Apple Cites 'Courage' As Reason To Remove 3.5mm Headphone Jack (arstechnica.com) 761
It didn't come as much of a surprise when Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller revealed that the iPhone 7 doesn't feature a headphone jack, since rumors have mentioned this possibility months before the announcement. In fact, what some may find more surprising is Apple's justification. The company cited three reasons why they decided to eighty-six the port, as well as one word: "courage." Ars Technica reports: "[Schiller said] the company can't justify the continued use of an 'ancient' single-use port. He described the amount of technology packed into the iPhone, saying each element in Apple's phones is fighting for space, and it's at a premium. Schiller explained that no company has tried to deliver a wireless experience between your devices and your headphones that fixes the things that are currently difficult to do -- and since there's only one major industry-wide wireless-audio standard, it's easy to assume that he's talking about Bluetooth there (though he didn't say the B-word out loud). To promote Apple's wireless-audio push, Schiller announced the new AirPods, which look mostly identical to the last official Apple earbud model, only with a small piece of plastic replacing the full cord. While Schiller and Apple designer Jonny Ive talked a lot about wireless being 'the future' of audio devices -- and thus being the reason for Apple's 'courage' to move on from the 3.5mm standard -- Apple is curiously not packing those AirPods into new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus boxes. Instead, those devices will ship with the updated Lightning EarPods by default. AirPods will begin shipping in late October and will cost $159."
Ancient single use port (Score:4, Interesting)
We can't justify an ancient single use port... Not unlike our proprietary power connectors
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Sounds great, now how do I charge my iPhone 7 while it's plugged into the aux port of my car? There were a few options to do that with the old interface, not so today.
Re:Ancient single use port (Score:5, Insightful)
Sony have been doing waterproof phones with a 3.5mm jack that needs no cover for several years now, so claims that they needed to get rid of it to make the phone waterproof are complete and total lies.
Heck the Z5 even comes with a waterproof microUSB socket that needs no cover. Add in some MicFlip cables and bingo the issue of microUSB not being reversible is also solved.
Re:Ancient single use port (Score:5, Insightful)
Shhh, Apple doesn't expect its fans to know anything about competitors. "An uneducated consumer is our best customer", as their motto should say.
Re:Ancient single use port (Score:5, Insightful)
Their proprietary power connectors that break easily and frequently [google.com].
If Apple had true courage, they'd announce that they were dumping Lightning for USB C. That would have been courage.
If Apple had true courage, they'd have announced a new open Bluetooth protocol for dealing with higher bitrate audio. That would have been courage.
Replacing a set of $30 earbuds (or $3 if you avoid the Apple Tax) with a $160 one? That's not courage. That's a cash-grab.
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Re:Ancient single use port (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ancient single use port (Score:4, Insightful)
Real courage would've been changing the iPhone connector to USB-C.
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Courage would be USB spec ditching their obsession with fragile tongue-on-equipment configuration and going with lightning type design. Not keen on everything Apple does but the lightning connector is good engineering against human incompetence. Empirically* micro / USB-C are a lot more prone to user-damage, hell people manage to break USB-A sockets.. how the hell!?
(*Phone & PC repair shop)
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Except that Apple themselves use USB-C rather than Lightning for their Macbook.
Is there any reason to prefer one port for macOS hardware and another for iOS?
Re:Ancient single use port (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, because one came before the other.
USB-C has 4 lanes, lightning has 2. USB-C devices started coming out in 2014, but USB3.1 wasn't standardized until 2013, yet motherboards didn't start coming out with them until this year because INTEL. Motherboards have to add chips to support USB 3.1, which takes lanes away from PCIe until Intel integrates a controller for it.
Lightning (and Thunderbolt) are basically extensions of the PCIe bus. Lightning came out in 2012. So, basically it was Apple's move to Lightning that lit a fire under USB-IF's ass to come out with a better engineered connector and the "alternate mode" system that Lightning/Thunderbolt have.
To add insult to injury, the micro USB-B connector was selected as the European charging standard. WHOOPS. To which nearly every device still uses their own proprietary cable and power supply for quick charging. So much for that idea.
