So, Apple regularly adds and/or removes tech. It's part of their DNA. They've radically moved computing forward and sometimes they're the first to cut ties to an old past. Whether you like them removing it or not, doesn't mean it's a "hey they're GREEDY" everytime they change something. Remember that soon, your iOS9 phone will become an iOS10 phone and do more things. They're not charging you for that. For free, your mac will do more new things. The headphone jack is long, the headphone jack is thick, and the headphone jack makes it harder to waterproof. Why is everyone complaining? because bluetooth headphones suck. Well, here's Apple designing a future to make them suck less.
Courage is a strange way to spell profit. I'll assume that these $159 wireless earplugs don't have replaceable batteries, and it seems they're proprietary, so it's just another recurring profit stream. Since users aren't as willing to upgrade their phones every 2 years (although thinner phones might make them break more easilly, which helps), Apple is searching for a way to get them to upgrade the accessories on a regular basis. There's no benefit to the user, unless they'd like a lighter wallet.
To quote Jobs: that's brain-dead.
If you don't like the $160 AirPods, then don't buy them! You can now get audio out (and in) to the iPhone in any one of FOUR ways (5 if you count WiFi): Lightning; Lightning with supplied 3.5mm adapter; W1-format Wireless; Standard Bluetooth Wireless.
I don't know about how you figure it; but that SURE doesn't spell "vendor lock-in" to me!
But it's one more thing to carry around, and one more thing to break or lose someday, necessitating a costly replacement. No thanks! I have a 6S, I guess my next phone will be an Android, it's not going to be an iPhone 7:(
OMFG!!! For a supposed Geek site, Slashdot has some of the biggest Luddites around! Change requires CHANGE, FFS! You don't have ANYTHING to gripe about unless you are using $100+ earbuds!!! Either use the Apple-supplied Lightning headset while you look around for a better-sounding one, or suffer with the Apple-supplied adapter and tape the adapter to the headphone cable so you won't "lose" it.
But if you want a phone with a 3.5mm Jack, don't look to Android to save you. There won't be 3 Android phones with a 3.5mm Jack by this time next year, and none of them will be Flagship phones.
Why else do you think Samsung has been running TV ads for its new Wireless earbuds?
Actually, as far as I remember it, apple added the volume control. The standard really already is two standards - three segment and four element connectors. You get some connector mismatch if you plug in a 4 element new style headphones into a 3 element jack.
You could have said non audio things - I think the first iteration of Square used the audio jack, talking to the card reader like a modem.
No you don't. The 4 conductor male is longer than the 3 conductor. The 4th conductor just goes PAST the last conductor of a 3 conductor female.
You left out antenna for the FM radio. Oops, the iPhone never had an FM radio, something even cheap flip phones have had pretty much forever. Apple is no longer a leader in innovation, which is why their market share continues to drop. Looks like Tim Cook cooked their goose.
I don't need no steenking FM chip. I have an App for that, and guess what? I can listen to Radio stations from virtually any part of the globe.
I'm already in a similar situation. Soon I'll be giving up my 5 year old Android phone and going back to the flip phone it replaced because there is no longer an upgrade path that will let me keep the hardware full QWERTY keyboard.
You know why? Because you are apparently one of the few people on the planet that bases their entire phone selection on that ONE (obsolete) feature.
Except for now we KNOW that Apple is including a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter in the box; so you can continue to use the same precious $5 earbuds you always did. So there is absolutely ZERO vendor lock- in. And there are already other Lightning earbuds, headphones and speakers. If Apple wants to charge a licensing fee for use of the interface it designed, then I guess those mfgs. Figured it was well worth the fee. That's called free-market economics. Tough shit if you don't like it.
And the new iPhone will continue to support Bluetooth, including AAC over BT; so again, where's the lock-in? Oh, and BTW, every BT device OEM has to pay licensing too, and if you want Aptx support, guess what; yep, ANOTHER license. And none of that goes to Apple.
But I don't see you railing against THOSE licensing fees, you disingenuous fucktard.
