5 ms·

How many current phones have a headphone jack? When I upgraded from my Pixel 4a to the 6a (both running Graphene OS) I never noticed that the headphone jack wa

by mikece 3y ago

How many current phones have a headphone jack? When I upgraded from my Pixel 4a to the 6a (both running Graphene OS) I never noticed that the headphone jack was "missing" because I use a Bose bluetooth headset. And when I want to route the audio through my car speakers? Oh... I have a USB-C pigtail splitter which allows for power to be passed through another UBS-C port and connection to the car audio system through a 3.5mm TRS connector. Seriously: who needs a headphone jack anymore?

jablala 3y ago
Congrats you have a different use case to GP.
cameroncairns 3y ago
Anecdata, but I suspect my current issues with charging my iphone are due to wear on the charging port from using the lightning -> headphone adapter. When looking for a new phone I noticed that many sony phones still provide headphone jacks on their higher end models (xperia 5v, 10v) but generally it seems relegated to cheaper android phones. I hate the waste generated from having battery powered headphones, and generally dislike the batterification of so many products these days. Wires can be messy but they are usually replaceable and I don't have to worry about properly disposing of them as much as I would for an item with a LiON battery. IIRC the xperia phones are just as water/dustproof as the pixels/iphones so not really sure why we had to give up the port other than for maybe a mm of thinness and a reason to sell a new series of audio devices to consumers.
- bluGill 3y ago
  I used Xperia phones for years. However I gave up as if it doesn't come from t-mobile it didn't support all the towers (tmobile uses some weird frequencies in the US) and I'd end up in dead zones all over. Great phones, but too much friction to keep using them.
  - cameroncairns 3y ago
    I wish it was easier to parse/compare the supported cell frequencies list from phone/gsm arena. Especially for devices more targeted at non US markets you can end up missing a lot of useful frequencies. I guess part of the issue is how non standard the US cell networks tend to be (iirc our 5g is also a little weird compared to the rest of the world) It's one of the things I feel like iPhone does right supporting most frequencies even for US models. The new mandatory eSIM on it makes it a no-go for me though when I travel to Europe and want to buy a SIM card at the airport/corner store.
    - bluGill 3y ago
      I.really want a works anywhere in the world phone that supports them all. I.travel once in a while and I want my phone to work (and reasonable roaming in every country)
  - MostlyStable 3y ago
    I almost bought one recently because they are literally the only new phone model that has both of: a headphone jack and no camera cutout. Unfortunately, it seemed like support on google fi was hacky and partial at best (and it wasn't 100% clear you could get it to work at all). I ended up going with the pixel 4, which was the newest phone I could fine that at least didn't have a camera cutout. I have since discovered that in android developer options, you can choose to give up the screen real estate around teh cutout to effectively hide it. Given this, in the future, I'll look for phones that have a jack, worrying less about the cutout. If the Fairphone ever comes to the US with full support, I would strongly consider it, even though I _really_ want a headphone jack. I think that for a fully repairable phone, I might be willing to trade. It appears like my ideal phone is probably never going to exist again, so I'm going to have to compromise on something.
chrysoprace 3y ago
Nobody needs a smartphone; a dumbphone would suffice for most people. We buy smartphones because we want them. For my personal use case I have an expensive pair of headphones which I used to use (lasted over a decade so far) with my Nexus 6P and while using an amp/DAC is better; it's just more convenient to plug and play.
- rcarr 3y ago
  Hard disagree. Not having some kind of device (be that a smart phone, tablet or laptop) is going to make life very difficult, particularly if you have to access any kind of government service in the developed world. Might be different in the US but in the UK almost everything is digital or moving to digital. For example if you're claiming benefits because you're unemployed in the UK then you would be expected to both apply online and log in to an online portal and register all your jobseeking activities which your job advisor will then review to determine if you're putting in enough effort. Failure to do this would result in your unemployment benefits being withdrawn. If you don't own your own device, the only other option would be to go down to the local library where you normally have to pay fees if you're using the computer over 30/60 mins depending on the local authority. If you're having to do this on a regular basis then it's far more economical to own your own device. This is just one example of many.
  - tmtvl 3y ago
    Of all the things which should be accessible without internet, government services should pretty much be number 1 on the list. Especially unemployment benefits, because how is someone without a job going to afford a device which can access the internet plus the corresponding internet access?
    - rcarr 3y ago
      Yeah I completely agree but this is the current reality of modern day UK and I highly doubt it will change. If you don't have a device they literally expect you to go to the library or to the job centre to log your activity data. They may have some kind of device loaning scheme but I have no idea. The sad reality is that the majority of jobs only accept online applications now as well. Hence why I think we're now at the point where a smart phone is no longer a luxury and pretty much a necessity to navigate life in a developed country or at least the UK.
bigstrat2003 3y ago
