The end of headphone jacks, the rise of DRM


I like headphone jacks, I don't particularly like Apple, I don't like the concept of removing headphone jacks from devices but there's no denying that there is a need to optimize the space in a phone. It was the same when phones switched from mini-usb to micro-usb, from sim to micro-sim to nano-sim. It's the same for non-removable batteries: they help to get more space to cram more antennas or sensors (or just a bigger battery).

I doubt it's a move by Apple to force DRM. Some people at Apple might have seen this decision in that light, or might have agreed (or pushed) that decision because of that, but I really think the initial decision was more led by design constraints than by political choices.
 
Apple has managed to get them selfe in the position of an religion.
Whatever they do, what ever they sell is the best since the invention of sliced (apple) bread.

They are now in the position to be able to do what ever they want, for price they want to make more money.

Its the same thing like the whole audiofools thing or the esoterism movement.
Logic doesn't reach them anymore.

[Edit]
They removed the phone jack to be able to sell 160 $/€ headphones which are desined in a way, that they easy get lost and lock 3rd party out.

-> Profit maximation
[/Edit]
 
I remember my HTC dream and its lack of headphone jack.
This was a nightmare, never again.
 
Linux-SWAT said:
http://www.osnews.com/story/29389/The_end_of_headphone_jacks_the_rise_of_DRM

I still don't understand why so much people continue to buy Apple products.
Click to expand...
Let's be honest:
Whoever actually cares about Digital Restriction Management (or rather: not giving into it) hasn't been buying an Apple product for a very long time. So everybody who is now complaining about Apple removing the headphone jack for DRM reasons has either been living under a rock or just uses the DRM argument as an excuse for some other reason he has.

ElPoco said:
but there's no denying that there is a need to optimize the space in a phone.
Click to expand...
Define "optimize"!
Removing the headphone jack to gain space for something else is only an optimization if you value the gained space (or whatever fills it) higher than the lost port. This balancing is subject to personal preference, not to hard facts.
Optimizations can have different goals. And saying that it is needed implies, that something is wrong with the current situation. Apparently some people disagree with Apple's optimization goals in the case of the headphone jack.

ElPoco said:
It was the same when phones switched from mini-usb to micro-usb, from sim to micro-sim to nano-sim. It's the same for non-removable batteries: they help to get more space to cram more antennas or sensors (or just a bigger battery)
Click to expand...
Except for they just didn't do that. More sensors is mainly a matter of higher integrated circuitry. All the rest didn't happen to gain more space for additional components but to serve the quite arbitrary fashion of increasingly thinner devices.
In reality it's pretty irrelevant if a phone is 7mm thick or 9mm. It's just marketing that only works out, because the sheep have been persuaded, that 2mm do matter.
 
benoitb said:
I remember my HTC dream and its lack of headphone jack.
This was a nightmare, never again.
Click to expand...
For me, it was the Sony Ericsson W810i. Great cellphone with a lot of battery life, but it was sold as a walkman phone and didn't have a headphone jack. I still use it from time to time, but back when it was my only phone, this was a major drawback.

I think the title "The end of headphone jacks" is a strong exaggeration. This will probably just seperate the smartphone guys more in their two camps of Android and Apple. I stopped caring about Apple's 3 self-proclaimed revolutions a year, about the Android fanboys stating their OS is faster and open-souce and telling me what great of a company Google is compared to Apple, I just don't care anymore what others think are reasons to buy a new smartphone every 6 monthes or less.

Bernd said:
They removed the phone jack to be able to sell 160 $/€ headphones which are desined in a way, that they easy get lost and lock 3rd party out.

-> Profit maximation
Click to expand...
Yup. And at the same time they can tell their fans who don't have any clue about technology how "magic" it is that their headphones turn themselves on when put in your ear and all that stuff. And how great 5 hours of consecutive listening are. What a great battery! What a great sound that's produced by some small energy saving DAC's instead of a serious DAC in their device itself!

I need to stop looking at this mess. It depresses me the company that sells this shit is the biggest tech-company in the world and got there by selling shit like it.
 
