6 ms·

I wish there was some hope that all of this bad press would just mean that people won't buy this because people really do want the 3.5mm jack. So sad that sayin

by jordigh 10y ago

I wish there was some hope that all of this bad press would just mean that people won't buy this because people really do want the 3.5mm jack. So sad that saying that Apple will sell something makes it a fait accompli that we must obey Apple.

sverige 10y ago
I've already decided my next phone is not-an-iPhone. I just hope the Android makers don't try to imitate this move by Apple the way they imitate so much else by them.
- Unklejoe 10y ago
  I'm sure there will be at least some who go out of their way to maintain the 3.5mm jack just to differentiate themselves. If I had to guess, I would say that Samsung would be one of the manufacturers to abandon the jack, but I feel like at least LG, HTC, and perhaps a few others would keep it. LG's latest flagship even had a removable battery (which is pretty unusual for a flagship at this point).
  - miguelrochefort 10y ago
    Don't kid yourself. The vast majority of smartphones released in 2020 won't have a headphone jack.
    - abz10 10y ago
      How much do you want to bet?
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - Unklejoe 10y ago
      I don't think so. Not until there's a true unified standard (on the Android side at least). Maybe I'm wrong. I'll check back in 4 years.
  - guardian5x 10y ago
    There were already Android phones who got rid of the 3.5 mm jack, like the Moto Z. But from now on if the same companies bring out a new phone without the jack, many people will call them out for copying Apple.
    - tjl 10y ago
      No 3.5mm jack goes back for years. It was only around the time of the iPhone 3G that it was standard in smartphones (I'm not saying that Apple caused it to become standard, it's just it that time frame). Earlier models of phones either didn't have one, or you needed an adapter. I think the first Android phone required an adapter.
      - Unklejoe 10y ago
        I think that's partly because the idea of using your phone as an actual music player also happened to take off around the same time. I remember when phones had the smaller version, but it was used primarily for headsets.
        tjl 10y ago
        Yep, 2.5mm was the standard on phones that had a jack. There were also phones that used an adapter that went into the micro USB (or was it mini USB) port.
        pritambaral 10y ago
        I fondly remember the Sony Ericsson Walkman series, which were phones intended to be one's personal music player. And they had Sony Ericsson's thick, wide, proprietary connectors. It was such an annoyance having to carry those earphones just for the phone, or when the included earphones (with the proprietary connectors) broke down and you couldn't just use another pair of earphones. A little while later, someone released an adapter, and that lessened the annoyance. But later phones that had 3.5mm (or 2.5mm) in-built were definitely better.
njloof 10y ago
Seeing as this piece recasts the removal of the headphone jack as a chapter in a cyberpunk dystopian narrative, surely you can form a scrappy band of resistance fighters that will smash the tyrant through some sort of Bluetooth signal.
- throwanem 10y ago
  Not necessarily even a signal. You can't jam a wire.
- etatoby 10y ago
  That's pretty scary. I can see everybody walking around with their AirPods tucked in their ears, ripe for a cyber-terrorist to unfold an antenna on top of a building, hack into the AirPods' firmware, and send an infrasound to knock the entire population out, or a loud whine to take out their hearing, or a barely audible sequence of subliminal messages. Welcome to the future.
  - glenra 10y ago
    An Airpod that could generate really loud infrasound would probably have amazing bass response, but I'm pretty sure that's not what was invented here. And subliminal messages don't work, so...why would we care if somebody put them in our audiostream? A "loud whine to take out hearing" is at least theoretically possible, except that many people are listening to that already - I think they call it music. :-)
runn1ng 10y ago
Truth to be said, Apple's marketshare is failing and Android is growing, with all the Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones. Xiaomi phones are surprisingly good. I am not sure if that future, where everything is tracked and sold for Google ads - and with Chinese weird mix of capitalism and authoritarianism - is better than Apple-made future, but that's for another debate.
- kbart 10y ago
  "Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones" Yes. I bought Chinese smartphone for 130 euros few weeks ago and I can't feel much difference from premium Android phones. Sure, camera is not so clear, touchscreen lags sometimes, but it's acceptable for my use case and the fact that it's 3-4 cheaper than a brand phone with same/similar spec.
  - celticninja 10y ago
    Out of interest what did you buy? My first foray into Chinese phones was the OnePlus One which I was more than happy with (still am), I then bought a cheap Doogee X5 for about €50 to use on my commute, which was OK for such a cheap phone, camera was rubbish but I never used it and the GPS tracking and 4g that I did use was perfect for my use case.
    - kbart 10y ago
      Umi Touch: http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_348204.html?wid=21 http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_348204.html?wid=21 I see it's out of stock now and price have increased slightly. BTW, its screen is surprisingly good.
  - bitL 10y ago
    I recently bought Ulefone U007 for 50EUR (720p IPS display, 1GB RAM, 32-bit MTK quadcore) in order to use it as a display for my Phantom 4 drone. Well, it turned out to be too slow for real-time video feed so I made it my OSMAnd navigation device permanently attached to my bike. In any case, imagine in 1-2 years a 1080p/2GB/Sony13Mpx camera phone will be available for 50EUR - why would you invest in a premium one?
bitwize 10y ago
When another company comes along that's more innovative than Apple and better at weaving a narrative about the relationship between technology and ordinary people than Apple -- we'll follow that company's example. Today, Apple is that company and the course they set is the course the industry proceeds on.
- hawski 10y ago
  I would say that ordinary people in global sense can't afford Apple products. In that sense Apple is not that company. I also claim that Apple never intended to be that company, because their business model is to be on high-end.
ctdonath 10y ago
We've heard the same line when Apple ejected the 5.25" floppy, 3.5" floppy, Centronix parallel port, RS232 serial port, FireWire, and a whole bunch of other "universal demand" connectors. I really want to say this one is more awkward than others...but it's not. We've gone thru dongle & wireless solutions before, and came out better for it. Bluetooth headphone sales are about to exceed wired headphone sales. And Apple still sells the iPhone 6s & SE with 3.5mm jacks.
- kbart 10y ago
  "We've heard the same line when Apple ejected the 5.25" floppy, 3.5" floppy, Centronix parallel port, RS232 serial port, FireWire, and a whole bunch of other "universal demand" connectors." All these tech were already obsolete by the time Apple got rid of them; 3.5 mm jack is not such case. I'm not using Apple products, but if I would, I'd be mad that I can't use my headphones anymore and must buy new ones that doesn't provide much/any benefit.
  - ygra 10y ago
    There is an adapter included. While certainly inconvenient, it's still a far way off of »I cannot use my headphones anymore and have to buy new ones«.
    - kbart 10y ago
      There's also RSR232 <> USB adapter, but we don't say that modern laptops have RS232 and that's not the point anyway.
      - ygra 10y ago
        We don't say modern laptops have RS232, but we also don't say »Gee, I bought a new laptop and suddenly cannot use this serial device anymore because there is no way of attaching it to the laptop« (despite the fact that in this hypothetical scenario the laptop comes with a suitable adapter that makes everything work).
  - 10y ago
JustSomeNobody 10y ago
I like Apple hardware[0] (I have a rMBP and a work issued iPhone) and wish them well, generally, but I too kind of hope this iPhone is a flop. [0] Software, though, is a bit different. If I list pros and cons of iOS vs Android, I personally think Android edges it out. But that's just based on how I like to use my phone. Then, for desktop it's Linux > OS X.

