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HTC's New Flagship Phone Has AI and a Second Screen, But No Headphone Jack (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report on The Verge: HTC is getting 2017 off to a flying start with an unseasonably early announcement of its next flagship phone: the U Ultra. This 5.7-inch device inaugurates a new U series of smartphones and is joined by a smaller and lesser U Play, which scales things down to 5.2 inches and a humbler camera and processor spec. HTC is touting a new Sense Companion, which is its take on the growing trend for putting AI assistants into phones, plus the addition of a second screen at the top of the U Ultra. As with Apple's latest iPhones, Lenovo's Moto Z, and the HTC Bolt, neither of HTC's new handsets has a headphone jack. The other big change on the outside is the U Ultra's second screen, which is a thin 2-inch strip residing to the right of the front-facing camera and immediately above the Super LCD 5 screen.
... is a ploy to boost the hardware side with expensive Bluetooth alternatives.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Does it have an SD slot and a removable battery. If not, still a non buy.
Their courage.
Because the engineering mantra of designing something that's the minimum needed to do the job properly has been supplanted with a long-term strategic goal to attempt to sell more things to consumers by selling them devices that don't do everything they need out of the box.
The biggest flaw in the concept of this approach is assuming that the consumer will go to the original supplier for future accessories. You'd think they'd learn that consumers will go to whoever is cheapest, or whoever offers the actual best solution, depending on the penchant of the consumer, and that the original supplier is not necessarily the default option. Unfortunately nearly every company that makes products with modules or consumables makes this mistake.
So instead of providing the simple, robust solution they run themselves in circles attempting to influence the market to benefit them only for all that effort to amount to nothing. Apple has historically been the only company that has managed to do this, but even then, there are plenty of users that will go third-party for accessories.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
You'd think with their lacklustre performance over the last 5 years they'd play it safe rather than trying to pretend they are Apple.
Get this message through your thick skulls HTC: You are not Apple. Your customers are not Apple customers. The Android world is a very different place and you aren't in any position to cram user-unfriendly features down people's throats. You will fail if only because there is always some other Chinese company ready to give people what they want.
The AI, is it just another broken voice command interface? Can I ask it how much a ten inch by eight inch by twenty inch box of water would weigh and expect an answer that isn't just a butchered version of the question inserted into a google search.
Ok, I get is technically 2 screens, but I just think that is the stupidest marketing idea ever. When you say 2 screens, I want 2 screens that are relatively the same size as each other, not one, and some sliver that can only display 4-5 icons stuck up above it. I'd be okay if they called it something else like notification bar or something, but don't call it a second screen.
Very soon my machine will have the logical thinking capability of a leprechaun on acid, combined with the sense of humour of a clockwork mouse.
I am planning an IPO in 2019. Invest now, while it still has credibility.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
Because it takes a lot of space.
With those notes 7 exploding because the battery was too tightly packed in. That extra empty space can be used to allow for that extra room.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I know it's fashionable to praise/crap on Apple for the headphone thing... but it was actually HTC who was first to do it on smart phones. My HTC Dream (the first Android phone) did not have a headphone jack.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
With paper tape punch and reader, or does it have the accoustic coupler (that only fits a standard Bell desk telephone handset) 110-baud modem instead? xD
By the way where are you still getting rolls of paper for it? I'm down to using paper towels stolen from the dispensers at work. xD
The biggest flaw in the concept of this approach is assuming that the consumer will go to the original supplier for future accessories.
They don't have to go to the vendor for every accessory. Even a fairly modest increase in accessory purchases can make it worthwhile. Furthermore they save money by not having to design and build that part of the phone so every phone is cheaper to make as a result.
Are you kidding me? 3.5mm is tiny, and an AC audio signal isn't exactly the most complicated thing in the world; even simpler if the phone already has a speaker which I guarantee it does.
The thing is complicated and takes up too much space.
It has nothing to do with that; TRS jacks/plugs are about as simple and foolproof as you can get, they've been around in one form or another for at least as long as the invention of the telephone exchange. The real reason they want to get rid of it is to attempt to close the 'analog hole' once and for all. So long as there is baseband analog audio available from a device, audio can be pirated. It's not quite as clean a copy as a direct digital copy, but it's good enough. Not having a headphone jack means it's that much harder to make analog copies of audio. Not impossible; for someone like myself and most readers of Slashdot, it's trivially easy and no headphone jack is just a minor annoyance, but for the average, non-technical person, it might be discouraging enough that they wouldn't bother.