What I expect, is by 2020 we will have two USB standards. USB-C for "compact" devices that provide all the services that a "docking port" would have in 1996. So you plug your laptop or iPhone into a USB-C monitor or television and it will switch to the Super MHL 8K profile, while providing 10G-ethernet and 24bit/192khz 22.2 surround sound. None of this is going over wireless, and anyone who thinks so needs their head examined. The second standard which I'll just call "USB-D" for Desktop will be a larger connector that extends 20 PCIe bus lanes. So a laptop or desktop connected to this will shut down it's internal GPU/Audio and connect to the external PCIe bus where an external GPU, Audio processor and USB input hub will be present. The desktop/laptop will still use it's own CPU, RAM and hard drive. This allows the maximum flexibility. If a laptop doesn't have a USB-D port, then it doesn't have 20 PCIe lanes, and may only have 4 (over USB-C, thunderbolt 3 profile)
As for what such ports would look like, a USB-D port would be a USB-C port (which connects the first 4 lanes) with a small cutout and adds 16 lanes by extending the connector.
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A lot of old-school EEs have a hate for any design where a power conductor is exposed to easy contact. (Sometimes they'll relent if no power return is exposed, but ground tends to find a way...) How does Apple mitigate the risk of shorting the Lightning connector?
Re:Ancient single use port (Score:4, Insightful)
AFAIK, the controller/management chip in the plug portion will not let full power through until it's confirmed the connection itself, part of the orientation smarts.
Similar to their magsafe as well (Macbook has to validate things before charger is told to deliver full power ).
*** I could be completely wrong *** ;)
LOL, "Courage"? More like GREED... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:LOL, "Courage"? More like GREED... (Score:4, Insightful)
They didn't make the phone thinner, they increased the battery size and life, the adapter is not particularly overpriced at $9, and they include one with the phone.
So... you're saying they do have courage?
Re:LOL, "Courage"? More like GREED... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Not to mention, how are you to use the port to charge your device while listening to music through the aux port of your stereo (for those of us who do not have A2DP)?
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Re:LOL, "Courage"? More like GREED... (Score:5, Insightful)
To quote Jobs: that's brain-dead.
Re:LOL, "Courage"? More like GREED... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:LOL, "Courage"? More like GREED... (Score:5, Insightful)
"that no longer counts as "proprietary""
You have no fucking clue what proprietary means. Proprietary means that if I wanted to sell a Lightning adapter of any sorts, I need to pay a licensing fee. Courage would be using an open standard that is unencumbered by PATENTS and thus motivated only for PROFIT.
Re:LOL, "Courage"? More like GREED... (Score:4, Informative)
I can't believe people are still trotting out this pack of rubbish. It has been proven time and time again that Apple didn't Pioneer things like the GUI or the touch screen, et cetera. They stole them and claimed them as their own and their PR convinced us that they're the brave little selfless people that develops all the new tech. If Apple pioneered anything it's the destructive and oppressive business methods that has now spread like cancer. Theft, misinformation and greed have been spread thanks to Apple. And hissy fits.
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erm. The word used was 'popularised' not 'pioneered'.
On the GUI front that's very debatable, but market penetration of mobile devices with no keyboard prior to the iPhone was very low.
Apple do enough shit and nasty things to get upset about, you are allowed to acknowledge the good stuff they do too.
Re:LOL, "Courage"? More like GREED... (Score:5, Informative)
There was once a time when Apple sucked less. Now they just suck.
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http://www.apple.com/opensourc... [apple.com]
That wasn't hard to Google - it's a list of projects they use and contribute back to.
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how is it greed? The wired headphones are still included in the box. They include the adapter for normal headphones that you already own or wish to purchase in the future. They sell the adapter, should you lose it or want more than one, for $9.
The earpods are basically just fancy bluetooth headphones. Which you can also still connect to the phone.
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Sony have been doing waterproof phones with normal 3.5mm jack sockets that don't require a cover for some time now. They have been out since before the iPhone 6 hit the market. So removing the 3.5mm jack for waterproofing is *NOT* a valid reason for it's removal.
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In many of those cases, Apple went from their proprietary solution to something more open. AppleTalk ran over LocalTalk--Apple's proprietary networking (which was basically twisted pair). Another company--I don't remember their name--came alone and just used cheaper wires (PhoneNet). Apple developed EtherTalk--AppleTalk over Ethernet--before going to TCP/IP.
