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Sorry, Apple, the Headphone Jack Isn't Going Anywhere (yahoo.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Rob Pegoraro via Yahoo Finance: Two things unite almost every phone on display here at Mobile World Congress 2017: Android and a headphone jack. Apple doesn't exhibit its wares at this trade show, so the domination of Google's operating system is predictable. But the headphone jack's persistence did not look so inevitable when Apple cut it from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus last September. Lenovo's Motorola subsidiary had already shipped a phone without a headphone hack, the Moto Z, and Apple's influence over the rest of the smartphone industry remains formidable -- indeed, within months, the Chinese firm LeEco had debuted a lineup of Android phones devoid of headphone jacks. As my colleague David Pogue predicted in a post approving Apple's move: "Other brands worldwide will be following suit." The hardware on display here at the world's largest mobile tech conference, though, suggests otherwise. Two days of walking around the show floor showed companies expressing a consistent unwillingness to abandon the humble headphone jack, even on models as thin as, or thinner than, the iPhone 7. The MWC floor revealed only one company willing to do away with the headphone jack: HTC. The Taiwan-based firm, which has struggled financially for years despite shipping such well-reviewed models as the HTC 10, used its exhibit to showcase the U Ultra and the U Play, which rely on their USB-C ports for audio output. Unlike, Apple, though, the company didn't make the move to save space, but rather to incorporate its "USonic" feature, which lets the phones' headphones calibrate themselves to your ears and provide noise cancellation.
Weakling!
"Unlike, Apple, though, the company didn't make the move to save space, but rather to incorporate its "USonic" feature, which lets the [USB] phones' headphones calibrate themselves to your ears and provide noise cancellation."
Oh, bullshit. There's no reason the headphone jack has to be removed to support that. They're not mutually exclusive.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Does anyone honestly think that Apple cares whether other companies drop the headphone jack on their phones?
They want to "close" this analog hole just as much as the last one. No, "smaller phone OMG!?!?!?!" is not a good reason anymore. These days the damn things are so small, that if you want it to survive daily use, you need a clamshell that's typically 2x bigger than the phone itself to put the phone in. I'd argue that most phones are too small already. Waterproofing it, can also be done if the money is shelled out for it, and wasn't one of the selling points of buying an iPhone the whole: "I'm so rich, I can afford to wear this bling! Be jealous." thing? They could up the damn price for that, and then some by saying the extra costs are for protecting the consumer's investment.
This has nothing to do with "better phone" it's all about control.
But its not true I'm still using it. Great Experience.
. . . for good reason. Apple can do it because they are the only vendor of iPhones, and they have a following. The rest of the world can't follow suit, because that means lost sales. Sure, some people don't care about headphones, and some prefer bluetooth. Dropping the jack does not provide them with any advantage though, so these people buy any phone regardless of the jack.
Other people have phones they want to use, so they make sure they get a phone with a jack. So if HTC doesn't have the jack, they buy a similarly priced & specced phone from samsung/huawei/whoever. To not loose sales, a manufacturer need a line of phones with the headphone jack. They can provide additional phones without, if the savings from dropping the jack outweighs the cost of having extra models. Or they can loose some sales.
There is a big market for headphones, both expensive quality things and cheap earbuds. They are still sold with jacks; because you don't need to charge or change batteries or "pair" them, and so they are hassle-free. And as long as they are common, no jack is a manufacturer's disadvantage. It is easier for shops, who can stock a mix of brands. If the customer wants a jack, they provide such a phone. A phone can be thinner than the jack plug and still have that hole (The phone don't have to encase the plug on all sides, after all.)
I do, and I remember all the freakouts over the lack of SCSI and ADB ports, and on the Windows side of the aisle everyone insisting manufacturers NOT kill the PS/2 ports. Ultimately, the technology advances, and old ports aren't needed any more. You may very well find phones with headphone jacks for many years to come. But more and more, the industry will shift to wireless headphones, and those jacks will get less and less use. Kind of like those PS/2 ports that still ship on a few models of motherboards....
Does anyone honestly think that Apple cares whether other companies drop the headphone jack on their phones?
Yes after a fashion. If Apple is wrong about their bet that people don't really care about the headphone jack then it will cost them business. If the other handset manufacturers follow Apple in removing the port then Apple's bet will pay off and they will continue on their merry way without the added cost and problems related to a headphone jack. If Apple turns out to be wrong and people stop or slow buying their phones because of that missing feature then you bet Apple will care.
