6 ms·

The iPhone dongle is still my fucking nightmare

44 points by NN88 8y ago

taylodl 8y ago
Hmmm. I'm still using the dongle that I bought two years ago - and I use it every day. I don't even have to use a dongle, my phone is an iPhone SE and it has a 3.5 mm audio port. So why do I use the dongle? Because the rest of my family has iPhones without the 3.5 mm audio port and so all our audio devices utilizing a 3.5 mm audio jack all have dongles on them. So it's easier to use the dongle rather than take it off and have to keep track of it. I do use bluetooth headphones while working out and mowing the yard so I don't have the continual distraction of the wire. Though they sound pretty good it's a drag to have to keep them charged and they have a tendency to cut in and out when working outside. So I'd say bluetooth isn't quite there yet.
martin1975 8y ago
I despise the removal of the 3.5 mm jack to this day... and I still do not get why Apple removed it. What exactly did it get in the way of and what was made available by its removal? Worst move ever.
- modzu 8y ago
  to sell dongles. err, i mean, cuz its the future!
  - ozim 8y ago
    Even better sell bluetooth earphones. I have to say I am quite happy with airpods when doing dishes or running. While I am working I still like cable earphones. But all time I see people with wireless ones and it is future. I still remember buying earphones for my walkman, cheap ones lasted couple weeks because cables broke so often. Don't even get me started on untangling cables after taking those out of pocket. Bluetooth earphones are like magic for me, I don't need hover board I know I live in the future. How do they even fit battery for 3 hours, bluetooth module, antena, charging module (it also is saying how much juice each earphone has), audio playback module.
    - modzu 8y ago
      no argument that wireless is great. but why exclusively wireless? we just want the jack as a backup / for those situations when we're using perfectly good older devices its like taking away your charger because you have a battery
- protomyth 8y ago
  I found it very odd given Apple's commitment to accessibility and the existence of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_ATM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_ATM
- JTbane 8y ago
  Apple owns Beats Electronics, whose higher-cost headphones are primarily wireless.
- Isamu 8y ago
  I have a harder time with the macbook going to all usbc connectors. Sorry, I don't have a usb-c to every-damn-thing-in-the-world connector, and yet I have to get useful work done. On the phone I can see the motivation. They are down to one connector port, but really they'd like to get to zero ports. And zero physical buttons if possible. Just a seamless wafer-thin card.
- kinsomo 8y ago
  > I despise the removal of the 3.5 mm jack to this day... and I still do not get why Apple removed it. What exactly did it get in the way of and what was made available by its removal? Worst move ever. Johnny Ive took "worse is better" too literally.
- ksk 8y ago
  >What exactly did it get in the way of and what was made available by its removal? They should have sealed the entire phone by moving to wireless charging. Waterproof unibody design would have been an interesting innovation. But instead we lost the jack and now they do stupid stuff like the notch. Also, I don't get the idea of making a personal computing device that is going to get handled a lot and bumped around so thin and fragile. The first thing people do is put a ugly case on their phone and buy a battery pack since it barely has enough charge for a days worth of use.
- hbosch 8y ago
  I think it's obvious Apple just sees their ideal customer to be totally wireless. AirPods, Apple Watch, iPhone X. It's hard to argue against the convenience of this kind of system, but it's a very narrow funnel that naturally angers anyone who falls outside of it.
- tunesmith 8y ago
  better water resistance? I've read that the 3.5 mm jack was the previous limiting factor, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.
  - Yetanfou 8y ago
    Highly inaccurate given the number of waterproof devices with headphone jacks. $150 'airpods' should give a hint as to why they chose to remove the audio jack.
Overtonwindow 8y ago
The 3.5mm jack was just fine, and I truly believe Apple removed it to sell us something, to further lock us into an ecosystem. It was a business decision. So is mine to switch to Android. I’ve got a 6 plus with the jack and I’m holding on to it, gently, for the day when I’ll go to the store and say give me the best phone with a headphone jack, knowing it likely won’t be the best phone on the market.
- Bud 8y ago
  You'd best prepare for the time when all major Android phones have dropped the 1/8" jack too, then. It's coming. Rapidly.
sarreph 8y ago
