If you’re considering buying one you might want to take into account that they removed the headphone jack so they can sell their own wireless buds and headphones.
I care less about the lack of a headphone jack and more about the lack of multiple ports
USB C is genuinely a great multiport, but all of these companies leave the phone with one port. People would care less if each phone had two ports, so you could plug in headphones via adapter while also charging
There are actually dongles which have both an audio jack and a USB c port. I never used one of those dongles though
Those suck worse than the old school 3.5mm splitters we all used back in the discman, and later iPod days.
The removal of the headphone jack is one of the worst developments in personal electronics over the last 30 years. Personally I hope that the EU’s next port mandate forces its reintroduction as Bluetooth headphones are an environmental catastrophe.
The lack of headphone jack is the sole reason I went with Samsung XCover 6Pro instead. Shame really, because I’m the kind of person who uses their device for +5 years, and prefer fixing stuff myself, but when Apple removed the headphone jack I made a decision to never buy a device without one if there’s an alternative with it and I’m still sticking with that. I bought an “outdated” laptop aswell because the newer model didn’t have USB-A, HDMI or a card reader. Ironically the most recent models now do.
Ironically the most recent models now do.
Not really ironic. They’re all just copying whatever Apple does, and they backtracked on that stupid decision.
you mean this strange old socket that is (at least for me) primarily used for collecting dust since almost a decade? yeah, personally I can live without it.
and this fortunately is not apple. You can use every brand of earbud and use all of the features, so I don’t really get your point at all. the phone is very good and I hope I will be able to use it until the 30s
Having a headphone jack will let you use any kind of headphone produced in the last 50 years, which has a 3.5mm jack. Also, while listening to music you could also charge your phone, if you choose to, but not with a USB-C only port. Furthermore, USB-C DACs are stupid, they are an annoyance, even the ones with the shortest cables - I broke three of them in two months because they’re idiotically designed and they don’t fold in my pocket - a thing that never happened with headphone cables.
Two years in and providing a USB-C adapter my wife is still complaining that her current phone doesn’t have a headphone jack.
For my daughter I selected the phone mostly for repairability combined with colour choice, which landed me with Nokia - which ended up having a headphone jack. Didn’t pay attention to that, but she’s happy it is there.
Out of curiosity, what features are restricted on iPhones for off-brand earbuds?
Tell me a pair of wireless headphones that are as good and around the same price as the moondrop Aria’s with extremely low latency (so they can be used for rhythm games) and can buy a replacement case for not too much.
Also Bluetooth’s audio quality is terrible when also using the microphone at the same time. So you can’t really make a call and enjoy listening to music at the same time
I agree with you, but why would you make a calla and listen to music at the same time?
I got a 30 dollar pair of knockoff ipods for my Samsung and the audio quality is better than the wired akg buds it came with. They also sell for less now. No issues with battery life and the case has a battery level display. They also can be wirelessly charged. They’re my favorites.
I miss that modular phone people went crazy about for a week or 2 until it died out
Any evidence for that theory? I guess I’ve used Bluetooth hesdphones for years, so I’ve not got skin in the game. Lots of android devices seem to not have a headphone jack. And each part removed is one less part to pay for, or replace, or have to water proof. I’ve not looked into it because I’m happy to trade sound quality for wireless convienece, but umarent headphones that use the usb c port comparable in quality to 3.5mm?
But if there’s a leaked memo or something that it was a concerted plan by the company that would certainly be bad.
I mean, I don’t know their other practices, but the removal of the headphone jack is hardly green washing. I’d bet it actually is more sustainable to not include it tbh, plus it is likely more affordable. Beyond that, with just looking into it, as I expected, they’re a more sustainable and repairable set of headphones compared to the rest of the market. Moreover, I highly doubt dropping the jack would drive folks to decide to buy these if they weren’t already. They’re not tiny earbuds. They’re over the ear which is generally something folks buy when they actually are looking for them.
Sometimes accelerated progress can lead to waste, but holding onto legacy tech for too long can also lead to waste.
The big issue with removing the headphones jack is just that it’s now impossible to use wired headphones while charging the phone.
For a lot of people that doesn’t matter but for some of us that’s a big deal. If they added a second USB-C port that would fix the issue.
