The 19th Century plug that's still being used
bbc.com
bbc.com
Yes, Apple retired Floppy disks and DVD readers, because those were replaced by something better. This is not the case here.
A Bluetooth headphone will give you an inferior experience. A lightning converter will give you a worse experience because I can bet it doesn't stay plugged as firmly as a headphone in a high vibration situation (e.g. people exercising) and you can't have the charger plugged while you listen to music
Just as a reminder it was the EU who ended the BS of every company having a stupid proprietary charger.
Did they? How did Apple get away with it?
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD820AM/A/lightning-to-mic...
$20 to buy in the US. Sure it cost $.10 to make.
http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pr...
Better components, better design, better safety, and better assembly. Plus then you have to package and ship the things.
People complain about Apple selling $20 accessories, then turn around and complain about working conditions in Apple's suppliers like Foxconn (despite Apple doing far better on that front than their competitors).
- You have to recharge it
- If you forget them at home you can't get a replacement for cheap
- Setting up bluetooth is an extra hassle as opposed to just plugging the thing
Lossless transcoding is possible too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AptX#aptX_Lossless
iPhones and Macbooks support aptX now. Surely this isn't just a hardware change — once Apple discloses the details, it won't be at all surprising if aptX Lossless (at minimum) is required for MFi licensing going forward.
FWIW, the transcoding you mention isn't a requirement of Bluetooth audio. MP3 and AAC bitstreams could be delivered straight to headphones for decoding there. We don't yet know if that's something Apple is discussing with MFi program members.
I looked up recommendations for Bluetooth devices at Wirecutter and then went to the relevant tech specs page:
Mentions "bluetooth" (sometimes a2dp) and no more:
* https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/speakers/wireless_speake...
* https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Mini-Bluetooth-Speaker-P...
* https://www.marshallheadphones.com/mh_us_en/acton-black
* http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Digital+Media+Rec...
* http://www.kenwood.com/usa/car/excelon/kdc-x998/spec.html
* http://www.jabra.com/music/jabra-move-wireless
* http://www.jbl.com/over-ear-headphones/SYNCHROS+E40BT.html
* https://www.ultimateears.com/en-us/ueroll2
* http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/x300-wireless-speaker
* http://www.apple.com/iphone-6s/specs/ - the Nexus 6P page doesn't even mention bluetooth
Mentions codecs:
* http://rivaaudio.com/riva-turbo-x/#specs
* http://www.peachtreeaudio.com/deepblue2.html (Says "aptX bluetooth")
* http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Wireless-Speakers/Wireless-Spe...
That's an excellent point.
Sadly, I don't think the average consumer knows or cares about the badness that is lossy-to-lossy transcoding.
For those who do, aptX support is pretty easy to find in the sense that vendors tend to make "aptX" searchable in the name and/or description. (If you Google "amazon aptx headphones", you'll see what I mean.)
Finally, this is a great example of how Apple gets to "own" the mindshare for tech they don't invent. If Apple decides to hang their hat on the aptX brand for the iPhone 7 launch, that'll be how most people hear about it for the first time. Since aptX isn't their brand, it's more likely that Apple will simply tout "perfect wireless audio" and make sure customers know to look for "Made for iPhone" headphones.
My iphone losing the audio jack would be a major inconvenience. I would have to carry multiple headphones, and also potentially bigger headphones since they will need to do more (blutooth, DAC, etc). Frankly, after having owned pretty much every iphone and ipod model since the begining, I will most likely be looking for an alternative.
It's harder if you want to listen to something on your laptop for a minute instead or on the phone. It's also harder when the phone is in your <front/back/just the wrong> pocket and because it's just in the wrong orientation for the BT to work your audio cuts out.
> Bluetooth is easier than plugging in headphones.
Until it isn't, like needing to re-pair the devices, keep them charged, switch between multiple devices, etc. It's a hassle that I don't want to have to think about. I've got bluetooth headphones, but I never use them because they're a pain in the butt (and don't work with everything I want to use headphones with, anyhow). I don't understand people that are for removing functionality from their devices.
I've been through 10 BT headsets and the Apple EarPods are still the best and most flexible all-rounder. It's the equivalent of the inexpensive DSLR walkaround lens to me.