Farallon developed PhoneNet which ran LocalTalk over telephone patch cords via dongle connected to the serial port. They even made a LocalTalk/Ethernert bridge device to allow internetworking as was as the StarController hub-like connector for non-daisy chain setups.
I'm not sure Apple's transition from LocalTalk to Ethernet was driven by a desire to adopt a more open technology than it was to escape a clearly dead end solution that was non-scalable, limited to RS-422 speeds and often daisy chained.
Apple we
Courage vs Ego (Score:5, Insightful)
Courage is what others can judge you to have shown.
Ego is when you call your own decision "courage".
If they had a good reason they should have said it. Self-claiming courage is a coward move.
E
Re:Courage vs Ego (Score:5, Funny)
Apple are the Knights Who Say NIH -- Not Invented Here!
Re:Courage vs Ego (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple is the EpiPen of smart phones (Score:5, Interesting)
Subject says it all. Pure, unadulterated greed with the chutzpah to convince the fanbois that it's worth it...
Re:Apple is the EpiPen of smart phones (Score:5, Insightful)
Umm, no. The EPI pen is life and death. This is a phone. The EPI pen was marketed to schools in what may be illegal dealings. This is a phone. The EPI pen forces you to buy a 2 pack, and has a very short shelf life. This is a phone - apple sells others, other companies sell others. This is a phone.
And Apple has sold roughly a billion phones. Are you saying that there are that many fanbois out there? If so, maybe you're the odd one - the fanboys are the normals.
And, this is a phone. Its a great camera in your pocket, but it's a phone.
Or the actual reason(s) (Score:5, Informative)
Per a Buzzfeed interview, summarized by MacRumors:
The idea for the removal of the headphone jack was raised during the development of the iPhone 7. In a nutshell, the "driver ledge" for the display and backlight, traditionally placed near the camera, was interfering with the new camera systems in the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, leading Apple to explore other placement options. It was moved near the audio jack, but it also caused interference with various components, including the audio jack itself, so Apple engineers toyed with the elimination of the jack altogether.
When the headphone jack was removed, Apple realized it was easier to install the new Taptic Engine for the pressure-sensitive Home button, implement a bigger battery, and reach an IP7 water resistance rating, so the elimination of the headphone jack became essential for all of the other features in the iPhone 7.
Apple executives also believe the headphone jack is outdated technology that needed to go to make room for new advancements. According to Dan Riccio, it was holding Apple back "from a number of things" the company wanted to add to the iPhone, taking up space that could be used for camera improvements, battery, and processors.
"The audio connector is more than 100 years old," Joswiak says. "It had its last big innovation about 50 years ago. You know what that was? They made it smaller. It hasn't been touched since then. It's a dinosaur. It's time to move on." [...]
For Dan Riccio, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, the iPhone's 3.5-millimeter audio jack has felt something like the last months of an ill-fated if amicable relationship: familiar and comfortable, but ultimately an impediment to a better life ahead. "We've got this 50-year-old connector -- just a hole filled with air -- and it's just sitting there taking up space, really valuable space," he says.
According to Apple's Phil Schiller, there's no ulterior motive behind the move away from the 3.5mm headphone jack. "We are removing the audio jack because we have developed a better way to deliver audio. It has nothing to do with content management or DRM -- that's pure, paranoid conspiracy theory," he said.
Re:Or the actual reason(s) (Score:5, Interesting)
> It has nothing to do with content management or DRM -- that's pure, paranoid conspiracy theory," he said.
Yeah, that's just a nice, completely unexpected side benefit.
> "The audio connector is more than 100 years old," Joswiak says. "It had its last big innovation about 50 years ago. You know what that was? They made it smaller. It hasn't been touched since then. It's a dinosaur. It's time to move on." [...]
Also, it still works. With any pair of headphones or any gear, purchased from any store. That's why we like it.
This is just Apple ensuring that everyone (at least, all Apple fans) must pay the Apple tax on every bit of hardware.
Re:Or the actual reason(s) (Score:5, Informative)
Apple is the one company who pushed for, and got, major studios to release non-DRM media. This whole slashdot meme where Apple lives on DRM is just a delusion. It's the slashdot RDF. Apple doesn't even protect their OS, and only go after people trying to sell hackintoshes.
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It has nothing to do with media DRM, but accessory DRM.