It's not a big surprise that other companies are trying to follow them.
I guess that marks the end of 8 years of HTC phones for me. Listening to music is one of my most common uses of my phone, and there's literally no way I'm changing over to headsets I also have to recharge.
I'm a dreamer, the world is my playpen. But hey, I'm a serious person, I can't dream all the time.
They finally plugged the analog hole. You know DRM is going to work its way in.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Not really. A large 3.5mm TRS jack, with a switch, is around 0.45cc. It's actually quite small. Previous phones are the size of this new HTC, have the same number of hardware features, and kept th 3.5mm jack.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
I'm just not convinced. No compelling new feature.
I wanted a removable battery, and that will be hard to find. If I cannot, then HTC is back on my plate.
The second display looks like their answer to the Galaxy Edge. Feh. It's up top, so I have to stretch a finger or thumb to touch it. Smart move there.
Multipoint audio? Yeah, I was dreaming of that. Actually, no.
Water resistance? Well, actually that is interesting. But I bet it doesn't save my phone from being laundered. A dip in the pool yes. Cold water cycle for 18 minutes?
I don't even think a 5.7" phone is a winner for me, my M8 is big enough.
Oh, and the M8 isn't easy to grip, kinda like an iPhone 7. SO the U will be more slippery? Case? Thin is gone. What, did I just lose a feature (thickness) to appearance? Oh, dear, I sound crotchety.
I may by a midrange phone to get buy and wait for foldable phones, which I really do want.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Obviously, if Apple does it, it must be the way to go!
The only reasons to eliminate user-replaceable batteries are to save cost, and maybe to profit from expensive battery-replacement services.
Those are legitimate reasons but they aren't the only ones. By making the batteries not user replaceable companies like Apple avoid a variety of problems. The most important consideration is that don't have to worry about poor quality batteries from third party vendors. This can cause all sorts of headaches including warranty claims, product image problems, counterfeit batteries, lawsuits, etc. Being able to maintain full control over the product should in principle result in a better or at least more consistent product. Another consideration is that by sealing the device up tight they don't have fitment issues where pieces come lose or break unexpectedly. The more parts that can move the more chances something will break.
Apple and Google are in the best place. They control the software that runs on their hardware. Apple in particular owns an entire ecosystem with no competition. If you want to run iOS then you'll use an Apple phone. End of story. I haven't bought one (I use a Mac computer for video work and Linux for everything else) despite owning a Mac computer because no sd card or removable battery and now no headphone jack. If all the major Android manufacturers end up doing this nonsense then I'll have no reason to use Android. But I think there will always be someone willing to make a phone for people that like these things. I notice almost all the iPhone 7 users at work have the case with built in external battery pack AND a 3.5mm headphone jack. Amazing isn't it? They keep making the damn thing thin by removing stuff and people keep fattening the phone up by adding that stuff back.
You can have your keystrokes monitored by a variety of methods, none of which require that your keyboard be wireless. Your fingerprint can be grabbed from a distance. Data from your PC can even be transmitted via audio to another and hopscotched to the one that is fully compromised and has access to its remote master.
Bluetooth is not the only vector. Hell, a Stingray is your real threat.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
I hate to be the one to break this to you people. But there is no cassette drive either.
Have gnu, will travel.
No jack, no buy, no thanks.
Circumcision is child abuse.
An ASR-33 has the paper tape, and optionally the built-in modem. A KSR-33 lacks the paper tape unit. The modems came in various forms and combinations over the years, some with rotary dial, some with touch-tone dial, acoustical coupler or DAA.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Because the engineering mantra of designing something that's the minimum needed to do the job properly has been supplanted with a long-term strategic goal to attempt to sell more things to consumers by selling them devices that don't do everything they need out of the box.
Is this feature reduction or future proofing? I have a laptop with a SD slot and HDMI port that I've never used, except to only prove to myself that they worked, and not likely to use in the future. It also has USB-3 and DisplayPort outputs which with inexpensive adapters I can use to attach an SD card reader or HDMI cable. If given the option now I'd much rather buy a replacement that lacks a SD reader and HDMI port so that I can have a laptop that is just that much smaller, lighter, and cheaper.
