Alternatively, if your current phone doesn’t have a headphone jack, do you wish it did?
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
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
More importantly it removes the expectation to include earbuds with the phone as well as allows them to sell you Bluetooth ones
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.
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)
Mostly true, yeah. The “AKG” ones that came with my S8 were honestly pretty damn nice though.
AKG ones were always great. I have a USB C pair from an old Samsung and they’re good too.
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
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.
Or they can include $20 wireless earbuds and say “Early preorder bonus earbuds, a $200 value if you ORDER NOW NOW NOW”
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. 
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.
Credit where it’s due, Bluetooth headphones have come a long way. I like the ones I have now. That said, removing the jack and micro SD slots was extremely anti consumer and they should come back.
My issue with BT isn’t quality it’s the cost and the battery. I do have a very nice pair that I enjoy on occasion but I have another set of wired headphones that I use sometimes 12 hours a day at work. BT headphones would quickly wind up in the garbage under those circumstances since batteries are wear items with limited charge cycles and once they go bad, they render the rest of the device useless.
I also don’t like having another device that needs charging or that’ll leave me ‘stranded’ because I wasn’t monitoring the charge close enough and it died.
I don’t think we should be forced to choose one or the other. Both have advantages and we should get a real choice as consumers. Currently I’m limited to low spec’ed phones if I want 3.5mm or high spec’ed with no 3.5mm (and no SD card and no replaceable battery). It’s a shitty choice all around.
Yeah, I mostly use bluetooth with my phone but not always. Sometimes it’s not possible and you just need to use an aux cable or wired headset.
nope, actually never used it. i’ve had and will continue having Bluetooth headphones
Once you get decent Bluetooth headphones it’s a game changer, especially since consoles are starting to support them
especially since consoles are starting to support them
Are they? I thought the BT lag made them not fit for gaming. That’s the reason why Sony’s Pulse 3D headset for PS5 uses wifi. I haven’t tested any of this, I’m just repeating what I read.
There are low latency codecs available
I haven’t had any issue with latency on phone, multiple laptops, or switch.
This is the stated reason why Microsoft uses their proprietary wireless standard for Xbox controllers (which have Bluetooth, but not for the Xbox console itself) and headsets - but I haven’t had latency issues using bluetooth headphones on my PC.
Now, I know that in a lot of cases, Bluetooth doesn’t have the bandwidth necessary to do high quality bidrectional audio - so it can’t receive and send audio (microphone) without falling back to a very low quality profile, which results in cruddy audio. Not sure if this is an issue that has been fixed though. If not, I can’t imagine anyone would want to game and participate in voice chat using that as it sounds horrible.
Maybe 10 years ago
I connect my bose nc700 with an audio cable to my controler and it works fine. I thought PS5 doesnt support other BT headsets, but i guess i should check.
The headphone jack would be less painful of a loss if phone manufacturers started adding a second USB-C port on top of the device. That way you wouldn’t have to choose between charging your phone, listening to your game without lag and in privacy, or carry a dongle to try doing both things at the same time.
I have corded USB type headphones. It’s not a good replacement. The dac is in the connector which makes the portion that sticks out much larger; the port isn’t designed for even mild leverage to be applied to it regularly. Go cycling with your phone in your pocket or even just sit down multiple times with your phone in your pocket while the usbc headphones are plugged in. They will either work their way loose or they will start to break the phone’s port. I’m not even covering how the USB type c spec leaves a lot of room to be interpreted differently by companies, significantly increasing the probability of headphones working for only some phones.
Plus, the second usb port can serve as a backup if the main one breaks, and you can also connect more things like keyboards, mice, controllers
I hate that I now have to use wireless earbuds that I now have to worry about charging, or that go flat at the most inopertune times…
Having something plugged into the usb-c port all day sounds like a recipe for a broken port.
That’s what made me get bluetooth, I tried walking around with that dongle thing and I had to treat my phone as if it was made out of glass (wait, you know what I mean)
Drag your preferred option to the top wtf is this UX…
I think it’s supposed to be an option for ranked-choice or something.
