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Comment by racl101 | Hacker News Reader

You might as well give up on the headphone jack bud. It ain't coming back.

My opinion continues to be as follows: As of January 2020, there is nothing any phone manufacturer has added that I would be willing to exchange my headphone jack for. Until that changes, I will either stick with my iPhone 6S, or upgrade to the best Android phone with a headphone jack available at my time of purchase.

I'd like to have a phone with a better screen and a nicer camera, and I'd even be willing to pay a lot of money for one, but those features just aren't worth the loss of my headphone jack.

The one thing I could see being worth my headphone jack is a folding screen, but it seems like we're still a ways away from those being durable enough. (And if some company does ever decide to put a headphone jack in a folding phone, that's the one I'll buy.)

I have a USB C->headphone dongle. Came free about three phones back. Works fine.

If I need to power the phone at the same time, I have a USB-C -> headphone and USB-C dongle. I keep that one in the car. It cost about 5 bucks.

Can you not do this with Apple kit?

You can get a Lightning adapter for iPhones. The problem is, I know myself—I will lose the adapter, likely right before a long trip.

I can't keep the adapter plugged into my headphones indefinitely, because then I wouldn't be able to connect them to my other devices (multiple computers, etc).

The iPhone comes (came?) with a pair of headphones that have a Lightning jack on the end of them, in place of a headphone jack. Just use those with the iPhone and use your regular headphones with everything else.

Or, if you want good headphones, then just let in the missionaries who've been telling you to accept Bluetooth as your Lord and Savior. (There are some really good Bluetooth headphones nowadays—studio-monitor quality audio, enough battery life to get through a working day, and <$200. I refused Bluetooth until headphones surpassed this bar, but they eventually did, about two years ago.)

Sure, and I could also get two sets of headphone-jack headphones and keep the adapter plugged into one of them.

I just don't want to carry two sets of headphones around with me. Currently, I keep my single pair in my back pocket, so I have them with me everywhere and I can use them with everything.

To be sure, the world would not end if I had to carry around two sets of headphones instead of one. But then, I don't need a faster phone either! New phones today are only adding marginal improvements, and the absence of a headphone jack is a bigger inconvenience by comparison.

Re: Bluetooth, the problem is that switching devices is still finicky. If you only use Apple products the Airpods do a good job at switching devices, but I sometimes use PCs. Also, I lose headphones frequently, and Bluetooth headphones are still expensive.

I mean, how about doing the opposite: leaving a pair of headphones plugged into whatever they "go with", and then putting in your ears the headphones of whatever device you're interacting with? How many devices do you have that need headphones plugged into them?

Many people just leave the Lightning earbuds plugged into their iPhone and wind them around the phone, putting the whole assembly into their pocket. (I've damaged enough cables of expensive devices that I've developed a tic against doing that, but in the case of the iPhone earbuds, it seems to be exactly what they're designed to do, judging by the extra plasticizer in the cable shielding that's not necessary for comfortable wearing and makes them degrade faster under UV.)

> and Bluetooth headphones are still expensive.

Have you checked Amazon lately? There are (high-quality!) $30 wireless earbuds from reputable brands.

> Leaving a pair of headphones plugged into whatever they "go with", and then putting in your ears the headphones of whatever device you're interacting with?

So my MacBook Air for instance (the 11 inch model, small enough to comfortably carry under my arm and use on the subway) doesn't really have a place to store headphones. And permanently wrapping headphones around my phone would get annoying quickly.

Again, these are nitpicks and there are ways I could adapt. But it would be inconvenient. I have a headphone jack, and it works.

> Have you checked Amazon lately?

I have not. The main problem really is switching between devices. And to a lesser extent, the Nintendo Switch's lack of Bluetooth audio support.

> That, and the Nintendo Switch's lack of Bluetooth audio support.

IIRC, they make a slimline adapter that you can stick to your Switch that gives it Bluetooth support. If you've got it jailbroken, you can also just enable it in software.

I think that was a third party project, maybe even a kickstarter thing...

IIRC Nintendo gave their reason for not enabling it by default as not wanting to interfere with the controllers.

> The main problem really is switching between devices.

FWIW, most bluetooth headphones also offer 3.5mm corded options. Just use the bluetooth when necessary/convenient, and the cord the rest of the time.

Huh, I hadn't seen that! That's really neat, and a possible real solution. Any product links? Doesn't need to be an endorsement, just as an example.

Edit: Oh, but then I totally forgot in this whole discussion—if it's Bluetooth I'll also have to remember to charge my damn things! Bleh. Still would like to see an example though!

One example: https://www.sony.com/electronics/headband-headphones/wh-1000...

Typically on sale for $250. 30-hour battery life.

You won't find this (that I know of) with earbud types.

Thanks!

> You won't find this (that I know of) with earbud types.

Ah, yeah, that's why I hadn't seen this. Can't really put headphones like these in my back pocket!

