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I would be willing to bet that within a decade you HAPPILY buy a phone without a headphone jack, whether that be an Android or iPhone. They're not going backwar

• swiley 10y ago
  I don't "happily" buy phones now and I doubt most people do. Most phones are this bizarre compromise between the political wills of some corporation (or designer) and the needs of the user.
  • rsync 10y ago
    I very happily bought the Neptune Pine[1] which is a full featured telephone the size of a watch (I removed the watchband and threw it away). Love it. [1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neptune/neptune-pine-smartwatch-reinvented https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neptune/neptune-pine-sm...
    • hollander 10y ago
      It's sold with short sleeves.
    • dghughes 10y ago
      You've become Derek Zoolander. http://i.imgur.com/eOXfo95.jpg http://i.imgur.com/eOXfo95.jpg
  • glhaynes 10y ago
    I feel like every time I see somebody with a new phone they're excited about it and want to show it off. And those that don't have a new phone grumble about how they still have to wait another year before they can upgrade.
    • swiley 10y ago
      Oh don't get me wrong, they're always full of exciting gimmicks that are fun for a month or so. I guess some people get distracted by all that enough to get very excited but if you ask them what they actually use/care about (and they answer honestly) it's all "boring" things like battery life, email, IM etc.
  • askafriend 10y ago
    I love my iPhone 7. It's my favorite computing device that I've ever bought. 100% serious.
    • Kluny 10y ago
      What does it for you? Are there any particular features, or is it just the "everythingness" of it?
      • sssilver 10y ago
        As a convert who used to be an ardent Android supporter, I've learned a very important lesson after switching. It's not always about the numbers. In fact it's never about the numbers. You can't quantify sheer quality. You can't quantify how something makes you feel. I understand this can be easily retorted by "Well I get that feel from my Samsung Galaxy N, it's totally subjective", but I think that's just being dishonest. I've seen people mention that they're considering switching back to Android after the headphone jack thing, or switching to a PC laptop after the touchbar thing. For me simply touching the surface of ANY premium laptop currently on the market is enough to realize that Apple is light years ahead in terms of how they engineer their devices to feel. Simple things like opening a lid. Using the trackpad. The force touch. How the ringer switch clicks into place. All of it screams "quality". Not like 15% higher quality, but like light years higher quality. It's my experience anyway. It's like -- yes you can take the best mechanical Breitling and ask what does it do that the average Casio ProTrek does not? And there may be not a good answer for that in terms of numbers. But just take both in your hands, and try to objectively say -- which device you intuitively want to interact with more? Which one attracts you with some inexplicable magic? Which one your fingers are craving to touch and understand? Imagine having that feeling every day with a daily device. Imagine having that feeling as the norm. How could you opt in for something less, despite the numbers?
        • gnashville 10y ago
          > It's not always about the numbers. In fact it's never about the numbers. I've always found it interesting that the Android/iOS debate seems to go only one way. My handful of Android friends have tried convert with some new feature that does x and y over the years, yet I've never found myself trying to convince them to make the opposite switch. I think your quote sums that up pretty nicely.
• zeveb 10y ago
  > I would be willing to bet that within a decade you HAPPILY buy a phone without a headphone jack, whether that be an Android or iPhone. Is there a site we can legally use to register that bet? I'd be interested in taking it. I honestly don't think that the headphone jack will ever go away. Wireless audio is like wireless internet, in that it's better than nothing but worse than something with wires and a stable connexion. I daresay you're correct that Apple think they're right, but … I think they're wrong. The question is, can they remain irrational longer than the rest of the market can be rational? I _think_, given Android's market success, that they ultimately can't: Apple have made too many mistakes in too short a timespan. But only time will tell.
  • zeven7 10y ago
    > Wireless audio is like wireless internet, in > that it's better than nothing but worse than > something with wires and a stable connexion. From my perspective, wired internet has effectively gone away. I haven't plugged anything other than a wireless router into a physical ethernet connection in years.
    • Grishnakh 10y ago
      You obviously don't work in any kind of office. Wired Ethernet is still the norm for good reason: having hundreds or thousands of PCs in one building fighting over WiFi spectrum would be incredibly stupid and inefficient and slow.
      • dexterdog 10y ago
        It's getting problematic in the home as well.
