No headphone jack is a mistake (courage or not)

[freepomme]

I don't see these Airpods as better than regular EarPods. Therefore, I don't see regular headphones going out of style.

Nobody stopped to think about how you can't charge your phone and use EarPods at the same time? You spend half the time charging your phone anyway. And now you have to charge earphones too?

If they were going to get rid of something, get rid of the Lightning connector.

 

[MacDawg]

It takes great courage to start yet another thread about this

 

[Shirasaki]

It takes great courage to start yet another thread about this

But with the solid fact of special events, I don't think it is too hard to post another thread regarding this topic.
This one (headphone jack removal), is a bit different.

 

[Amplelink]

Courage is fine for many things, but not if there's no solid rationale for doing it. 3.5mm is an established industry standard and has been for so long because it works and works well, and because the alternative sort of sucks. I could see leaving CD-ROMs behind. I could see leaving ethernet jacks behind (sort of). Don't get it with the headphone jack. Plus it INTRODUCES new inconveniences beyond just simply not having the old tech to use. Like not being able to charge your phone concurrently. Like now having to charge two devices instead of just one (or three if you have an Apple Watch).

 

[iFanaddic]

Remember CD-Roms on macs?

I certainly don't, that's because Apple knows when it's time to pull the plug on outdated technologies.

Everyone reacted the same way back then, but we are all gratefull today.

 

[JoeyD74]

Time to move away from wires I guess. For me there is no point it having it as I use blue tooth or if I do plug into my radio it's through the Lightning connector so it doesn't bother me.

 

[gooser]

only time will tell how well it sells. only time.

 

[aPple nErd]

i wish apple would use usb c on the iPhone, that way it would become the industry standard for both charging and headphones.

 

[golfnut1982]

Threadgate. Its done. deal with it.

 

[joeblow7777]

Remember CD-Roms on macs?

I certainly don't, that's because Apple knows when it's time to pull the plug on outdated technologies.

Everyone reacted the same way back then, but we are all gratefull today.

I don't see how the Lightning earbuds are any better than using traditional ones, but they will be useless in anything but my iPhone. As for the Airpods... $160 for earbuds that I need to recharge after every 5 hours (wonder how many charges before capacity diminishes, by the way), and will they make my music sound any better? Probably not.

So how are these options not simply less convenient ways of doing what my old earbuds have been doing for years? The only response I ever get when I ask this is, "but... They're old!"

Being old doesn't make something obsolete. The introduction of something that does the job better, faster, or more conveniently does. I'm asking someone to explain to me how this newer technology meets any of those criteria.

 

[ibookg409]

I don't see these Airpods as better than regular EarPods. Therefore, I don't see regular headphones going out of style.

Nobody stopped to think about how you can't charge your phone and use EarPods at the same time? You spend half the time charging your phone anyway. And now you have to charge earphones too?

If they were going to get rid of something, get rid of the Lightning connector.

How could you charge the phone with no lightning connector?

 

[electronicsguy]

Courage is fine for many things, but not if there's no solid rationale for doing it. 3.5mm is an established industry standard

in the consumer tech world, the only thing about industry "standards" that's actually standard, is that the standard keeps changing.

 

[ibookg409]

in the consumer tech world, the only thing about industry "standards" that's actually standard, is that the standard keeps changing.

Next year Apple will introduce "wired Airpods". The new iPhone will also have a very special new "wired Airpods port". It will be 3.5mm and circular. It will be very courageous and will revolutionize the industry.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I actually don't think it's a mistake. The headphone jack is obsolete. It just is. Eliminating it opens up far more possibilities than it blocks. The only drawback I see at the moment is charging while listening, but I guarantee you the iPhone 8 will have wireless charging.

 

[buster84]

Remember CD-Roms on macs?

I certainly don't, that's because Apple knows when it's time to pull the plug on outdated technologies.

Everyone reacted the same way back then, but we are all gratefull today.

Not true, the cd-rom was a different story all together. You didnt carry them around with you everwhere you went, you didnt need to charge them, and fast internet replaced them. The earphone jack is a pretty big loss for companys that use it for credit cards, people who drive, listen and charge there phones, and for the people with expensive headsets that they dont want to feel wasted since they now have to give up charging to use them. You also have to worry about damaging the lightning port as well as worrying about carrying around a stupid adapter everwhere when you need the headphone jack.

The internet speeds replaced the need for a cd-rom drive, not apple. In order to fully loose the headphone jack and be successful you'd need

1) wireless headphones to sound just as good as wired (which they dont)
2) very long battery life to cover you in all (at least 24h of continuous use)
3) you would also need a wireless bluetooth to 3.5mm adapter for all your normal listening needs (cars, home audio ect...) that allows your iphone to wireless transmit the audio to the adapter that plugs directly into the 3.5mm port (which doesn't exist)

without the supporting technology to go along with the idea of removing the headphone jack its actually being done pre-maturely which can negatively affect its overall outcome.