So far it seems Apple is winning the bet because they are still selling huge numbers of smartphones and there seems to be little evidence that the lack of headphone jack is making more than a marginal dent in their business. You can be sure Apple is watching the situation but the longer things go without a drop in sales the more confident they will become about it.
Its not about the jack going away for everyone, but the how apple claimed to be progressive and having much courage to remove it. Which means apple as usual is being a dick about things. What about this is hard to understand?
Two days of walking around the show floor showed companies expressing a consistent unwillingness to abandon the humble headphone jack, even on models as thin as, or thinner than, the iPhone 7.
PCs held on to Dsub parallel and serial ports and PS/2 ports and floppy drives for many years after Apple kicked them to the curb. Blackberry kept making physical keyboards long after the market proved that most buyers don't care about them. Just because everyone else didn't follow Apple one year later doesn't really tell us much. It's going to take a few years for this to really play out. The other handset makers are going to be watching. If Apple sales remain strong you can bet that more of them will follow Apple's lead over time. No one should be surprised that there wasn't a stampede of removing the headphone jack in just one year.
Its not about the jack going away for everyone, but the how apple claimed to be progressive and having much courage to remove it. Which means apple as usual is being a dick about things. What about this is hard to understand?
1) Wrong, this headphone hoopla started before Tim Cook's "courage" line. I wouldn't be surprised if the pre-emptive hostility to this move motivated him to say that thing.
2) I still do not understand why anyone wants a wire on their mobile device. I was upset with Apple's iPhone originally because I could not use BT headphones with it, but my Android device worked just fine with it.
3) Maybe HTC or Samsung should incorporate a turntable on their phone as well, who did Sony think it was with that walkman nonsense.
I don't even know who Apple is designing phones for anymore. Who are these people demanding a thinner phone at all costs? They're already so thin bending them is a legitimate risk. I don't need thin, I need rugged without a case, a headphone port, and a replaceable battery.
2) Because we don't want extra things to charge, because anything with a battery has a finite usable lifetime, because a wire doesn't get interference, COST, because I think the device with the bigger power source and more advanced circuitry should be the one driving the sound.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
This is /.You expected anything else?
Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
You really think that the headphone jack is the culprit in Apple's market loss? It's been 3 times they changed the freakin docking connector on their phone and other iShit. Those who did not understand when they went from 30pin to lightning connector will maybe understand this time, when they once again have to change all the audio / charging docks on which they paid the Apple premium (especially now that Apple has a trick to exclude non-Apple-royalty-paying builders).
You think Apple is switching to USB-C to open to the rest of the World? Think again. They will certainly lock you once again in their fenced garden of Apple-approved stuff.
No, but the death of the Replaceable Battery seems to be in evidence!
I'm not talking about easy replacement like the Galaxy S5 has (although that's nice). I'd settle for being able to open the back and remove the battery on my workbench without a heatgun and surgical tools.
Why do these phones have to be disposable?
To Copy from One is Plagiarism; To Copy from Many is Research.
"Two days of walking around the show floor showed companies expressing a consistent unwillingness to abandon the humble headphone jack, even on models as thin as, or thinner than, the iPhone 7."
Very good, and I'm glad to hear it. There is NO reason to let Apple set the standard, especially when the standard they set sucks or changes with every new model or just doesn't make any fucking sense. And don't give me that "courage" bullshit- I wasn't buying that line of crap then and I'm not buying it now.
Long live the humble headphone jack- a simple, time-tested bit of tech that still has a lot of life left in it.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
PS/2 ports needed to be killed because weren't hot pluggable. If you unplugged a PS/2 keyboard or mouse and plugged in a new one while the computer was on, it could hang or crash or even damage the computer. Not many users knew that because it worked as if it were hot pluggable about 9 times out of 10. But most techies knew it could hang the computer, and the developers of USB certainly knew it - USB was designed specifically to be hot pluggable.
And USB supplanted Firewire on the Apple side. Firewire was good tech for its time, but it flopped because Apple wanted $1 per port (not per device). USB was free to implement.
Unless you're "on the inside", you have no way of determining what the sales figures actually are.
You mean except for the publicly available financial statements and copious public data about sales?
Yeah we have plenty of information about how many smartphones are selling and who is selling them. It's not some closely guarded secret.
So PC companies held out and provided ports and functionality until they were absolutely sure no one wanted them?
