset. It means you can use a proprietary shaped wheel that will only work on Apple's proprietary roads. Much as Apple is doing with the headphone jack.

 

[Max Portakabin]

Rearrange their lives?? My god it's an adaptor, literally for students and people at a desk you could get the apple dock that has the audio jack built in, if this is "rearranging your life" I'd hate to see how you handle...you know, actual change. "Omg they are out of oranges! Now I'm gonna have to rearrange my whole life to eat a banana or go to another store or just wait until the oranges come back in stock, or get orange juice, this is too much to handle"

Dreadful comment. Your solution is to spend more money? As a student? You've not really thought your post through but congrats on the unnecessary snark.

BTW it's your beloved Apple that bangs on about enriching lives. Forcing people to remember to charge their phone at night or go without their music is not really falling in the enrichment category.

 

[TallManNY]

So far almost all BT headphones have been crap, even the expensive ones. Some sound quite good but that's only if you can manage to pair them and keep them connected.

A lot of people have been burned by the experience and it is going to take a while to convince people.

I honestly think Steve would have realised this and stuck some wireless cans in the box. Not a usual stunt but because of how poor previous BT headphones have been. If the Air Pods were included and were a genuine game-changer, Apple kills the criticism on arrival.

Right, they have been crap because the market for them has been relatively small. The market for them will be huge as soon as the iPhone 7 is released. The headphones will get better. The connection will get better. Bluetooth 4.0 is an improvement and you can buy headphones with that standard for less than $30. In six months you will be able to buy good ones for $30. This is how consumer electronics work. When the market gets huge the ability to deliver good stuff gets cheaper and cheaper.

And convincing people is easy. You simply see more and more people using wireless and then you try it out yourself.

 

[mkeeley]

Well that's such an improvement over wired headphones, so svelte!

 

[yngrshr]

I haven't read all posts in this thread, so this might have been said before.

Since this adapter is made to be able to charge your phone and to listen to music (and for nothing else if I understand it correctly), I would suggest that they also produce a version which has one Lightning port for charging and a "regular" 3.5mm port for "regular" headphones. That removes the need for 1 adapter…

I can understand why Apple is doing this. I mean, it is true that the 3.5mm jacks have been around for a long time. Sometimes you just have to drop something in favour of new technology (I'm glad that they removed the big parallel port before the first iPhone was released). Now I just hope that the audio quality has been improved.
The only thing that I wish they had done differently is to not use Lighting but some other "public" standard, which could be included in other (non-Apple) devices. Now you're pretty much stuck to iPhones when you get the new earpods, you can't even use them on your Mac I believe (not without an adapter at least).

This is one of the few meaningful and constructive criticisms in the entire thread. And I agree with you, there. I was hoping that they'd drop Lightning and migrate to USB-C. It would allow for much less complaining in the first place and, frankly, allow for sales of things like Beats to be even better once the standard is more widely adapted. I get why they want to use Lighting (they love their proprietary connectors, don't they?). But it seems short-sighted since they own a gigantic headphone company that they could make more sales on from just Apple phones.

 

[Bawstun]

Ah, I see, you're including the s cycle. I was assuming the 2017 device would be called the 8 or something completely different because it's the 10th anniversary phone. Carry on.

Eh, given Apple'a decision making process lately it's probably all for moot anyway. I'm sure I'm most likely just dreaming. I just can't believe I am all but being forced to use Bluetooth. Never have a day in my life, never needed or wanted to. And yet here I am.

 

[GeneralChang]

Rearrange their lives?? My god it's an adaptor, literally for students and people at a desk you could get the apple dock that has the audio jack built in, if this is "rearranging your life" I'd hate to see how you handle...you know, actual change. "Omg they are out of oranges! Now I'm gonna have to rearrange my whole life to eat a banana or go to another store or just wait until the oranges come back in stock, or get orange juice, this is too much to handle"

One day at school somebody was sitting in the desk I normally went for (because there was an outlet right next to it for my laptop), and so I had to change my major, completely swap out my wardrobe, trade my car in for a segway, and fake my death to get away from my friends and family. These things can really have a big impact. /s

 

[RyanG]

Actually, any shape can be used perfectly well as a wheel. You just need a compatible ground surface. And round is the correct shape for a flat ground.

Here's an animation of a square wheel running along it's correct surface. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_wheel#/media/File:Rolling-Square.gif

So, actually ditching the wheel would be ideal for Apple's current mindset. It means you can use a proprietary shaped wheel that will only work on Apple's proprietary roads. Much as Apple is doing with the headphone jack.

So change the entire road infrastructure for a different shape? That's the opposite of viable.

 

[GeneralChang]

Eh, given Apple'a decision making process lately it's probably all for moot anyway. I'm sure I'm most likely just dreaming. I just can't believe I am all but being forced to use Bluetooth. Never have a day in my life, never needed or wanted to. And yet here I am.

I switched to bluetooth headphones a couple of years ago. They were $20, and the pros outweigh the cons for me. It's not so bad.

 

[yngrshr]

Right, they have been crap because the market for them has been relatively small. The market for them will be huge as soon as the iPhone 7 is released. The headphones will get better. The connection will get better. Bluetooth 4.0 is an improvement and you can buy headphones with that standard for less than $30. In six months you will be able to buy good ones for $30. This is how consumer electronics work. When the market gets huge the ability to deliver good stuff gets cheaper and cheaper.

And convincing people is easy. You simply see more and more people using wireless and then you try it out yourself.

I have no idea what he's talking about, anyway. I've been using Bluetooth headphones for years. The best ones are quite good. I've had minimal issues with pairing. The only time I've ever seen issues is after hours of listening you may get some cutting for a split second.

