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Samsung's Upcoming Galaxy S8 Flagship Smartphone Won't Have a Headphone Jack: Report (sammobile.com)
Samsung is planning to ditch headphone jack in its next flagship smartphone, called the Samsung Galaxy S8, reports SamMobile, a Samsung-focused blog that has a pretty good track record with these things. From the report: Removing the 3.5mm headphone jack enables Samsung to make the Galaxy S8 thinner while also freeing up more space inside for a bigger battery. Samsung may also integrate stereo speakers which some believe will be made in collaboration with Harman, a company that Samsung is acquiring for $8 billion.
Guess who's not buying an S8?
thinner = more likely to blow up can we get one with sd card, battery you can swap, etc.
Do people really want thinner phones? They all seem to put big old protective cases around them anyway.
Wasn't there an article yesterday saying that the battery problems with the G7 Note largely due to it being too thin? Which, given the circumstances seems to be a fairly strong thesis for the trouble. So why try to go thinner?
I get there's a lead time on design and engineering and that it's quite likely this particular design has been in the works before the Note 7 was even out the door. But it seems like poor management to not backup and start over just to be certain the same design flaws don't happen again. Starting by not having thinness as a goal.
Then again, I'm not an exec working on their quarterly bonus. I'm just a guy on the internet.
Wasn't the problem that was found with the burning ("exploding") Samsung S7 Note the fact that they made it too thin without enough space for the battery? Did they not learn their lesson?
Also, I want a headphone jack. I love my headphone jack on my Samsung S7 active. I can plug many things into it, many things I already own. It's flexible, compatible, a great thing. I don't want a super thin phone. I just want a fast, reliable, convenient, water-proof phone that has flexible and standard connectivity with a battery that can get me through 24 hours of heavy use without needing to charge all the time. I'll pay money for that, not for some fragile, super-thin device that needs to be charged all the time.
A) Why isn't Samsung leveraging the fact that their product includes a certain feature and B) Why are we going backwards?? You're supposed to be 'innovating' Samsung...
wireless earbuds, adapters and what not. I'm not a fan of Apple or Samsung. In my opinion, BOTH are overpriced to the point I can find a good quality phone,with similar features for HALF the cost.
enables Samsung to make the Galaxy S8 thinner
What is this fucking obsession with making phones thinner? I want a phone that's sturdy. I wouldn't mind my phone being two or even three times as thick, if it could have double or triple the battery life. What I don't want is a fragile, dainty phone that's going to snap in half if I hold it the wrong way. Who is asking for thinner phones?
"If there was a gay Afro-Puertorican Linux distribution, I'd give it a try" ~lucm
Apple should sue Samsung for copying the iPhone...oh wait
I'd rather a headphone jack than my phone to be slightly thinner.
Phones have been thin enough since 2010. Having a thinner phone is exactly dead last on my list of priorities... about two or three spots below having a headphone jack.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
You can always use Bluetooth headphones.
I can do that now. This is a limiting move that really only has negatives. Personally, I'm move off Samsung the next phone I buy. If I wanted an iPhone I'd buy one.
Yeah, and get lower quality audio... but it's an option. I'd rather get a different phone.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
My daughter purchased the new jackless iPhone. The misplacing of the adapter for a non-bluetooth pair of headphones has been occurring on a semi-regular basis. Its a terrible design decision. Not everyone wants to also charge their bluetooth headphones. Now, if they introduce a line of bt headphones that cost 20 bucks and don't suck we might be getting somewhere. Or at least include them instead of making it an upcharge.
...you are fucked.
Seriously, that seems to be the extent of the logic some of the manufacturers use. Apple has/had an obsession with thin, Apple did well, therefore we need to have an obsession with thin.
Personally, I say fuck that. Phones have gotten anywhere from thin enough to too thin. I had a Note 3 for a few years, which I was completely fine with in terms of thickness. However I recently got an LG G5 which is just slightly thicker, and I actually like it better. The slight extra thickness, combined with rounded edged, makes it really comfortable to hold. Of all the smartphones I've had it fits in my hand the very best. I think they've got it pretty close to perfect in therms of thickness.
Oh and it manages to have a removable battery, headphone jack, and SD card so that's nice as well.
I get annoyed with the worship of the cult of thin. I understand the interest back in the day, I had an early Windows CE smartphone which was a massive brick and ya, I wanted something smaller. However we have gotten to the point where they are plenty thin enough and going thinner is less ergonomic, not more.
We're so innovative, we even copy our own competitors when they make a decision that's been widely ridiculed!
FFS, Samsung, you used to think for yourself AND make better decisions.
It will also be made thinner such that battery is squeezed so tight that there is impact/compression between the layers as it gets charged.
What could go wrong?
Still have to carry wired headphones when you travel anyways, until they install Bluetooth at each individual seat on the airplane!