No, they sold them to millions of customers who didn't actually need or want them for years after it was clear nobody needed or wanted them. All those legacy ports/devices did was add cost for 99%+ of customers. For the few who still needed floppy disks or 25pin Dsub serial ports there always has been the option to add them via expansions slots or USB adapters.
Honestly the 3.5 inch floppy disk should have died in a fire years before it actually did.
Then give me 2 or 3 usb-c jacks. I like to listen to music on my phone while sitting at my desk, and sometimes I plug in the phone to charge it while it is just sitting there playing music. Blue tooth and wifi headphones are a joke because now i just have more bulky items to constantly re-charge.
I think Apple dropping the 3.5 mm jack is a great opportunity for android phones to promote their inclusion of the jack as a value added feature that their phones provide, but Apple phones lack. Poor iPhone users don't even get a headphone jack with their phones.
I still do not understand why anyone wants a wire on their mobile device.
The answer to that one in a roundabout way is that if Samsung had eliminated the archaic and trouble prone headphone jack instead of pushing the limits of battery power versus case size, the Android fans would be waving their phones around proudly, and bragging about how Apple has lost the technological edge. The wire is just the price they pay for their fandom
For myself, I agree - a wireless phone with a wire attached to your ears just doesn't follow.
Maybe HTC or Samsung should incorporate a turntable on their phone as well, who did Sony think it was with that walkman nonsense.
My smartphone uses tube technology. 8^)
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
If it had been truly as you said, they would have *replaced* the headphone jack with a more modern digital alternative that had at least some promise of ubiquity, such as a usb-c port.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Because we don't want extra things to charge,
So is your phone the only thing in your house that needs charged? What is the exact number of battery devices beyond which the whole concept falls apart? My BT headset plugs into a USB port and charges when I'm not wearing it. If that level of inconvenience is too much for you, then how can you muster up the energy to type out a post?
because anything with a battery has a finite usable lifetime,
Wait. What is that point? If its against BT headphones, mine last longer per charge than my phone, and with hearing loss, I listen loud. But yeah, headphones, phones anything chargeable. What they don't have is wired connections tendency to go intermittent. Or get caught on things and tear them off your head or out of the phone.
because a wire doesn't get interference,
That's simply incorrect.
COST, because I think the device with the bigger power source and more advanced circuitry should be the one driving the sound.
That really doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and is digging pretty deep to justify keeping a traditional mini headphone jack. You can still use them on an iPhone 7 if you really want to, and it won't cost you anything because the adapter is right there.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Just a wild ass guess, but I'll bet ALL ports and sockets will be gone soon.
It's far easier to make a phone waterproof, if you don't have any ports and sockets to seal up.
I suspect the rumors we've been hearing about Lighting being replaced by USB-C aren't accurate. I do think that we will see lightning converted to a mag-safe style flush mount connector.
So my prediction for the next iPhone is no buttons, switches or socket style connectors.
It's weird that you're not embarassed about treating tech companies/organisations as if they were football teams.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Given two hypothetical smartphones - all features identical, except:
The first phone has no headphone jack, but has a higher water proofing rating.
The second phone doesn't have as good of a water proofing rating, but has a 3mm headphone jack.
Both sell for the same price.
Which would you choose?
- That's the point. I have a family with devices. I have an 8-port hub that is often full. Enough is enough, I'm not buying any more devices that need charging right now because they will rarely be charged when I have a sudden need to use them anyway.
- You miss the point. Eventually you won't be able to charge the batteries at full strength any more. Most rechargeable batteries fade off significantly within a year of daily charging until you just can't use the device reliably any more.
- Really cheap wires with improper insulation may pick up radio signals et al, but I've had good bluetooth headphones will just cut out and get choppy with no warning and no evident reason.
- Hey you may like spending more money than you have to but I don't. Don't apply your mindless consumerism to me please.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
The answer to that one in a roundabout way is that if Samsung had eliminated the archaic and trouble prone headphone jack instead of pushing the limits of battery power versus case size, the Android fans would be waving their phones around proudly, and bragging about how Apple has lost the technological edge.
Um, what? You seem to failed to notice that we bitched long and loud about the loss of removable storage—et voilà!—the SD card support that previously disappeared has mysteriously reappeared in the S7. And the headphone jack hasn't gone anywhere.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
It's more robust, than a silly USB/Lightning connector
Because the point of a mobile device is that it can be far away from a WALL, not far away from you. If I want sound to go from my device to my ears, a wire is the most efficient way of doing so. No fuss, no muss, no batteries, and typical repairs can be performed, if necessary, using century old tech.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Why don't you eliminate the display while you at it. It will save you a lot of money!! bitter sarcasm
Is that the headphone jacks tend to wear out with repeated connect/disconnect. It's why I went with bluetooth headphones.
