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Royally disagree with the headphone jack. That is a huge issue that I don't ever see an end to. You never know when you need a headphone jack and there is no re

by tjoff 9y ago

Royally disagree with the headphone jack. That is a huge issue that I don't ever see an end to. You never know when you need a headphone jack and there is no realistic way to carry an adapter all the time. And that is even if I'm willing to buy $100 worth of worthless adapters and do my best to sprinkle them out in my life. Friends car? Stereo in the summer vacation house? Buying bluetooth headphones doesn't mitigate this in any sense.

matte_black 9y ago
Many stereos and cars should accept Bluetooth connections by now, so I’m not sure what the problem is.
- tjoff 9y ago
  1. Many more don't. Home stereos typically don't. Regular radios typically don't. 2. Bluetooth is pure crap, the UX for connecting and managing temporary devices is absolutely insane on all devices. This is something you do on your own car but is a major hassle to setup for temporary occasions. And hardly something that is done on a whim just to demo something. It is just that bad. And this is even before considering compatibility issues and security issues, of which there are plentiful. And cars also have this habit of trying to harvest all your contacts etc. (Wonder how many contacts are floating around in rental cars... sigh)
  - ams6110 9y ago
    Agree, bluetooth is a knock-out factor for me. I refuse to use it, it's been a total PITA any time I've tried.
    - senorjazz 9y ago
      same, when it decides to work, it can work well, but most the time it doesn't, or is a hassle. My car just refuses my phone for some reason. cable > connect > go. Every time without fail
- grincho 9y ago
  Most devices can't remember more than 1 phone at a time, so you have to continually put the thing back into pairing mode. Every device has a different way of putting it into pairing mode. Sometimes there's a code to type, adding an additional step. Then it's several clicks on the phone to connect to the device. Plugging in a cable is often a lot simpler, and it works every time.
- dspillett 9y ago
  The problem is that people want a headphone jack. More stereos and cars don't have BT than do (significantly many more in my experience). Bluetooth pairing is a faf compared to just plugging in a jack, and many devices still only remember pairing with two devices or just one so your friend may have to repair when you are done. Double adaptors (I still see people sharing a single audio source on headphones that way) are a thing with simple audio jack that there isn't a BT solution for (at least when I've tried phones won't play down two BT audio sinks at the same time). I've used the audio jack on my phones only a couple of times in the last year or so as I do use BT for general headphone use, but that is a couple of times more than zero and in all those cases BT would not have been an option. Of course the obvious answer is: if you want a jack and Apple doesn't provide one on their devices then switch allegiance - but a lot of people feel tied to Apple for other reasons (lock in through apps they'd have to repurchase on Android, lock-in through add-on device compatibility, or just the extra usability that comes from personal or group familiarity) and would like to stay without losing that feature. Another option is bluetooth receivers, which can be bought quite cheaply these days: pair one of those with your iDevice and plug other devices into that when needed. That is an extra device (a very small one, but still an extra) to carry around and remember to keep charged and I doubt it will happen much because people won't even carry charging adaptors around with them (the amount of times I've have the look that suggests it is my fault that someone can't borrow my portable battery because their device doesn't follow the same standard as everything else and they didn't bring an adaptor!)
  - wilsonnb 9y ago
    The real answer here is to use the lightning -> 3.5mm adapter which comes with the iPhone, I believe.
    - dh2424 9y ago
      But then I cannot plug my headphones into my brand new laptop...
      - wilsonnb 9y ago
        Well, you could remove the headphones from the adapter and plug them into your laptops 3.5mm port. If Apple was using USB C like they should be, then you could just plug them straight into that port.
ntsplnkv2 9y ago
Almost every modern car now has USB or bluetooth, even cheap entry level compact cars. > Friends car? Stereo in the summer vacation house? Bluetooth speakers are pretty much ubiquitous nowadays. I don't think I've seen an aux cord in 2 years. Why should a tech company design for old tech? Do you also dislike monitors that don't have VGA just in case? I'm not saying there are scenarios where that would be an issue. But I think you overestimate the issues and most people really don't care.
- wilsonnb 9y ago
  Bluetooth has quality issues compared with an AUX cable unless you're using the fancy codecs that aren't supported by most devices. Also, anecdotally, I drive a Chevy from 2012 with no bluetooth for anything but answering calls. Cars without bluetooth are still very common.