I need a headphone jack. My car doesn't have an aux input (I have to use a cassette adapter), let alone Bluetooth. It's 20 years old, yes, but it's not that uncommon to have a car that old. More importantly, even if I didn't need one I would still want one. A headphone jack is a universal connection for audio, Bluetooth is not. And wired headphones are strictly superior to wireless headphones, as they don't need to be charged and can't be lost as easily.
- NewJazz 3y ago
  Couldn't you keep an adapter in your car?
- prmoustache 3y ago
  Their are usb-c to jack adapter, some allowing usb-c passthrough for charging, otherr being full blown otg cable with usb-c, usb-a and TRS (the real name for jack). You would leave it attached on the cable that stay attached to your car and you would be fine. Also, there are wired usb-c headphones, my partner is using one.
- ponector 3y ago
  I'm also buying only a phones with audio jack. But for car you can consider modern cassette adapter with Bluetooth and built-in mp3 flash player.
- K7PJP 3y ago
  I'm in the same situation, but I just keep a USB-C to headphone adapter attached to the cassette adapter and I'm good to go.
atoav 3y ago
I do. And I don't even have to explain why an adapter is unpractical foe my applications.
mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago
I prefer wired headsets in general though I do have some bluetooth earbuds. I prefer my headset in the winter. And I'd prefer not to buy a new headset.
toast0 3y ago
Looking at the GSM Arena Phone Finder [1], there's currently 494 cataloged phones released in 2023, and 286 of them have headphone jacks. I won't buy a phone without one, as I want to charge and listen to the movie I'm watching on a plane, and I'm not doing wireless headsets because I hate bluetooth and I hate unnecessary audio latency. [1] https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3 https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3
- PennRobotics 3y ago
  This feels misleading. As soon as you add a minimum price, there are 236 phones---implying those are probably prohibitively difficult to buy in the U.S. or West Europe. Cursory browsing... There's Infinix (serves mostly Africa and Asia) and Tecno (popular in India) and a few other brands that are mainly released in Asia. Beyond that, can you really count all 14 "Redmi" as separate phones when some only differentiate "5G" or "not 5G"? Same with various "Fan" or "VIP" editions, which typically tweak one or two peripherals? Are you really in the market for vivo, Realme, TCL, Oukitel? Or a specialist/rugged brand like Ulefone or Doogee? Ironically, the most popular handset made outside of China for a worldwide market is the Galaxy A24, which has a horrendous single on-board speaker. So much for audiophilia! (In fairness, as soon as you restrict Chinese and Hong Kong headsets, you're down to just a few brands. Weird tangent, it's nice to see Nokia putting out spec-competitive mid-market Android phones. I might get one next because Asus and Sony are sticking with two OS upgrades.) Then I fell into a rabbit hole and plotted the GSM Arena prices of phones with jacks and without: https://gitlab.com/PennRobotics/permalink/-/raw/main/handset-price-jack-or-not.png https://gitlab.com/PennRobotics/permalink/-/raw/main/handset... From that, I can fathom that headphone jacks are largely bullshit features tacked on to devkit-derived bargain bin phones, which creates a huge peak in jacked sub-$150 units. From $300 up, where you expect good peripheral selection and a normal Android experience, it's clear that headphone jacks are in the minority. I was in the same boat: gotta have headphone jack. The best player here was LG. Keyword: was. Now I'm convinced that until phone makers actually prioritize wired audio, the better path forward (and which won't be long-term obsolete) is picking the smartphone with the best overall specs/support plus a USB splitter and whichever grade of USB DAC you prefer to drive your headphones. It's easier for the manufacturer to waterproof their case and gives more room for battery, etc. This also lets you quickly transfer your preferred hardware to a tablet/laptop/desktop, which seems like a pain unless you're in love with something high-impedance like HD600, ATH-R70, DT990, etc.
ponector 3y ago
Who needs jack? Anyone who has good wired headphones. Or issues with Bluetooth headset. Or need to have wired audio output together with wired charging. I hope more phones will be available with audio jack.
toastercat 3y ago
> Seriously: who needs a headphone jack anymore? People born before the year 2005 who don't throw away perfectly working electronics when a new shiny alternative comes around the corner.
autoexec 3y ago
> who needs a headphone jack anymore? Anyone who wants to listen to music with headphones and doesn't want to be tracked via bluetooth. Bluetooth tracking beacons are used extensively and can log your location within a foot of where the beacon is placed or from as far as 20 miles away. Bluetooth also increases your security risk. There have already been several exploits with bluetooth over the years.
- Moldoteck 3y ago
  but you can get an adapter, no?
lukeschlather 3y ago
I can't instantly switch audio inputs to my phone with Bluetooth when I'm in an unfamiliar location. If there's a jack I can plug in and play music in seconds. If it's bluetooth... could be 30 seconds, could be 5-10 minutes before I can get the bluetooth working. Meanwhile the music is off. Maybe I just wanted to share one song, but I've possibly killed the party. Not even worth the risk. Headphone jacks are really excellent and just work. I've lost hours of my life troubleshooting Bluetooth.
wwweston 3y ago
Bluetooth's downsides: * Pairing UX is unreliable and has corner cases that even Apple hasn't solved and they're probably the best case. 1/8" is predictable and reliable (and doesn't require extra thought / kit to make sure you can power at the same time). * Battery life isn't an issue for wired headphones. * Latency is unacceptable for some use cases (mostly specialized audio), and sometimes audio quality is degraded too. I like wireless audio, (especially for workout listening) but I miss the headphone jack on my original iphone 5 SE at least once a week.