No.
No sig here...
Seriously who has an S7 and think damn, this phone is just too thick.
Headphone jack or thinner, headphone jack or thinner.
GIVE ME THE FREAKING HEADPHONE JACK!
I can't believe we're sitting here, I'm 37 years old, and I'm finally getting stereo speakers. It's about time. I can't wait to turn 50, and get a headphone jack.
Judging from their recent track record, looks like we'll get to look forward to even bigger explosions in the future.
Except that in this case Samsung has a long history of copying Apple and apparently it seems to extend to even copying their stupid ideas. However it would be ironic if they put a USB-C on the phone and used that for the earphones too because then their phone would be more compatible with the new MacBooks than the iPhone.
Time to identify the best phone with 3.5mm jack, SD slot and removeable battery and buy it.
and I'm a Samsung 'fan' - well, I was. They keep being morons over and over and it's getting tiresome.
The ONLY reason I stick with them is the physical home button, if they pull that, force edge displays and remove the headphone jack? Yeah, bye bye.
I own an S5, and was considering getting an S8, but unless someone can give me a better reason than "thinner, more battery room!" then I'll gladly wait for someone else to come along and eat Samsung's lunch.
... that a recent court decision had determined that Samsung was *NOT* really copying Apple. I guess this clears that up.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
But my radio in my truck does not have blue tooth, it does have an aux port. If the choices are buy a new radio or choose a different phone, which way do you think I am going to go?
I would think Samsung would be smarter then to drive away potential customers now.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
I've had a GS2, GS4, GS5, and my wife had a Note3/
We just recently bought Asus' Zenphone Laser3. Thus far I've noticed that performs just as well as any other phone I've had, with the extra features of Android 6. It also gets *much* better battery life than any Samsung I've ever owned. At $270CAD, it's significantly cheaper than the major Samsung models, but has better specs than their "cheap" models (e.g. better CPU, 32GB instead of 8GB storage), and comes factory unlocked (with none of that lock-to-the-first-SIM-card-used BS either).
The only downside I've seen to it thus far is that it doesn't have a removable battery like the ZF2 had, lacks wireless charging (Asus: PLEASE add this to the next model), and you can't have a second SIM card if you want to use a MicroSD.
Least to say, I don't see myself with any need to buy an S8 or any other Samsung. The more recent models already did away with removable batteries and don't support dual-SIM, so the only advantage they seem to have is the wireless charging. While I do love the charging, it's not a feature that I'm willing to pay double the price for nor submit myself to Samsung's dearth of updates for any non-current device.
You can always use Bluetooth headphones.
You can try.
1. The battery goes dead after a short period of time, so then you can't.
2. You are in a WiFi-rich environment, which means you get about a 1' range for your bluetooth. I've actually been in places where even with the phone in my shirt pocket, if I turned my head left or right the signal was lost.
3. You have a smart watch which is linked via bluetooth, in which case you can't link a headphone at the same time (I've tried.)
4. You want to feed the audio to some wired system. (Yes there are bluetooth to jack adapters, but the one I have never seems to have a charged battery, so refer to #1).
We know this since at least September, a simple search in google gives me this for instance: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ew...
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
I must be outnumbered in the general public- I really like the headphone jack on my phone and use it almost daily. It sure looks like here on /. I am not alone. Somehow these big companies must have concluded that most customers don't feel the same way.
Apple, I think it is, is running an ad with some old guy sitting at the pool who turns the volume up on his iPhone and leaves it blaring on the table next to his lounge chair while he goes up and does a high dive. Thank goodness nobody with a brick handy wants to listen to anything other than the mariachi music at high volume that this guy is playing, or we'd see what it really means to have a thin phone and lithium battery fire.
Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. The boom box of the 2020's is on our doorstep. No, in the streets and in the subways and at the park and ...
Every other report that I can find of this news anywhere on the web links back to Sammobile, who says that they can somehow "exclusively confirm" this, but does not mention *how*, exactly, that they were able to confirm it... The only reasons that I can imagine that they would not give this information are if they had acquired it by doing something of questionable legality and almost certainly unethical, or else they are just making shit up.
Maybe it's bullshit, and maybe not... but something's definitely not right here, and I think it's socially irresponsible to propagate this kind of story when it can't be confirmed.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Would be curious to see a poll on this - do phones need to get any thinner?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Buy a new truck?
Dongles!
Boy, are they going to get sued by Apple for not having a headphone jack.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
What a courageous choice! I commend their courage!
Unfortunately, I am a coward and will not be able to courageously buy one of these phones without a headphone jack. I'm so cowardly I didn't buy a phone without an SD slot when they removed those either and instead got a Blu Quattro (fortunately not affected by the phone-home app that was installed but it now runs CyanogenMod at any rate).