I know, your device doesn't have a radio, but we've seen discussions about it recently. My device (a 10" Lenovo tablet that was a Black Friday special) actually does have a radio ... but it only works when the headphones are plugged in. Like the old Walkman, the headphones are used for the antenna. So ... no headphone jack = no FM radio.
Wireless everything does sound appealing. Not only could the device be waterproof, but way less possibility for physical damage when inserting / removing connectors. (I have a five year old and I've learned all kinds of new ways to break things). I guess Apple has come a long way from the "No wireless, less space than a nomad" days!
- That's the point. I have a family with devices. I have an 8-port hub that is often full. Enough is enough, I'm not buying any more devices that need charging right now because they will rarely be charged when I have a sudden need to use them anyway.
I pretty much always put my devices on charge when I'm not using them. I do know others in your situation, like my son, who seems to always be running out of battery power. Then again, he allows his kids to play with his phone as well, and managed to blow through 16 Gigs of tata in a couple days and blew through our data cap. (we're on - or pehaps were on a family plan) Perhaps I am overly disciplined, but my devices are almost always fully charged when I go to use them.
You miss the point. Eventually you won't be able to charge the batteries at full strength any more. Most rechargeable batteries fade off significantly within a year of daily charging until you just can't use the device reliably any more.
Best course of action is to charge as you use. Don't allow them to sit on the charger for days at a time. Use them, then return them. Seems like you aren't getting good battery life if they are significantly worse after only one year. I have a lot of devices HT's, phones, Bluetooth headsets, and they are going strong some 5 years after new. I have one battery pack that is an anomaly - 2007, and it is almost as good as new. But that is for sure an anomaly.
Really cheap wires with improper insulation may pick up radio signals et al, but I've had good bluetooth headphones will just cut out and get choppy with no warning and no evident reason.
I deal with some high RF fields, which often get into computers and headsets keyboards and mice. While toroids can help, my first advice is to go Bluetooth, which fixes all the problems. Something wrong with your headphones or computer somewhere. I have a sub 100 dollar pair of Logitech headset I use at home that are reliable to at least 50 feet away from the computer or phone.
Hey you may like spending more money than you have to but I don't. Don't apply your mindless consumerism to me please.
Oddly enough, the concept of never spending a penny more than you have to is the very definition of consumerism. The end result, like any mindless "ism, is destruction of the ism. I buy what works. Which isn't necessarily the cheapest. I pay what it is worth. I don't expect many people to understand, especially in the computer/electronics world, because they've all been raised that the rock bottom cheapest is always the best.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
"The jack cannot tell what you're plugging in"
This is completely wrong. For almost 15+ years PCs have had auto-sensing jacks. It would be entirely trivial to have such a capability in a phone.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
It's been 3 times they changed the freakin docking connector on their phone and other iShit.
Three times? Even including iPods, I only count two changes to the docking connector itself (and only one that was relevant to their phones and tablets):
1) They changed from Firewire 400 to the 30-pin connector in 2003 with the 3rd gen iPod.
2) They changed from the 30-pin connector to Lightning in 2012 with the iPhone 5.
That's it, so far as I know, but if you're aware of a third change, please let me know. The only other changes they've made have been to the cables (e.g. adding Lightning -> USB Type-C in addition to Lightning -> USB Type-A), but those have always been optional changes; you're still able to keep using your existing cables and accessories.
I get the angst over the 30-pin to Lightning change, since a lot of people had invested in accessories built around that connector, but if you're seriously complaining about not being able to use Firewire 400 accessories that you bought for your 1st or 2nd gen iPod (the only models that didn't support the 30-pin connector), I'd suggest you have unrealistic expectations and are holding Apple to a standard you're not applying to others. After all, can you name any smartphone manufacturer who's had the same, unchanged docking connector since 2003 across all of their devices?
Best course of action is to charge as you use. Don't allow them to sit on the charger for days at a time. Use them, then return them. Seems like you aren't getting good battery life if they are significantly worse after only one year. I have a lot of devices HT's, phones, Bluetooth headsets, and they are going strong some 5 years after new. I have one battery pack that is an anomaly - 2007, and it is almost as good as new. But that is for sure an anomaly.