As I much as I am growing tired of HN discussions about Apple products descending into a circle-jerk of "no more innovation" and "dongle-gate", I must state my two gripes that I remain astounded by: - A new iPhone and a new MacBook — out of the box — have no way to physically connect to each other. - A new iPhone comes with earphones that cannot be used with any other device than other iPhones (e.g. not your new Mac). Why have Apple's peripherals been broken for more than 2 years?
- fetus8 8y ago
  I think this point is vastly understated. Though it's rumored the 2018 iPhones will include a Lightning to USB-C Cable in the box... https://9to5mac.com/2018/05/02/iphone-x-2-fast-charging-bundled/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/05/02/iphone-x-2-fast-charging-bund...
nathantotten 8y ago
I was initially skeptical, but optimistic about the removal of the jack. I thought maybe this would lead to some new headphones with really good DACs or lossless wireless headphones. But alas, it is not so. I’m stuck with my same headphones and a dongle.
yadakhov 8y ago
Just like hoarding Macbook Pro 2015, I have a brand new iPhone 6S Plus with headphone jack as a spare to my current iphone iPhone 6S Plus.
- cm2187 8y ago
  Did exactly the same (6s #3 is waiting in storage). And preparing myself psychologically to have to retrain my muscle memory when switching to android. Samsung doesn't seem to have given up. The audio jack is just one of many problems. A highly dysfunctional iTunes (critical to sync my mp3), constant nagging for apple paid services, etc. I have more of a problem with the ipad. If they also ditch the audio jack on the ipad, I don't think there is a decent competitor to the ipad pro 10.5 (i.e. bigger, high refresh rate screen).
carlivar 8y ago
> Why don’t you get an Android phone, to which I reply: I’m not turning my texts green. So the author is complaining about proprietary tech on his iPhone (Lightning port analog audio adapter) when open alternatives exist (3.5mm jack), while also claiming other proprietary tech (iMessage) in the face of open alternatives (standard SMS) keeps him using the iPhone.
- asdsa5325 8y ago
  Apple's business model revolves around making their customers feel superior to others. That's why customers have no problem with seriously overpriced hardware, since it's an effective gate-keeping measure.
- Inityx 8y ago
  Apple is such an effective cult. https://medium.com/message/its-kind-of-cheesy-being-green-2c72cc9e5eda https://medium.com/message/its-kind-of-cheesy-being-green-2c...
  - pdelbarba 8y ago
    Thanks for the link. I've never used an iphone so I was extremely confused by that argument.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    So do 40%+ of smart phone users in the US belong to a cult?
- j45 8y ago
  Most android phones that are comparable to iPhone (direct monthly security updates) are a very short list. Google's Pixel is a great phone, but it has a USB-C phone. I wouldn't go near any other phone for lack of updates, and premature "death" of the phone from lack of updates. The hardware coming from Samsung is excellent, but their software practices are unacceptable when they are at or near the price point of an iPhone.
- Kratisto 8y ago
jasonm89 8y ago
I lost my dongle two weeks ago, haven't bothered to buy a new one yet. My bus rides have been silent. :(
j45 8y ago
The poor average battery life of in-ear headphones is a huge problem over time. It doesn't seem possible to be able to use wireless headphones long term, or for long periods - battery life is simply too short for the amount we use digital devices today. 5 hours of continuous use over time, is useless. 10-15 are likely a better goal. I can't just wear in-ear headphones without thinking about having to recharge my headphones. So I own 2 pairs. And then eventually forget to keep them charged too. I've used bluetooth headphones for about a decade before the first phones lost their headphone jacks. The use case was convenience. Connecting to a laptop and phone at the time with some compromises: battery life, and sound quality (less so now). But, there was always a backup to a wired headset. Maybe we'll start to see phone cases with a headphone jack, and a lighting/usb-c case integrated into them. Or a way for bluetooth headphones to wirelessly charge. I'd buy one.
- Bud 8y ago
  You clearly haven't tried AirPods.
  - ac29 8y ago
    https://www.apple.com/airpods/ https://www.apple.com/airpods/ : "you can listen for 5 hours on a single charge"
  - j45 8y ago
    Based on.. them falling out easily? Battery life on them is 5 hours each. They have a great experience when they have battery life. Just can't charge them 2-3 times a day.
    - Bud 8y ago
      You clearly haven't used AirPods, as I said earlier to the other commenter. They charge so quickly that if you remove them for 2-3 minutes for an occasional commercial every few hours, they stay charged all day. They charge shockingly quickly. The only reason you would not know that is if, as I said, you had not tried them. Everyone who tries them and uses them for extended periods instantly discovers this.
themgt 8y ago
What I don't understand is why you can buy a usb<->lightning cable for like $5 at any gas station, but afaict all lightning-based headphones are stupid expensive. Couldn't some company just start selling $10 lightning headphones?