LG devices have standard connectors, microSD cards, removable batteries, and best of all: they are well supported by Cyanogenmod. My devices are always up-to-date and functional the way I want them.
So what you are saying is that you don't even EXPECT the phone's OEM to support their POS phone; bug rather have to depend on the largesse of coders working for a company who has absolutely NO accountability if something goes wrong with an update.
Are you insane?
I expect the phone's OEM to support their hardware, to make it standards-compliant, well-documented, and compatible with the most common phone operating system(s), one of which should come pre-installed. I expect them to leave the software to the experts in that field who are developing usable mobile operating system software suitable for all phones, and not try to force users to deal with their own idiosyncratic, buggy, advertisement-laden Android offshoot. Let the best smartphone and the best mobile operating system win—separately!
The OEM should be accountable only for the hardware and whatever OS they choose to pre-install. You should be able to install AOSP with full hardware support through open-source drivers. If you prefer to have someone to hold accountable for software updates and support, you should be able to select the most suitable hardware for your needs and an operating system (perhaps based on AOSP) with a paid service contract designed to run on any smartphone, just like you can buy a commercially-supported operating system like RHEL or Windows and run it on any standards-compliant PC.
It's a fucking PHONE, get over it!
It's a Goddamn APPLIANCE, an EMBEDDED DEVICE!!! It may ACT a little like a computer; but it is not. It is a tightly-integrated system between software and hardware, with precious few resources and even less energy to wasted on software designed by those who don't know ALL of the tricks that can be leveraged by those who designed that particular assemblage of hardware.
What you propose would do nothing but make software that would have to be designed around the lowest common denominator hardware, with resultant lackluster performance, and even worse stability. The ultimate white box computer experience.
If you compiled a Linux she'll for your DVD player, would that magically transmogrify it into a general purpose computer? No it would not. It would STILL be an appliance. Same with a phone.
Better than 100% waterproof? Because my phone can already withstand lengthy total immersions without even the slightest whisper of a concern, and my phone has the exposed headphone jack you're decrying.
Truth be told this has nothing to do with anything but increasing the revenue stream from Apple customers with a choice of either badly overpriced first-party hardware, or skimming off the third parties with licensing fees.
Anyone who claims something is "100% waterproof" has NO idea what "IP" ratings or testing mean, and has never participated even peripherially in the testing procedure.
And for you to just say "Well, this is nothing more than a money-grab for Apple" has no idea that MFi bootleg chips are so prevelant that the entire MFi program is really kind of a joke, as far as "restricting consumer choice" or "enriching Apple through licensing fees" goes. Go on to Amazon.com and you can find a metric buttload of Third-Party "Compatible" devices, cables, etc. that are so cheap that they simply cannot have even a few cents-worth of "Licensing" fees included in the price. Only the major peripheral companies like Belkin and Logitech, etc. bother with the MFi program. Pretty much ZERO of the "Chinese-brand" stuff is "MFi-certified". And obviously, Apple doesn't pursue those people.
Of course not. Garbage in, garbage out. (Not talking about the music, just the noise-floor, etc.)
Oh, and the actual 16-track Master of Zep II was reportedly running around in the boot (trunk) of (IIRC) John Paul Jones' car, and when they went to transfer it to digital, the oxide was literally VISIBLY sloughing-off of the tape as they played it, to the point where one of those present remarked "I sure hope we're getting this; because this isn't going to play a second time..."
You know why there aren't "plenty of reports" of 3.5mm jacks an plugs breaking? Because it happens so often that it is "non-news".
And OK, I'll tell you the real problem I have with it. I am an engineer, and I've been on projects where shitty connectors have been the bane of my existence.
So am I, and I share your feelings about "shitty connectors". However, Apple doesn't have shitty connectors, period. And they have designed the Lightning connector with the goal of correcting the problems with mini-USB, which is one of the shittiest connector designs since, well I can't think of a worse example...
And someone who hasn't had problems over time with intermittent 3.5mm jacks/plugs is either extremely lucky or a liar. You no doubt know the drill: Spinny-Spinny, Pluga-UnPluga, Unpluga-Wipe-a, Replug... Spinny-Spinny... Repeat.