      • zeven7 10y ago
        In a startup now. Worked at a 800 person tech company 4 years ago. All laptops, all wireless (at least on my team -- I'm sure there were people that were plugged in somewhere). Worked at a much larger tech company 1 year ago. Had a desktop that was plugged in, so there's that. Guess I overstated (though I can't say I actually did plug it in myself). Also had a laptop that I worked on over wireless without problems. There were 5k-10k people in that office. Still I do almost everything over wireless.
• rsync 10y ago
  "I would be willing to bet that within a decade you HAPPILY buy a phone without a headphone jack, whether that be an Android or iPhone. They're not going backwards because they think they're right, not because they think they're wrong but don't want to admit it." I believe that the iphone is by far the best executed mobile phone platform and the best hardware - and has been from day one. However, I have never purchased or used an iphone because of my stubborn indignation over the lack of plain old USB for charging. Contrary to all expectation and experience, everyone in the world got together on one little thing - establishing the global standard for USB charging - and the world was actually a very slightly better place. And apple shat all over that, and continues to do so, in order to make (on average) an extra $10 for every iphone sold. So fuck that and fuck their iphone.
  • camillomiller 10y ago
    Well, how can you "believe that the iphone is by far the best executed mobile phone platform and the best hardware", and subsequently declare that you hate them for not using a subpar standard when compared to their flawlessly engineered proprietary one?
    • hollander 10y ago
      Easy, for him the iphone connector is a showstopper - no matter how good the rest of the platform actually is.
    • zeven7 10y ago
      What makes Apple's better? Genuine question; I haven't looked into this at all.
      • dexterdog 10y ago
        It makes Apple more money and keeps hate between iPhone and Android users because they can't share chargers.
      • FussyZeus 10y ago
        Reversibility is the clearest benefit to the end user. Also it's a much more durable connector than most, the cable end is just a flat piece of metal as opposed to having pins and whatnot.
• kj01a 10y ago
  >willing to bet that within a decade you HAPPILY buy a phone without a headphone jack Are you saying that because you think there will be a better alternative to the 3.5mm jack a decade from now? What does that have to do with what Apple is doing now?
  • melling 10y ago
    There's already an alternative: USB-C Apple wasn't the first company to ditch it, or even the second... http://www.androidcentral.com/moto-z-doesnt-have-headphone-jack http://www.androidcentral.com/moto-z-doesnt-have-headphone-j...
    • archagon 10y ago
      Terrible idea. Your USB-C headphones will become obsolete when the next USB standard inevitably comes out. Meanwhile, 3.5mm will still be kicking.
    • duaneb 10y ago
      It forgot to improve on the 3.5mm jack! But thank god I have a thinner phone, I was really having issues sliding it under doors.
    • zingmars 10y ago
      That's not really a better alternative, now is it. Now your headphones must come with all the electronics required for USB-C and their own seperate DACs. This means they're going to be slightly more expensive without any actual improvement over your 3.5mm headphones. Not to mention all of those threats of DRM and whatnot looming around. So with that in mind, why would I possibly want to make the move to USB-C?
      • SysArchitect 10y ago
        Why are there threats of DRM with the DAC moved to the cable instead of the DAC sitting inside the phone (where arguably it has more control over the DAC than if it is sitting in-line on a cable)?
• superuser2 10y ago
  I have almost $1000 invested in over-the-ear Sennheisers and custom fitted in-ear Shures. I don't think I'm going back to the audiologist to spend more hundreds of dollars a second pair that only works with iPhones and not my Mac or any pro audio equipment. Or depending on any battery device (like wireless headphones) that can't be plugged in while operating. Or having a device in my pocket that I can't plug in to a real PA system to test. Or paying what I currently pay for headphones that are iOS XOR Android. Apple may be right for the millions who only ever use the included headphones, but in a world with compelling iOS alternatives that still have headphone jacks, I'm not throwing away the rest of my equipment or carrying adapters everywhere.
  • askafriend 10y ago
    Just plug the adapter into the end of your headphone jack and leave it there. It's a female adapter, so it can just hang off of your existing 3.5mm jack. You make it sound far more annoying than it actually is.
    • JustSomeNobody 10y ago
      You make it sound only slightly less annoying, TBH.
    • bhandziuk 10y ago
      And get one adapter for each set of headphones. And if you then use those headphones with nay other device and unplug the adapter just hope you don't set it somewhere and forget it. It adds too many unnecessary steps.
      • askafriend 10y ago
        That's completely fair. However that's a corner case for most people. I think the general use case is that people have routines in their day to day and fit these devices into their predictable routines. Adapters suck for unpredictable situations but those aren't common enough and Apple knows this.