- wvenable 8y ago
  Probably not with Apple's licensing rates.
- Bud 8y ago
  Uhhhhhh, Apple includes free Lightning headphones with every iPhone sold.
peapicker 8y ago
"Bluetooth audio is not that great" -- that used to be true, but not anymore with the modern editions of the standard and its implementations. I can't really tell a difference anymore. I also have >$100 bluetooth headphones, so that actually is one of the biggest factors in sound quality and lack of cutting out -- the $20 ones off Amazon etc sound not bad, have cutting out issues, etc.
- cm2187 8y ago
  Even if you like the quality, that's one more battery to baby sit.
- mutagen 8y ago
  Do you or anyone here have suggestions on the happy versions of the standards and protocols that result in 'can't really tell a difference'? I tried a few years ago and my middle aged 14 kHz roll-off happy with v0 VBR mp3 ears could tell a difference, I finally understood what people were talking about with listening fatigue and the like. Now admittedly it's been a few a few years and my car isn't likely to be able to negotiate a happy protocol but I'd love to get a reasonably priced stereo bluetooth headset that sounded OK.
fragmede 8y ago
I'd like to be smug about Android, except that the Pixel 2 removed the headphone jack as well. There are other Android phones, but now that Apple's removed it from the iPhone, the rest of market is free to copy them. See also: user inaccessible battery, floppy drives, USB (over serial) ports...
- aarmenaa 8y ago
  Google has you covered on the smugness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rykmwn0SMWU&t=42s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rykmwn0SMWU&t=42s They specifically called out Apple for losing the jack, and a year later the Pixel 2 didn't have one either.
mr_nobody_jr 8y ago
I suspect its a multi-fold corporate strategy move. A) It pushes people to buy Airpods. B) It helps push the image that Apple is avant garde. C) It will make the transition easier when they remove head phone jacks on their laptops. That being said, I agree its not very consumer friendly. There is no reason they couldn't have done this in multiple steps.
staunch 8y ago
My guess is that most everyone at Apple has Airpods and that's why they think it's an improvement worth pushing people towards. I stuck with my wired earbuds for quite a while because I didn't imagine the Airpods were much better than the various bluetooth options I had tried. It turns out that they're much better in terms of range, quality, battery life, etc. They improve the experience of using an iPhone dramatically. Apple should include Airpods with every new iPhone even it means raising the price of the phone by $50-$100. It's the best improvement since high resolution displays and making it non-standard means most people won't even try it. Going back to using a wired earbuds after using the Airpods is a stark reminder of the many small annoyances, like untangling the cable, having the earbuds yanked out of your ear when the cable gets caught, not being able to leave your phone on your desk while you use the phone, etc. I would never choose to go back to wired earbuds after using Airpods and I expect most people would have the same experience.
birken 8y ago
I was formerly a dongle-hater, having gone through at least 3 or 4 of them, all of which broke under what I consider normal usage. I didn't realize you could get them replaced for free either so I spend like $30-40 on them. Then I finally gave in and got airpods, and now I see the light. Airpods are just amazing. I was skeptical at first just like the author, but he is fighting the wrong battle. Holding onto wired headphones and complaining about the 3.5mm jack is completely missed out on how amazing wireless headphones are (note: I have no idea if other wireless headphones are as good as airpods). I can now be charging my phone and walk around my house listening to music. I can seamlessly transition my headphones from my computer to my phone with one click. When I'm working in the shop the cord so longer snags on things and rips the headphones out of my ears. When I'm biking I can just wear one headphone and leave the other one in my pocket instead of having the other headphone dangling down. When running there is no cord bouncing around. And airpods don't even fit my ears, I have to put a little silicone wrapper around them every time I take them out of the charger and I still love them.
- tunesmith 8y ago
  Which wrapper do you use? I went down that rabbit hole a while ago and couldn't find anything appropriate. It was starting to seem like the best option was to actually get the foam earbud things for better grippiness - advantage being the case will even close over them - but they were still too loose.
  - birken 8y ago