If you make a set of earbuds and want them to be compatible with IOS devices you have to pay a licensing fee to Apple for the pleasure based on their connector (patented) and now their proprietary (and patented) wireless technology.
Any device or accessory where you see a "Works with IOS" or "Compatible with iPhone" had to pay a fee to Apple, this is their major source in income.
Re:Or the actual reason(s) (Score:5, Insightful)
"The tire is almost 200 years old. It had its last big innovation about 70 years ago (radial tires). It's time to move on," Joswiak said, when asked why the new Apple car uses spider legs.
I mean seriously, what does the age of a technology have to do with whether it is the best choice for its particular purpose? I've never read a more mind-blowingly ignorant comment from a major corporate exec in my entire life.
Re:Or the actual reason(s) (Score:5, Funny)
I shudder to think what the iPhone 8 will be like when they find out that the capacitor is nearly 275 years old.
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I wouldn't disagree with many of his points, but he seems to have forgotten what the word "improvement" means.
I don't object to the replacement of the 3.5mm/2.5mm jack with something that's really ACTUALLY an improvement, perhaps:
- make the jack a side-edge clip in, instead of a 360-degree inserted plug (if it could reliably hold)
- go with the already-recognized 2.5mm jack and make that better (for whatever reason it hasn't already been adopted)
- DON'T replace it with something that obviates all current har
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But keeping everything the same is better than changing things. Internet people told me that. Strangely though, they didn't tell me me that by sending me a handwritten letter in the mail.
Re:Or the actual reason(s) (Score:5, Insightful)
"It had its last big innovation about 50 years ago. You know what that was? They made it smaller. It hasn't been touched since then. It's a dinosaur. It's time to move on."
You know, fine. I don't disagree with this idea. It's an old port that takes up a lot of space, and it's time to move on by replacing it with something better. What's the replacement here?
You can use Bluetooth, which I haven't found to be a very good solution. Someone's going to say that I'm crazy, but I've had problems with various devices where the connection drops or is unreliable. I've had experiences where I've had problems with pairing, and the process of unpairing and repairing every time you want to connect to a different device is unwieldy. Plus, I just don't like having another battery that I need to keep charged. I want a simple and reliable wired solution. Bluetooth is out.
Apple's other offering seems to be the lightning connector. You know, I wouldn't mind, but then they need to make it an open standard and get others to adopt it. Make it USB type-D micro, or something. Convince everyone to make it a standard connector for peripherals where you want a smaller connector than USB type-C. Make it the new universal standard for headphone ports, and get it installed everywhere. But they haven't done that. They don't even have lightning ports on their computers. Lightning isn't a standard, and no one else is using it. So Lightning is out.
So come up with something else that replaces the existing port, but is better, more convenient, easier to use, and able to provide even better audio quality. Then convince every manufacturer of audio equipment to use this new standard. *Then* get rid of the old port.
Re:Or the actual reason(s) (Score:5, Insightful)
... Lightning isn't a standard, and no one else is using it. So Lightning is out.
So come up with something else that replaces the existing port, but is better, more convenient, easier to use, and able to provide even better audio quality. Then convince every manufacturer of audio equipment to use this new standard. *Then* get rid of the old port.
In the keynote, they showed a pair of JBL wired noise-cancelling headphones that used lightning. so, there are some third parties chipping in now. Not saying I love this decision, but you have to admit Apple's track record on these changes is decent enough to give it a chance.
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By "every audio manufacturer", the GP didn't mean every headphone manufacturer, or even many headphone manufacturers. When I buy a pair of headphones that costs $200, I expect to be able to easily use it with my laptop, with my phone,
Re:Or the actual reason(s) (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't doubt that those are the actual reasons, but that's not really the point. All it means is that they're pushing off their (engineering) problems on their users. Apple has a long history of deprecating stuff that (at the time) people thought was premature - but in essentially all the other cases it turns out that the new thing really is better. Serial ports, the floppy drive, non-USB connectors, CD drives in laptops, even replaceable batteries - there are tangible benefits to switching to the new thing, and they usually relate to speed, capacity, or physical size.
The headphone jack is slightly thicker than a Lightning connector (the only remaining jack) - but they didn't make the phone thinner to take advantage of the extra depth. And other than the connector itself a Lightning headphone is worse in every way, because headphones are driven by your ear technology, not the phone's. The newest fanciest Lightning headphones in 5 years (assuming this decision sticks) will never be more than today's headphones plus a built-in Lightning dongle.
