With Apple apparently dumping the 3.5 headphone jack...

[BigKen]

I would lose one of those little headphones in no time. What a stupid idea, Apple.

Exactly what Apple is expecting several million people to do every year. Then you gots to gets a new one at the Apple store or Walmart.

My guess is that they'll be $39.99 until some Chinese company starts mass producing them and Walmart starts selling ripoffs for $9.99.

 

[ill]

as someone who just bought a pair of blutooth earbuds, I can see the appeal, but I also think they lack the quality sound I got from my wired Shure earbuds.

Apparently Android phones are expected to follow suit.

I don't know why they just don't do like their shuffles and make the headphone jack the charging port. Is it not efficient in charging?

 

[NDHoosier101]

I'm just happy they finally made their phones water resistant, ya know, like Androids have been for around 3-4 years now.

 

[Rex Racer]

I have never owned an Apple product and I doubt I ever will. Many of my friends and all 3 of kids have iJunk and it's comical to listen to some of them tell me how much better they are than Android right after they finish bitching about their iCrap. I do know a couple of folks who will admit to hating their iShit phone, but have no choice since they are either provided by their employer or require work related software that is only supported by Apple.

Get a Droid, thank me later

 

[fordman84]

For the iPhone 7, is it a trend that other manufacturers are going to follow in the nearish future?

I'm not an apple/iPhone guy (though I'm due for an upgrade, and for the first time ever I've put a little thought into switching, this is probably something that will put an end to those thoughts anyway), but, is this something we can expect to see universally, or just another example of apple being apple?

My prediction is no. This feels like gimmick fail written all over it. Someone said "we need SOMETHING that is more than just hardware improvements". So they took away the jack and sent everything through lightning.

Big fail, as people will be willing to change their charger but they aren't going to outright change all of their headphones and devices. I conference call from my phone quite a bit and refuse to do so with bluetooth headsets. More than once I have had issues with bluetooth where it all of a sudden will decide to drop the pairing with a headset and instead with a bluetooth speaker I have wandered too close to, or my wife pulls up in the driveway and all of a sudden I can't hear because it autopaired with the car.

I know they will still support the old headsets, but I don't think anyone else adopts this gimmick and it isn't like a charger that you MUST use. They were able to create their own stupid charging ports twice, but that isn't as big a deal as headphones.

 

[fordman84]

hahaha, isn't everybody's smartphone $700 after you pay monthly installments to whatever carrier these days?

I'd be pretty annoyed having to choose between listening to music on a flight while trying to catch a nap or charging my phone to make sure I have enough juice to scan my mobile boarding pass.

I understood apple's switch from the 30 pin connector to the lightning port. These rumors of only a lightning port remove functionality rather than progress functionality.

If they had dropped the lightning port and gone only to wireless charging as well, then that would ahve been a gamechanger. They could have completely sealed the phone, applied their now patented method for preventing water from entering a speaker, and had an actual waterproof phone. But they didn't, so this is a silly "upgrade"

 

[ill]

My prediction is no. This feels like gimmick fail written all over it. Someone said "we need SOMETHING that is more than just hardware improvements". So they took away the jack and sent everything through lightning.

Big fail, as people will be willing to change their charger but they aren't going to outright change all of their headphones and devices. I conference call from my phone quite a bit and refuse to do so with bluetooth headsets. More than once I have had issues with bluetooth where it all of a sudden will decide to drop the pairing with a headset and instead with a bluetooth speaker I have wandered too close to, or my wife pulls up in the driveway and all of a sudden I can't hear because it autopaired with the car.

I know they will still support the old headsets, but I don't think anyone else adopts this gimmick and it isn't like a charger that you MUST use. They were able to create their own stupid charging ports twice, but that isn't as big a deal as headphones.

What Happens If Your iPhone (or Other Smartphone) Has No Headphone Jack?

It’s not just Apple
One of the lesser-publicized features announced alongside Android 5.0 Lollipop is theability to use an external USB DAC. And the evolving USB-C standard includes audio support now, too. So even if Apple hasn’t cut the analog cord (yet), Motorola already has with the Moto Z, and there’s a good chance that manufacturers such as Samsung will follow suit soon enough.

 

[fordman84]

I have never owned an Apple product and I doubt I ever will. Many of my friends and all 3 of kids have iJunk and it's comical to listen to some of them tell me how much better they are than Android right after they finish bitching about their iCrap. I do know a couple of folks who will admit to hating their iShit phone, but have no choice since they are either provided by their employer or require work related software that is only supported by Apple.

Get a Droid, thank me later

I am in the apple biosphere and considered getting out a few times. No one else in my family (outside of my own house that is) has apple, they are all android. They all have different phones on different operating software. It's a cluster. When my wife or friend or coworker needs to know how to change something on their phone it is simple to tell them, or ask them. Try to do that with an Android. Nothing is the same, nothing is intuitive, and it's a pain in the ass to navigate their crap. I really did try to go to a Samsung galazy tab a couple of years ago. Thank god Amazon has a friendly return policy, because that thing was a piece of crap. Granted I was used to one thing and could learn, but nothing was where you would think it should be.

Plus I don't like having to deal with viruses and crap like that. So while Apple is perfect, no one is. But I can count on my Apple products to just work. I don't need special 3rd party apps and ancillary products in order to get my phone to talk with my ipad or with apple TV. Samsung has started to figure that whole "complete system" thing pretty well and actually has pulled ahead of Apple in terms of smart homes and TV's connecting with phones/tablets. But the rest of the android crap is just that...crap.

 

[fordman84]

What Happens If Your iPhone (or Other Smartphone) Has No Headphone Jack?

