Slashdot Mirror
Google Is Latest Company To Ditch Headphone Jack In Its Newest Smartphones (cultofmac.com)
When launching its original Pixel smartphone, Google mocked the iPhone 7's missing headphone jack in its marketing material. According to Cult of Mac, Google won't be doing the same for the Pixel 2. "The company has decided to remove the aging port from its latest handsets," reports Cult of Mac. "A new leak reveals that the lineup will rely solely on USB-C for wired connectivity." From the report: Incredibly reliable leaker Evan Blass has published pictures and details of Google's upcoming Pixel 2 smartphones on VentureBeat. He has also confirmed that neither device will feature a headphone jack, which means users will have to rely on a USB-C adapter or Bluetooth. It also means Google will no longer be able to put out Pixel ads that take sly swipes at the iPhone's missing port. Blass says both Pixel handsets will be powered by a Snapdragon 835 chipset -- the same one found in the Galaxy S8, the LG V30, and other 2017 flagships -- not a faster Snapdragon 836 processor as originally planned. Other features are said to include 12-megapixel cameras, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB or 128GB storage options. The smaller Pixel will pack a 5-inch 1080p display with a 16:9, while its larger sibling will pack a 6-inch Quad HD display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. Is the lack of a headphone jack a deal-breaker, or do you think the Pixel's other features, like stock Android and front-facing stereo speakers, will make up for it?
a slot for a MicroSD card. given that I have other devices that have a headphone jack.
A modern cell phone takes better pictures than a top-of-the-line DSLR from ~10 years ago. Those DSLR photos were touted as being great quality.
This is just a case of a large part of the populace (and this poster) having no concept of quality cameras. You don't even need to look at a top of the line camera. I have a Canon 40D (not even a full frame) with a few low ($80 plastic case 50mm f1.6 fixed) and my general med-high end lense ($1600 EF 24-70mm f2.8).
I bought this in Sept 2007 for my sons birth, so it's literally a 10-year old camera.
Nearly without exception, anytime I whip it out, take a few shots, and send to whoever was at my house etc, I'll get comments along the lines of "OMG - what a great shot. How many mega-pixels was that thing????!!!!" and some assumption I'm really into photography. No, I'm rubbish and usually had it on auto. It's just a half decent old camera that isn't even 'full frame'. 10.1 mega pixels was even low compared to the cheap non-SLRs at the time, but has never been a good measure of camera quality.
I've got an iPhone 8. It takes great happy snaps, but even with some effort they are often underexposed or no wow factor as it's so unnatural in whatever way it compensated for lack of optics.
"The best camera is the one you have with you", because there's no way I'm lugging 2 or 3kgs everywhere, but lets not pretend any of these phones are technical better than a real camera.
Only big ligs use sigs.
DRM and plugging the analogue hole doesn't make any sense in the context of audio. The argument is always that the final signal is analogue so you can always record it.In the video world this process is imperfect and takes a considerable quality hit as the final analogue signal is made up of millions of individual analogue signals.
In the audio world this process is absolutely perfect. The signal levels required to drive the analogue transducers to make sound to go in the ear are perfect for recording at top quality. Digitizing high quality audio is cheap and easy, and I would argue far more foolproof than the process of ripping a CD was only 10 years ago (remember those skipping MP3s?)
Then there's the context of the company involved: Google. The same Google who has no problem with you firing up your downloader of choice and ripping audio streams straight out of it's online video service (a point of contention with the RIAA at the moment). Also the first company to make this decision were well known for being one of the few to provide DRM free music.
Really this is all about shiny and wireless. It's about looking sleek with no buttons or holes. It's about being so futuristic that there is no cable. The analogue hole and DRM have zero to do with it.