Yeah, I didn’t see that and selected the wrong choice smh
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?”
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.
That’s “yes” without being extra
That’s honestly how I feel though
This poll kind of sucks for data gathering. You ask two different questions but there’s only one set of answers. Even the first question alone asks if we use and/or require, which should be separate.
To answer though: I use my headphone adapter whenever I travel but don’t have a regular headphone jack. A jack is not absolutely required for me to purchase a phone but the adapter is.
Agreed, I wish the poll had more question entries than the one (with more granular answers).
Opted not to vote because:
- biased leading questions
- strawpoll
I exclusively use wired earbuds because I fucking hate bluetooth as a technology
I just hate that I have to keep them charged all the time when I rarely use them. If I forget, the one time I do want to use them I can’t.
Why hate? I get early on but it’s pretty good these days imo.
It can be used to track your movements even without internet connection.
Yes, because fuck having to charge and monitor another battery and the way they are trying to push higher price and disposable device.
Yes. It’s my way of voting with my wallet. I already have a few nice headphones and I’m not replacing them just because phone manufacturers are cheap and lazy.
Besides, I hate batteries. They always die at the most inconvenient time. And USB-c just for audio is way overkill.
I like the simplicity of wired headphones
I found an ideal solution for this (in my opinion). A Bluetooth DAC. The specific one I have is the FiiO BTR5, but there are others.
For mine specifically, it has the standard 3.5mm output (TRS), as well as a TRRS balanced connection (I believe it’s 2.5mm), and it can receive a signal from either Bluetooth or over USB from is USB C port.
The best feature of it is that I can charge it, while I’m using it. Which is something that most all-in-one Bluetooth headphones miss entirely. Even if they can be worn while plugged into a charger, many don’t operate while they’re being charged. All the true wireless (aka airpod style) by headphones, can’t even be plugged into power directly, nor would it be possible to use them while they’re charging in their case.
I can pick any headphones I want to use with it, provided they can operate from a 3.5mm connection (or something that can be adapted to 3.5) or by a balanced headphone connection… Basically any ear-mounted sound generating devices that use a wire, can be used with a few exceptions.
I’m naturally very cautious, so I also have a charging dongle that has a 3.5mm audio jack on it as a backup. It can literally charge my phone and play sound at the same time… I’m tethered to my phone, which IMO, isn’t ideal. With the BTR5, I can thread the wire through my shirt or something, and clip the unit to me or stuff it in a pocket and not worry about it. If I need my phone, I’m not fighting with how long (or short) my headphone cable is. The BTR also supports LDAC as well as aptX and related codecs, so it generally sounds excellent. It’s a bit of a bear to get it set up, so I generally pull it out for long walk/work sessions away from my desk, or if I’m in a situation where I’m waiting for something to happen for a long time. I also have a handful of Bluetooth headphones, all of which have their (dis) advantages, and I flip between what I have as the need arises. I prefer the BTR5, but it’s not always the best or most feasible given the situation.
IMO the BTR5 is better than just having a headphone plug on my phone, since the DAC and AMP in the device is known-good (many reviewers of audio stuff give it great ratings all around), and I can be untethered from my phone, so typing/scrolling/whatever is the same as normal; I’m not having to position my hand funny to avoid a bulky cable/adapter.
I had benchmarks that led me to the BTR5, and between it and the dongle, I have all my benchmarks covered.
It’s a nice to have and frankly aside from maybe water resistance there’s no good reason to remove it. The 3.5mm jack has worked since the dawn of portable music, doesn’t require often fickle pairing, and of significant issue to me at least doesn’t have the potential for some future DRM scheme when the media companies decide you have to use their special app to play something. It’s much the same reason I resisted HDMI for as long as possible.
That said, I do use wireless and probabbly would routinely even if the current phone did have a jack, but I would very much like to have it there just for the option to plug a wire in and attach it wherever I feel like. Wouldn’t be the first time an aux port or RCA adapter came in handy.