Alternatively, if your current phone doesn’t have a headphone jack, do you wish it did?
I hate Bluetooth and refuse to use it whenever possible.
One plus nord CE 2 lite, 250 bucks, headphone jack And memory card.
Why wouldn’t you prefer a headphone jack in your phone? It is yet another option for headphones that worst case you don’t use. The only reason it has been removed is because it saves companies a few cents on the cost to build the product.
They remove it to push people to use bluetooth, on iOS this means you wont disable it permanently and keep Apples tracking network alive. Not that nasty on Android but I suppose the same reasoning
Eh… I’m not sure it has anything to do with AirTags and the find my network. They weren’t a thing until a couple of years after the 3.5mm jack was removed. It’s probably a benefit now, but I suspect most people don’t bother turning off Bluetooth anyway.
Interesting, I always keep Bluetooth off unless I’m using my BT headphones. Saves battery. I never took privacy into consideration
For sure, but I don’t think the average non-technical person messes with that at all. Privacy is technically a concern with wifi and Bluetooth on because your phone basically acts as a beacon, but there are some mitigations in place to switch mac addresses and stuff fairly regularly.
Disabling things like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi has had a negligible affect on battery life for years
How exactly is that nasty?
It’s naaaaaaaasty.
I should have added, that for companies that sell Bluetooth headphones it also helps drive sales for those devices, particularly that is why Apple did it.
Yeah, Apple even bought Beats and immediately let the brand stagnate literally just so they wouldn’t have any competition in the marketing space. That kind of move basically confirms that other moves they did likely had similar rationale.
It’s possible that Apple is actually aiming towards their “portless phone” dream, and this death of the jack was just a step. But I’ll take it for the “we must employ the closest practice to profiteering as we can in the wireless audio space” aspect it appears to have.
I am curious when they want to buy Bose, as they are pretty much the most common headphones people wear around me
Just another thing I don’t use that takes up space and can go wrong. Same reason i don’t need it to have a cassette deck or 8-track player.
Oh, cassettes were just designed to go wrong altogether 😆
But while wired headphones are indeed “analog devices” they do not have any mechanical parts moving, so really if you take good care of them they can last a lifetime. (Unlike BT headphones with batteries with approximate estimations of life). 🤒🤕
I never said anything about the headphones. I was referring to the port, which can get gunked up, damaged by water, or all sorts of other stuff. in my many many years of using Bluetooth headphones of all types, I’ve never had a single thing go wrong— and because I am a responsible adult, I’m capable of recharging my batteries.
The era of annoying snags painfully pulling out wired headphones from my ears is a headache I’m very glad to have left behind long ago.
I think the point is more that in seeking to satisfy people like you, they’ve made everyone who likes the more reliable tech SOL.
Personally I love my bt headphones, but I also liked having a wired set for backup in case my battery ran out. If I had a choice between a jack and no jack on an otherwise feature-identical phone I’d choose the jack
I’m capable of keeping my batteries charged and haven’t really run into that problem. I also appreciate having my phone be water resistant and having one last thing to go wrong like getting the port get gunked up from stuff in my pocket. 
As far as reliability goes, I suggest you try some better headphones, because I’ve never had a reliability problem either. 
More importantly it removes the expectation to include earbuds with the phone as well as allows them to sell you Bluetooth ones
This is the real reason. The cost savings is negligible. But as soon as Apple got rid of the headphone jack, they introduced the AirPods.
Then Google did it, Samsung did it, and every other phone manufacturer followed suit. They all have their own wireless earbuds.
That’s why I buy the $20 straight from the Chinese factory ones, because fuck 'em
I really doubt this is the primary reason. I think it was multifaceted, but really the people in the business of designing phones were already using Bluetooth exclusively and felt that it was good enough. Some designs probably rushed it as a means to sell more premium headsets (Apple, Samsung), other saw it as removing an unnecessary redundant feature that was more prone to breakage and a waterproofing difficulty (Google). I think it really just came down to the personal preferences of the (affluent) people who were doing the designing, not necessarily a purposeful cash grab. It really was not great since wired headphones were way cheaper than their Bluetooth counterparts. Luckily Bluetooth has gotten much better and less expensive. I think there should be options for both.
Fairphone did it too, of all the companies. Shows that the margins on these things are pretty big for Fairphone to do such a thing.
It’s why I’m getting a Zenfone to replace my ~6 year old phone now instead of a Fairphone. It even has a far better IP rating than the fairphone despite the “horrible” water intrusion supposedly caused by 3.5mm jacks.
Fairphones lying BS about why they removed the port convinced me to never buy one of their phones, even if I didn’t care about it.
Sony listened to their customers complaints and brought back the headphone jack for the 2nd generation Xperia 1.
Their phones continue to feature some of the best waterproofing (real world performance, and not just the rating they slap on it) in the entire industry.
That has never been a justifiable argument against the headphone jack, despite being an all-too-frequent one.
