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Steve Wozniak Says Apple Must Fix iPhone 7 Bluetooth Or Revive Its Headphone Jack (afr.com)

We've talked extensively about the missing headphone jack on the upcoming iPhone. While some say that the move will ruin user experience -- something that has already started to seem that way in the real world -- a few argue that someone needs to push the needle to move the technology forward. Now Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has something to say about the missing legacy audio jack as well. He is asking Apple to fix the Bluetooth first if the company intends to give users to move to wireless headphones. From a Financial Review report: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has warned Apple is going to frustrate a lot of customers if it removes the headphone jack from the upcoming iPhone 7. [...] Customers wanting to use their existing, wired earbuds and headphones might have to buy an adaptor that attaches to the iPhone's Lightning port, or to whatever port does remain on the phone. "If it's missing the 3.5mm earphone jack, that's going to tick off a lot of people," Mr Wozniak told The Australian Financial Review. "I would not use Bluetooth ... I don't like wireless. I have cars where you can plug in the music, or go through Bluetooth, and Bluetooth just sounds so flat for the same music." Mr Wozniak said he would probably use the adaptor to connect his existing earphones to his next iPhone, and said that, like many other users he is attached to the accessories that he uses alongside the phone. "Mine have custom ear implants, they fit in so comfortably, I can sleep on them and everything. And they only come out with one kind of jack, so ''ll have to go through the adaptor," he said. "If there's a Bluetooth 2 that has higher bandwidth and better quality, that sounds like real music, I would use it. But we'll see. Apple is good at moving towards the future, and I like to follow that."

13 of 385 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This is the same guy by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Doesn't mean he isn't right.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  2. Thin end of the wedge by AndrewLee6362 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think Bluetooth audio sounds very poor, but I also feel there could be something else as the endgame here. Step one - wireless headphones are cool, get everyone using them and don't worry about audio quality, just overcook the bass. Step two - eliminate the headphone jack so no one can connect analogue headphones anymore. Step three - introduce DRM on the phone and ensure that only DRM protected audio can be played across the connection. Result - the RIAA and their associates are super happy. Maybe I'm paranoid, but it's what HDCP purports to do for HDMI.

  3. Fix it? lol by slashmydots · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oh, they're going to "fix" it? What do users love more than 1 battery to worry about and having it run dry at just the right time? TWO BATTERIES! Yay, wireless headphones! Good luck "fixing" that, lol.

  4. Please, Please, Don't Buy It by BrendaEM · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Come on people, you don't have to validate the RIAA's meddling in our phones.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
  5. There is no "removing" of anything... by Black.Shuck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...they're just rumoured to be shipping the phone without one.

    That's not removing. Nobody is having their existing phone amputated. The SE and 6S series will still ship after the release of the new phone, and they have headphone jacks. The existing, shipped devices have their headphone jacks.

    If the new phone doesn't have a headphone jack, it'll be all over the Internet. There will be almost no way to avoid knowing that the iPhone 7 doesn't have a headphone jack.

    Any "frustration" felt by users who then go and bye one, *knowing* that it doesn't have a headphone jack, *seeing* in the store that it doesn't have a headphone jack, having an Apple employing trying to up-sell them Bluetooth headphones after *telling* them it doesn't have a headphone jack... well, I have a suggestion for where they can plug their existing headphones.

  6. Re:This is the same guy by NotAPK · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "It appears that Bluetooth 5.0 may provide support for higher quality audio"

    So the sane decision is to wait until BT5.0 is out, widely adopted, and stable, before cutting the cord, yes?

  7. Bluetooth no thanks. by JustNiz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Noticeably crappier sound quality, plus yet another device that needs charging and can fail before my phone battery does, and is more expensinve, for what benefit? The lack of a cable that never bothered me anyway? I just dont get it.

  8. Re:This is the same guy by Jawnn · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Doesn't mean he isn't right.

    Maybe, but he should do some research on Bluetooth before making recommendations. It appears that Bluetooth 5.0 may provide support for higher quality audio.

    From Wiki: Bluetooth 5 was announced in June 2016. It will quadruple the range, double the speed, and an eight-fold increase in data broadcasting capacity of low energy Bluetooth connections, in addition to adding functionality for connection-less services like location-relevant information and navigation

    Oh, well then. That's different. That ought to allow me to play my mp3 files, in all their shitty lossy resolution, quite faithfully. Jeezuz, talk about a pointless gripe. Fix the music industry's (and Apple's) focus on mp3 first, then we can bitch about the fidelity of Bluetooth.

  9. Let me show you to your prison cell.... by BlytheBowman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    a few argue that someone needs to push the needle to move the technology forward.#### What the hell for? Why fix something if it isn't broken? The only forward I see is where everything is encrypted, locked down, welded shut, and sealed in exposy so you can't do anything without your new masters' blessing This future - DO. NOT. WANT.

    1. Re:Let me show you to your prison cell.... by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      We could even argue about what forward means in the first place. Removing something that has worked fine for decades and is still in use today doesn't seem like progress to me.

  10. Jobs was the face of Apple, not the heart of Apple by perpenso · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Steve Jobs that made Apple what it was

    According to Wall Street but engineers tend to feel very differently. The simple truth is that it was a partnership. Without the revolutionary hardware design of Woz, Jobs wouldn't have had such a low cost and capable machine to sell. There are engineers as talented as Woz, and pitchmen as talented as Jobs, that have not had "great" success because they never met their peer from the other side.

    Similarly Jobs' success with the Mac and iPhone also relied on extremely talented engineers, required them.

    Jobs was the face of Apple, not the heart of Apple. That heart lies in the engineering talent.

  11. Re:This is the same guy by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually it is. It is short hand for:

    * What have you done that is even 1/10 as meaningful as what Woz has accomplished?
    * Where are your devices that helped change the world?
    * Where is your computer langue?
    * Where were you when they were _creating_ the personal computer movement?
    * After starting a fortune 50 company why _isn't_ Woz allowed to "retire"?
    * Why are you so insecure that you must put down others?
    * Why do you criticize others when you're too afraid to even use a real name?

    Only a troll criticizes a visionary and great engineer due to their own insecurity.

  12. Re:This is the same guy by macs4all · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Other than being a first class engineer and proven visionary?

    You are a massive retard if you think he has any vision. Jobs had the vision. This moron was still pushing the Apple II well after it was obsolete. Every venture this guy has been in after he left Apple has been a massive failure.

    Why don't you Log In and Repeat that Post, COWARD?