Anyone can abuse a cable/connector to the point of failure, even something as robust as one of those huge, die-cast multipin MS/AN barrel connectors.
I assume the majority of people here have either worked in a callcenter or are working for a callcenter as IT or have done so.
Remember when you had to buy a headphone that was available only for that specific brand and what the prices where for those headphones? That is going again to be the case.
Based on what?
Apple has supported AAC over Bluetooth (which is superior to Aptx) since iOS 7, and if the fairly-reliable rumors are true, what they are actually going to do is include both a Lightning Headset, plus a Lightning -> 3.5mm adapter with the phone, with the Air Pods Bluetooth earbuds as an accessory; so with the inclusion of an adapter, if their aim was "lock-in", they just shot themselves in the foot.
The water resistance thing is bogus, lots of other manufacturers don't have a problem making waterproof 3.5mm jacks. If they cared about thickness they could use a 2.5mm jack, so that at least simple adapters would work.
So, your argument is that an adapter from 2.5 to 3.5mm is acceptable; but an adapter from Lightning to 3.5mm is not? Because, if the fairly-reliable rumors are true, Apple is going to pack both a Lightning Headset and a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter with the new iPhone. The Bluetooth Air Pods will be an accessory, since they are too expensive to just include with the phone without raising its price.
Similar quality phone? Kind of hard. Who else is making shit that bends in your pocket or is too thin to hold properly or can't use earphones that need to be charged? They can't make game-changing stuff any more so now the name of the game is to change stuff just to milk the ever-smaller percentage of fans.
Ever wonder why you don't hear anything anymore about "Bendgate"? Because it never was a "real" thing.
And if rumors are true (and they probably are), Apple is actually going to include a Lightning headset and a Lightning -> 3.5mm adapter with the iPhone 7, with the Air Pod BT earbuds being an Accessory.
Come back in 5 years and let us know what you picked. Or even if you were able to find a similar-quality phone with a headphone jack.
Heck, come back in ONE year and tell me if you can find ANY smartphone with a 3.5mm jack. There might be one or two; but the selection won't be very good.
I currently have an iPhone 6S Plus for everyone in my family (5 devices). I bought them because my company offered an attractive subsidy for them and I get a discount on the company sponsored wireless plan. However, this is a bridge too far. I'm not buying all new headphones "just because" and I won't be beholden to Apple for something so simple and ubiquitous as ear buds and headphones. If they remove the headphone jack, these will definitely be my last iPhones. I won't run out and sell them, but when they outlive their usefulness I'll choose another more sensible vendor.
Best,
Relax!
Rumor has it that they are actually going to include a Lightning headset and a Lightning -> 3.5mm adapter with the phone. The Air Pods will be an accessory.
That must be why virtually every recording studio in the world uses headphones when they are
checking the mix.
Don't quit your day job, slick.
They use headphones as PART of the "mix-checkout", because they certainly reveal details that free-air speakers do not; but that doesn't really make them "better", just more detailed (mostly because of their proximity to your ear).
But studios also use other systems to check out a mix, too.
Quality headphones are wired. Bluetooth really sucks for high end audio. For listening to pop music in your Ford Focus, they're fine.
Do. Not. Want.
Bluetooth is about to not-suck. Both Apple and the industry in general are addressing BT's audio deficiencies; Apple wit their custom chip, and the Bluetooth Standards people, with BT 5. But BT 5 isn't finalized yet; so Apple decided not to wait another year.
Slashdot Mirror
I caught cancer at 'itunes to rip CDs'
Good. Then do the world a favor and DIE.
So, Apple regularly adds and/or removes tech. It's part of their DNA. They've radically moved computing forward and sometimes they're the first to cut ties to an old past. Whether you like them removing it or not, doesn't mean it's a "hey they're GREEDY" everytime they change something. Remember that soon, your iOS9 phone will become an iOS10 phone and do more things. They're not charging you for that. For free, your mac will do more new things. The headphone jack is long, the headphone jack is thick, and the headphone jack makes it harder to waterproof. Why is everyone complaining? because bluetooth headphones suck. Well, here's Apple designing a future to make them suck less.