- viraptor 9y ago
  My last 3 cars had Bluetooth in them. Each had some kind of issue with it. For some reason car manufacturers put in crap that's anywhere between incompatible and randomly failing when connecting to flagship phones. And there's no real way to report an issue back to then. So they do have Bluetooth and I still use the aux cable with them.
  - jawilson2 9y ago
    A typical interaction with bluetooth audio on both my iPhone 6 and Pixel 2 goes like this: Press pause Wait 5 seconds Press pause again, only the original pause has now registered finally, and turned back into a play button, so the audio is playing again. Turn on NPR instead.
- Jedd 9y ago
  Not everyone lives in your world. > Why should a tech company design for old tech? a) Apple isn't a tech company, it's a style / aspiration company that sells some bits and bobs that occasionally are high-tech, and b) 3.5mm headphone jacks have been around since the 1950's -- so presumably this was 'old tech' when Apple first came up with the iPod ... and yet ... and yet, they still put this 'old tech' into every device since then, up until the last iteration of their mobile phone. 'Old tech' is a canard.
wilsonnb 9y ago
I'm willing to believe that you never know when you need a headphone jack but most people actually do know when they will need a headphone jack. Going on a plane? Probably bring an adapter. Like to listen to music in your car? Keep an adapter in your car. Listen to music at work? Keep an adapter at work.
- rauhl 9y ago
  > Going on a plane? Probably bring an adapter. Like to listen to music in your car? Keep an adapter in your car. Listen to music at work? Keep an adapter at work. So, I should have travel, car & work adapters instead of a working, non-proprietary, universal standard? Headphone jacks work. They work really well. There's nothing wrong with them, and they don’t need replacement. Bluetooth sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t. It tends to lag. It’s just … not that great.
  - wilsonnb 9y ago
    You can if you don't want to keep track of a single adapter. I personally have two, one for the car and one for everywhere else. You can blame Apple for using lightning if you have problems with non universal, non proprietary standards. USB C is both universal and non proprietary. It's even capable of sending analog audio exactly like the 3.5mm port does so you don't need an adapter with a DAC in it, just a USB C -> whatever you want to plug your phone into cable. That said, most phones (including my Pixel 2) don't support that feature and require an external DAC in the adapter. I only bring it up because many people don't seem to realize that USB C is capable of doing anything the 3.5mm port can do. >Headphone jacks work. They work really well. There's nothing wrong with them, and they don’t need replacement. The PS/2 ports worked for your mouse and keyboard. They did have some issues but I would be okay with saying that they worked really well. They didn't need to be replaced with USB. They were replaced with USB anyways. That's the whole point of USB. It's universal. As long as USB is capable of transmitting audio then there is no reason to keep the 3.5mm port around. It's redundant.
- herbst 9y ago
  Everything I need is in my backpack. There is seriously no place for a selection of different dongles. I understand it may is a non issue for some people, for others however it is not even a real option.
ivanfon 9y ago
Another important argument which is brought up in this excellent EFF article is how Bluetooth allows for DRM. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/09/analog-last-defense-against-drm https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/09/analog-last-defense-ag...
mulletbum 9y ago
My friends never have the aux cord with them. I carry one of these on me: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MJMV0GU/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B00MJMV0GU&pd_rd_wg=2gJcc&pd_rd_r=5RA2PN1KBWDPDJVNHRQF&pd_rd_w=x2UeF https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MJMV0GU/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?ps... when I travel to a summer vacation home. Never have an issue.
jimmy1 9y ago
> Friends car? Stereo in the summer vacation house? I regret finally "jumping ship" and getting an Iphone 8 plus soley because of this. I am experiencing the exact same thing with the f___king stupid MBP and needing to carry a dongle on me at all times in order to present. It's absolutely infuriating. After holding off for so long (Iphone 8 plus was my first iphone), and having androids since Samsung Galaxy S3, my recent phone was a Note and I really don't get what I was missing out on. I really miss my swype keyboard, the apple keyboard is an absolute pain, and it's "AI" autocorrect is worthless. Siri is worthless. Facetime was the only appeal and even that has been minimized now. With the direction they went with the IPhone X screen real estate, this will without a doubt be my first and last IPhone I ever buy.
- rupertdev 9y ago
  Check out GBoard for iOS, it's the google keyboard that supports swype

by tjoff 9y ago

matte_black 9y ago

Many stereos and cars should accept Bluetooth connections by now, so I’m not sure what the problem is.