by jordigh 10y ago

sverige 10y ago

I've already decided my next phone is not-an-iPhone. I just hope the Android makers don't try to imitate this move by Apple the way they imitate so much else by them.

Unklejoe 10y ago
I'm sure there will be at least some who go out of their way to maintain the 3.5mm jack just to differentiate themselves. If I had to guess, I would say that Samsung would be one of the manufacturers to abandon the jack, but I feel like at least LG, HTC, and perhaps a few others would keep it. LG's latest flagship even had a removable battery (which is pretty unusual for a flagship at this point).
- miguelrochefort 10y ago
  Don't kid yourself. The vast majority of smartphones released in 2020 won't have a headphone jack.
  - abz10 10y ago
    How much do you want to bet?
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - Unklejoe 10y ago
    I don't think so. Not until there's a true unified standard (on the Android side at least). Maybe I'm wrong. I'll check back in 4 years.
- guardian5x 10y ago
  There were already Android phones who got rid of the 3.5 mm jack, like the Moto Z. But from now on if the same companies bring out a new phone without the jack, many people will call them out for copying Apple.
  - tjl 10y ago
    No 3.5mm jack goes back for years. It was only around the time of the iPhone 3G that it was standard in smartphones (I'm not saying that Apple caused it to become standard, it's just it that time frame). Earlier models of phones either didn't have one, or you needed an adapter. I think the first Android phone required an adapter.
    - Unklejoe 10y ago
      I think that's partly because the idea of using your phone as an actual music player also happened to take off around the same time. I remember when phones had the smaller version, but it was used primarily for headsets.
      - tjl 10y ago
        Yep, 2.5mm was the standard on phones that had a jack. There were also phones that used an adapter that went into the micro USB (or was it mini USB) port.
      - pritambaral 10y ago
        I fondly remember the Sony Ericsson Walkman series, which were phones intended to be one's personal music player. And they had Sony Ericsson's thick, wide, proprietary connectors. It was such an annoyance having to carry those earphones just for the phone, or when the included earphones (with the proprietary connectors) broke down and you couldn't just use another pair of earphones. A little while later, someone released an adapter, and that lessened the annoyance. But later phones that had 3.5mm (or 2.5mm) in-built were definitely better.