THIS, THIS; a thousand times THIS!
Courage is a strange way to spell profit. I'll assume that these $159 wireless earplugs don't have replaceable batteries, and it seems they're proprietary, so it's just another recurring profit stream. Since users aren't as willing to upgrade their phones every 2 years (although thinner phones might make them break more easilly, which helps), Apple is searching for a way to get them to upgrade the accessories on a regular basis. There's no benefit to the user, unless they'd like a lighter wallet. To quote Jobs: that's brain-dead.
If you don't like the $160 AirPods, then don't buy them! You can now get audio out (and in) to the iPhone in any one of FOUR ways (5 if you count WiFi): Lightning; Lightning with supplied 3.5mm adapter; W1-format Wireless; Standard Bluetooth Wireless.
I don't know about how you figure it; but that SURE doesn't spell "vendor lock-in" to me!
The dongle comes with the phone.
But it's one more thing to carry around, and one more thing to break or lose someday, necessitating a costly replacement. No thanks! I have a 6S, I guess my next phone will be an Android, it's not going to be an iPhone 7 :(
OMFG!!! For a supposed Geek site, Slashdot has some of the biggest Luddites around! Change requires CHANGE, FFS! You don't have ANYTHING to gripe about unless you are using $100+ earbuds!!! Either use the Apple-supplied Lightning headset while you look around for a better-sounding one, or suffer with the Apple-supplied adapter and tape the adapter to the headphone cable so you won't "lose" it.
But if you want a phone with a 3.5mm Jack, don't look to Android to save you. There won't be 3 Android phones with a 3.5mm Jack by this time next year, and none of them will be Flagship phones.
Why else do you think Samsung has been running TV ads for its new Wireless earbuds?
The dongle comes with the phone.
I still think the idea is stupid, though... but I'm not in the market for a new phone, in any case.
So just use the SUPPLIED Lightnng headset, or buy a third party set. There are already several, and sure to be more in 3...2...1
Actually, as far as I remember it, apple added the volume control. The standard really already is two standards - three segment and four element connectors. You get some connector mismatch if you plug in a 4 element new style headphones into a 3 element jack.
You could have said non audio things - I think the first iteration of Square used the audio jack, talking to the card reader like a modem.
No you don't. The 4 conductor male is longer than the 3 conductor. The 4th conductor just goes PAST the last conductor of a 3 conductor female.
You left out antenna for the FM radio. Oops, the iPhone never had an FM radio, something even cheap flip phones have had pretty much forever. Apple is no longer a leader in innovation, which is why their market share continues to drop. Looks like Tim Cook cooked their goose.
I don't need no steenking FM chip. I have an App for that, and guess what? I can listen to Radio stations from virtually any part of the globe.
It's the 21st century, dear; do try to keep up...
Not to mention the various devices designed to encode or decode data over that port.
Square being the first thing to come to mind.
So either they hook up through the analog adapter or they design a Lightning version. Probably in testing now.
I'm already in a similar situation. Soon I'll be giving up my 5 year old Android phone and going back to the flip phone it replaced because there is no longer an upgrade path that will let me keep the hardware full QWERTY keyboard.
You know why? Because you are apparently one of the few people on the planet that bases their entire phone selection on that ONE (obsolete) feature.
Except for now we KNOW that Apple is including a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter in the box; so you can continue to use the same precious $5 earbuds you always did. So there is absolutely ZERO vendor lock- in. And there are already other Lightning earbuds, headphones and speakers. If Apple wants to charge a licensing fee for use of the interface it designed, then I guess those mfgs. Figured it was well worth the fee. That's called free-market economics. Tough shit if you don't like it.
And the new iPhone will continue to support Bluetooth, including AAC over BT; so again, where's the lock-in? Oh, and BTW, every BT device OEM has to pay licensing too, and if you want Aptx support, guess what; yep, ANOTHER license. And none of that goes to Apple.
But I don't see you railing against THOSE licensing fees, you disingenuous fucktard.