    I think finding a wrapper that fits your ear is very dependent on the person, but in my dongle days I used "Yurbuds Inspire 200" headphones, which are somewhat normal looking headphones with a silicone wrapper you put on them that fit my ear perfectly. When I got airpods, I just took the wrapper off the Yurbuds and it fit perfectly on the airpods and then locks nicely into my ear.
- lev99 8y ago
  My major complaint about airpods is that I routinely use headphones for longer than 4 hours in a single session. Still, I like them so much that I own two pair and swap when the battery is low.
DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
Do we really need this kind of language in the title? It's the difference between me being willing to read this site in front of my little kids vs. not.
- iron0013 8y ago
  I agree, the word "dongle" is fucking scandalous.
Seanny123 8y ago
I absolutely adore this style of "gonzo" writing. It's like a film directed by Wes Anderson. It's not ideal for every topic, but whenever it shows up I'm delighted.
- NN88 8y ago
  This was particularly effective. Its risky, but when done well...you get this.
orand 8y ago
For those saying Bluetooth is the answer, that may be true for the vast majority of users, but for musicians using iOS to make music, Bluetooth audio latency is too high in many situations. Additionally, if you're connecting the USB adapter (Camera Connection Kit) to plug in a MIDI keyboard and/or audio interface, you'll need to pass those through a USB hub and add a USB DAC to plug your wired headphones into.
- Roboprog 8y ago
  Something the “just get an Android” crowd needs to understand - Android isn’t good enough for making music. A $650 Pixel 2 lags behind a $160 iPhone SE in terms of latency and drop-outs: http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2018/02/17/10-years-later-android-audio-quality-still-lags/ http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2018/02/17/10-years-later-... I wonder what the latency is on Bluetooth audio with Apple’s newer peripherals? My experience using Bluetooth speakers at home was “not for playing music” (on a keyboard). At least my ‘SE still has a headphone jack, as does my iPad Mini 2. I usually just use the headphone jack, even if there’s a little bit of noise bleeding across it. OTOH, I do have a powered USB hub with a built in DAC in it, like you mentioned, for plugging in multiple controllers. Thanks for pointing out this latency issue. Hopefully Apple just might reconsider the needs of a somewhat important customer subgroup. Cuz, musicians are cool :-) (And Apple is all about being “cool”, right?)
ag56 8y ago
AirPods are great. Best headphones I've ever had. Totally solve the day to day. But clearly no-one at Apple ever gets on a plane.
- alonmower 8y ago
  Agreed, I wish you could do something like plug an aux cable into the case and plug it into something and stream audio through that to the AirPods
- jvzr 8y ago
  You can try Airfly (haven't used it, don't work for them) https://www.twelvesouth.com/product/airfly https://www.twelvesouth.com/product/airfly
coldseattle 8y ago
Meh. _Real_ headphones have 1/4" or 4-pin balanced XLR connectors, like my Grado or Oppo headphones do.
pbuzbee 8y ago
I just want to listen to music on my phone using the same set of headphones that I use for literally every other device that I own, without much/any hassle. But without the headphone jack, this use case becomes harder. Now I suddenly have to accept a trade off: either I (1) spend a lot of money for fancy headphones (e.g. Airpods), (2) deal with cheap Bluetooth headphones, or (3) deal with dongles. My use case used to be simple, but now it costs me money, convenience, or both.
Dramatize 8y ago
If the Macbook Pro had a lightning port, it'd make swapping from the iPhone much easier. Having the dongle floating around while using your Mac is a pain.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
makmanalp 8y ago
My main problem with the jack removal is that not only did it make life worse for many people, but there's really no reason for the removal. You want to convince everyone to use bluetooth headphones, fine! You don't need to get rid of the jack for that. And the space excuse seems like a silly one: They managed to fit one in the quite thin and small iphone 6. The 5 / SE is plenty thin (my preferred phone right now) and has one. Really, I don't need a phone to be smaller than that, and phones keep getting getting larger anyway! More generally with apple products, I don't need them to keep "innovating" all the time. My 2013 retina macbook pro is the best laptop I've ever used, and they had to make it thinner and remove a bunch of stuff for no good reason. sigh The latest iphones are marginal improvements over their previous iterations, especially in comparison to how huge a leap each one of the first few iterations were. And this is fine! It means you're approaching a stable, mature product. Stop rejiggering everything. :-(
TYPE_FASTER 8y ago
I've had a LifeProof case on my iPhone for four years, so needed an adapter to use headphones anyway. I recently bought a $25 pair of Anker Bluetooth earbuds. I'm not going back to wired music on my phone. This is better.

