6 ms·

I do like wireless, for a different kind of reliability: never ever having to worry that I'm going to snap off the plug in my phone, pull the jack off the circ

by Frondo 8y ago

I do like wireless, for a different kind of reliability: never ever having to worry that I'm going to snap off the plug in my phone, pull the jack off the circuit board from sitting on it wrong, whatever. When I sit down on the train, last thing I want is to sit on my phone wrong and wreck the phone and the headphones at the same time. Moving parts and physical connections are fragile. Wireless connections solve that fragility. Agreed that pairing sucks, but that's a solvable problem.

mcdevilkiller 8y ago
Why are you sitting on your phone, in the first place?
- Frondo 8y ago
  While I'm not the most careful person in the world, I'm also not the most incautious; I think it's probably not an uncommon experience for people who do regularly ride trains--e.g. those of us living in big cities where you commute by train instead of your car--that you sit and you realize you're sitting on your coat in an odd way that's got your phone in the pocket underneath you where you're sitting. I mean, at some level, come on and use your imagination. People riding the metro don't always have total control over getting their belongings situated properly when the train's packed and there's a lot of bustling around. I assure you this experience is not unique to me.
  - _Tev 8y ago
    That's weird, it took me half a year (commuting daily) to go from "carrying phone in jeans' back pocket is practical" to "I have to take out phone from the pocket _every time_ before I sit". No problems ever since. But I guess I learn fast ... Unless it's setting up some wireless crap.
    - Frondo 8y ago
      Hey that's great. You know what? With the wireless earbuds, I never have to think about that again. I can throw my phone in my pocket, any pocket, and leave it there while I get crammed into a metro car. So, I guess there are tradeoffs -- and fixing pairing means everyone can enjoy freedom from one more wire, while keeping on using a wire means we keep adapting our behaviors around a wire.
      - _Tev 8y ago
        I am looking forward to the day when the pairing will be fixed ...
      - neuralRiot 8y ago
        Don't forget that you can still have a headphone jack AND bluetooth, the problem here is the removal of one as i'm sure many people would be mad if nex gen phones would dump bluetooth and use wired-only audio.
soundwave106 8y ago
I personally think the 3.5mm TRS jack is more reliable than Bluetooth :) but I would like to comment that this is not the most durable jack out there, so the relative fragility of 3.5mm also is a solvable problem. The music industry standard for instrument cables is 1/4" TS for unbalanced instrument audio, 1/4" TRS for a few things like monitoring headphones, and XLR cables for most everything else. XLR in particular is a very durable system, unless you get a very badly made XLR cable or jack I would never call this system "fragile". Even 1/4" is quite an improvement durability wise over 3.5mm. XLR is not exactly a very portable jack, but a mini-XLR jack does exist -- not as portable as TRS 3.5mm, of course. But if increasing jack durability is such a concern on a more portable device, this connector is an option. Same with using 1/4" TRS, this is a connector which has the advantage of having more headphone options with this option built in (most headphones marketed for studios should be 1/4" TRS or at least have that option). None of the above are as portable as 3.5mm and I think this connector is "durable enough" to where I doubt it is such a priority for most phone consumers to give up some phone thickness for better durability. But in professional music applications there is a reason why 3.5mm is relatively rare.
ardacinar 8y ago
Well, you can always sit on your phone wrong in the train (or do something physical 'wrong') and wreck 'something' (most likely the screen - coincidental evidence i've seen more phones with broken screen than ones with broken headphone jacks), headphone or not. Why aren't you advocating for the removal of screens from phones?
cm2187 8y ago
I wouldn't call wireless "not fragile". It is notoriously unreliable (connection dropping problems, pairing problems, etc).

by Frondo 8y ago

mcdevilkiller 8y ago

Why are you sitting on your phone, in the first place?

Frondo 8y ago
While I'm not the most careful person in the world, I'm also not the most incautious; I think it's probably not an uncommon experience for people who do regularly ride trains--e.g. those of us living in big cities where you commute by train instead of your car--that you sit and you realize you're sitting on your coat in an odd way that's got your phone in the pocket underneath you where you're sitting. I mean, at some level, come on and use your imagination. People riding the metro don't always have total control over getting their belongings situated properly when the train's packed and there's a lot of bustling around. I assure you this experience is not unique to me.
- _Tev 8y ago
  That's weird, it took me half a year (commuting daily) to go from "carrying phone in jeans' back pocket is practical" to "I have to take out phone from the pocket _every time_ before I sit". No problems ever since. But I guess I learn fast ... Unless it's setting up some wireless crap.
  - Frondo 8y ago
    Hey that's great. You know what? With the wireless earbuds, I never have to think about that again. I can throw my phone in my pocket, any pocket, and leave it there while I get crammed into a metro car. So, I guess there are tradeoffs -- and fixing pairing means everyone can enjoy freedom from one more wire, while keeping on using a wire means we keep adapting our behaviors around a wire.
    - _Tev 8y ago
      I am looking forward to the day when the pairing will be fixed ...
    - neuralRiot 8y ago
      Don't forget that you can still have a headphone jack AND bluetooth, the problem here is the removal of one as i'm sure many people would be mad if nex gen phones would dump bluetooth and use wired-only audio.

soundwave106 8y ago

I personally think the 3.5mm TRS jack is more reliable than Bluetooth :) but I would like to comment that this is not the most durable jack out there, so the relative fragility of 3.5mm also is a solvable problem. The music industry standard for instrument cables is 1/4" TS for unbalanced instrument audio, 1/4" TRS for a few things like monitoring headphones, and XLR cables for most everything else. XLR in particular is a very durable system, unless you get a very badly made XLR cable or jack I would never call this system "fragile". Even 1/4" is quite an improvement durability wise over 3.5mm. XLR is not exactly a very portable jack, but a mini-XLR jack does exist -- not as portable as TRS 3.5mm, of course. But if increasing jack durability is such a concern on a more portable device, this connector is an option. Same with using 1/4" TRS, this is a connector which has the advantage of having more headphone options with this option built in (most headphones marketed for studios should be 1/4" TRS or at least have that option). None of the above are as portable as 3.5mm and I think this connector is "durable enough" to where I doubt it is such a priority for most phone consumers to give up some phone thickness for better durability. But in professional music applications there is a reason why 3.5mm is relatively rare.

ardacinar 8y ago

Well, you can always sit on your phone wrong in the train (or do something physical 'wrong') and wreck 'something' (most likely the screen - coincidental evidence i've seen more phones with broken screen than ones with broken headphone jacks), headphone or not. Why aren't you advocating for the removal of screens from phones?

cm2187 8y ago

I wouldn't call wireless "not fragile". It is notoriously unreliable (connection dropping problems, pairing problems, etc).