What does this decision get me as a user? Let's go through. Headphones are headphones; there's two channels of audio that are the result of a varying electrical signal. I don't really care what the cord to the device looks like and considerations like "do these phones work with other things? do other phones work with this?" easily dominate that area. I guess this lets them use a little extra power but there was already more than enough output to damage your ears. If there were wild battery life improvements... maybe? But someone on the other thread did the math and a headphone jack's volume of battery is good for ~12 minutes. Meh. What about water resistance? Other phones have no problems with the IP67 rating and a headphone jack - I have no doubt that it was easier for Apple's engineers, but Apple used to not push their problems on their users.
So what does that leave? They wouldn't be able to have a force-sensitive home button? Honestly I'd rather have the headphone jack. Or just get rid of the home button - it works just fine for Android - or at least make it oblate or rectangular rather than round.
I have had every non-S model iPhone since the 3G, so I'm "due" to buy this one. In addition I have apps that I rely on that only work on iOS. It should be a slam dunk. But... honestly? I knew someday I'd lose the reason to buy an iPhone, and this might be that day. Not just the headphone jack, but the whole package. It doesn't look like a bad phone as such, but the only thing I'm really interested in is the waterproofing. And I'm not careless enough with my phone that getting it ruined is a big risk. The headphone jack thing isn't a dealbreaker, mostly because I don't listen to music much on my phone, but it's damn close.
Honestly Apple is just out of ideas. I bought a new MBP last year and it was the first hardware purchase I made in my entire life that I wasn't excited about. Roughly as functional as the 5-year-old one it replaced, more in some ways and less in others, but the same price. I needed a new one because the older one wasn't really working but boy did they manage to turn something I used to enjoy into something kind of boring and depressing. I'm still annoyed about the large size of the smallest iPhone still available - I was in London a few months ago and had to use my (out of contract and unlocked) iPhone 5, and it was sooooo nice. I assumed I'd gotten used to the wider width, but nope - and I didn't miss the extra screen at all.
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And you aren't licensing this tech to literally everyone yet? I mean, sure you can cram it in your only remaining flagship product and take an extra 50 bucks on the sale price, then another 160 bucks per unit for the earbuds... well, okay per unit sold only through you, its less through others who you will be allowing to sell official products since they need their cut of course. So that 210 bucks per customer times a few million....
What extra 50 bucks? Not only has the price remained the same as the last model; but they doubled the storage at the same price point; and then went back to that previous model (which they have now reduced the price for) and doubled its storage, too!
What extra $160 bucks? I won't pay $160 for a pair of earbuds, and if you don't want to, then neither should you. After all, it's not like that's the only thing that will work with the iPhone 7. It's called "freedom of choice"; something that almost all Slashd
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Slashdot has been living inside its own RDF for so long, they barely realize that Jobs is dead.
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> And from what I have read, the Beats products are going to be much less expensive than the flagship AirPods.
The new PowerBeats3 are MORE than the AirPods at $199.
Bluetooth headsets (Score:5, Informative)
Not that I care, as I do not own any apple stuff, but I have not seen a bluetooth headset that was not absolute shit.
I had a phone earpeice thing from plantronics that was worse than simply using the speakerphone in the car. When the thing would actually stay connected the speaker was inaudible. When I could hear the other side, my mic would not pick up.
Bought some LG headphones, failed within 2 months. And in those 2 months it was nearly impossible to get the things to stay connected. Press the connect button, beeps loudly, searches for phone, gives up. Bought earbuds, returned the next day. Worthless.
Bluetooth audio is complete garbage.
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There are decent bluetooth headphones, but there still is no low-latency BT audio transmission. The best out there is 30-60ms for aptX (which iOS does not support), which is still too long for any critical work. Normal bluetooth latency is measured in hundreds of milliseconds, making all non-compensated video noticeably out of sync. The head unit in my van was nearly a second out of sync with my iPhone 5 (the last iPhone I owned). Obviously that's not a huge deal for the driver, but if you happen to be watc
One (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3)
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I want this new wireless audio standard (which is not BT, if reports are correct) to be a near-zero latency. Right now BT aptX is 60ms, and regular BT is 300+ ms. If 3rd parties start making transmitters and receivers on the standard with 2-6ms latency, and price them at consumer levels ($100), that will mean I can skip buying half a dozen $1000 Sennheiser IEM (in ear monitors) for my band and just pick up some AppleSound(TM) packs instead.