The thing is I take my headset out with me all day in case I want to use them, and I listen to an audio book with them at night as I go to sleep... so when do I charge them? Must I now buy TWO $150+ wireless headsets to do alternate charges? Even if I didn't use them at night, I have no choice but to charge for the entire night. I don't really have time to closely track how long I charge things. They are either on a charger and therefore charged, or off the charger and possibly not charged.
I buy what works. Which isn't necessarily the cheapest. I pay what it is worth.
I prefer to weigh the positives and negatives. The only positive for bluetooth headphones is that there is no cable to untangle. If you are in a situation where you cannot have a cable then that one positive would outweigh all the negatives, yes. I personally have never been in that position, although one situation I can see is if you are at the gym it must be nice to not have a cable when using the equipment. Even then I'm not sure if I could deal with the flat sound. I like a good thump in my bass which bluetooth headphones never seem to have enough power for.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
>> HTC didn't make the move to save space, but rather to incorporate its "USonic" feature,
Its fine (although rater stupid if avoidable) to include a feature that only works with USB3-connected headphones, but it is completely retarded to then use that as justification to remove the 3.5 jack.
You've just eliminated your product from a (probably very large) market sector of people that care far less about some new DSP gimmick than compatibility with their existing headphones, and not having to spend more money to buy more headphones that now possibly bring further potential issues/limitations because they now have their own batteries.
My 3-year-old Samsung Galaxy S5 has a headphone jack, a USB3 jack, and a removable battery (with a back cover that's removable with your fingernail), and it's waterproof. It's not that hard to do.
You really think that the headphone jack is the culprit in Apple's market loss? It's been 3 times they changed the freakin docking connector on their phone and other iShit. Those who did not understand when they went from 30pin to lightning connector will maybe understand this time, when they once again have to change all the audio / charging docks on which they paid the Apple premium (especially now that Apple has a trick to exclude non-Apple-royalty-paying builders). You think Apple is switching to USB-C to open to the rest of the World? Think again. They will certainly lock you once again in their fenced garden of Apple-approved stuff.
Um, I only count ONE change of the Docking/Charging Connector:
1. Original Docking/Charging Connector. Apple 30-Pin "Dock" Connector. 2003-2012. Used on iPhones from 2007 (first gen) to 2012 (4s), as well as all iPods and iPads up to that date.
2. CURRENT Docking/Charging Connector. Apple 8-Pin "Lightning" Connector. Sept. 2012 to Present. Used on the iPhone 5 and above, as well as related iPads and iPods up through the present.
Not sure where you get THREE Dock/Charging connector changes.
And, BTW, while we're drudging through history, why aren't you bitching about Slamdung dropping THEIR 30-pin Dock Connector, or the Korean Technology 24 and 20 pin Dock Connectors, or the 30 pin Portable Digital Media Interface Connector, or the PLETHORA of OTHER, Proprietary, and now long-obsolete "Dock" Connectors for Cowon, Creative Zen, iRiver, Le Pan, Zune, Olympus, Panasonic, Philips, SanDisk, Sony, Tatung and Toshiba. ALL OF THOSE ARE PROPRIETARY, TOO!
So, by that measure, Apple has actually and demonstrably been INCREDIBLY CONSISTENT in its Dock and Charging-Connector choices.
Next time, do a little checking before spewing, eh?
Along with an adapter letting you use any 2.5mm headphones you want. Any you can use any bluetooth headset.
Try again.
OK yes sorry guys, I meant that this is the third connector, so yes, the second time they change the thing. 30-pin to Lightning, and lightning to USB-C (if it goes as announced).
Android phones have been very consistent almost from the beginning with the micro-USB connector. While not the most versatile choice, it is the best for compatibility with everything but Apple stuff. Android has mostly been standards-oriented (except for the Chromecast, they should have sticked to the DLNA specs)
Sadly, that's not true. Dogs that bark at the moon are idiots, but other idiot dogs usually join in and they all very much enjoy making all that goddamn racket at 3am when everyone is trying to sleep.
Bark at the moon and some other idiot will inevitably join you.
Very pleased to know lots of companies are not following Apple's lead blindly anymore.
Both the Moto Z and the chinese brands that released smartphones without a headphone jack (I'm not talking about LeEco though, there were models from 2015 that didn't have it) had a clear justification for it: the smartphone was too thin to house a headphone jack module.