njloof 10y ago

Seeing as this piece recasts the removal of the headphone jack as a chapter in a cyberpunk dystopian narrative, surely you can form a scrappy band of resistance fighters that will smash the tyrant through some sort of Bluetooth signal.

throwanem 10y ago
Not necessarily even a signal. You can't jam a wire.
etatoby 10y ago
That's pretty scary. I can see everybody walking around with their AirPods tucked in their ears, ripe for a cyber-terrorist to unfold an antenna on top of a building, hack into the AirPods' firmware, and send an infrasound to knock the entire population out, or a loud whine to take out their hearing, or a barely audible sequence of subliminal messages. Welcome to the future.
- glenra 10y ago
  An Airpod that could generate really loud infrasound would probably have amazing bass response, but I'm pretty sure that's not what was invented here. And subliminal messages don't work, so...why would we care if somebody put them in our audiostream? A "loud whine to take out hearing" is at least theoretically possible, except that many people are listening to that already - I think they call it music. :-)

runn1ng 10y ago

Truth to be said, Apple's marketshare is failing and Android is growing, with all the Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones. Xiaomi phones are surprisingly good. I am not sure if that future, where everything is tracked and sold for Google ads - and with Chinese weird mix of capitalism and authoritarianism - is better than Apple-made future, but that's for another debate.

kbart 10y ago
"Chinese manufacturers making pretty fine phones" Yes. I bought Chinese smartphone for 130 euros few weeks ago and I can't feel much difference from premium Android phones. Sure, camera is not so clear, touchscreen lags sometimes, but it's acceptable for my use case and the fact that it's 3-4 cheaper than a brand phone with same/similar spec.
- celticninja 10y ago
  Out of interest what did you buy? My first foray into Chinese phones was the OnePlus One which I was more than happy with (still am), I then bought a cheap Doogee X5 for about €50 to use on my commute, which was OK for such a cheap phone, camera was rubbish but I never used it and the GPS tracking and 4g that I did use was perfect for my use case.
  - kbart 10y ago
    Umi Touch: http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_348204.html?wid=21 http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_348204.html?wid=21 I see it's out of stock now and price have increased slightly. BTW, its screen is surprisingly good.
- bitL 10y ago
  I recently bought Ulefone U007 for 50EUR (720p IPS display, 1GB RAM, 32-bit MTK quadcore) in order to use it as a display for my Phantom 4 drone. Well, it turned out to be too slow for real-time video feed so I made it my OSMAnd navigation device permanently attached to my bike. In any case, imagine in 1-2 years a 1080p/2GB/Sony13Mpx camera phone will be available for 50EUR - why would you invest in a premium one?

bitwize 10y ago

When another company comes along that's more innovative than Apple and better at weaving a narrative about the relationship between technology and ordinary people than Apple -- we'll follow that company's example. Today, Apple is that company and the course they set is the course the industry proceeds on.

hawski 10y ago
I would say that ordinary people in global sense can't afford Apple products. In that sense Apple is not that company. I also claim that Apple never intended to be that company, because their business model is to be on high-end.

ctdonath 10y ago

We've heard the same line when Apple ejected the 5.25" floppy, 3.5" floppy, Centronix parallel port, RS232 serial port, FireWire, and a whole bunch of other "universal demand" connectors. I really want to say this one is more awkward than others...but it's not. We've gone thru dongle & wireless solutions before, and came out better for it. Bluetooth headphone sales are about to exceed wired headphone sales. And Apple still sells the iPhone 6s & SE with 3.5mm jacks.

kbart 10y ago
"We've heard the same line when Apple ejected the 5.25" floppy, 3.5" floppy, Centronix parallel port, RS232 serial port, FireWire, and a whole bunch of other "universal demand" connectors." All these tech were already obsolete by the time Apple got rid of them; 3.5 mm jack is not such case. I'm not using Apple products, but if I would, I'd be mad that I can't use my headphones anymore and must buy new ones that doesn't provide much/any benefit.
- ygra 10y ago
  There is an adapter included. While certainly inconvenient, it's still a far way off of »I cannot use my headphones anymore and have to buy new ones«.
  - kbart 10y ago
    There's also RSR232 <> USB adapter, but we don't say that modern laptops have RS232 and that's not the point anyway.
    - ygra 10y ago
      We don't say modern laptops have RS232, but we also don't say »Gee, I bought a new laptop and suddenly cannot use this serial device anymore because there is no way of attaching it to the laptop« (despite the fact that in this hypothetical scenario the laptop comes with a suitable adapter that makes everything work).
- 10y ago

JustSomeNobody 10y ago

I like Apple hardware[0] (I have a rMBP and a work issued iPhone) and wish them well, generally, but I too kind of hope this iPhone is a flop. [0] Software, though, is a bit different. If I list pros and cons of iOS vs Android, I personally think Android edges it out. But that's just based on how I like to use my phone. Then, for desktop it's Linux > OS X.