Off-topic, but I use the HomeSpot adapter [1] to add Bluetooth to my Switch. It's a big battery drain so I try to use wired where I can, but if I need wireless (watching something while doing dishes, etc) it works pretty well with some minor caveats on initial pairing.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L9SL7ZT

Headphones aren't the only devices that use headphone jacks. They can also be plugged in directly to non-portable speakers. And you can use them for high (enough) quality recording.

Plus, it's still much easier to plug in the cable than go through the pairing dance.

Airpods. Best purchase I've made in a decade.

Are you replying to the right comment?

I was referring to how easy it is to use the AirPods with multiple devices. Once paired, it's just a simple click to switch them.

And the comment you replied to was talking about the usefulness of non-headphone devices that also use headphone jacks. I just don't see the relevance.

Any recommendations for <$200 Bluetooth headphones?

Until iPhone 6s is deprecated, and will no longer receive iOS updates. I'm guessing iOS 14 will be about the end of that support.

I can hang out on outdated iOS for a while (I'm actually on iOS 12 right now), but yeah, eventually I'll likely hop over to Android. Headphone jacks are getting rarer in the Android world, but they're still around, and I'll get something slightly older if need be.

There's a difference between wanting something and having an expectation that you'll get it. For instance, I have an expectation that my phones will have a jack, which is one of the reasons my phone isn't Apple.

> People who don't want to buy an iPhone because of it should just not buy them and stop hammering away at this dead horse.

That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm already not buying iPhones. The only reason I'd ever mention it anymore is when I see comments like this.

> You might as well give up on the headphone jack bud.

There's no reason to give up on headphone jacks.

> Finally, it has to be pointed out that people who complain about this omission underestimate how much internal space a headphone jack wastes in a phone.

I can't be underestimating it if I'm not estimating it. Some phones have jacks. Some don't. I buy the ones with jacks. I don't notice a difference in size.

I don't think the headphone jack will make much of a difference to size (specifically thinness) until they can completely eliminate all ports and move completely to wireless charging. I think that's their endgame here, as ports are the biggest hurdle to the thinness which their industrial designers (and marketers) fetishize.

If anyone ever manages to produce a phone with zero ports on it, then I'll evaluate that phone on its own merits. I'm not going spend hundreds (thousands?) of dollars on a phone that's worse just because it might encourage the manufacturer to design one that might be better in the future.

It's not really about "encouragement". This is clearly Apple's plan, and this is merely an incremental step that they must take to normalize certain things before they can achieve what they actually want to.

I can accept a headphone jack is a premium thing, I can live without it, but it's another straw, along with the downgrade in size and cosmetics.

Framing the headphone jack as a "premium" feature may not match the views of others, and should not be considered an assumption to be taken for granted.

Headphone jacks are not necessarily considered a premium feature by all phone users.

They are by some, as is evident, but that view cannot be taken for granted — even here at HN.

> Headphone jacks are not necessarily considered a premium feature by all phone users.

Neither is a large screen, indeed I consider large portable electronics to be decidedly non-premium.

A premium feature is something I'm willing to spend money on - a phone the physical dimentions of a traditional SE, with a 3.5mm jack, dual sim cards, a modern processor, and a decent amount of storage.

Others may have other views on what premium is.

other phones never got rid of it, such as the lg v-series, and other phones have brought it back, such as the sony xperia 1 ii. these phones are just as thin or thinner than the iPhones with the same ip rating.

why is this downvoted? these are facts. i just presented some examples from other manufacturers.

And give up on the screen size. The number of people who want a phone to fit in their hands and pockets is effectively zero compared to people who want huge screens to scale up content size or watch videos on their commute.

If you wanted a massive screen, the iPhone 11 has been out for ages (although at a premium price point)

Not only that, but as an SE owner I can attest that many apps and web pages have more or less broken UIs on its screen. And I can't blame creators for not wanting to spend effort on a form factor with small and diminishing user share.

I'm the opposite type of (amateur) developer - I designed an app with an SE as my testing device. I was months into the development process before I said, "hey maybe I should look at the app on an XR." But it was pretty simple to scale the design up. I mostly just adjusted some left/right margins for the larger devices.

Well, the dimensions are still important because the zoom mode of the iPhone 6s, 7s, 8, and the new SE are the same dimensions as the regular SE.

And frankly this is part of Apple's premium positioning. If your primary concern is comfort of the form factor, then you're not willing to sacrifice your comfort to signal that you're using Apple's [attainable-]luxury product, and if you're not willing to sacrifice for luxury you're probably not likely to pay for it in the first place. For now, they're happy to let those people go to the Android world. We'll see if that persists into this economic recession, or if they start to move more aggressively downmarket to boost their numbers. But it's a very valid strategy.

Funny you say that, since Apple was notoriously late to the large-phone game.

> The number of people who want a phone to fit in their hands and pockets is effectively zero

You're not wrong, but seriously, what is wrong with the world?

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