I like thick phones and I can not lie ...
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with a really thin phone
And a flat thing in your face
I couldn't resist with all the comments about not wanting thin phones.
Beware of the Redittor who loans you a Sharpie.
I love when vendors think they are so big it magically earns them a license to dictate terms to their customers.
Depending on where you live anywhere between 25% and 75% iPhone owners around you will have chosen to place their phones in bulky protective cases. Millions of people want shit that works not glossy marketing gimmicks that are actually a liability (piss poor battery life, fire hazard, fragile, harder to use)
Then we have issue of vendors giving their customers the one finger salute by removing widely used features and justifying it with PR bullshit.
But my radio in my truck does not have blue tooth...
While I would agree that removing the headphone jack is really really really stupid, this very small demographic of people with old car stereos that want to use their phones via bluetooth is not only negligibly small, it's also very easily and cheaply resolved via something like this ($15): http://www.monoprice.com/produ...
Might take a minute to wire that in, but you'll have bluetooth in your truck then. It's kinda like the old tape player adapter so you could pipe your portable cd player output into your car radio.
You can also go the other route and get an adapter (usb to stereo plug), which, in this case, lacks the arguments against the adapter ("have to carry around an adapter everywhere you go") because you can just leave it hooked up in your truck.
I use a bluetooth headset every day in a packed subway and commuter train without any issues.
Yes, and you can always deal with audio desync when watching video or playing games while using Bluetooth headphones.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Right, because everyone else is using wired headphones. When that ceases to be an option.............
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Replace with pin and timer circuit.
Only copy the positive parts from apple!
It's not just old car stereos; a friend of mine drives a 2015 Hyundai something or other that has a USB port for iPod and an AUX jack for everything else; also, despite having Bluetooth in my car, the AUX port sees a lot of use, typically if I want to plug in my iPod or let a passenger be in charge of the music without making having to go through the Bluetooth sync process for a device which will, in all likelihood, never be connected to the car again.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
You can always use Bluetooth headphones.
You can try.
1. The battery goes dead after a short period of time, so then you can't.
2. You are in a WiFi-rich environment, which means you get about a 1' range for your bluetooth. I've actually been in places where even with the phone in my shirt pocket, if I turned my head left or right the signal was lost.
3. You have a smart watch which is linked via bluetooth, in which case you can't link a headphone at the same time (I've tried.)
4. You want to feed the audio to some wired system. (Yes there are bluetooth to jack adapters, but the one I have never seems to have a charged battery, so refer to #1).
What products are you using that have so many problems?
1) I get about 15-20 hours of playback at moderate volume from a single change with my Bose QC35 BT headphones.
2) I can pick up probably a dozen APs from my desk at my work and over 50 in my apartment, most on 2.4GHz. Never get any drop outs at less than 20 feet.
3) iPhone 6s and a first-gen Apple Watch with the aforementioned headphones, no issue at all.
4) Airplay via AppleTV in the living room, Airport Express in the bedroom, and Bose Bluetooth Adapter in my home shop. Never any issues with any of them.
People love to rip on companies like Apple and Bose for being overpriced around here, but if your experience is typical of what I can expect for the cheaper prices, I'll gladly keep "overpaying".
I can't wait to lay my hands on such an explosive product, from a company on fire.
Bigger batteries mean bigger explosions, and that can't be a bad thing.
Ah, so they figured out what problem on the phone was causing the battery runaways!
No jack, no explosions.
We still have a chance to stop the stupidness... I'm tweeting to @SamsungMobile with #keeptheheadphonejack and letting them know I'll be switching to LG. Maybe public embarassment is enough to stop the madness.
I have never had any issues using bluetooth headphones while my Android watch is connected. Not once.
So you're not piping audio control to your watch, or you don't have call or media control support in your headphones (i.e. cheap crap headphones).
Claiming you have no problems is interesting given that a fundamental limitation in the Bluetooth stack as implemented by all devices that you can only pipe one output to one connected device at the time, same for the input. This is exactly why some devices (e.g. car radios) multiple Bluetooth radios in the device.
And this is not a headphone / watch issue. This is an anything 2 bluetooth devices attempting to use the same profile at the same time issue.
3 and 4 are real issues.
1 and 2 means you should stop buying crap headphones.
Ever play games with Bluetooth headphones? The audio delay is terrible! By the time I hear whether or not I got him, he got me. :(
Most quality headsets use RF or something like that rather than bluetooth.
I hope they at least include an adapter that will allow you to plug in and listen through a cable at the same time. When I fall asleep listening to music at night I need to make sure my alarm still works in the morning. Knowing Samsung they will.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
What does waterproof have to do w/ SD cards? Those can be buried behind the battery, just like they used to be on many/most facephones. Removable battery, I understand, but no SD cards, no
It still has an onboard DAC since it still has speakers... so not saving space there. But they can use cheap DAC's and capacitors since all onboard sound is crap.