That said I've been told that the 3.5mm jack takes up a surprising amount of internal space, and that between freeing up that space and a few other tweaks, getting rid of the jack substantially boosts battery life. Still, I think it's not a great trade-off, now you have to babysit a new battery in your headphones, which probably won't last a full day of use.
On a personal note, anticipated lack of a standard headphone jack is one of the reasons I upgraded to a 6S recently, this way I'll have the best 3.5-mm phone Apple made for a while. If I do have to upgrade later on, I'll be strongly tempted to get an SE instead of a higher end phone, as long as it has a 3.5mm jack.
Yes, as you say, by moving the power draw for the DAC to another device, which must be charged separately. This isn't a real gain in battery life in any way.
I dont want to charger yet another device in my daily routine. I won't, actually, and will steer away from any phone that requires active headphones to work.
I'm not saying I agree with getting rid of the headphone jack. The amount of utility it provides is pretty high relative to the volume it takes up.
Maybe I'm in the minority but I could never imagine not having music pumping in my ears.
These people are a pox on public transport.
I also use the phone's internal speakers for playing the notification sound. (And, technically, ringing.) I sure hope that's not going away.
Bluetooth's more reliable than USB in a car anyway.
Quite frequently found at highway truck stops, though almost certainly other electronics stores as well.
Wireless is convenient.
Wired is reliable.
YMMV.
Oh and it felt too damn thin as it is I was constantly wary I would accidentally bend it or scratch the metal casing so i got a rubberised cover. Now it feels a lot better to hold.
FWIW I recently got one of these:
http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-e3
and I'm very happy (not for use with an Apple device though, I use it with a Sony Xpedia Z3+, my laptop and my desktop via a recent generation usb bluetooth dongle (for AptX support).
Does it last the full day and them some, like my phone does?
You may think that the current iPhones are thin enough, but almost nobody actually uses the phone on its own. You need to take into account the thickness of the case, and now that people are playing Pokemon Go, it really needs to be a battery case, which is even thicker. So the base phone needs to be thinner.
(They can't just make the phone a little thicker and put the extra battery inside it because reasons.)
No, this was (for the most part) an anomaly. (Sony loved this crap.)
And the "adapter" you need for professional gear costs all of .25, unless you want to plug your headphones into BNC, then it's maybe 1$ in parts and 15 minutes at your bench.
Sony made a couple of brilliant mp3 players with proper line out for a while - until Sony Music got upset about "piracy", and apparently the ensuing battle within Sony killed a lot of great products. Which turned out to be a net loss, as was obvious to anyone - it happened that Apple took the marked with the iPod, but it was obvious someone would).
I wish they would stop trying to shave millimeters off my phone thickness and address actual user needs like battery life. When was the last time any of you said, "Damn, I wish this phone was thinner!"? Probably never. But many of us regularly bemoan the battery life of our devices.
The trick in making all this work of course is what you do with the rest of the buttons. If Apple could come up with something truly better than what we have had all along for lock, volume, silent, and home, that would be really neat.
In other words, I can see justifying removal of the jack as part of a holistic redesign which really evolves how we interface with the device. Removing it to make the phone just a bit thinner would be disappointing.
But from experience, designs where the charging and audio ports are on opposing ends are pretty annoying in practice, because the two cords restrict how you can move the phone when it is charging and headphones are in use. Apple stopped doing it that way several years ago.
I think the choice is eliminate the port and don't allow simple charging while listening without a weird adapter, or else you need two lightning ports.
What will be funny is the power cords which have a 3.5mm jack embedded in them. Take the jack off the phone, move it a couple inches away. It can be made very streamlined, doesn't have to be bulky. The possibility of a good power/jack cable makes me think they won't actually pull off a radical redesign, but I'd be so glad to be proven wrong, just to see something different from Apple.
One is they trap lint internally, which can often result in the internal switch that detects insertion permanently thinking there is a headphone in it (Google "phone thinks headphones are in"). The external speaker is usually muted when a jack is inserted, so when this happens, the phone doesn't make any sounds. Lint is very difficult to remove from the outside the connector.