Let’s be honest though, included earbuds were pretty universally garbage and the world is probably better off without the ewaste.
That said, please bring back the headphone jack.
I’ve always been lambasted for this opinion, but I feel the same way about the charging cable and charger.
I do not want yet another 1 metre (if they’re even that, most likely 3 foot) USB-C cable that barely reaches from the charger on the floor to the bedside table - and largely precludes actually using the phone while in bed - nor particularly the included charger. So many things need to be plugged in these days that single-output chargers are also basically e-waste.
Of course because some business genius had the idea that making the USB cable 0.9 instead of 1.8m saved them $0.06 per unit shipped, we all got lumped with those useless cables.
Now of course there will always be people for whom it’s their first phone (or whatever situation), who do need those accessories. But all that requires is there to be a retail bundle with the now-accessory charger and cable. Preferably that bundle costs the same as the phone with them included does today and you get a token discount for the phone without them, although we all know it would never work that way :(
I’m in the minority on this myself, but I fully agree. Honestly, I don’t even need the discount, tell me I can make a fraction less plastic waste and I’m pretty much there. When I got a new phone a couple years ago, I just put the cable at my desk so I had a spot to plug in misc stuff, but I definitely didn’t need it.
Mostly true, yeah. The “AKG” ones that came with my S8 were honestly pretty damn nice though.
Yea I had a pair of those that I used for other phones, until I lost the pair.
I tried getting some “oem” ones from amazon but they weren’t the same
AKG ones were always great. I have a USB C pair from an old Samsung and they’re good too.
One positive for me about the included earphones is they are great utility earphones for when I’m mixing/mastering music. They have a pretty flat and even response so it’s one of the devices I use to test my music on “regular” sound systems to make sure they sound good on all types of equipment.
That totally depends on what headphones though. Apple’s maybe, I wasn’t really too discerning last time I had some of those, but on Android it was a mess. Samsung had decent ones some years, Google’s were generally okay at best, and LOADS were just actual trash.
Yeah I forgot to mention I was pertaining to the apple wired earphones specifically.
Color me surprised to hear that then. The few times I had used them, I couldn’t get over how uncomfortable they were for my ear (which is why I never used then much)
Or they can include $20 wireless earbuds and say “Early preorder bonus earbuds, a $200 value if you ORDER NOW NOW NOW”
Why wouldn’t you prefer a headphone jack in your phone?
I’ve seen some people literally say that they don’t want a phone with a useless hole in it (in fact, it was said right here on Lemmy not long ago), whereas others claim that not having a headphone jack == bigger battery. Some, like Fairphone fanboys in particular, have gone as far as claiming that removing the headphone jack reduces e-waste…
Some, like Fairphone fanboys in particular, have gone as far as claiming that removing the headphone jack reduces e-waste…
That is a terrible argument for someone to make. There is no way to argue that removing the headphone jack does anything but create more e-waste. First from all the perfectly good wired headphones that are now forced to be replaced, secondly from the fact that Bluetooth headphones all have a shelf life due to the li-ion battery after which they become e-waste. Even with the Fairphone headphones the battery becomes e-waste that wouldn’t exist with wired headphones, cables do wear out too, but replacing that part will have a smaller energy footprint to replace than a battery.
All valid arguments
None of those are valid arguments, especially e-waste. It’s literally the opposite, fairphone is gaslighting.
So many times I’ve forgotten my Bluetooth headphones or they’ve died and I always find some wired ones but can’t use them, or I can even go into a gas station and just buy some for $1.
Also my Sony headphones have an optional aux port to plug in, nice to use when they die because it doesn’t need battery, or if I want to plug into another device without having to pair everytime.
That sounds nifty, headphones that let you run BT and port as you choose? I didn’t know this existed, will keep in mind!
I had a pair of Sony headphones that could do the same thing!
Sadly, they were bad on both choices, BT’s battery didin’t last sh*t, and the wired input somehow reduced the volume (like, by a lot).
These are the one I have https://www.sony.com/ug/electronics/headband-headphones/wh-ch700n
I have very similar ones. Love em.
I’d rather ditch the phone entirely than switch to one without a headphone jack. Too long to explain, but I have a thing against wireless, a thing against corporations making decisions for me, and a thing against phones in general.
I want technology that’s as uncomplicated as possible for accomplishing the task, so yes. Wired is better than wireless for anything meant to only work in proximity to something else.
No, but I do use a VPN which that site doesn’t allow.
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I haven’t used wired since around 2013, and would have switched to jack-less if available at that time. I don’t understand the “anti-consumer” theories around their removal. Most people who end up buying phones without jacks end up buying BT headphones from a manufacturer other than the phone one. Unless you think there’s a conspiracy where Sony and Bose are giving kickbacks to Samsung and Apple…
I use the same wired earbuds on my desktop PC and on the go, so yes.