Perhaps they could've put a 2.5mm jack in place like dumbphones in the past, but I dunno how the chassis would hold for that, so I can't tell.
But Apple decided to go without it even though the iPhone 7 has the exact same dimentions of the iPhone 6. They can make all excuses they want to, the fact is that a huge part of the market still wants them there. Courage, because there was no space, because they want to move forward, blah blah... mostly because they have a stake in Beats audio, they want to push a proprietary wireless standard, and they want to force users to spend more on crap they don't need while keeping all the profits.
Regardless, I see no problems in people getting one if they don't use a headphone jack for anything... but it's quite obvious how Apple wants to further close the ecossystem and "walled garden". I want not part in that crap. Even their so acclaimed great wireless audio solution is about to be trampled over by the new Bluetooth 5 standard that will be coming out this year.
Your S5 is IP67 certified - dust and water resistant - not waterproof.
http://www.samsung.com/us/supp...
...about things like this.
Regardless of how you feel about the jack, I think it's more concerning that Apple is the only company with the balls to even *try* removing a legacy port.
If it fails and Apple falls on its arse, we've learned something, and Apple will have learned something too. No other company seems willing to take risks in this way.
It's an important question, but it always gets lost in the myopia of people arguing about fashion and money and personal inconvenience.
Just a wild ass guess, but I'll bet ALL ports and sockets will be gone soon.
It's far easier to make a phone waterproof, if you don't have any ports and sockets to seal up.
Given how vendors currently seem to have no problem with making IP67/68 rated devices with ports I don't follow your logic. Especially since the manufacture of these parts with these ports do not fall on the vendors.
Well then you are stuck with a 1/8th inch phone jack, and wired headsets. Hopefully they will never ever have anything else, or you are well and truly screwed. Some of us are not so rigid. As I noted, I have both Bluetooth and wired, and use the BT most of the time. You for some reason must only ever use one device, and it must be wired. Nothing else. And it must be the cheapest. Good luck with that. Because the rest of the world is not in sync with your rigid demands.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
You really think that the headphone jack is the culprit in Apple's market loss?
Sole culprit... No, but it does need to shoulder a large amount of the blame.
Apple has been steadily losing ground in it's established markets for years, they've offset this by entering new markets. however China was the last significant market they could enter so growth has to slow, eventually it'll stop and Apple will start to contract. Doing dumb things like removing the headphone jack is only going to accelerate the process.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
If you can take it without restriction into a residential swimming pool - it's waterproof enough.
The S5 is only "waterproof" for 30 minutes at 1 meter. My pool is 8 feet deep.
That's just stupid. I want to hang out in a pool for hours - listening to music and taking pictures. 30 minutes is no where near enough.
As far as stupid comments go - no consumer wants to go to the bottom of the Marianas Trench with a cell phone - that's a stupid comment.
It's been 3 times they changed the freakin docking connector on their phone and other iShit.
Three times? Even including iPods, I only count two changes to the docking connector itself (and only one that was relevant to their phones and tablets):
Well, your problem is that you only count the changes that actually happened, not those that were reported as certain to happen. Just in February we had confirmed reports on Slashdot that the next iPhone would change to A) "Apple's Ultra Accessory Connector", B) no connector at all, and C) USB-C.
Everybody in his right mind knows that Apple has made all these changes for real, and that they have to release at least 3 version of the next iPhone, each probably using one of the names reported as confirmed for it.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
You really think that the headphone jack is the culprit in Apple's market loss?
Sole culprit... No, but it does need to shoulder a large amount of the blame. Apple has been steadily losing ground in it's established markets for years, they've offset this by entering new markets.
Or not. But maybe you have a different definition for "established markets". Or of "losing ground". Or "reality".
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
You really think that the headphone jack is the culprit in Apple's market loss?
Sole culprit... No, but it does need to shoulder a large amount of the blame. Apple has been steadily losing ground in it's established markets for years, they've offset this by entering new markets.
Or not. But maybe you have a different definition for "established markets". Or of "losing ground". Or "reality".
Missing Link
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Why the fuck do you people need the phone to be waterproof? What do you do, deep sea diving with it? While we're talking about "most people" (which is the only thing phone manufacturers care about), how about this: most people don't have any use for a waterproof phone.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
I charge my phone once a night, I charge my headphones every 3-4 nights. I don't plan to use either device while I sleep, I assume everyone sleeps, I haven't researched it carefully.