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Samsung Kills Headphone Jack After Mocking Apple (macrumors.com)
Last week, Samsung introduced its latest smartphone, the Galaxy A8s. Not only is it the first phone of theirs with a laser-drilled hole in the display for the front-facing camera sensor, but it is also their first phone to ditch the headphone jack. Slashdot reader TheFakeTimCook shares a report from Mac Rumors that takes a closer look at the move and the hypocrisy behind it: [The A8s] is also Samsung's first smartphone without a headphone jack, much to the amusement of iPhone users, as Samsung has mocked Apple for over two years over its decision to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 in 2016, a trend that has continued through to the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. While on stage unveiling the new Galaxy Note 7 in 2016, for example, Samsung executive Justin Denison made sure to point out that the device came with a headphone jack. "Want to know what else it comes with?" he asked. "An audio jack. I'm just saying," he answered, smirking as the audience laughed. And earlier this year, Samsung mocked the iPhone X's lack of a headphone jack in one of its "Ingenius" ads promoting the Galaxy S9. Samsung isn't the first tech giant to mock Apple's decision to remove the headphone jack, only to follow suit. Google poked fun at the iPhone 7's lack of headphone jack while unveiling its original Pixel smartphone in 2016, and then the Pixel 2 launched without one just a year later.
How many users of phones without notches or holes drilled though the screen are going to have to suffer with unusable screen space on their phones due to app developers and content developers having to develop for the lowest common denominator. Were pretty much getting to the point you have to assume the edges of 5-10% of a phone's screen are unusable because you dont know what kind of notch, hole, curved corner or other bullshit might be in the screen.
So much for a bezel free phone, when now that 5-10% of the screen itself is now the bezel and has to be assumed to be unusable, lest some part of your content gets cut off.
What about those of us with less than perfect hearing, who use stereo headphones just to be able to understand what people are saying? Are we going to be required to pickup yet another gadget/gizmo to have to worry about charging & buying batteries for, in order to use bluetooth? Guess if I have to, I'll dump all bloatphones & go back to a flip phone if they all dump the jack.
Apple has removed the headphone jack from ALL of its phones. Samsung removed it from one midrange phone, and still offers dozens of models with it. This is clickbait, pure and simple.
MY PHONE HAS ONE, a headphone jack. But for years I've preferred my Bluetooth headphones. I have a nice stereo for those times I want high quality sound, but why bother with the lower quality stuff in my phone?
My brother, a hifi snob, has electrostatic headphones for his musical journeys. But he doesn't listen on his phone either (which also has a headphone jack).
So where are the hifi snobs who get their music on a cell phone while they're out and about, and can't tolerate Bluetooth? Are they doing FLAC on their tiny phones? Ridiculous!
...omphaloskepsis often...
They mocked Apple because they wanted people to buy their product instead of Apple's, and that was something different about them.
They also would like to sell the more expensive accessories, so they subsequently did the same thing Apple did.
And they are no longer mocking Apple, because they now have a similar product, and that is the only reason.
This makes absolute sense if you don't assume that the leaders of large corporations care about things like consistency and good-faith. They care about making money, and doing/saying whatever seems like the best way of doing that at the time. And nothing else.
Audiophiles? A cheap pair of corded headphones is around $5 and I don't need to charge them or worry about power at all. I don't like having extra things that need charging.
I say this as someone who jumped hard onto bluetooth, but then realized the damn cord was more convenient.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Samsung has removed the jack from it's LATEST phone. You seriously do not think it likely the rest of the models will follow?
Do the mocking ads they produced apply to this phone or not? If they are making fun of no headphone jack, ANY phone that fits that description applies - including their own.
No matter how you look at it this is a self-own. And a great reason not to run mocking ads, for someday that could be yourself you are mocking.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Always running out of battery, headphones jacks are good backup.
[($)]
By removing the headphone jack on their lower-end models, they may intend to make the iPhone look cheap.
Samsung is afraid of building an honest to god good 200-300 dollar smartphone that could compete with say the popular Moto G series because then the bubble of the 800-1000 dollar Galaxies and Notes will pop as people will realize that a cheap phone still can have a big screen, a quality build, and for most purposes it runs the same apps you need to use just fine.
I've personally been using a phone without a headphone jack for several months now and haven't missed it. I never used it on my previous phone - I went Bluetooth "everything" quite awhile ago.
Why are the people in the "Bluetooth" camp always making this out as though we have to choose one or the other? There's no reason you can't continue to ignore the headphone jack for the Bluetooth you find more convenient. Removing the headphone jack has no impact on your use, so why can't they just leave it and give the consumer more choice.
The cost of the jack is a non-issue in a device costing as much as a major appliance. We don't need to remove the jack because it is "hampering the thinness of the phone's design" -- because they don't need to be thinner. People are already complaining about phones being too thin to be structurally resilient depending on the material. The waterproofing argument is bogus, too. Handset makers are not making the phones more water-resistant after removing the jack than they were before they removed it.
What is an actual legitimate reason that it is necessary the jack be removed?
A coworker lamented his dead headphones on his way to babysit a late meeting.
"I should have charged" "Oh do you want to borrow mine?" "I don't even have a jack"
It was an unusual sensation. It gave me pause the way that someone might have experienced when they first heard of a watch that needs no winding or batteries. "That's a thing? That's different than how I've always done it."
We have created entire new and exciting problems for the man of tomorrow. Except my phone does the same things as his. I'm pretty sure this is the opposite of progress.
A car stereo with Bluetooth costs $15. Walmart also sells Bluetooth adapters in the impulse bins at the check-out counters.
So? Lack of a headphone jack has nothing to do with annoying audiophiles...in fact it's more annoying to just us regular folk.
I have bluetooth headphones. The sound is great for my needs and they're pretty cool. But...
So yeah, I have Bluetooth headphones, but more or less I always carry a pair of ordinary earbuds as backup. Don't remove my 3.5mm jack, thanks.
I use Anker wireless around-the-ear headphones when I'm working out. I started around 2 years ago and will never go back to wired headphones - there's nothing more annoying than cords getting caught on something, or you're on the treadmill and move just a little too far back and your phone gets tugged and ends up flying off
The battery lasts for at least 8 hours which is good for 4 days workout. Charging them is easy, just plug into any micro-USB cable. It's a trivial inconvenience.
I also don't understand the 'poor quality' sound comments - I had my annual physical a few months ago which includes a hearing test. Absolutely no issues with my hearing whatsoever. However, I cannot detect any decrease in sound quality of wireless vs. wired, and I've tried really hard. I mean, maybe if you're an audiophile and are listening to very specific notes or music, maybe you can tell the difference. But for the other 95% who listen to music when working out, on the train, or working around the house, I don't know if it's really a problem