Does anyone knows what they said against the removal of headphone jack? Because I couldn't watch their video about the iPhone 7. I also hope Nintendo won't go any further with Apple. As an Android user (which may not be the best OS for a phone), I hope they show the same support to Android because it deserves it a lot more. I mean, iPhone couldn't download apps from other app stores for a very long time, which even an old Java-Symbian phone can do. If you want to use an AUX cable in your car, you can't charge your phone at the same time. My Note 3 here has nearly 3 gigs (2720 MB) of RAM which Apple newly introduced in their new flagship. They also introduced 32 GB with the new iPhone, but I don't know why they did that. I mean, photos can be uploaded to cloud, and they cannot even download every type of file they want, so what is the point of bigger memory?

I don't know if I said it before but Nokia 3310 has a great design, too. I used it and it runs so smooth, it never lagged in its life. It also has a great battery. If you also own an Android camera, or even a cheap Android tablet with it, it will be a lot cheaper.

Nokia 3310 also has removable battery ;)
 
Not gonna get the iPhone 7 (planning to go full Pyra), but as someone who doesn't own a single set of wired headphones anymore I could honestly not care less. Also the DRM argument is pretty funny considering all they did is move the DAC to the outside. Yeah yeah I know dongles. OMG so many dongles. Look I've been a Mac user since the late 90's, I'm used to it.

Call me a sheep, I'm over it. Meh.
 
The title of this thread annoys me.
It implies that Apple has the power over the existence of any plug in the entire industry.
Please tell me that this isn't the case.

Agricola said:
It depresses me the company that sells this shit is the biggest tech-company in the world and got there by selling shit like it.
Click to expand...
It's depressing and quite telling about humanity in several ways.
 
Alpibrine28 said:
Oh, it isn't. Unless you don't get annoyed by people saying "You don't have an iPhone? Poor you.".
Click to expand...
I don't even get annoyed by people saying "Lolwut, you don't even have a smartphone? You can't even use What's-App!".
At some point one has to accept it if one seems to live in a world seperate from anyone else these days.
 
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ElPoco said:
there's no denying that there is a need to optimize the space in a phone. It was the same when phones switched [...] from sim to micro-sim to nano-sim.
Click to expand...

I wonder if there's an irony in the way the switch from mini-sim to nano-sim occurred just before phones became relatively massive slabs.
 
Massive slabs means bigger screens, and bigger screens need bigger batteries. Trust me, finding ways to get everything to fit inside the device while avoiding interferences and passing FCC/EU tests is a major headache. I guess it was similar for the Pyra.
 
Klumpen said:
I don't even get annoyed by people saying "Lolwut, you don't even have a smartphone? You can't even use What's-App!".
At some point one has to accept it if one seems to live in a world seperate from anyone else these days.
Click to expand...
I guess I just found out why I do not have many friends...
 
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Except the Pyra still takes a common (as of five years ago) mini-SIM (the second generation SIM after the original credit card sized ones), and not the micro or min SIMs that initially required you to cut bits of your 2G mini-SIM off initially.
 
levi said:
Except the Pyra still takes a common (as of five years ago) mini-SIM (the second generation SIM after the original credit card sized ones), and not the micro or min SIMs that initially required you to cut bits of your 2G mini-SIM off initially.
Click to expand...
Yeah and if you do have a micro or nano SIM it's not the end of the world with adapters.
 
Klumpen said:
The title of this thread annoys me.
It implies that Apple has the power over the existence of any plug in the entire industry.
Please tell me that this isn't the case.
Click to expand...
I don't think this will stick (meaning I think some fair amount of people will actively keep choosing phones with headphones ports) but that may be wishful thinking.

Look at the state of Android devices in 2016. Android used to have small phones, big phones, phones with landscape sliding keyboards, blackberry style, phone with integrated gamepad.
Now it's all screen, no buttons, and big size.

One bright point is that many players tried to kill microSD, including google themselves, and this stuck :)
 
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