I like USB-C but if they are going to do this then they should have two ports. One at the top of the phone AND one at the bottom.
Since USB-C provides power, it is not as bad as people seem to want to make it. The dongles shouldn't be stiff USB keys but rather flexible foot long extension cords.
For headphones with a true USB-C connection this means expensive headphones can choose to use $20 DAC solutions if they want to. It will also enable cheaper headphones to compensate for cheap parts through a built in equalizer.
Right,... if they are copying Apple, the adapter will let you listen using headphones, but will not include pass-through charge capability, doubling the fail.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
If they are smart they should make 2 models, one with the headphone jack and one without. See which one sells and determine if they should stick with it.
...lethal
After years my S5 is still great. Water resistant. I can use a spare battery. Battery life actually is quite good. Has fast charging. Normal phone jack. Fairly common USB charge port. There's always a cable around somewhere or someone has one. Still good CPU, RAM, etc. There's hardly any wear and nothing has broken. I carry it with me all the time. The only annoying thing really is lack of forward facing speakers. There's not really much more I could want.
Better battery life, CPU, screen resolution, etc is good. However it shouldn't come at a cost. That is, it should come through improvements in technology. Not by sacrificing features. I really liked the keyboard on the Touch Pro 2 as well so I miss that.
In general the only annoying thing with Samsung that I haven't been able to avoid easily is how propriety they are with firmware when you want to own a device rather than user contract.
Everything after the S5 has taken away something that I want and many of the additions have been useless. I simply can't fathom the benefit of a curved screen. Technology isn't really progressing fast enough to warrant as many cycles as they want so they are just randomly messing with things or adding some gimmicks each generation. My S5 will probably be replaced 6 to 8 years after purchase date unless it breaks or some shocking new technology comes out. It's already half way towards that duration.
Oh my god, it has just occurred to me that there is a way to stop this thin phone madness! Make SJWs believe that thinner phones is some kind of concealed fat shaming and as bad to their worldview and "safe space" as thin models in posters or thin mannequins. That way SJWs will protest, tech corporations will cater to them since catering to SJWs is progressive - that way we will have normal fat... errr, thick phones again! Win - Win !
They can shove the adapter, and the phone, just as apple can shove theirs.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
1.5" thick? You have big pockets...
I don't want thinner! I'm fine if it's thick and jacked up.
So if you're making it thinner how does that make room for bigger battery? The jack only takes up so much space. Didn't the iphone say that too and end up having less battey power? Oh well, that's samsung off the considerations list.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Seems like useless features and upgrades for the sake of just releasing something "new" is coming to smartphones, too. Enjoy buying a new dumbphone and wasting money for nothing every 6 months. I do it every 6 years. :)
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
Plus Bluetooth on Android (may be true of iOS too, no idea) is fairly bug ridden and crappy. I've seen three relatively recent Android phones that crash if they try to connect to our minivan's BT system. Googling for "bluetooth share has stopped" (the error message the phones give) show this is a common problem and has been for some years. Looks like the 4.x series was the last version of Android that had remotely stable Bluetooth support.
You'd think, at the very least, Samsung would hold off until Google can put out a half way stable Bluetooth stack.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
5. You live in a household with more than 1 person. Having to pair/unpair connect/disconnect multiple phones and tablets to our soundbar and car stereo is a nightmare. Often when I power up the soundbar it automatically connects to a device somewhere in the house, and then I have to ask everybody or even search the entire house to find the phone/tablet/ipod that is powered up and try to turn off bluetooth on it. Impossible if this device is locked and the owner is not there...
So now for our car stereo we use a good old headphone cable. Works everytime, instantly.
Try it! Library of Babel
It will still come loaded with lots of Samsung's crapware.
I can use dongles for serial on my phone now. Removing DB9 from phones is a limiting move that really only has negatives.
ZZ
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
But I'm not sure this is the place to express your sexual illusions, which seem rather banal, as far as that thing goes. You might find more action on one of those mating sites, with pictures. At least try to keep it on topic, eh?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Z^3
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
ZZZ
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Z^4
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
What part of project don't you understand? Look in the mirror and see every little everything you bitch about here... so puerile... oh well, keep it coming, you cannot stop...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Z^5
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Why do you hate your mother?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Z^6
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
ZZz
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Z^7
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Check yourself into an asylum
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Z^8
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
What a loon!
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Z^9
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
You definitely warrant further investigation. Let's see what cold cases warm up again, and if you can still talk your way out after repeatedly revealing yourself as you are here. Maybe I should check out the info the AC posted...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Z^10
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
That's the door shutting. You're going to hear that a lot soon.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”