But saying the 3.5 jack is legacy technology is also kinda wrong. A USB headset is not inherently better. You have to compare the digital audio converter that’s used. While USB headphones use their own dac, the jack uses the dac of the phone. So a cheap phone with high quality USB headphones will be better but a high quality phone with cheap USB headphones would be worse than using the jack.
Which even means jacks would be more sustainable because you only need one dac per phone rather than one per headphone.
And any form of wireless headphones are just inferior to wired connections.
I’d bet it actually is more sustainable to not include it tbh, plus it is likely more affordable.
Mmm now you’re dealing with powered devices that have another two batteries that wear out, plus the battery in the charging case, all the electronics involved, etc etc
Vs a simple plastic connector and an associated amplifier IC that costs about $3 in quantity.
It would be even more sustainable to not include the Bluetooth module. Less parts means less material use (making it greener) and less cost of materials as well (making it cheaper). The phone has speakers for audio anyway. Who wants to carry around some second accessory like headphones or earbuds? It’s not like anyone has a perfectly valid use case for the Bluetooth module, right?
Is this a fair argument in 2023 with all the options for wireless headphones/buds? I feel like it still sucks because you can’t use your dollar store wired sets, but there are enough cheap raycon clones out now that it’s hardly a guaranteed secondary sale at this point.
because you can’t use your dollar store wired sets, but there are enough cheap raycon clones out now that it’s hardly a guaranteed secondary sale at this point.
It’s more about not being able to use existing high-end headphones and IEMs. It’s wasteful and expensive to replace those.
There are workarounds of course, but it’s never as nice as having a real headphone jack to work with.
I already have a good set of headphones. I don’t want to buy new ones or adapters, especially when I can just buy a device that they can plug straight into
Look, I do understand, and it took me a while to buy into the wireless buds thing, but you could have made the same argument for PS/2 mouse and keyboards, or anything using mini, and then later, micro USB.
The fact is, if you want to keep your old peripherals, but upgrade your main compute device, at some point you need to accept that you’ll need an adapter.
The 3.5mm jack was first introduced in the 1950s as a mini version of the 6.5mm jack… which was used as far back as 1878… it’s had a hell of a run, but if you weigh the pros and cons fairly, wireless as a standard has drawbacks, but is actually, ultimately an upgrade and it’s well overdue.
I just think there are enough wireless options (and adapters) available now that it’s not fair to knock fairphone for this decision anymore.
Tell me a pair of wireless headphones that are as good and around the same price as the moondrop Aria’s with extremely low latency (so they can be used for rhythm games) and can buy a replacement case for not too much.
Also Raycons are trash. Like they’re literally e-waste for how bad they are
Also Bluetooth’s audio quality is terrible when also using the microphone at the same time. So you can’t really make a call and enjoy listening to music at the same time
Who is listening to music on the same headset while making a phone call?
And why use your phone’s onboard DAC at that point if you want quality headphones?
You can also buy a cheap USB C-to-headphone-jack adapter.
The main reason they did it is to get a higher water-proof rating, making it easier to last longer.
No one doesn’t know that you can use an adapter. No one wants to carry that around. They cost money and you have to keep track of them. And you can’t charge the phone and listen simultaneously.
They did not do it to improve waterproofing. We have had several phones over the course of decades that were both very water resistant and included headphone jacks, so you can just stop with that capitalist non-sense.
Those phones were presumably glued together and not as repairable as the Fairphone is. Which is very useful, but does lower your waterproof rating, hence the need to compensate elsewhere.
I really feel like people are too quick to assume malice, generally. Often, there are just trade-offs with no clearly-right answer, and it’s not obvious to folks like us on the outside what those trade-offs are.
Please stop with water resistance nonsense. There were phones with headphone jacks that were waterproof.
Copying my reply to this same point from elsewhere:
Those phones were presumably glued together and not as repairable as the Fairphone is. Which is very useful, but does lower your waterproof rating, hence the need to compensate elsewhere.
I really feel like people are too quick to assume malice, generally. Often, there are just trade-offs with no clearly-right answer, and it’s not obvious to folks like us on the outside what those trade-offs are.
Ok, Fairphone lied I guess. You obviously no better than the manufacturers. It’s not like other phones with those jacks likely cost more to water proof those jacks or anything. Everything is always exactly the same and doesn’t cost extra to do anything differently.
Louis Rossman was very against this idea, and gotta say I side with him on this.