by mikece 3y ago

jablala 3y ago

Congrats you have a different use case to GP.

cameroncairns 3y ago

Anecdata, but I suspect my current issues with charging my iphone are due to wear on the charging port from using the lightning -> headphone adapter. When looking for a new phone I noticed that many sony phones still provide headphone jacks on their higher end models (xperia 5v, 10v) but generally it seems relegated to cheaper android phones. I hate the waste generated from having battery powered headphones, and generally dislike the batterification of so many products these days. Wires can be messy but they are usually replaceable and I don't have to worry about properly disposing of them as much as I would for an item with a LiON battery. IIRC the xperia phones are just as water/dustproof as the pixels/iphones so not really sure why we had to give up the port other than for maybe a mm of thinness and a reason to sell a new series of audio devices to consumers.

bluGill 3y ago
I used Xperia phones for years. However I gave up as if it doesn't come from t-mobile it didn't support all the towers (tmobile uses some weird frequencies in the US) and I'd end up in dead zones all over. Great phones, but too much friction to keep using them.
- cameroncairns 3y ago
  I wish it was easier to parse/compare the supported cell frequencies list from phone/gsm arena. Especially for devices more targeted at non US markets you can end up missing a lot of useful frequencies. I guess part of the issue is how non standard the US cell networks tend to be (iirc our 5g is also a little weird compared to the rest of the world) It's one of the things I feel like iPhone does right supporting most frequencies even for US models. The new mandatory eSIM on it makes it a no-go for me though when I travel to Europe and want to buy a SIM card at the airport/corner store.
  - bluGill 3y ago
    I.really want a works anywhere in the world phone that supports them all. I.travel once in a while and I want my phone to work (and reasonable roaming in every country)
- MostlyStable 3y ago
  I almost bought one recently because they are literally the only new phone model that has both of: a headphone jack and no camera cutout. Unfortunately, it seemed like support on google fi was hacky and partial at best (and it wasn't 100% clear you could get it to work at all). I ended up going with the pixel 4, which was the newest phone I could fine that at least didn't have a camera cutout. I have since discovered that in android developer options, you can choose to give up the screen real estate around teh cutout to effectively hide it. Given this, in the future, I'll look for phones that have a jack, worrying less about the cutout. If the Fairphone ever comes to the US with full support, I would strongly consider it, even though I _really_ want a headphone jack. I think that for a fully repairable phone, I might be willing to trade. It appears like my ideal phone is probably never going to exist again, so I'm going to have to compromise on something.