44 points by NN88 8y ago

Hmmm. I'm still using the dongle that I bought two years ago - and I use it every day. I don't even have to use a dongle, my phone is an iPhone SE and it has a 3.5 mm audio port. So why do I use the dongle? Because the rest of my family has iPhones without the 3.5 mm audio port and so all our audio devices utilizing a 3.5 mm audio jack all have dongles on them. So it's easier to use the dongle rather than take it off and have to keep track of it. I do use bluetooth headphones while working out and mowing the yard so I don't have the continual distraction of the wire. Though they sound pretty good it's a drag to have to keep them charged and they have a tendency to cut in and out when working outside. So I'd say bluetooth isn't quite there yet.

martin1975 8y ago

I despise the removal of the 3.5 mm jack to this day... and I still do not get why Apple removed it. What exactly did it get in the way of and what was made available by its removal? Worst move ever.

modzu 8y ago
to sell dongles. err, i mean, cuz its the future!
- ozim 8y ago
  Even better sell bluetooth earphones. I have to say I am quite happy with airpods when doing dishes or running. While I am working I still like cable earphones. But all time I see people with wireless ones and it is future. I still remember buying earphones for my walkman, cheap ones lasted couple weeks because cables broke so often. Don't even get me started on untangling cables after taking those out of pocket. Bluetooth earphones are like magic for me, I don't need hover board I know I live in the future. How do they even fit battery for 3 hours, bluetooth module, antena, charging module (it also is saying how much juice each earphone has), audio playback module.
  - modzu 8y ago
    no argument that wireless is great. but why exclusively wireless? we just want the jack as a backup / for those situations when we're using perfectly good older devices its like taking away your charger because you have a battery
protomyth 8y ago
I found it very odd given Apple's commitment to accessibility and the existence of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_ATM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_ATM
JTbane 8y ago
Apple owns Beats Electronics, whose higher-cost headphones are primarily wireless.
Isamu 8y ago
I have a harder time with the macbook going to all usbc connectors. Sorry, I don't have a usb-c to every-damn-thing-in-the-world connector, and yet I have to get useful work done. On the phone I can see the motivation. They are down to one connector port, but really they'd like to get to zero ports. And zero physical buttons if possible. Just a seamless wafer-thin card.
kinsomo 8y ago
> I despise the removal of the 3.5 mm jack to this day... and I still do not get why Apple removed it. What exactly did it get in the way of and what was made available by its removal? Worst move ever. Johnny Ive took "worse is better" too literally.
ksk 8y ago
>What exactly did it get in the way of and what was made available by its removal? They should have sealed the entire phone by moving to wireless charging. Waterproof unibody design would have been an interesting innovation. But instead we lost the jack and now they do stupid stuff like the notch. Also, I don't get the idea of making a personal computing device that is going to get handled a lot and bumped around so thin and fragile. The first thing people do is put a ugly case on their phone and buy a battery pack since it barely has enough charge for a days worth of use.
hbosch 8y ago
I think it's obvious Apple just sees their ideal customer to be totally wireless. AirPods, Apple Watch, iPhone X. It's hard to argue against the convenience of this kind of system, but it's a very narrow funnel that naturally angers anyone who falls outside of it.
tunesmith 8y ago
better water resistance? I've read that the 3.5 mm jack was the previous limiting factor, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.
- Yetanfou 8y ago
  Highly inaccurate given the number of waterproof devices with headphone jacks. $150 'airpods' should give a hint as to why they chose to remove the audio jack.

Overtonwindow 8y ago

The 3.5mm jack was just fine, and I truly believe Apple removed it to sell us something, to further lock us into an ecosystem. It was a business decision. So is mine to switch to Android. I’ve got a 6 plus with the jack and I’m holding on to it, gently, for the day when I’ll go to the store and say give me the best phone with a headphone jack, knowing it likely won’t be the best phone on the market.