• rahrahrah 10y ago
  > I would be willing to bet that within a decade you HAPPILY buy a phone without a headphone jack, whether that be an Android or iPhone. I'll take that bet. A decade, so lets say, we bet for $100,000? Is that Ok with you?
  • scottmf 10y ago
    It's an unfair bet as you have (almost) complete control of the outcome. How about he wins if >50% of smartphones sold in the U.S. in 2026 lack 3.5mm headphone ports. I'd personally bet $10k against you/OP on this.
    • DashRattlesnake 10y ago
      > It's an unfair bet as you have (almost) complete control of the outcome. That's the other guy's fault, though, because he (foolishly) offered a bet where the taker has "(almost) complete control of the outcome": >>> I would be willing to bet that within a decade you HAPPILY buy a phone without a headphone jack, whether that be an Android or iPhone. Might as well call him on it.
      • scottmf 10y ago
        That wasn't really the spirit of the offered bet. All this pedantry is taking the fun out of it. Now I actually do believe the OP will "happily" buy a phone without a headphone port. But not if he has a financial incentive to change his behavior.
        • DashRattlesnake 10y ago
          > Now I actually do believe the OP will "happily" buy a phone without a headphone port. Honestly, the OP might resign himself to it, but I'll doubt he'll be happy about it. It's not like headphones are currently connected with obsolete digital interfaces (e.g. RS232). Headphones are, by their very nature, analog, and making their connection digital just makes integration harder.
• bogomipz 10y ago
  "I would be willing to bet that within a decade you HAPPILY buy a phone without a headphone jack, whether that be an Android or iPhone" Sure, absolutely when Rezence” or “PMA,” or whatever the wireless charging standard becomes is ubiquitous. However we don't have that today, no will we have it in 18-24 months, the general duration of a customer's contractual obligation to a carrier and phone model. And for people that need to type and talk at the same time, sometimes for hours at stretch - for maintenance window or outages or even just long conference calls, not being able to accessboth a headphone jack and a power simultaneously on their phones is a real deal breaker. I don't think the OP is necessarily pooh-poohing change but rather being pragmatic and practical for the immediate term.
• akhilcacharya 10y ago
  Not when the existing jack is 1) a proprietary standard that does not work with any other device 2) A port that doesn't allow one to charge and use audio at the same time. Something like a USB-C for everything could be doable - but as far as I know, USB-C ports are thicker than 3.5mm jacks.
• vonklaus 10y ago
  > I would be willing to bet that within a decade you HAPPILY buy a phone without a headphone jack, I bet within a decade we will all happily buy autonomous cars without a steering wheel. This is because in a decade, battery life, software, connectivity and manufacturing experience will provide a large benefit and will be normalized. I find it extremely difficult to believe that this will provide a 10x better experience. Here is what Apple is doing: * The Computer is the Hub for all devices * the cloud is the Hub * the phone is the Hub That's fine. Except that if my phone is using bluetooth to be constantly connected to my headphons & iwatch, as well as occasionally my computer; AND it can power my headphones it really dosn't matter if you give me 2x the previous phones battery I am running 4x the amount of devices off it. Apple needed to deliver a phone that lasts >3 days and headphones that aren't a chopped up earbud that can max out at 2 hours. the iphone 7s will probably be awesome, this is the bridge model as Walt Mossberg put it, and it doesn't seem realistic to even consider buying it.
• 404error 10y ago
  By eliminating the headphone jack didn't they just create another revenue source? My understanding is that they get paid a per unit licensing fee by anyone who creates/sells an adapter. I was under the impression this was the reason they removed the jack.
• 7952 10y ago
  I have been buying bluetooth earbuds for years. Cables seem so cumbersome in comparison. If only they could sort out latency on video I would be 100℅ sold.
• Mikho 10y ago
  I can believe that the 3.5 jack will be removed, but only to be replaced with more convenient open and not proprietary standard--analog standard. I can live with USB-C, that, btw, already has analog audio implemented, when it de facto becomes industry standard for audio output. Just hope they solve simultaneous charging with headphones plugged. Two USB-Cs may be. But definitely it is not going to be proprietary lightning digital audio port that requires external DAC and licensing.
• mixedCase 10y ago
  >I would be willing to bet that within a decade you HAPPILY buy a phone without a headphone jack, No, sorry. I actually enjoy the music I listen to.