My current rotation is:

Beats Studio 2.0 Wireless (likely returning these, though, since I don't use them enough to justify keeping them)
Bose Soundsport Wireless (fantastic set, just had them replaced due to the sweat issue and they work amazingly)
Jaybird X2 Wireless (Back-up set, still works very well)

Saying that the best ones out there are "crap" makes me think that poster has never owned a set, frankly.

 

[Max Portakabin]

Right, they have been crap because the market for them has been relatively small. The market for them will be huge as soon as the iPhone 7 is released. The headphones will get better. The connection will get better. Bluetooth 4.0 is an improvement and you can buy headphones with that standard for less than $30. In six months you will be able to buy good ones for $30. This is how consumer electronics work. When the market gets huge the ability to deliver good stuff gets cheaper and cheaper.

And convincing people is easy. You simply see more and more people using wireless and then you try it out yourself.

You're probably right but for the sake of a few bucks Apple has risked a heap of bad publicity when they could have shipped the wireless buds with the phone. And everyone would have said "wow"!

 

[ckurt25]

Again, the issue isn't really the loss of the headphone jack (a lot of people are complaining about that) but that Apple is shipping a product where you can't charge AND use the included EarPods at the same time.

A problem for many students, office works, air and rail travellers.

Can people consider others and why that might be an issue or does MR host the most self obsessed users on the web?

You can charge AND use EarPods at the same time. Did you forget what article this thread started on? There will be others different from Belkin to come out with adapters and probably ones that are designed better.

The sky is not falling.

 

[GeneralChang]

Actually, any shape can be used perfectly well as a wheel. You just need a compatible ground surface. And round is the correct shape for a flat ground.

Here's an animation of a square wheel running along it's correct surface. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_wheel#/media/File:Rolling-Square.gif

So, actually ditching the wheel would be ideal for Apple's current mindset. It means you can use a proprietary shaped wheel that will only work on Apple's proprietary roads. Much as Apple is doing with the headphone jack.

My wireless headphones aren't Apple's... so I'm trying to see where I fit in this analogy...

 

[kopitedavo]

People need to calm down about the audio jack removal. I mean, who is really crazy... the one who removed an ancient connector from their modern pocket computer, or the one who bought analog headphones for $350 now screaming and shoking... jeez.

the ancient connector that worked and was very convenient without forking out more money for something you should be able to do anyway.

 

[P-DogNC]

Oh thank goodness! Now to plug in my headphones and charge while driving, I just plug my headphones into my 3.5 to lightning adapter, plug my usb cable into my car charger, plug that usb into Belkin's new adapter, plug the 3.5 to lightning adapter into Belkins adapter, and plug Belkin's adapter into my phone.

Thanks Apple for working closely with Belkin on this solution to your courage!

You are NOT supposed to wear headphones while driving!

 

[truthertech]

I'm not trying to listen to music. I'm trying to use my Apple Maps as GPS AND charge my phone on long road trips. My car does not have navigation system or bluetooth. Bluetooth receivers absolutely suck in my experiences and cuts in/out or just flat out don't work. I can either (1) not use navigation in my car because I can't hear the navigation directions over my radio [this is fixed when my phone is connected to aux] or (2) be lost because my phone died trying to use navigation.

Or, just a thought, as someone who occasionally uses an older model car for road trips, you have several easy solutions. First, use an adapter like Belkins, there will be many more, or when you are on a long road trip, for most people something that rarely occurs, all you have to do is charge up your phone occasionally, *you get to about 80% in about 20 minutes. Second, you sound intelligent so you can't be so dependent on the GPS that you need to have it on for every bit of highway driving over long distances. Finally, you are describing a problem that doesn't really exist for you. If you aren't trying to listen to music, then the iPhone volume is loud enough that you don't need to "hear it over the radio system." Indeed, you would be an ideal candidate for the iPhone 7, since it has a new stereo speaker system built in with twice the volume of the previous one. You see you can relax as despite what the trollers are trying to convince you of, you have multiple solutions.

 

[Tycho24]

When/if Apple comes out with one, it will be $79.99. Plus you have an adapter with an adapter... Lightning to this thing, to 3.5mm audio...

I dunno about that...
The $9 price tag on their current offering & including the 1st one free kinda indicates their strategy on this headphone jack thing is to NOT scare off customers & ease this transition. I doubt they're worried much about the .00001% of their profits (if that), that comes from "audio adapter sales".

 

[Max Portakabin]

You can charge AND use EarPods at the same time. Did you forget what article this thread started on? There will be others different from Belkin to come out with adapters and probably ones that are designed better.

The sky is not falling.

By spending yet more money.

Apple have done a lot of things but they've never done this before ie make you spend additional money to use what's in the original box.

 

[CarlJ]

Not that I'm defending the other person's post, because it was narrow minded and silly, but do you really feel like a multi-billion dollar company is punishing you? Or is it more like they're doing whatever they think will make money, and that thing isn't lining up with what you want? Punish just seems like a weird word to describe your relationship with Apple. To me, at least.

No, I don't feel the slightest bit like Apple is punishing me. Apple and I have a great relationship - they make hardware that works really well, they charge a whole bunch of money for it upfront (rather than, say, giving their software away and collecting all sorts of creepy data instead), and I, in turn, buy a bunch of their hardware and find it a joy to use. I was responding quite specifically to a person who made it pretty clear in their words that people with my particular use case deserved to get a less than ideal experience. I didn't think the leap from "deserve poor treatment" to "punishment" was that big. Again, I don't think Apple is punishing anyone - in fact, I really do think a lot of their driving force is, "let's make really cool stuff that we would want to use, and it'll be so cool that lots of people will want to buy it". The OP is the one who is talking like he thinks people ought to be punished for using things differently than he does.