Guarantee someone will create a case that has a headphone jack

Like the cases that plug into your phone to create an extra batter, this will plug into your lightning port with a female side as well so you can charge or have a 3.5mm jack. By Thanksgiving it will exist for the "get off my lawn" crowd like myself.

 

[ill]

I am in the apple biosphere and considered getting out a few times. No one else in my family (outside of my own house that is) has apple, they are all android. They all have different phones on different operating software. It's a cluster. When my wife or friend or coworker needs to know how to change something on their phone it is simple to tell them, or ask them. Try to do that with an Android. Nothing is the same, nothing is intuitive, and it's a pain in the ass to navigate their crap. I really did try to go to a Samsung galazy tab a couple of years ago. Thank god Amazon has a friendly return policy, because that thing was a piece of crap. Granted I was used to one thing and could learn, but nothing was where you would think it should be.

Plus I don't like having to deal with viruses and crap like that. So while Apple is perfect, no one is. But I can count on my Apple products to just work. I don't need special 3rd party apps and ancillary products in order to get my phone to talk with my ipad or with apple TV. Samsung has started to figure that whole "complete system" thing pretty well and actually has pulled ahead of Apple in terms of smart homes and TV's connecting with phones/tablets. But the rest of the android crap is just that...crap.

I jumped from Apple to an Android phone last year. I didn't hate my iPhone and I found ways to work around the apps they force you to use that I just didn't like, but I don't hate my Andoid (Turbo 2) either. At this point, they all work the same. Hell, my mom, who is not at all tech savvy, switched to an Android as well with little difficulty. I don't know which she prefers, but she seems to be alright with her Galaxy. iPhone was good for her and my dad because it was a simple introduction to smart phones. It gave them what they needed with little fuss. They are phones for people who don't need the bells and whistles, but the bells and whistles are available.

 

[ill]

Guarantee someone will create a case that has a headphone jack

Like the cases that plug into your phone to create an extra batter, this will plug into your lightning port with a female side as well so you can charge or have a 3.5mm jack. By Thanksgiving it will exist for the "get off my lawn" crowd like myself.

the article says Apple is selling an adapter for headphones to plug into the lightning connector (another $10!) but it all sounds like a pain in the ass.

 

[fordman84]

the article says Apple is selling an adapter for headphones to plug into the lightning connector (another $10!) but it all sounds like a pain in the ass.

They include one with the phone too, but it takes up the entire port. You know that there is one little pin/connector for audio, or something like that, and the charging could still occur. So someone needs to make an adapter that allows both, and I bet it will come soon. Then someone will incorporate that into a case.

 

[Superbelt]

Of course the new $160 wireless earbuds they debut can only work with the new iPhone, using a proprietary wireless standard rather than bluetooth. That's a sucker's purchase there.

Come to the Android side, everyone. Less shenanigans.

 

[Superbelt]

They include one with the phone too, but it takes up the entire port. You know that there is one little pin/connector for audio, or something like that, and the charging could still occur. So someone needs to make an adapter that allows both, and I bet it will come soon. Then someone will incorporate that into a case.

Or they could have just left the ubiquitous 3.5mm in there.

Like you said before, if they removed all ports and sealed the phone, I could understand it. But there was no good reason to get rid of this. To make the phone thinner? The camera is now popping out from the body, so it isn't really thinner. And, they could have used that space for extra battery. They keep trying to give users something they aren't clamoring for. We don't need thinner phones. It's thin enough. I'd say the last iPhone was too thin already.

 

[TheDayMan]

Or they could have just left the ubiquitous 3.5mm in there.

Like you said before, if they removed all ports and sealed the phone, I could understand it. But there was no good reason to get rid of this. To make the phone thinner? The camera is now popping out from the body, so it isn't really thinner. And, they could have used that space for extra battery. They keep trying to give users something they aren't clamoring for. We don't need thinner phones. It's thin enough. I'd say the last iPhone was too thin already.

Even then, Samsung figured out how to make a waterproof phone with all the standard ports AND a spot for expandable storage on top of it.

 

[Superbelt]

Even then, Samsung figured out how to make a waterproof phone with all the standard ports AND a spot for expandable storage on top of it.

The S5 was waterproof, and had a replaceable battery. But you had to keep the rubber gasket on the charging port for that to actually mean something. My wife's rubber gasket broke off her S5 within the first year. Wasn't worth having anyway. It was annoying.

The S6 and later, those phones aren't waterproof. Unless you get the Active version.

 

[TheDayMan]

as someone who just bought a pair of blutooth earbuds, I can see the appeal, but I also think they lack the quality sound I got from my wired Shure earbuds.

Apparently Android phones are expected to follow suit.

I don't know why they just don't do like their shuffles and make the headphone jack the charging port. Is it not efficient in charging?

Kind of ironically, I just got Bluetooth headphones too, and love them. I still prefer to have the 3.5mm jack though, it can serve other purposes, and Bluetooth headphones need to be charged, so having the wired option as backup is good.

 

[TheDayMan]

The S5 was waterproof, and had a replaceable battery. But you had to keep the rubber gasket on the charging port for that to actually mean something. My wife's rubber gasket broke off her S5 within the first year. Wasn't worth having anyway. It was annoying.

The S6 and later, those phones aren't waterproof. Unless you get the Active version.

The s7, s7 edge, and note 7 are all waterproof. And yeah about the s5. My wife had it and the waterproofing was garbage. The 7s are pretty for real though.

 

[Roy Munson]

I'll still probably get one...

 

[Superbelt]

Eh. My wife will end up getting the S7 or S7 Edge in the next couple weeks.

I got a G5, because to hell with anyone that doesn't let me swap my battery.