One should be at the bottom one at the top. I understand space on the phone is a premium but a second port would make the phone so much more usable. Wired headphones, flash drives, camera modules, speaker modules, keyboards, even connection to a TV, all could be used while charging. It’s a shame it’s not a thing, USB is extremely versatile port, but you only get one and it’s used for charging half of the time. (I am aware dongles exist)
Wired headphones… could be used while charging
Sure is a shame nobody ever came up with a way to do that before.
The person who decided a headphone jack is superfluous should be found, tarred, feathered, and left naked and alone deep in the alaskan wilderness covered in pigs blood for the wildlife to enjoy.
I believe Steve Jobs is already dead. And those who inherited his billions probably don’t mind all those extra AirPod sales, especially if people keep losing them.
Jobs died before the headphone jack was removed (iphone 7 in 2016, while Jobs died in 2011).
The villain we’re looking for is Jony Ive, Apple’s product designer until 2019. All other companies just copied Apple’s lead so if there is a responsible party, it’s him.
I honestly don’t think it made a noticeable difference in terms of selling AirPods, it simply reduced cost.
I only buy phones with 3.5mm jacks on principle, and yet I stilled jumped at the chance to get Pixel Buds cheaper when I got my 5a because of how convenient they are. The decision between wired and wireless is now nearly exclusively because you prefer either fidelity or convenience over the other. Not whether or not your phone supports them. Besides, if you’re picking fidelity you probably scrutinize much more on a phone than headphone jack or not.
Bring back the headphone port! Bring back the headphone port! Bring back the headphone port!
Can’t be that important if people don’t actually choose with their wallets (Xperia 5 II owner btw)
headphone jacks are still available for mid ranged androids, even along with a charger. pretty much the only win we can get for purchasing a mid ranged androids.
I’d rather have another USB port actually. It’s just so much more versatile.
I used to think this but a dedicated mp3 player is superior to using a phone for audio anyway
What do you use for a dedicated mp3 player? These days all I see are dying (flash chips) used SanDisk Sansa players, cheap Amazon ones, and super audiophile level $400 ones…
Just a cheap SanDisk one. For me the main advantage is reliability; I sleep with headphones for white noise, and even discounting the possibility of the battery dying because you can’t play audio and charge at the same time, it is still basically impossible to set a smartphone up to be totally sure it will continue playing an audio file for 8 hours with no interruptions. Works great for playing music too though.
If all you play is local media then maybe. I like to stream music from my own server though and also listen to podcasts on the go.
This is why I made my dedicated audio player device an older LG phone with a headphone jack and microSD, and more importantly their quad DAC. Great wired audio fidelity and the ability to drive high impedance headphones/IEMs on the go while running on Android so I can run streaming and last.fm scrobblers. WiFi/data and Bluetooth are usually off but there when I need it. At least where I am, this was cheaper than an Android-powered dedicated Digital Audio Player. Of course a proper DAP would have more features like physical playback controls and being able to use them as DACs for other devices, but I’m happy with my old G7.
I started using wireless headphones back when I had Sony Ericsson 530i dumb phone. Also phones back then didn’t have headphone ports either. Who the hell cares about it?
Soon you’re gonna feel lucky that your phone has even ONE port.
Give it 5 years and Apple will have removed their lightning and/or USB port and gone wireless on everything.
Apple is going to be compelled to offer USB-C as a wired charging connection in Europe if it offers a wired charging option.
Well, if they are forced to bring back removable batteries which may be seem the case in a few years (unless they befuddle the EU authorities), they might have to bring back X if they remove it as well…
I’m disappointed Moto Mods didn’t take off. They would’ve been a great way to provide a hermetically sealed phone with all the optional stuff you wanted slapped on the back. Beefier battery, better controls, all the ports you want, etc. Like, a phone with a weak internal battery but then a magnetically attached external one so you don’t even have to open open the back of the phone to hot-swap.
I’m sure Apple is working on some new wireless standard called “magic connect” or some shit like that. It will be 13.8% better but make all previous devices obsolete and incompatible pushing people to trash their old stuff and buy some new overpriced, proprietary stuff.
Then when they introduce this new standard, their next presentation slide will pat themselves in the back because they are such a “green” company.
To give more details since somebody else gave you the short answer: Not only is it possible, most mid-to-high-end phones and all watches have that feature today. Google “Qi charging”, which is the modern global standard (although many devices are still on their own incompatible standards – Galaxy Watch, I’m looking in your direction).
On the plus side it’ll make waterproofing way easier. And ports are often the first thing to break on phones in my experience. Honestly my biggest disappointment will be the loss of the SIM slot, since e-SIMs give me the creeps. I like that my relationship to the cellular provider is on a part I can pop out.
Yeah gadget makers were able to water proof Walkmans back in the 80s and these were devices with probably a dozen real physical buttons, a headphone jack and battery compartment, and hinged wide open to let a cassette tape inside. Waterproofing as well as durable buttons was something that was solved decades ago regardless of what Apple’s marketing bullshit has led people to believe.
Oh I agree but it’s obviously easier to waterproof a phone with ports. Besides that ports and buttons are the most common point-of-failure (I’m looking at my kid’s headphones on my desk where the power button was crushed in and my to-do list is to open it up and see if it’s repairable). Honestly my biggest complaint comparing the old Walkmen to modern phones isn’t the buttons and ports (I remember how miserable the buttons were on my 100-meter waterproof Casio watch back in the '80s) but rather the screws. I hate that glue has become a standard tool in electronics assembly. If I never have to do the gamble of the “hot enough to loosen the sealant but not to hot to damage it” dance with a heat-gun again it will be too soon.
ASUS ROG Phones have them. Also with a headphone jack I think.
Weird headphones don’t use ucb-c, there is already a standard for headphones and it’s the 3.5mm audio jack.
That’s not the only standard though. There is also 6.3mm jack, XLR and many other open and proprietary connectors.
a) I have a USB-c headset at work
b) the 3.5mm headphone jack can’t be used to transfer data (at a good rate)
Not sure what exactly you mean by headset. But headphones and IEMs will use a 3.5mm or 1/4" jack. My sennheisers use it, my beyerdynamics use it, my audio Technicas use it. Even my KZ IEMs and moondrop IEMs use it. This is a universal standard for a reason.
And not sure what the data rate has to do with anything. It’s an audio connector, it’s not used to transfer data, it’s used to move the drivers in a set of headphones. As usb-c doesn’t output line level audio, any headset you have that uses it needs its own DAC and amp which is problematic for e-waste reasons.
Headset, as in headphones with a microphone. I use it for MS Teams meetings and a bit of music and it works fine.
The point OP was trying to make is that you can use USB-c for other things besides listening to music.
Since you seem to be an audiophile with a list of fancy headphones (don’t ask me, my Cardo combined with earplugs is fine for the level of listening I want to do) then wouldn’t an offboard DAC / amp that you could keep far longer than a phone, and isn’t restricted by size constraints going to be better than a built-in version?
Also, if you’re worried about e-waste maybe you shouldn’t buy so many headphones. My partner’s Sennheisers have lasted 20 years so far.
