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)
I can’t relate at all. My phone is a PHONE, with options of short-term entertainment. I have other devices for other “computery” activities. I personally almost never use even my single USB-C port, thanks to wireless charging and wireless headphones. Sounds like your phone is your main device.
Many countries not so well off like us in the West do not have the luxury to have a smartphone and a computer. So options with 2 USB ports would be interesting. The bastardisation of the smartphone is a disgrace.
What exactly is getting bastardized? Phones never had 2 USB ports. And there are still new phones with headphone jack (Zenphone 10 comes to my mind). Yes, many brands dropped it, but it’s not a conspiracy (or at lest doesn’t have to be), it’s just basic economics.
What I call bastardisation is the many steps stopping us from using our phone as general computing platforms. Our phones have no reason to be confined by software locks like locked bootloaders, root login, etc.
As for the lack of 2 USB ports, it pictures that phones where never thought as general purpose computers. Maybe two ports is not the way to go but the lack of an interface which can act as a display output and a USB connection like what we have now with Thunderbolt on the desktop is a shame. The inability to turn my phone, which is more powerful than my current laptop, into a normal computer unencumbered by software and hardware restrictions is a shame.
The path taken by Pinephones and their Linux ecosystems is a step in the right direction. It shows that smartphone companies can do better.
As you said, it’s basic economics, it’s more profitable for them if we buy a new phone every two years, so they lock us out of our properties with software and hardware restrictions because they can.
I have a desktop i use at least 50% of the time and a couple of laptops i barely use because i don’t like to carry them, so when i need to do something away from the PC I’ll do it with my phone if at all possible. Sounds like you don’t use your devices in different places often.
For what current flagship phones cost they should absolutely be capable of general purpose computing.
Maybe come with a usb-c dock and screen as well for convergence.
Well, it depends what you imagine “general purpose computing” is. Android OS is primarily targeted at phones, with specific set of requirements, so I don’t think it can ever match desktop OSes, without major sacrifices from the both worlds.
The main reason why Android cannot work as a general computing OS are the many barriers and restrictions it has compared to traditional desktop operating systems.
Linux for example, which Android is based on, works fine* on the desktop but also on tablets or phones.
*as in most modern apps scale properly and are usable on the desktop, tablet or phone. Support for the hardware, especially on phones and tablets, varies greatly.
The usb c port on my 2 year old phone is still virgin…never plugged in a cable, ever. My dash mount charges wirelessly, my overnight charger charges wirelessly. I have a wireless charger on my desk if I need it (but never use it). I cannot imagine needing a 2nd usb port.
i shudder to think about how how much electricity has been wasted for wireless charging…
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)
I used to think this but a dedicated mp3 player is superior to using a phone for audio anyway
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.
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.
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?
I’d rather have another USB port actually. It’s just so much more versatile.
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.
Weird headphones don’t use ucb-c, there is already a standard for headphones and it’s the 3.5mm audio jack.
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.
That’s not the only standard though. There is also 6.3mm jack, XLR and many other open and proprietary connectors.
I think you’re crazy 🤣
