The end of headphone jacks, the rise of DRM

[Alperoot]

Never happened to me in Europe. I think this is a US or developing country thing ?

I live in Turkey, and no, I can't say iPhone's are an effect of developing. But I can say that means less people interested in freedom, and doing everything that a smartphone is able to do.

 

[directive0]

I'm curious, what can't you do on an iPhone?

 

[ptitSeb]

I'm curious, what can't you do on an iPhone?

Use an emulator that has a JIT'ed core (like PPSSPP) if it's not Jailbreaked.

 

[directive0]

Okay that's a pretty good one. Keep em coming.

 

[benoitb]

Share a gpx track by bluetooth.
True story, a colleague of mine was interested to do the same bicycle trip I did over a weekend. Couldn't share it easily with her.

 

[Ian J]

I remember my HTC dream and its lack of headphone jack.
This was a nightmare, never again.

Yeah I had an XDA Orbit I ended up buying half a dozen mini USB to 3.5mm adaptors off eBay at a time as they broke so easily.

 

[Kev2442]

Actually, I like the Jack a lot. I'm pretty sure USB Type C isn't enough. Let's make a circular one. Like a sub-mini Jack, maybe even smaller, with many more rings. I'm pretty sure we have the technology, plus what if it's costly ? Most devices requiring such miniaturization are costly anyway. And we might be able to do a Jack-USB combo, all fitting into an even smaller space than whatever connector we usually have to date.

 

[PowerGod]

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.

Actually I can't easily ignore those people, they are everywhere... many times happened to see around me people giggling after I taken out my phone, even my parents (with very few exceptions) are "sad" because I don't have a smartphone and they ask to buy me one, like if I can't buy one by myself... and even after so many explanations, no one seems to understand... so, in the end I'm dumb because I can have a free smartphone but I don't take it.

That's the situation, and at every new APP (that does the same things of the previous one) it's always worse, because I'm the one "they can't contact" because I "have only SMS or E-MAIL" and no one uses them anymore...

 

[Klumpen]

That's the situation, and at every new APP (that does the same things of the previous one) it's always worse, because I'm the one "they can't contact" because I "have only SMS or E-MAIL" and no one uses them anymore...

Same here, multiple people (including two living very near to me) said, that they can't contact me, because I don't have Facebook or What's App.
How the hell did we manage to communicate all the years before that?
SMS and eMail obviously are out of the question, possibly because nobody has PCs or cell phones anymore. ó.Ò?

 

[Bennehh]

Yet another reason to dodge picking up an iPhone honestly (as if there weren't enough reasons already!). The only thing they really have going for them is the design choice of the apps and usability (though honestly Android has caught up in recent years).

I don't quite understand the thought process of getting rid of such a universal standard; outside of attempting to push people to buy your bluetooth "AirPod" headphones.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

A little update :
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/1...e-it-owns-largest-bluetooth-headphone-company

 

[levi]

Funny, I must have forgotten that Apple owned Beats, yet I hate their products for almost exactly the same reason I dislike Apple ones - they're all style over function

 

[tigerroast]

The Powerbeats 2 are actually quality earphones. Not even as far as Beats go; objectively, they're quite nice. What makes them even better is how punchy the bass is, especially considering the limited power traveling from the 3.5mm jack...which the iPhone 7 doesn't fucking have.

Seriously.

To be fair though, the newer Beats cans pretty much need a Thunderbolt/USB connection in order to power their stupidly-large drivers. If you're a Beats owner, then chances are you're not gonna plug them into a 3.5mm jack anyway. If you're a smart Beats owner, then you probably already own the Thunderbolt tips.

Also, I'm not sure how no one saw this coming after Apple dropped the new Macbooks.

 

[FBnil]

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

? as in microSD survived the onslaught and is not dead or that companies like Google are microSD-cides?

Like a sub-mini Jack, maybe even smaller, with many more rings

So you have the 6.3mm jack (used for stage equipment), the 3.5mm mini(ature) jack for normal walkman/pandora, the 2.5mm sub-mini (micro) jack, used in some modern devices.
more tech details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)

not a bad idea, but what would you do with these extra rings? At the moment, you could use the same channel to send different frequencies, or make it digital all together, and decode them at the end, so one extra ring suffices for a few things.
Unless you need bandwith, in that case, things like mini HDMI can carry much more. I was thinking more about the lines of a magnetic connector, which does not need the hole (increases water resistance) and only has the contacts. Make the USB magnetic connector strip repel (just turn around the magnets), and you have a natural connection repellent. But it probably does not have the connection quality for audio. for charging, you do not move the phone, so it is not a problem, however, while listening, you do move around, and so you can hear static noise when slightly moving the contacts.