AirPod battery life ? (Score:3)
The real reasons (Score:3)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/johnp... [buzzfeed.com]
How do I charge and use the headset? (Score:3)
OK, I've converted to a cell phone. No landline any more. So when I'm on a long conference call using my headset so people on the other end can hear me, how do I charge my phone for the long call?
New wireless audio standard? (Score:3)
Even though I do not care about the phone at all, if all of this excitement over one port somehow leads to a new standard for wireless audio, that would be awesome.
Bluetooth sucks for anything above skype calls.
Bluetooth hifi-headphones are a joke. The better the headphone, the more you realize how horribly bluetooth compression mangles the sound quality.
Because of this, every manufacturer is running their own wireless audio format. Your typical audio sources (phone, pc, hi-fi system) do not support any of them. Adapters everywhere...
I guess now we have yet another standard with Apple's... But maybe they can push theirs to more devices than just their phones? Any chance of something Apple to ever become an open standard?
You can explain it like you want... (Score:3)
You can give it the spin you want, but what you cannot say is that the earphones plug has fallen into disuse. I think it's the single most used phone accessory nowadays, with no second competitor in sight.
So you remove a widely used feature, and you provide a worse alternative, or rather, you simply point out that an alternative has always existed. The glaring fact that practically nobody used that existing alternative is gloriously lost on you. Or rather, you don't care.
So basically you are doing something to screw your users, thinking that it will improve your company. Again the glaring fact that your company is nothing without your clients, is lost in the glare of your new shiny state-of-the-art office.
Let's see how it plays out. People can be really dumb that way, and certainly that's not a deal breaker. Also, there is always the possibility of backtracking. Never underestimate the marketing department ingenuity of selling an Apple 7 Super Plus "With earphones plug!!!", only for 100$ more. But IMHO, Apple is accumulating small mistakes with a sore lack of the former big hits that could ,in past times, have covered them.
Courageously abandoning audio connectivity? (Score:3)
"Courage" (Score:3)
They aren't wrong. They're going to get a lot of crap for this, and if they brought it on themselves knowingly but did it anyway, that does indeed take courage.
However, I'd also imagine it takes courage to publicly be a White Supremacist these days. Those public-area preachers who call random passing women "whores" while their husbands/fathers/sons are with them are being pretty courageous too. Just because you are showing "courage" doesn't mean you doing the right thing, or that you aren't also being a total asshole.
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The dongle comes with the phone.
I still think the idea is stupid, though... but I'm not in the market for a new phone, in any case.
Re:Courage (Score:5, Insightful)
>The dongle comes with the phone.
So what?
You will never have it when you need it unexpectedly.
The thing is going to stick out, interfering with carrying the phone, making it bulky and unruly.
It is likely to break or get lost.
It is just plain irritating.
It is a good thing I have no interest in "iphones", I just hope the other phone makers reject this stupid idea.
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Eh, that's not the real issue. To listen to my existing headphones and charge the phone at the same time, I'd have to buy a Lightning splitter. Neither the earbuds nor the adapter has an extra Lightning port, and they take up the only Lightning port on the device.
So now I'm out more money, and have to keep up with two additional things (the adapter and the splitter).
That doesn't necessarily make the 7 worthless, but I doubt most people would buy it if given the option to have an identical 7 or 7 Plus cont
Re:Courage (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Courage (Score:5, Insightful)
You do realize how completely unalike those two examples are, right?
Removing the floppy drive wasn't a big deal because USB floppy drives provided a viable alternative, and internal floppy drives were still available for portable devices for three or four years after Apple removed them from the desktop (all the way through the Pismo).
Adapters for portable devices suck. Adapters for ultraportable devices like phones suck absolutely.
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Not only that, but everyone hated floppy's. They were slow, had poor capacity, and were unreliable. When USB storage came on the scene it was a massive improvement and has only continued to get better.
By comparison I dont know many people who have a problem with wired headphones. I've had a few wireless sets over the year and for portable applications they've mostly sucked due to having two batteries to worry about.