The other problem--which the original inventors couldn't have anticipated--involves the hook switch (hangup button) on wired phone earbuds. The switch usually works by shorting the microphone to ground. The problem is that, because of the geometry of the plug, the microphone is also shorted to ground while the plug is inserted or removed. To avoid erroneously interpreting insertion/removal as a hangup, the software must wait for the button to be held for around a second. This precludes doing other interesting things with the button, like having double clicks, or clicks with different durations perform other functions. It also feels a bit awkward to have to hold it for so long.
I've owned my current phone for ~4 years, and the first port to stop working — due to lint — was the USB port, not the audio port.
> Lint is very difficult to remove from the outside the connector.
Removing lint from a 3.5mm audio port is going to be vastly easier than removing it from a USB port (which is completely possible). The entrance is much wider, and you don't have to worry about damaging the connector thing that USB has in the middle, as it doesn't exist. I've even removed a silica gel ball (which are apparently about 3.5mm wide …) from an audio port (and needed a paper clip to crush it first). I'd not want to try the same thing on a digital USB or lightning port …
All one needs is a toothpick and a little patience.
Now what can they possibly offer in the next iPhone that offsets the loss of the headphone jack? Wireless headphones are just not all the way there and I don't really want to have to think about charging another device and then get mad if I forget to charge it then have nothing to listen to for the day.
Unless they offer something substantial with the next iPhone and assuming the headphone thing is true, I probably won't buy another iPhone.
After replacing so many headphones because of cables breaking, I'm really happy Bluetooth headphones. Although when I want to enjoy music, you can't beat decent headphones with a half decent soundcard/ DAC.
But, so what? Analog phones are going away. They just lasted longer than most other technologies. So should codecs and amps inside of mobile devices. Those things belong with the transducer, so they can be tuned to the characteristics of the transducer.
I think it depends on where you are. A lot of lecs only take dtmf signalling these days.
There are still fully mechanical control centres where you have to switch the switches by hand and turn a crank (to generate a bit of AC) to signal another control centre the current state of your tracks. Doesn't matter if the next station uses relais-logic or computers, it works.
Amplifiers/DACs are not simple devices that can be crammed into a pair of headphones without significant compromises in audio quality. The DAC in an iPhone is acceptable for most uses but an amplifier requires a fairly large quantity of discretes and a large power source to drive many headphones. Here are some pictures of the inside of a minimalist audiophile headphone amplifier (Objective2), and with the DAC daughterboard added:
http://teribil-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/D300-766...
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9lKWLE_sO84/UDUDtC2ApHI/AAAAAAAABB...
Furthermore, if the DAC/amp are internal to the headphones then the headphones themselves become significantly more expensive. For high-end usage most users will want to use their DAC/amp with multiple pairs of headphones, it's cost-ineffective to have a $200 DAC/amp unit built in to every single pair of headphones. Consumer gear is also cheaper, but you're still talking about the difference between a pair of headphones costing $30 and costing $50.
Also, there's not really any consensus on what "proper tuning" actually means with headphones. Some people like an absolutely flat "reference/analytical" sound, but this is only a small subset of high-end users, and consumer gear is not tuned anywhere near a flat response curve. And it's a highly perception-based area where different individuals hear totally different aspects of headphones, with a high degree of placebo effect.
The long-term fix for audiophile users is probably going to be to move to external DAC/amp units rather than integrating the DAC/amp into the headphones. This means yet another thing you have to carry around and keep charged (my Fiio X5ii lasts maybe 6-8h on a charge). I'm not currently aware of any that use Lightning, but if there's a market they will eventually exist. Consumer users probably won't care about the negative impacts on quality too much, but rather about how Lightning headsets are now going to be quite a bit more expensive.
Headphones have a lot more room for electronics and than do phones. Even a small volume-control module in line in an in-ear headphones would have a lot more room than is currently used by the audio circuitry in a phone.
> The long-term fix for audiophile users is probably going to be to move to external DAC/amp units
That's the current solution for audiophiles, and digital music connections, wired or wireless, will support this better.
I have seen many broken micro-usb connectors, and a couple of broken lightning connectors. I cant remember ever seeing a broken 3.5mm connector, the cables break before the connector.
Do i want a thinner phone? No, i want a phone with better battery life. Like phones had back in the day(2005) a week or two was not uncommon.