Bud 8y ago
You'd best prepare for the time when all major Android phones have dropped the 1/8" jack too, then. It's coming. Rapidly.

sarreph 8y ago

As I much as I am growing tired of HN discussions about Apple products descending into a circle-jerk of "no more innovation" and "dongle-gate", I must state my two gripes that I remain astounded by: - A new iPhone and a new MacBook — out of the box — have no way to physically connect to each other. - A new iPhone comes with earphones that cannot be used with any other device than other iPhones (e.g. not your new Mac). Why have Apple's peripherals been broken for more than 2 years?

fetus8 8y ago
I think this point is vastly understated. Though it's rumored the 2018 iPhones will include a Lightning to USB-C Cable in the box... https://9to5mac.com/2018/05/02/iphone-x-2-fast-charging-bundled/ https://9to5mac.com/2018/05/02/iphone-x-2-fast-charging-bund...

nathantotten 8y ago

I was initially skeptical, but optimistic about the removal of the jack. I thought maybe this would lead to some new headphones with really good DACs or lossless wireless headphones. But alas, it is not so. I’m stuck with my same headphones and a dongle.

yadakhov 8y ago

Just like hoarding Macbook Pro 2015, I have a brand new iPhone 6S Plus with headphone jack as a spare to my current iphone iPhone 6S Plus.

cm2187 8y ago
Did exactly the same (6s #3 is waiting in storage). And preparing myself psychologically to have to retrain my muscle memory when switching to android. Samsung doesn't seem to have given up. The audio jack is just one of many problems. A highly dysfunctional iTunes (critical to sync my mp3), constant nagging for apple paid services, etc. I have more of a problem with the ipad. If they also ditch the audio jack on the ipad, I don't think there is a decent competitor to the ipad pro 10.5 (i.e. bigger, high refresh rate screen).

carlivar 8y ago

> Why don’t you get an Android phone, to which I reply: I’m not turning my texts green. So the author is complaining about proprietary tech on his iPhone (Lightning port analog audio adapter) when open alternatives exist (3.5mm jack), while also claiming other proprietary tech (iMessage) in the face of open alternatives (standard SMS) keeps him using the iPhone.

asdsa5325 8y ago
Apple's business model revolves around making their customers feel superior to others. That's why customers have no problem with seriously overpriced hardware, since it's an effective gate-keeping measure.
Inityx 8y ago
Apple is such an effective cult. https://medium.com/message/its-kind-of-cheesy-being-green-2c72cc9e5eda https://medium.com/message/its-kind-of-cheesy-being-green-2c...
- pdelbarba 8y ago
  Thanks for the link. I've never used an iphone so I was extremely confused by that argument.
- scarface74 8y ago
  So do 40%+ of smart phone users in the US belong to a cult?
j45 8y ago
Most android phones that are comparable to iPhone (direct monthly security updates) are a very short list. Google's Pixel is a great phone, but it has a USB-C phone. I wouldn't go near any other phone for lack of updates, and premature "death" of the phone from lack of updates. The hardware coming from Samsung is excellent, but their software practices are unacceptable when they are at or near the price point of an iPhone.
Kratisto 8y ago

jasonm89 8y ago

I lost my dongle two weeks ago, haven't bothered to buy a new one yet. My bus rides have been silent. :(

j45 8y ago

The poor average battery life of in-ear headphones is a huge problem over time. It doesn't seem possible to be able to use wireless headphones long term, or for long periods - battery life is simply too short for the amount we use digital devices today. 5 hours of continuous use over time, is useless. 10-15 are likely a better goal. I can't just wear in-ear headphones without thinking about having to recharge my headphones. So I own 2 pairs. And then eventually forget to keep them charged too. I've used bluetooth headphones for about a decade before the first phones lost their headphone jacks. The use case was convenience. Connecting to a laptop and phone at the time with some compromises: battery life, and sound quality (less so now). But, there was always a backup to a wired headset. Maybe we'll start to see phone cases with a headphone jack, and a lighting/usb-c case integrated into them. Or a way for bluetooth headphones to wirelessly charge. I'd buy one.

Bud 8y ago
You clearly haven't tried AirPods.
- ac29 8y ago
  https://www.apple.com/airpods/ https://www.apple.com/airpods/ : "you can listen for 5 hours on a single charge"
- j45 8y ago
  Based on.. them falling out easily? Battery life on them is 5 hours each. They have a great experience when they have battery life. Just can't charge them 2-3 times a day.
  - Bud 8y ago
    You clearly haven't used AirPods, as I said earlier to the other commenter. They charge so quickly that if you remove them for 2-3 minutes for an occasional commercial every few hours, they stay charged all day. They charge shockingly quickly. The only reason you would not know that is if, as I said, you had not tried them. Everyone who tries them and uses them for extended periods instantly discovers this.