tjoff 9y ago
1. Many more don't. Home stereos typically don't. Regular radios typically don't. 2. Bluetooth is pure crap, the UX for connecting and managing temporary devices is absolutely insane on all devices. This is something you do on your own car but is a major hassle to setup for temporary occasions. And hardly something that is done on a whim just to demo something. It is just that bad. And this is even before considering compatibility issues and security issues, of which there are plentiful. And cars also have this habit of trying to harvest all your contacts etc. (Wonder how many contacts are floating around in rental cars... sigh)
- ams6110 9y ago
  Agree, bluetooth is a knock-out factor for me. I refuse to use it, it's been a total PITA any time I've tried.
  - senorjazz 9y ago
    same, when it decides to work, it can work well, but most the time it doesn't, or is a hassle. My car just refuses my phone for some reason. cable > connect > go. Every time without fail
grincho 9y ago
Most devices can't remember more than 1 phone at a time, so you have to continually put the thing back into pairing mode. Every device has a different way of putting it into pairing mode. Sometimes there's a code to type, adding an additional step. Then it's several clicks on the phone to connect to the device. Plugging in a cable is often a lot simpler, and it works every time.
dspillett 9y ago
The problem is that people want a headphone jack. More stereos and cars don't have BT than do (significantly many more in my experience). Bluetooth pairing is a faf compared to just plugging in a jack, and many devices still only remember pairing with two devices or just one so your friend may have to repair when you are done. Double adaptors (I still see people sharing a single audio source on headphones that way) are a thing with simple audio jack that there isn't a BT solution for (at least when I've tried phones won't play down two BT audio sinks at the same time). I've used the audio jack on my phones only a couple of times in the last year or so as I do use BT for general headphone use, but that is a couple of times more than zero and in all those cases BT would not have been an option. Of course the obvious answer is: if you want a jack and Apple doesn't provide one on their devices then switch allegiance - but a lot of people feel tied to Apple for other reasons (lock in through apps they'd have to repurchase on Android, lock-in through add-on device compatibility, or just the extra usability that comes from personal or group familiarity) and would like to stay without losing that feature. Another option is bluetooth receivers, which can be bought quite cheaply these days: pair one of those with your iDevice and plug other devices into that when needed. That is an extra device (a very small one, but still an extra) to carry around and remember to keep charged and I doubt it will happen much because people won't even carry charging adaptors around with them (the amount of times I've have the look that suggests it is my fault that someone can't borrow my portable battery because their device doesn't follow the same standard as everything else and they didn't bring an adaptor!)
- wilsonnb 9y ago
  The real answer here is to use the lightning -> 3.5mm adapter which comes with the iPhone, I believe.
  - dh2424 9y ago
    But then I cannot plug my headphones into my brand new laptop...
    - wilsonnb 9y ago
      Well, you could remove the headphones from the adapter and plug them into your laptops 3.5mm port. If Apple was using USB C like they should be, then you could just plug them straight into that port.

ntsplnkv2 9y ago

Almost every modern car now has USB or bluetooth, even cheap entry level compact cars. > Friends car? Stereo in the summer vacation house? Bluetooth speakers are pretty much ubiquitous nowadays. I don't think I've seen an aux cord in 2 years. Why should a tech company design for old tech? Do you also dislike monitors that don't have VGA just in case? I'm not saying there are scenarios where that would be an issue. But I think you overestimate the issues and most people really don't care.