I have excellent Bluetooth headphones that last multiple days on a single charge. You would think that makes the headphone jack just not important anymore. But I live in a neighborhood with a very satured frequency band which is so bad sometimes that the thing I’m listening to cuts out every few seconds.
Every time this happens I am so happy that I can just plug in a cable and I’m making sure this option will be available to me in future devices. Wireless is not always great.
No. I had jumped to BT long before Apple* first dropped the hole. I hate cords; I hate the tangle and snagging. It’s another lever with which to break a connection on the circuit board, and another ingress for water.
I know audio is better over cords, but I don’t hear the difference, so the convenience won for me.
- I just discovered that my phone sometimes autocorrects “Apple” to “asshole.” Fun.
- I just discovered that my phone sometimes autocorrects “Apple” to “asshole.” Fun.
I mean same difference, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I feel like if I ever become an audiophile, I’ll probably be looking at getting a separate music player with a DAC, a Tidal subscription, and a pair of kickass wired headphones. But for now, I’m mostly listening to podcasts and for music I use Spotify for it’s discovery features, and their audio quality is subpar already. Even if I had a headphone jack, I’m not really benefiting from superior sound quality but I am getting frustrated with tangled cords and getting caught on doorknobs. I’ll take the convenience of Bluetooth, especially while working out. And Bluetooth standards have been getting better anyway, in a few years it might be on par with wired.
I’ve been dabbling with audio stuff and I just decided headphones are for mobility, a home speaker setup is for quality.
Holding that thought simplified a lot of purchases for me.
Some Bose qc35 are more.than good enough, given my use specifications.
Wish it did. My Airpods I was gifted died (I am not an Apple user and only used them because they were free), and I bought an inexpensive amazon replacement but it turns out they’re so sensitive that the slightest adjustment of the earbud in my ear turns the sound off but very firm tapping does not turn it back on. It’s so annoying and I have great wired headphones.
I use it, all the time.
Phones that lack a headphone jack or a microSD slot are worthless to me.
No. Not at all.
Honestly, I hated the wire part of my wired headphones for years. I tend to listen to things while I’m doing chores around the house and I can’t tell you the amount of times the cable caught on something and sent my earbuds or my phone careening to the floor. Or was forced to untangle myself from a door knob. Or forgot I had earbuds on and stood up from my desk only to throw my phone to the ground.
I went on a bit of a journey with bt headphones but eventually got a pair of Sony Linkbuds and a $30 Bluetooth thingy for my car that plugs into the aux jack, and never looked back. Every other day I plug the case in on my nightstand along with my phone. Nbd. Linkbuds don’t have the best sound quality I’ve ever experienced in BT buds, but the comfort wins over all others.
I also recently got a pair of PineBuds Pro for $70 and man that battery case is legit. I only have to charge that beast once a week. Just waiting on someone to release a better sound profile for those things because they are BAASSSY. But beyond the bass, the potential sound quality is actually quite good. I’m looking forward to what the pine64 community does with these.
I’ll also say that I have audiophile hearing (I’ve been tested) and I absolutely hear the difference in sound quality using BT and a good set of cans - when it comes to earbuds, the difference is negligible between wired and wireless. Given that 1. I’m more often listening to words than music from my phone and 2. The convenience, I’ll go for wireless more often than not if given the option. Plus, outside of niche phones and defunct LG phones, I never saw a headphone jack that could properly drive a good set of cans. There are way more output devices I would choose over a phone to drive high quality audio.
That all said, do I think manufacturers should remove the headphone jack? No. Apple did it to sell more airpods. Everyone else did it to save a nickle on their costs. Just because I don’t use it doesn’t mean it should go away. If anything, there’s an accessibility element. BT buds are expensive. USB-C / Lightning buds are expensive. Aux buds are cheap. And wired buds are the easiest and cheapest way for someone to get audio out of a phone or talk on the phobe without fucking holding it in the air to broadcast their conversation to the world. And for that reason, I think the jack should ABSOLUTELY come back.
Why isn’t there an option for “the lack of a headphone jack is a complete deal breaker and I refuse to even consider a phone that doesn’t have one?”
That’s “yes” without being extra
That’s honestly how I feel though
Because that’s unnecessarily dramatic. Nobody is going to kill themselves over it. It’s not that serious.
This. After my first Android phone I had only gotten Nexus phones. I had a Nexus 6p when the Pixel was announced, and it wasn’t going to have a headphone jack. I tried multiple dongles with my Nexus 6p, and none of them both reliably worked with my headphones and fast charged my phone. My wife ordered a Pixel, I ordered a Note 9.
I’ve gone Note 9, then a One Plus Nord v10, and now an Asus ZenFone 9. Every time a manufacturer ditched the headphone jack (or made it only available at ludicrous price), I just switched manufacturers. I don’t even use a headphone jack that often, but when I need it I want it to be there and just work.
Yes, it goes well with my bluetooth/wired headphones, so even if the headphone’s battery is low, I can still use it to listen to music.