I've had an iPod Touch for years that has seen daily use, and is now going into semi-retirement with my acquisition of an iPhone. That iPod had it's headphone jack damaged about a year ago but after an initial transition period I didn't miss it. I could still dock it with my truck stereo for music. When at home I could stream my music to an AirPort Expess, put in in a dock by my stereo, or just listen to it through the internal speaker. This is how I intend to use my iPhone now. What allowed me to keep that iPod working for me for so long was the ability to get audio and video from the dock port. I didn't need all kinds of ports and plugs on the iPod itself, I just bought the cables as I needed them. These cables and adapters included a composite A/V cable, component A/V cable, USB "card reader" adapter, and the car stereo adapter I mentioned earlier. An iPod with all of those ports on the device itself would have been huge.
This is a bit different with a laptop due to the inherent proportions of the format. I do remember many many people essentially laughing at Apple for not putting an optical drive in their laptop. Now we have people laughing at them for not having a SD slot. In the past I hated having to need adapters because they were exceedingly large and expensive, or so I perceived them to be, and it seemed I could never find the one I needed when I needed it. What has changed is the technology, adapters are smaller and cheaper now, and with the growth in the internet I have access to many competing suppliers trying to get me what I want when I want it.
Another change, perhaps just as important, is my perception. I have come to realize that no matter what two devices I have before me that I wish to connect I will need an adapter. We might not perceive this as an adapter but as a cable but every cable is effectively an adapter. Instead of thinking of this as having to buy another damned adapter I think of it as having to get a cable I would have had to get anyway but now I don't have to have a dozen ports on a computer where I'll only use half of them.
A joke among my friends was that USB stood for "useless serial bus" since when it was introduced there was nothing to plug into it. Now it's replaced nearly everything and I'm liking it. I don't need a laptop with a serial port, Ethernet port, flash card reader, modem port, Firewire port, parallel port, and DVI port like my old one did. When I pack my laptop I also pack the cables I need with the USB adapters attached. I treat the USB adapter and cable as a single unit, if it isn't a single physical unit already. While USB isn't quite "universal" it's close enough that I only need a couple other kinds of ports to plug into everything I need to get my work done.
Another thing that has changed with time is the weight bearing ability of my knees. Having all those ports on the laptop means weight that I must carry even if I just want to have a laptop with me to do a bit of work at a deli while eating. I'll still pack my bag with my laptop but all those adapters can be left behind.
So, yes, they do intend for people to come back for the cable they need. Any more I find complaints that a device doesn't have the p
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Because the engineering mantra of designing something that's the minimum needed to do the job properly has been supplanted
Alternatively, given the available more flexible and general-purpose alternatives, the headphone jack is no longer required to do the job properly, so the mantra dictates that it should be removed.
I've spoken with mobile phone hardware engineers about the issue, and what they say is that there are very compelling reasons to remove the headphone jack. It takes a huge amount of space, particularly due to depth, and does so right in a crucial area where designers would prefer to put antennas. Being able to get rid of it in favor of USB audio allows them to make better phones.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Artificial Stupidity is a more appropriate tag. Such stuff in current phones is amusing, for a while, tolerable, if they keep quiet unless told otherwise, somewhat useful, for very simple requests, and totally incompetent for anything that requires a bit of planning, insight or sagacity. In time, I am sure they will become deserving of the AI tag. As of today, they are just AS.
Yes, I'm actually well aware of all that, considering I owned a Teletype. It was the console device for the first computer I ever built (which was on perfboard, and 75% of it was my own design).
Not as big a mistake as may seem at first glance. Think printer ink. That is what Apple Et. Al. are trying to do with cell phones - turn them into walled gardens where they are the gate-keepers and every toll exacted goes to their own pockets.
Go look up who the lobbyists are trying to influence. They are trying to remove any possibility of competition they can, by whatever means they can bring to bear. Telecoms have largely eliminated competition in the transport sector. The barriers to entry keep what limited competition there is to an absolute minimum by simply writing the laws they want and giving it to their paid for legislators to sign & pass.
You aren't paranoid if they really are out to get you.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
It looks like your technology will be able to replace the leaders of the engineering departments that are making stupid decisions such as removing commonly used ports from their flagship phones.