When for some reason, my bluetooth headphone's connectivity is acting up (happens often), I can take my wired headphone and plug it in without even looking, knowing that it WILL work.
One of my car's electric windows has stopped working. For my next car, I want something where there's a fallback to a mechanical crank (the way car windows used to be).
I'd much rather have electric windows that are cheap and easy to repair than reintroduce hand cranked windows, even just as a back up.
Elon Musk: if you're reading this: if you put a manual window crank option in your cars (especially as a fallback in case the electric window fails), that's what I'll buy.
Can't say I like them any more or any less than electric windows to be honest. Six one, half a dozen the other.
They're definitely better for 4-wheel driving (not that my car can do that) though, because if you flood your electronics, you can still wind the windows down. I had a friend who ran into trouble when the truck he was in flooded, and he was in the back with the windows up. So there's a definite advantage to manual windows in certain circumstances.
That's over 13 cycles/day for two years. Probably fine for most users.
Edit: The official spec is only available via a zipped folder of PDFs, here's the particulars to save readers the effort.
5.7.1.3
Durability or Insertion/Extraction Cycles (EIA 364-09)
The durability ratings listed in Table 5-16 are specified for the USB 3.1 connectors.
Table 5-16. Durability Ratings
Connector Standard Durability Class High Durability Class
USB 3.1 Standard-A connector 1500 cycles min 5000 cycles min
USB 3.1 Standard-B connector 1500 cycles min 5000 cycles min
USB 3.1 Micro connector family 10000 cycles min
The durability test shall be done at a maximum rate of 200 cycles per hour and no physical damage to any part of the connector or cable assembly shall occur.The original 30 pin Apple connector wasn't bad, but when I looked at the new lightning connector I thought it would be a clear improvement. But now I'm not sure.
Lightning pins are quite small. I find my devices don't always make good contact. I find black stuff (oxidation?) building up on both pins and sockets.
Compared to lightning, USB-C just "feels" like it will be much worse. I predict it will be a disappointment in the real world (as most connectors turn out to be).
I've not been surprised to see how slow the adoption of USB-C has been because I think it's obvious to insiders that the reliability issues are real. The shame is that when it works, it's great.
Whenever I leave my desk, I take the phone with me so that the Health app can record steps and distance. Thus the phone comes with me on bathroom breaks, so that's a couple more.
I'll go talk to coworkers down the hall a couple times a day, adding a couple more cycles.
Every 30 minutes I get up and take a stroll around the office to mitigate the effects of sitting too long [1]. That's another maybe 10 cycles.
That's 17 cycles/day on work days, assuming no more cycles at home after work.
If I manage to have 6 more cycles at home on weekends or after work on work days, that will be bring my average over the week to 13 cycles/day.
If thinness is just a cover for wanting digital, then go TOSLINK and have digital with analog fall-back. They already have it in the MacBook Pros.
At the end of the day, it's "give up the 3.5mm jack" or "don't get the latest iPhone" and I'll wager that they'll have no problem generating lines filled with people that just have to have the iPhone 7 because...Apple! Apple has a near-religious following. I got a kick out of a friend of mine who upgraded on release when they ditched the 30-pin connector. He'd recently purchased an alarm clock, an add-on for his home stereo and had already owned several other 30-pin reliant bits. They were on eBay the following week. Out of the non-techies I know that purchased the iPhone 6, none of them could tell what, specifically, they were getting over their existing iPhone 5S (that's a grand-anecdotal-total of 3 folks, though).
If there is resistance on this release due to there not being enough compelling features, that resistance will eventually give way. Many people are so wired in to Apple's products that lock-in will win. Maybe they'll wait until the 8. But eventually Apple will be making money on sales of ear buds with Apple-only connections and will benefit from yet another component that locks them into their platform. And the folks who spend $200 on supposedly high-end ear phones[0] will now feel even more compelled to stick with Apple's product line.
I'm biased and this is a little overly cynical. I've never owned an iPhone and the two Apple devices I've ever owned: an iPad that belongs to my wife and an iMac that I use as a display (target display mode) because, at the time, it was a little less than a comparable "screen only" device with similar specifications (and it was physically prettier, to boot). I've not logged into it, directly, in two years and don't really get the appeal of OSX.