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Re:Courage (Score:4, Insightful)
That way in about 6 months every phone would have that connector and any set of earbuds would work with it.
"Any set of earbuds" working with iPhone was clearly killing Apple. That's precisely the 'problem' they set out to solve - how do we stop people using headphones with our phones that they didn't buy from us?
Re:Courage (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Courage (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Courage (Score:5, Insightful)
This is different than merely changing a connector or protocol. Now headphones have gone from a passive device to an active device that needs its own power source. How long does the battery last on these earpods? Can it easily be changed?
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Apple said the batteries in the headphones last about 5 hours -- not a full workday, and often less time than you can expect to spend getting from one state to another (even by airplane, once you factor in time on the ground at both ends of a trip). And replaceable batteries? This is Apple -- if you want to listen longer, just pay another $160 for a second pair.
Re: Single use? (Score:3)
Not to mention the various devices designed to encode or decode data over that port.
Square [squareup.com] being the first thing to come to mind.
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Not to mention the various devices designed to encode or decode data over that port.
Square [squareup.com] being the first thing to come to mind.
So either they hook up through the analog adapter or they design a Lightning version. Probably in testing now.
Re: Single use? (Score:5, Insightful)
As long as they close the analog hole - Riaa will be happy!
Re: Single use? (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason for that is the quality is so crappy they're unusable. You can get some pretty amazing quality wired headphones for under $100 on black friday. Last year I got an amazing deal on some SoundSports at $50 each. Compared to cheap headphones, you can actually hear so much more detail in the music it's like a whole different song.
Besides using my phone with multiple different sets of headphones, there's 2 cars I regularly listen in. I am not carrying an adapter every where with me and I am not buying 6 more adapters to leave them on every 3.5" pin I use often.
On the bright side, this got me to try a Note 7. Wow is Apple ever living in the stone age. Just have the "courage" to spend a few days seriously giving it a go. I will never go back to Apple. The edge panels alone are worth the courage to switch. And the display on the Note is simply amazing.
Re: Single use? (Score:4, Informative)
There are some other little niche devices that used the headphone jack as well, for example some company made a diabetes tester that did so, which meant it could be compatible with other smartphones. But now they're making a lightning port version to replace it.
Though based on my own experience on logging health stats from another (non diabetes) chronic condition, I have to say that I've found smartphone based devices to be overall less convenient than using traditional devices combined with my own custom Google Sheets based logging system.
Re: (Score:3)
So either they hook up through the analog adapter or they design a Lightning version.
...and pay royalties to Apple.
Ka-ching!
Re: (Score:3)
Square couldn't exist in a world of pure USB-2-Go because drivers and device representation varied widely from phone to phone. A simple HID device in the phone world is not so simple.
The audio jack was the ultimate bridge for card readers that didn't require special permissions, drivers and was actually universal (more universal than USB!)
Re: Single use? (Score:4, Informative)
Square's mag-stripe card reader is obsolete - it can't read chip & PIN cards, or contactless.
I have a Square card reader that does chip & PIN using the headphone jack: https://squareup.com/au/reader [squareup.com]
Re: Single use? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Single use? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, Nexus phones don't support FM either.
I guess Californian hipsters designing these things don't have any decent radio stations or have enormous data plans. FM is built into every Qualcomm SoC, iirc.
LG recently released a phone with DAB+ digital radio; maybe that will catch on instead.
Re: Single use? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why on earth would Apple want you to listen to free FM radio?
iTunes is a big part of their business and selling bigger data plans makes their carriers happy. FM radio is lose-lose from their point of view.
Re: (Score:3)
My Nexus 5 supports FM just fine by using the headphone as part of the antenna and using the NextRadio app - http://nextradioapp.com/ [nextradioapp.com]
Re: (Score:3)
FM is definitely not the feature i've been looking for. The DJ on the radio ad wants it, but then he doesn't show up to work and hands the radio over to the short playlist from his publisher sponsor, so it falls on deaf ears. Literally, since I don't listen to it anymore.
Re: Single use? (Score:5, Insightful)
To a lot of people the main point of radio isn't music, it's reliability. I know I can tune in to the radio during natural disasters and get up to date information about what's going on. In many of those situations phone, data, and cable will all be knocked out. Radio's very robust.
Re: (Score:3)
FM radio is old fashioned grandpa technology.