LG devices have standard connectors, microSD cards, removable batteries, and best of all: they are well supported by Cyanogenmod. My devices are always up-to-date and functional the way I want them.
So what you are saying is that you don't even EXPECT the phone's OEM to support their POS phone; bug rather have to depend on the largesse of coders working for a company who has absolutely NO accountability if something goes wrong with an update.
Are you insane?
I expect the phone's OEM to support their hardware, to make it standards-compliant, well-documented, and compatible with the most common phone operating system(s), one of which should come pre-installed. I expect them to leave the software to the experts in that field who are developing usable mobile operating system software suitable for all phones, and not try to force users to deal with their own idiosyncratic, buggy, advertisement-laden Android offshoot. Let the best smartphone and the best mobile operating system win—separately!
The OEM should be accountable only for the hardware and whatever OS they choose to pre-install. You should be able to install AOSP with full hardware support through open-source drivers. If you prefer to have someone to hold accountable for software updates and support, you should be able to select the most suitable hardware for your needs and an operating system (perhaps based on AOSP) with a paid service contract designed to run on any smartphone, just like you can buy a commercially-supported operating system like RHEL or Windows and run it on any standards-compliant PC.
It's a fucking PHONE, get over it!
It's a Goddamn APPLIANCE, an EMBEDDED DEVICE!!! It may ACT a little like a computer; but it is not. It is a tightly-integrated system between software and hardware, with precious few resources and even less energy to wasted on software designed by those who don't know ALL of the tricks that can be leveraged by those who designed that particular assemblage of hardware.
What you propose would do nothing but make software that would have to be designed around the lowest common denominator hardware, with resultant lackluster performance, and even worse stability. The ultimate white box computer experience.
If you compiled a Linux she'll for your DVD player, would that magically transmogrify it into a general purpose computer? No it would not. It would STILL be an appliance. Same with a phone.
With a non-replaceable battery your phone can never be truly off - that suits some organisations very well
A metal box takes care of that. You can even get one to match that hat...
Better than 100% waterproof? Because my phone can already withstand lengthy total immersions without even the slightest whisper of a concern, and my phone has the exposed headphone jack you're decrying. Truth be told this has nothing to do with anything but increasing the revenue stream from Apple customers with a choice of either badly overpriced first-party hardware, or skimming off the third parties with licensing fees.
Anyone who claims something is "100% waterproof" has NO idea what "IP" ratings or testing mean, and has never participated even peripherially in the testing procedure.
And for you to just say "Well, this is nothing more than a money-grab for Apple" has no idea that MFi bootleg chips are so prevelant that the entire MFi program is really kind of a joke, as far as "restricting consumer choice" or "enriching Apple through licensing fees" goes. Go on to Amazon.com and you can find a metric buttload of Third-Party "Compatible" devices, cables, etc. that are so cheap that they simply cannot have even a few cents-worth of "Licensing" fees included in the price. Only the major peripheral companies like Belkin and Logitech, etc. bother with the MFi program. Pretty much ZERO of the "Chinese-brand" stuff is "MFi-certified". And obviously, Apple doesn't pursue those people.
But the A77 was a great analog prosumer deck, I'll agree with you there!
But MP3 doesn't improve any of those recordings.
Of course not. Garbage in, garbage out. (Not talking about the music, just the noise-floor, etc.)
Oh, and the actual 16-track Master of Zep II was reportedly running around in the boot (trunk) of (IIRC) John Paul Jones' car, and when they went to transfer it to digital, the oxide was literally VISIBLY sloughing-off of the tape as they played it, to the point where one of those present remarked "I sure hope we're getting this; because this isn't going to play a second time..."
And OK, I'll tell you the real problem I have with it. I am an engineer, and I've been on projects where shitty connectors have been the bane of my existence.
So am I, and I share your feelings about "shitty connectors". However, Apple doesn't have shitty connectors, period. And they have designed the Lightning connector with the goal of correcting the problems with mini-USB, which is one of the shittiest connector designs since, well I can't think of a worse example...