themgt 8y ago

What I don't understand is why you can buy a usb<->lightning cable for like $5 at any gas station, but afaict all lightning-based headphones are stupid expensive. Couldn't some company just start selling $10 lightning headphones?

wvenable 8y ago
Probably not with Apple's licensing rates.
Bud 8y ago
Uhhhhhh, Apple includes free Lightning headphones with every iPhone sold.

peapicker 8y ago

"Bluetooth audio is not that great" -- that used to be true, but not anymore with the modern editions of the standard and its implementations. I can't really tell a difference anymore. I also have >$100 bluetooth headphones, so that actually is one of the biggest factors in sound quality and lack of cutting out -- the $20 ones off Amazon etc sound not bad, have cutting out issues, etc.

cm2187 8y ago
Even if you like the quality, that's one more battery to baby sit.
mutagen 8y ago
Do you or anyone here have suggestions on the happy versions of the standards and protocols that result in 'can't really tell a difference'? I tried a few years ago and my middle aged 14 kHz roll-off happy with v0 VBR mp3 ears could tell a difference, I finally understood what people were talking about with listening fatigue and the like. Now admittedly it's been a few a few years and my car isn't likely to be able to negotiate a happy protocol but I'd love to get a reasonably priced stereo bluetooth headset that sounded OK.

fragmede 8y ago

I'd like to be smug about Android, except that the Pixel 2 removed the headphone jack as well. There are other Android phones, but now that Apple's removed it from the iPhone, the rest of market is free to copy them. See also: user inaccessible battery, floppy drives, USB (over serial) ports...

aarmenaa 8y ago
Google has you covered on the smugness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rykmwn0SMWU&t=42s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rykmwn0SMWU&t=42s They specifically called out Apple for losing the jack, and a year later the Pixel 2 didn't have one either.

mr_nobody_jr 8y ago

I suspect its a multi-fold corporate strategy move. A) It pushes people to buy Airpods. B) It helps push the image that Apple is avant garde. C) It will make the transition easier when they remove head phone jacks on their laptops. That being said, I agree its not very consumer friendly. There is no reason they couldn't have done this in multiple steps.

staunch 8y ago

My guess is that most everyone at Apple has Airpods and that's why they think it's an improvement worth pushing people towards. I stuck with my wired earbuds for quite a while because I didn't imagine the Airpods were much better than the various bluetooth options I had tried. It turns out that they're much better in terms of range, quality, battery life, etc. They improve the experience of using an iPhone dramatically. Apple should include Airpods with every new iPhone even it means raising the price of the phone by $50-$100. It's the best improvement since high resolution displays and making it non-standard means most people won't even try it. Going back to using a wired earbuds after using the Airpods is a stark reminder of the many small annoyances, like untangling the cable, having the earbuds yanked out of your ear when the cable gets caught, not being able to leave your phone on your desk while you use the phone, etc. I would never choose to go back to wired earbuds after using Airpods and I expect most people would have the same experience.

birken 8y ago

I was formerly a dongle-hater, having gone through at least 3 or 4 of them, all of which broke under what I consider normal usage. I didn't realize you could get them replaced for free either so I spend like $30-40 on them. Then I finally gave in and got airpods, and now I see the light. Airpods are just amazing. I was skeptical at first just like the author, but he is fighting the wrong battle. Holding onto wired headphones and complaining about the 3.5mm jack is completely missed out on how amazing wireless headphones are (note: I have no idea if other wireless headphones are as good as airpods). I can now be charging my phone and walk around my house listening to music. I can seamlessly transition my headphones from my computer to my phone with one click. When I'm working in the shop the cord so longer snags on things and rips the headphones out of my ears. When I'm biking I can just wear one headphone and leave the other one in my pocket instead of having the other headphone dangling down. When running there is no cord bouncing around. And airpods don't even fit my ears, I have to put a little silicone wrapper around them every time I take them out of the charger and I still love them.

tunesmith 8y ago
Which wrapper do you use? I went down that rabbit hole a while ago and couldn't find anything appropriate. It was starting to seem like the best option was to actually get the foam earbud things for better grippiness - advantage being the case will even close over them - but they were still too loose.
- birken 8y ago
  I think finding a wrapper that fits your ear is very dependent on the person, but in my dongle days I used "Yurbuds Inspire 200" headphones, which are somewhat normal looking headphones with a silicone wrapper you put on them that fit my ear perfectly. When I got airpods, I just took the wrapper off the Yurbuds and it fit perfectly on the airpods and then locks nicely into my ear.
lev99 8y ago
My major complaint about airpods is that I routinely use headphones for longer than 4 hours in a single session. Still, I like them so much that I own two pair and swap when the battery is low.