So is microwaving food. So is TV. So is pasteurized milk. So are condoms, birth control pills, toothpaste, pens and pencils, gasoline, diesel, atomic energy, wind and water power, farming, chemical warfare (WW1 mustard gas), antibiotics, soap, clothing, ovens, baking and cookbooks, baking powder as a leavening agent, sliced bread, sliced bacon (mmm ... bacon!), saran wrap, mylar, communications satellites (anyone remember the echo communications satellites made from mylar [wikipedia.org]?), transatlantic cables, electricit
Re: (Score:3)
Because unlike Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and other online streaming services... FM is free with adds?
Re: Single use? (Score:5, Informative)
Because unlike Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and other online streaming services... FM does not require the use of an internet connection. A lot of cellphone service providers charge for the service based on data transferred (unlike wired internet connections where you usually pay for the connection bandwidth (like 300mbps or whatever), but then can use it 100% and will not need to pay more).
Also, FM radio receiver can use very little power, compared to the cellphone transmitter which needs to be active to use the internet connection.
Re: Single use? (Score:4, Insightful)
I sometimes want to hear new music (or rather, old music I haven't heard before), I also like the lack of control with radio and the occasional traffic announcements or news segments.
I listen to radio at work (I use an actual radio and not my phone though). The radio station even announces each hour, so I do not have to keep looking at the clock.
If I play music on my PC (say, I am at home), I always feel the urge to choose the next song, so, I end up spending more time choosing and playing music (and skipping songs) than I was planning to do while listening to music. If I listen to radio or play a tape, I do not get that urge, so I spend more time doing whatever I was planning to do. Listening to radio I do not get the urge to skip a song even if I do not particularly like it (there is some music that would make me tune to another station - thankfully my favorite station does not play it).
And radio has the advantage over tapes in that it sometimes plays a song I haven't heard before, but like.
Re: (Score:3)
The Mac Mini does not have and has never had a magnetic power cord. And if yours is loose, that either means you didn't shove it in hard enough or the cord is defective. Fortunately, I'm pretty sure it is a standard two-prong AC cord, and that they cost about a buck and a half from your nearest Radio Shack, Fry's, Best Buy, etc.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Never a shortage of Apple hate (Score:4, Insightful)
The concern is that all the other manufacturers will do the same, and everyone's earbuds/headsets will be useless or need adapters.
Re: (Score:3)
Geez people - if a 3.5mm analog jack built into the phone is so important, buy any one of the many, many, Android devices on the market
Yeah, that's my plan.
Re: (Score:3)
Courage!....
Cowardly Lion: You can say that again.
I don't think Apple is using a funny "Courage!", the way the Cowardly Lion would.
I think this case is more of a strange "Courage!", like Dan Rather signing off.
Re:Damn right it's courage (Score:4, Insightful)
No, they provided a copout. It came down to a choice between slightly better speakers that most people will never use anyway (because it is usually rude) or a headphone jack that lots of people use every day, and they made the wrong call. I've already (since the announcement) heard three people who have used iOS for years say that they're seriously considering switching to Android because of this. That number represents about 50% of the iPhone users in my team at work, and 100% of the iPhone users who were present at the time. I know that anecdotes aren't data, but if Apple's upper management isn't absolutely scared sh**less right now, then they don't deserve to be there.
From where I'm sitting, if the case manufacturers don't save Apple from themselves by building cases with built-in headphone jacks, this will probably mark a turning point where Apple rapidly accelerated their descent into niche-playerdom. There's a very small chance I'm wrong, and that the iOS users that I know are all just the 1% of power users that Apple doesn't care about anymore. For the sake of my Apple stock, I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.
Re: (Score:3)
I would not be too worried. Bluetooth radiates about one thousandth of what a cell phone radio does.
I would be more worried about those who talk on the phone all day without using a headset, text constantly or stream music over the Internet.
Cell phone radios don't usually shut off between each data packet. This means that they will continue to radiate for a while even after you have e.g. received or sent a text, albeit at progressively lower levels. The shut-off delays are in the radio protocols and defined
Re: (Score:3)
Why is it "unbelievably paranoid" to point out that nobody anywhere has ever once (seriously) said "the thing my phone needs is a single-purpose adapter dongle that prevents me from charging it while I listen to headphones"?