I don't have a compatible monitor anymore, unfortunately

buy a VGA to HDMI adapter. (or write Santa a letter)

 

[Klumpen]

not a bad idea, but what would you do with these extra rings?

More audio channels!

 

[FBnil]

Meanwhile, on another handheld manufacturing planet...

Greedo: "I need a handheld device with four audio speakers! Make it happen!"

*greedo gets shot*

Han Solo: "Well, nevermind that, lets go for 2 speakers only..."


By the way.... GREEDO shot FIRST... here is PROOF!

 

[Binky]

My view on this:

• Apple like to be seen as innovative, in sofar as they do things differently.
• Apple like to make money with selling fragile, patent-encumbered adaptors
• Apple wanted to make the device waterproof, and 3.5mm jacks are hard to make fully waterproof
• They sell adaptors containing DACs - so the analogue hole is still trivial to exploit

and more thoughts:

• Reducing the total number of connectors was a bad move. Perhaps they should have gone with two identical sockets?
• The last thing we need is even more radio clutter around the world.
• Radio systems, including bluetooth, tend to be intermittent
• If your phone is sitting on a table in, say, a cafe, playing music - I can steal it much more easily if your headphones are wireless
• Putting the DAC in the headphones means the price:quality tradeoff of the DAC can more closely match that of the acoustic hardware
• Putting the DAC in the headphones potentially avoids problem with shielding the cable.
• Bluetooth audio seems to struggle with quality. Digital audio down a wire wouldn't have that problem.

A positive, but still realistic hope for the future would be one where a device has many identical ports. Imagine a laptop where any socket can be a power input, a video output, a connector for a mouse, etc As long as there are lots of them, it could work. The standards and technology are very nearly there.

Either way, Apple senior management are calculating, greedy, arrogant people of the sort best described with a few choice items of anatomy.
People who believe Apple products are significantly better from a technical standpoint than the obvious competition are foolish. iProducts do not meet my desires, but that isn't to say all other people are wrong to buy them.

As things currently stand, I'm even less interested in an iPhone than I was before.
Bluetooth audio will improve, smaller devices may indeed go BT-only. However, the 3.5mm TRRS jack isn't going to vanish in the immediate future.

 

[levi]

Yes, USB-C is starting to look like the last and only port you'll need, now that somehow you can make a USB-C to HDMI adaptor, for example.

But good point about the stealability of things that aren't actually wired to you. I feel more comfortable if listening to music out and about with my Pandora on wired headphones, but whenever I've taken them out I tend to check that it's still in my bag a lot more.

 

[directive0]

I will sacrifice all the "security" of a wired set of headphones over the real world practicality of playing music off my desktop and being free to walk around my apartment and get shit done.

Charging them sucks, no doubt, but everything else (IMO) is far more desirable with BT audio.

 

[Bernd]

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• Apple wanted to make the device waterproof, and 3.5mm jacks are hard to make fully waterproof.

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Right.
A round connector is more difficult to make waterproof then a rectangulare one.
Or is it?
That's only another excuse tho remove the jack.
There are many water prove smart phones which still have the jack.

And the new iPhone is still only spash water resistant.
You still need a seperate case to make it really water proof.

And yes, damage caused by water is still a reason to refuse warranty repairs.

I will sacrifice all the "security" of a wired set of headphones over the real world practicality of playing music off my desktop and being free to walk around my apartment and get shit done.

As long your apartment stroll is only a ca.5m to 10m radius around the pc and no walls / doors,... are between you and the pc, you'll be semi fine.

How long will it take till the wireless earplugs only run ca.1 hours between charging?
6 month? 12 month? (If you manage not to loose them.)
Without a replaceable battery, this will be a little bit expensive.

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.

Apple "invented" the USB-competitive system firewire.
Like to every new iPhone they said its the new biggest & best thing.
They were never were able to push this standard through to other systems.
Now they dropped it them selfe

wfg Barny