 

[Surf Monkey]

in the consumer tech world, the only thing about industry "standards" that's actually standard, is that the standard keeps changing.

Exactly. I can start listing the "standards" that Apple has abandoned on me over the decades starting with NuBus. In retrospect all of them make sense. The astonishing thing is than the headphone jack has lasted this long.

 

[CYKBC]

The 3.5 jack distorts the audio at times when you rotate it. Lightning gets rid of this variance. I'm all for it. I don't plan on getting the pods though. Too easy to lose. Don't want to bother with charging yet another thing at all.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Not true, the cd-rom was a different story all together. You didnt carry them around with you everwhere you went, you didnt need to charge them, and fast internet replaced them. The earphone jack is a pretty big loss for companys that use it for credit cards, people who drive, listen and charge there phones, and for the people with expensive headsets that they dont want to feel wasted since they now have to give up charging to use them. You also have to worry about damaging the lightning port as well as worrying about carrying around a stupid adapter everwhere when you need the headphone jack.

The internet speeds replaced the need for a cd-rom drive, not apple. In order to fully loose the headphone jack and be successful you'd need

1) wireless headphones to sound just as good as wired (which they dont)
2) very long battery life to cover you in all (at least 24h of continuous use)
3) you would also need a wireless bluetooth to 3.5mm adapter for all your normal listening needs (cars, home audio ect...) that allows your iphone to wireless transmit the audio to the adapter that plugs directly into the 3.5mm port (which doesn't exist)

without the supporting technology to go along with the idea of removing the headphone jack its actually being done pre-maturely which can negatively affect its overall outcome.

Well, people did in fact carry CDs around with them, so I don't know what that's supposed to prove.

In regard to the rest, that's all easily solved with a dongle. The MASSIVE amount of legacy hardware with headphone jack interfaces isn't going away any time soon.

 

[ATEspo]

So how do you charge the phone and listen to your headphones at the same time like I am doing right now...?

 

[Surf Monkey]

in the consumer tech world, the only thing about industry "standards" that's actually standard, is that the standard keeps changing.

Same way you do it when your phone is on a dock. There'll be third party dongles with a jack and a lightning port out, probably next week.

 

[stu.h]

Yep, as someone else posted, next years iPhone will have a wireless charging solution which will remove the problem of charging whilst listening with 3.5mm earphones.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I don't see how the Lightning earbuds are any better than using traditional ones, but they will be useless in anything but my iPhone. As for the Airpods... $160 for earbuds that I need to recharge after every 5 hours (wonder how many charges before capacity diminishes, by the way), and will they make my music sound any better? Probably not.

So how are these options not simply less convenient ways of doing what my old earbuds have been doing for years? The only response I ever get when I ask this is, "but... They're old!"

Being old doesn't make something obsolete. The introduction of something that does the job better, faster, or more conveniently does. I'm asking someone to explain to me how this newer technology meets any of those criteria.

Pretty certain there'll be a lightning to jack connector available from someone.

 

[maxsix]

Only Devotees seem to back Apple up on this crazy move to eliminate the jack. Listening to a few news stations on the way home in the car, several commentators were unusually hostile towards Apple for doing this. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Yep, as someone else posted, next years iPhone will have a wireless charging solution which will remove the problem of charging whilst listening with 3.5mm earphones.

That was me. If you read the Apple news regularly you can see where they're headed with it pretty easily. The acquisitions and patent applications point to wireless charging. It looks like they're looking at "long distance charging" in particular so that you can set it down on a table near the charger rather than setting it on some lame pad.

Regardless, just listen to the comments they made today. They want to eliminate wires and seams. They want it to be a single, smooth object, like a smooth stone or polished glass shard. Wireless everything. The only element that seems to be standing in the way is the camera because physics.
[doublepost=1473308742][/doublepost]

Only Devotees seem to back Apple up on this crazy move to eliminate the jack. Listening to a few news stations on the way home in the car, several commentators were unusually hostile towards Apple for doing this. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

That's not a fair criticism. You don't have to be a devotee to think that this isn't a bad idea. Besides, Apple is not the first phone maker to build a handset without the jack.

 

[deany]

I can see a huge market NOW for specialised mini bluetooth music receiver very lightweight excellent battery life - to mod a set of your favourite headphones
send them in 48 hour return they are wireless £49.99 inc delivery

but 1/2 that size fixed and very lightweight