chrysoprace 3y ago

Nobody needs a smartphone; a dumbphone would suffice for most people. We buy smartphones because we want them. For my personal use case I have an expensive pair of headphones which I used to use (lasted over a decade so far) with my Nexus 6P and while using an amp/DAC is better; it's just more convenient to plug and play.

rcarr 3y ago
Hard disagree. Not having some kind of device (be that a smart phone, tablet or laptop) is going to make life very difficult, particularly if you have to access any kind of government service in the developed world. Might be different in the US but in the UK almost everything is digital or moving to digital. For example if you're claiming benefits because you're unemployed in the UK then you would be expected to both apply online and log in to an online portal and register all your jobseeking activities which your job advisor will then review to determine if you're putting in enough effort. Failure to do this would result in your unemployment benefits being withdrawn. If you don't own your own device, the only other option would be to go down to the local library where you normally have to pay fees if you're using the computer over 30/60 mins depending on the local authority. If you're having to do this on a regular basis then it's far more economical to own your own device. This is just one example of many.
- tmtvl 3y ago
  Of all the things which should be accessible without internet, government services should pretty much be number 1 on the list. Especially unemployment benefits, because how is someone without a job going to afford a device which can access the internet plus the corresponding internet access?
  - rcarr 3y ago
    Yeah I completely agree but this is the current reality of modern day UK and I highly doubt it will change. If you don't have a device they literally expect you to go to the library or to the job centre to log your activity data. They may have some kind of device loaning scheme but I have no idea. The sad reality is that the majority of jobs only accept online applications now as well. Hence why I think we're now at the point where a smart phone is no longer a luxury and pretty much a necessity to navigate life in a developed country or at least the UK.

bigstrat2003 3y ago

I need a headphone jack. My car doesn't have an aux input (I have to use a cassette adapter), let alone Bluetooth. It's 20 years old, yes, but it's not that uncommon to have a car that old. More importantly, even if I didn't need one I would still want one. A headphone jack is a universal connection for audio, Bluetooth is not. And wired headphones are strictly superior to wireless headphones, as they don't need to be charged and can't be lost as easily.

NewJazz 3y ago
Couldn't you keep an adapter in your car?
prmoustache 3y ago
Their are usb-c to jack adapter, some allowing usb-c passthrough for charging, otherr being full blown otg cable with usb-c, usb-a and TRS (the real name for jack). You would leave it attached on the cable that stay attached to your car and you would be fine. Also, there are wired usb-c headphones, my partner is using one.
ponector 3y ago
I'm also buying only a phones with audio jack. But for car you can consider modern cassette adapter with Bluetooth and built-in mp3 flash player.
K7PJP 3y ago
I'm in the same situation, but I just keep a USB-C to headphone adapter attached to the cassette adapter and I'm good to go.

atoav 3y ago

I do. And I don't even have to explain why an adapter is unpractical foe my applications.

mtlmtlmtlmtl 3y ago

I prefer wired headsets in general though I do have some bluetooth earbuds. I prefer my headset in the winter. And I'd prefer not to buy a new headset.

toast0 3y ago

Looking at the GSM Arena Phone Finder [1], there's currently 494 cataloged phones released in 2023, and 286 of them have headphone jacks. I won't buy a phone without one, as I want to charge and listen to the movie I'm watching on a plane, and I'm not doing wireless headsets because I hate bluetooth and I hate unnecessary audio latency. [1] https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3 https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3