[0] I've never understood this. I have a pair of 25 year old studio headphones (AKG, 1/4" jack, big, over-the-ear with a very long cord). I needed them due to equipment and was sicked that they ran 10 times the price of a pair of solid headphones, but I was amazed by the quality they produced. I didn't want to buy these, but after 25 years of heavy use (and the manufacturer still makes the model I purchased), I can't say I feel bad about the price. The Beats/Bose headphones? I can't tell the difference between them and a pair of $30 active noise cancelling headphones I purchased from Big Lots. Granted, I can't plug my AKGs into a phone even with an adapter -- they're too quiet.
If I ever buy an audio jack free iphone (god save), the last company I will purchase headphones from is Apple.
The users on head-fi aren't your normal users, these are actual audiophiles.
I hate country.
So.. maybe just don't buy this hypothetical new iPhone?
I had forgotten that. I paid $12.99 for an adapter that shouldn't have been necessary. I expect with modern times, the Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter will be twice the price, and just as unnecessary.
Dediu didn't study the basics of sound reproduction, which are all analogue. All the fancy ones and zeros end up in a stupidly innacurate shaking paper cone. Ignoring a few esoteric exceptions, that's the best that we've got.
- Plantronic BackBeat Pros - Westone UM4r
The BackBeat's are great wireless, noise reducing over the ear headphones. I need to remember to charge them.
The Westone's are in ear monitors that, depending on type of bud you put on them, have noise reducing capabilities. They are wired. They are also some of the most amazing monitors I've owned over the years. (It hurts the time I lost a pair).
Sitting in a quiet space, the Westones will blow the Plantronics out of the water. In a plane, if I am not trying to comfortably sleep, the Plantronics are great. If I want to lay my head to the side -- IEMs rule the day.
Apple has yet to produce a set of headphones that feel comfortable for me or deliver decent quality. I can't bike/run w/ Apple's headphones, they fall out (or hurt).
If they go the route of no 3.5mm jack, I'll likely insist on one of those stupid converters.
I've yet to see anything from Apple or Beats that compares to upper end IEMs for quality, or upper end over the ear phones for noise reduction.
The real world is still analogue, and as long as we have biological brains there will need to be a digital to analogue conversion somewhere to interface with it.
Phone manufacturers might want to move that conversion out of their devices, which is understandable because analogue electronics is expensive and good quality even more so, and that change would make it someone else's responsibility.
In the end if this does go through it might not be totally a bad thing if the new digital connector is also a standard (and provides power, I might add). That way it would be possible to get a good quality DAC and reuse it everywhere.
They are the company of proprietary hardware and this is how they play.
What it should have read: Phone manufacturer (among which Apple with its popular iPhone) are starting to bring mobile devices without the omnipresent 3.5mm audio jack.
Before making 3.5 jack mandatory by the GSM association, sony ericsson used proprietary connector for their headphone jack and nokia used 1.5mm jack.
We weren't using 3.5mm jack all the way from the first smartphone and we shouldn't stick to it for the future smartphones.
Just so we are on this page, you will _still_ be able to connect 3.5mm headphones to your iPhone. You will just have to use an adapter.
There are benefits for removing this port:
1. It frees up internal space.
2. It makes outer design more robust, simpler and cheaper for production.
3. It makes the phone lighter.
4. It allows you to make iPhone thinner.
5. You have one less limitation to account for when designing new iPhone.
6. You waste less materials on cables and oversized jacks made out of metal. I really like how article says that there will be lots of cables wasted from this. Well, so what? Should we stop all innovation and keep all standards forever the same so there is no waste? Ideally we should move on to smallest possible ports and most efficient standards. We can get there with tiny steps, and that will include throwing away legacy things.
7. It's easier to make phone waterproof when you have less openings.
In addition to that, lightning jack is superior to microUSB and other jacks, because you can insert it either way. It also has magnetic functionality that the other jacks lack.
Finally, for me as a customer, this change does not bring any problems either. I may have to spend $20 more for adapter. But if the phone costs $500, this change is insignificant.
Companies in the audio industry might have bigger problems from this, but it's their problems, not mine.
I am seriously surprised that BBC would be posting useless crap like this. Could it be because there is a lot of money to be made from shorting Apple stock and then releasing anti-Apple propaganda?