DoofusOfDeath 8y ago

Do we really need this kind of language in the title? It's the difference between me being willing to read this site in front of my little kids vs. not.

iron0013 8y ago
I agree, the word "dongle" is fucking scandalous.

Seanny123 8y ago

I absolutely adore this style of "gonzo" writing. It's like a film directed by Wes Anderson. It's not ideal for every topic, but whenever it shows up I'm delighted.

NN88 8y ago
This was particularly effective. Its risky, but when done well...you get this.

orand 8y ago

For those saying Bluetooth is the answer, that may be true for the vast majority of users, but for musicians using iOS to make music, Bluetooth audio latency is too high in many situations. Additionally, if you're connecting the USB adapter (Camera Connection Kit) to plug in a MIDI keyboard and/or audio interface, you'll need to pass those through a USB hub and add a USB DAC to plug your wired headphones into.

Roboprog 8y ago
Something the “just get an Android” crowd needs to understand - Android isn’t good enough for making music. A $650 Pixel 2 lags behind a $160 iPhone SE in terms of latency and drop-outs: http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2018/02/17/10-years-later-android-audio-quality-still-lags/ http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2018/02/17/10-years-later-... I wonder what the latency is on Bluetooth audio with Apple’s newer peripherals? My experience using Bluetooth speakers at home was “not for playing music” (on a keyboard). At least my ‘SE still has a headphone jack, as does my iPad Mini 2. I usually just use the headphone jack, even if there’s a little bit of noise bleeding across it. OTOH, I do have a powered USB hub with a built in DAC in it, like you mentioned, for plugging in multiple controllers. Thanks for pointing out this latency issue. Hopefully Apple just might reconsider the needs of a somewhat important customer subgroup. Cuz, musicians are cool :-) (And Apple is all about being “cool”, right?)

ag56 8y ago

AirPods are great. Best headphones I've ever had. Totally solve the day to day. But clearly no-one at Apple ever gets on a plane.

alonmower 8y ago
Agreed, I wish you could do something like plug an aux cable into the case and plug it into something and stream audio through that to the AirPods
jvzr 8y ago
You can try Airfly (haven't used it, don't work for them) https://www.twelvesouth.com/product/airfly https://www.twelvesouth.com/product/airfly

coldseattle 8y ago

Meh. _Real_ headphones have 1/4" or 4-pin balanced XLR connectors, like my Grado or Oppo headphones do.

pbuzbee 8y ago

I just want to listen to music on my phone using the same set of headphones that I use for literally every other device that I own, without much/any hassle. But without the headphone jack, this use case becomes harder. Now I suddenly have to accept a trade off: either I (1) spend a lot of money for fancy headphones (e.g. Airpods), (2) deal with cheap Bluetooth headphones, or (3) deal with dongles. My use case used to be simple, but now it costs me money, convenience, or both.

Dramatize 8y ago

If the Macbook Pro had a lightning port, it'd make swapping from the iPhone much easier. Having the dongle floating around while using your Mac is a pain.

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makmanalp 8y ago

My main problem with the jack removal is that not only did it make life worse for many people, but there's really no reason for the removal. You want to convince everyone to use bluetooth headphones, fine! You don't need to get rid of the jack for that. And the space excuse seems like a silly one: They managed to fit one in the quite thin and small iphone 6. The 5 / SE is plenty thin (my preferred phone right now) and has one. Really, I don't need a phone to be smaller than that, and phones keep getting getting larger anyway! More generally with apple products, I don't need them to keep "innovating" all the time. My 2013 retina macbook pro is the best laptop I've ever used, and they had to make it thinner and remove a bunch of stuff for no good reason. sigh The latest iphones are marginal improvements over their previous iterations, especially in comparison to how huge a leap each one of the first few iterations were. And this is fine! It means you're approaching a stable, mature product. Stop rejiggering everything. :-(

TYPE_FASTER 8y ago

I've had a LifeProof case on my iPhone for four years, so needed an adapter to use headphones anyway. I recently bought a $25 pair of Anker Bluetooth earbuds. I'm not going back to wired music on my phone. This is better.