PennRobotics 3y ago
This feels misleading. As soon as you add a minimum price, there are 236 phones---implying those are probably prohibitively difficult to buy in the U.S. or West Europe. Cursory browsing... There's Infinix (serves mostly Africa and Asia) and Tecno (popular in India) and a few other brands that are mainly released in Asia. Beyond that, can you really count all 14 "Redmi" as separate phones when some only differentiate "5G" or "not 5G"? Same with various "Fan" or "VIP" editions, which typically tweak one or two peripherals? Are you really in the market for vivo, Realme, TCL, Oukitel? Or a specialist/rugged brand like Ulefone or Doogee? Ironically, the most popular handset made outside of China for a worldwide market is the Galaxy A24, which has a horrendous single on-board speaker. So much for audiophilia! (In fairness, as soon as you restrict Chinese and Hong Kong headsets, you're down to just a few brands. Weird tangent, it's nice to see Nokia putting out spec-competitive mid-market Android phones. I might get one next because Asus and Sony are sticking with two OS upgrades.) Then I fell into a rabbit hole and plotted the GSM Arena prices of phones with jacks and without: https://gitlab.com/PennRobotics/permalink/-/raw/main/handset-price-jack-or-not.png https://gitlab.com/PennRobotics/permalink/-/raw/main/handset... From that, I can fathom that headphone jacks are largely bullshit features tacked on to devkit-derived bargain bin phones, which creates a huge peak in jacked sub-$150 units. From $300 up, where you expect good peripheral selection and a normal Android experience, it's clear that headphone jacks are in the minority. I was in the same boat: gotta have headphone jack. The best player here was LG. Keyword: was. Now I'm convinced that until phone makers actually prioritize wired audio, the better path forward (and which won't be long-term obsolete) is picking the smartphone with the best overall specs/support plus a USB splitter and whichever grade of USB DAC you prefer to drive your headphones. It's easier for the manufacturer to waterproof their case and gives more room for battery, etc. This also lets you quickly transfer your preferred hardware to a tablet/laptop/desktop, which seems like a pain unless you're in love with something high-impedance like HD600, ATH-R70, DT990, etc.

ponector 3y ago

Who needs jack? Anyone who has good wired headphones. Or issues with Bluetooth headset. Or need to have wired audio output together with wired charging. I hope more phones will be available with audio jack.

toastercat 3y ago

> Seriously: who needs a headphone jack anymore? People born before the year 2005 who don't throw away perfectly working electronics when a new shiny alternative comes around the corner.

autoexec 3y ago

> who needs a headphone jack anymore? Anyone who wants to listen to music with headphones and doesn't want to be tracked via bluetooth. Bluetooth tracking beacons are used extensively and can log your location within a foot of where the beacon is placed or from as far as 20 miles away. Bluetooth also increases your security risk. There have already been several exploits with bluetooth over the years.

Moldoteck 3y ago
but you can get an adapter, no?

lukeschlather 3y ago

I can't instantly switch audio inputs to my phone with Bluetooth when I'm in an unfamiliar location. If there's a jack I can plug in and play music in seconds. If it's bluetooth... could be 30 seconds, could be 5-10 minutes before I can get the bluetooth working. Meanwhile the music is off. Maybe I just wanted to share one song, but I've possibly killed the party. Not even worth the risk. Headphone jacks are really excellent and just work. I've lost hours of my life troubleshooting Bluetooth.

wwweston 3y ago

Bluetooth's downsides: * Pairing UX is unreliable and has corner cases that even Apple hasn't solved and they're probably the best case. 1/8" is predictable and reliable (and doesn't require extra thought / kit to make sure you can power at the same time). * Battery life isn't an issue for wired headphones. * Latency is unacceptable for some use cases (mostly specialized audio), and sometimes audio quality is degraded too. I like wireless audio, (especially for workout listening) but I miss the headphone jack on my original iphone 5 SE at least once a week.