And someone who hasn't had problems over time with intermittent 3.5mm jacks/plugs is either extremely lucky or a liar. You no doubt know the drill: Spinny-Spinny, Pluga-UnPluga, Unpluga-Wipe-a, Replug... Spinny-Spinny... Repeat.
Anyone can abuse a cable/connector to the point of failure, even something as robust as one of those huge, die-cast multipin MS/AN barrel connectors.
I assume the majority of people here have either worked in a callcenter or are working for a callcenter as IT or have done so. Remember when you had to buy a headphone that was available only for that specific brand and what the prices where for those headphones? That is going again to be the case.
Based on what?
Apple has supported AAC over Bluetooth (which is superior to Aptx) since iOS 7, and if the fairly-reliable rumors are true, what they are actually going to do is include both a Lightning Headset, plus a Lightning -> 3.5mm adapter with the phone, with the Air Pods Bluetooth earbuds as an accessory; so with the inclusion of an adapter, if their aim was "lock-in", they just shot themselves in the foot.
The water resistance thing is bogus, lots of other manufacturers don't have a problem making waterproof 3.5mm jacks. If they cared about thickness they could use a 2.5mm jack, so that at least simple adapters would work.
So, your argument is that an adapter from 2.5 to 3.5mm is acceptable; but an adapter from Lightning to 3.5mm is not? Because, if the fairly-reliable rumors are true, Apple is going to pack both a Lightning Headset and a Lightning to 3.5mm adapter with the new iPhone. The Bluetooth Air Pods will be an accessory, since they are too expensive to just include with the phone without raising its price.
Similar quality phone? Kind of hard. Who else is making shit that bends in your pocket or is too thin to hold properly or can't use earphones that need to be charged? They can't make game-changing stuff any more so now the name of the game is to change stuff just to milk the ever-smaller percentage of fans.
Ever wonder why you don't hear anything anymore about "Bendgate"? Because it never was a "real" thing.
And if rumors are true (and they probably are), Apple is actually going to include a Lightning headset and a Lightning -> 3.5mm adapter with the iPhone 7, with the Air Pod BT earbuds being an Accessory.
Come back in 5 years and let us know what you picked. Or even if you were able to find a similar-quality phone with a headphone jack.
Heck, come back in ONE year and tell me if you can find ANY smartphone with a 3.5mm jack. There might be one or two; but the selection won't be very good.
I currently have an iPhone 6S Plus for everyone in my family (5 devices). I bought them because my company offered an attractive subsidy for them and I get a discount on the company sponsored wireless plan. However, this is a bridge too far. I'm not buying all new headphones "just because" and I won't be beholden to Apple for something so simple and ubiquitous as ear buds and headphones. If they remove the headphone jack, these will definitely be my last iPhones. I won't run out and sell them, but when they outlive their usefulness I'll choose another more sensible vendor.
Best,
Relax!
Rumor has it that they are actually going to include a Lightning headset and a Lightning -> 3.5mm adapter with the phone. The Air Pods will be an accessory.
apple users don't read slashdot.
Shall I use some of my Mod points to show you how wrong you are?
Me? I keep reverting to 60s-70s heavy metal, British Invasion, [...], oh and electronica when it was being inventive.
Almost all of that being recorded on analog Dolby-A Reel-Reel tape decks that rival 1990s Dolby-C cassette decks in terms of quality.
Headphones suck for high-end audio. .
That must be why virtually every recording studio in the world uses headphones when they are checking the mix.
Don't quit your day job, slick.
They use headphones as PART of the "mix-checkout", because they certainly reveal details that free-air speakers do not; but that doesn't really make them "better", just more detailed (mostly because of their proximity to your ear).
But studios also use other systems to check out a mix, too.
Quality headphones are wired. Bluetooth really sucks for high end audio. For listening to pop music in your Ford Focus, they're fine.
Do. Not. Want.
Bluetooth is about to not-suck. Both Apple and the industry in general are addressing BT's audio deficiencies; Apple wit their custom chip, and the Bluetooth Standards people, with BT 5. But BT 5 isn't finalized yet; so Apple decided not to wait another year.