For years, I've refused to buy a new phone because they always had an annoying headphone jack. I always hated it with its stupid port and for providing me with the option to listen to music while charging. I was really excited when Apple innovated the iPhone 7 without the headphone jack but I'm not really into the iPhone right now because it doesn't offer enough dongles yet. Thank you, HTC, for recognizing what users want and giving us a reason to shell out money for a new phone!
I fully expect most USB-C headphones to be analog in fact, if this phone does support analog audio over USB-C.
I wonder if you can have a cable with USB-C on one end and jack on the other end.
Although if you have to use a powered USB hub just because you don't have separate plugs for power and audio, then your USB analog headphones are useless unless there's a DAC in the hub, or plugged into the hub. And if you use a PC to power the hub, then you plug either a DAC or digital headphones.. Then who the hell is going to take control of the DAC or headphones, PC or phone? Perhaps you will need hardware to follow the UGDP standard, i.e. USB Gentlemen's Dueling Protocol.
Stop confusing hardware with software!
The smartphone has i.e. a camera. The operating system has something they call AI.
I had a phone back in the day that didn't have a headphone jack and one had to use a dongle to get one. It was very annoying, especially since the USB connector is on the bottom.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Can I ask it how much a ten inch by eight inch by twenty inch box of water would weigh and expect an answer that isn't just a butchered version of the question inserted into a google search.
That's the answer I'd give...
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
You will fail if only because there is always some other Chinese company ready to give people what they want.
Will they fail?
Apple dropped the headphone jack.
Samsung dropped the headphone jack.
HTC drops headphone jack.
Moto Z and Moto Z Force lack jacks.
Google Pixel, however, has the jack.
LG V20 has the jack too.
How did so many of these corps arrive at the same decision at the same time? Possibilities:
#1. Each corp sees the same need for this.
#2. Each corp is watching the others and copying their moves.
#3. Collusion.
#1 is unlikely. Dropping the headphone jack adds user expense and eats battery life for a trivial space savings.
#2 is unlikely because more corps would have broken ranks to keep the headphone jack and scoop up the segment of the market that wants one.
So, how did so many of these corps. manage to do the same thing at the same time?
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
Pixel is a Google-branded HTC phone.
But yes, I would expect HTC and LG to stop producing phones within 3 years as more recent entrants such as Huawei and xiaomi conquer the lower end. Moto will probably live on in the US market as rebranded Lenovo devices.
Why doed the lack of headphone connector get linked to iPhones but does LG deserve no mention in regards to the second screen? Bias?
I don't care what Apple does really. I'm just not paying 800 dollars for something that doesn't fully suit me. That's a lot of money for something that's limited by design.
I wonder if they have something to say about putting dual USB (either dual USB-C, or USB-C plus micro USB) on the phone, because I need power + audio out more often than I need something else.
Apple isn't courageous. Apple is stupid. Problem is, Apple customers (hipsters) are just slightly stupider, and Apple knows this. They know their customer base will continue to buy what Apple feeds them long after it has become manure. HTC will soon learn there are actual choices among Android devices and leaving vital bits off their phone is not a way to endear itself to the masses.
Um, because none of my incoming calls do?
Because none of the people I call know what VOIP is, much less encrypted VOIP...?
Because SNOW 3G and UEA2 are sufficient to keep out all but state-level actors, they can break what they want at either end.
There is no absolute security.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
I wonder if they have something to say about putting dual USB (either dual USB-C, or USB-C plus micro USB) on the phone, because I need power + audio out more often than I need something else.
Good question. I don't think dual USB would be the right solution, though. USB can deliver data/audio out while pushing power in, so you only need one port. With a miniature USB hub plus a USB audio adapter you'd be able to charge and listen at the same time. And someone could even combine them into one small device. I found one that allows charging the device while getting HDMI output, so something like that.
Personally, my phone (Pixel XL) charges so quickly and lasts so long that I rarely need power + audio, except in the car where I use Bluetooth audio anyway. The combination of quick charging and long battery life means I charge when it's convenient for me to charge, rather than when the phone needs it. Mostly that means I only plug it in when I'm in the car (where my dock has a charger, so it requires no conscious decision to charge).
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One more thought: I actually could see value in two USB-C ports, one at the top and one at the bottom. When using wired headphones, it's convenient to have the wire coming from the top of the phone.
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