wilsonnb 9y ago
Bluetooth has quality issues compared with an AUX cable unless you're using the fancy codecs that aren't supported by most devices. Also, anecdotally, I drive a Chevy from 2012 with no bluetooth for anything but answering calls. Cars without bluetooth are still very common.
viraptor 9y ago
My last 3 cars had Bluetooth in them. Each had some kind of issue with it. For some reason car manufacturers put in crap that's anywhere between incompatible and randomly failing when connecting to flagship phones. And there's no real way to report an issue back to then. So they do have Bluetooth and I still use the aux cable with them.
- jawilson2 9y ago
  A typical interaction with bluetooth audio on both my iPhone 6 and Pixel 2 goes like this: Press pause Wait 5 seconds Press pause again, only the original pause has now registered finally, and turned back into a play button, so the audio is playing again. Turn on NPR instead.
Jedd 9y ago
Not everyone lives in your world. > Why should a tech company design for old tech? a) Apple isn't a tech company, it's a style / aspiration company that sells some bits and bobs that occasionally are high-tech, and b) 3.5mm headphone jacks have been around since the 1950's -- so presumably this was 'old tech' when Apple first came up with the iPod ... and yet ... and yet, they still put this 'old tech' into every device since then, up until the last iteration of their mobile phone. 'Old tech' is a canard.

wilsonnb 9y ago

I'm willing to believe that you never know when you need a headphone jack but most people actually do know when they will need a headphone jack. Going on a plane? Probably bring an adapter. Like to listen to music in your car? Keep an adapter in your car. Listen to music at work? Keep an adapter at work.

rauhl 9y ago
> Going on a plane? Probably bring an adapter. Like to listen to music in your car? Keep an adapter in your car. Listen to music at work? Keep an adapter at work. So, I should have travel, car & work adapters instead of a working, non-proprietary, universal standard? Headphone jacks work. They work really well. There's nothing wrong with them, and they don’t need replacement. Bluetooth sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t. It tends to lag. It’s just … not that great.
- wilsonnb 9y ago
  You can if you don't want to keep track of a single adapter. I personally have two, one for the car and one for everywhere else. You can blame Apple for using lightning if you have problems with non universal, non proprietary standards. USB C is both universal and non proprietary. It's even capable of sending analog audio exactly like the 3.5mm port does so you don't need an adapter with a DAC in it, just a USB C -> whatever you want to plug your phone into cable. That said, most phones (including my Pixel 2) don't support that feature and require an external DAC in the adapter. I only bring it up because many people don't seem to realize that USB C is capable of doing anything the 3.5mm port can do. >Headphone jacks work. They work really well. There's nothing wrong with them, and they don’t need replacement. The PS/2 ports worked for your mouse and keyboard. They did have some issues but I would be okay with saying that they worked really well. They didn't need to be replaced with USB. They were replaced with USB anyways. That's the whole point of USB. It's universal. As long as USB is capable of transmitting audio then there is no reason to keep the 3.5mm port around. It's redundant.
herbst 9y ago
Everything I need is in my backpack. There is seriously no place for a selection of different dongles. I understand it may is a non issue for some people, for others however it is not even a real option.

ivanfon 9y ago

Another important argument which is brought up in this excellent EFF article is how Bluetooth allows for DRM. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/09/analog-last-defense-against-drm https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/09/analog-last-defense-ag...

mulletbum 9y ago

My friends never have the aux cord with them. I carry one of these on me: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MJMV0GU/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B00MJMV0GU&pd_rd_wg=2gJcc&pd_rd_r=5RA2PN1KBWDPDJVNHRQF&pd_rd_w=x2UeF https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MJMV0GU/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?ps... when I travel to a summer vacation home. Never have an issue.

jimmy1 9y ago

> Friends car? Stereo in the summer vacation house? I regret finally "jumping ship" and getting an Iphone 8 plus soley because of this. I am experiencing the exact same thing with the f___king stupid MBP and needing to carry a dongle on me at all times in order to present. It's absolutely infuriating. After holding off for so long (Iphone 8 plus was my first iphone), and having androids since Samsung Galaxy S3, my recent phone was a Note and I really don't get what I was missing out on. I really miss my swype keyboard, the apple keyboard is an absolute pain, and it's "AI" autocorrect is worthless. Siri is worthless. Facetime was the only appeal and even that has been minimized now. With the direction they went with the IPhone X screen real estate, this will without a doubt be my first and last IPhone I ever buy.

rupertdev 9y ago
Check out GBoard for iOS, it's the google keyboard that supports swype