There's gotta be other things that fall in that category. 3.5mm headphones? Cars with tactile controls? Non-electric bicycles?
Yes. For over 30 years, consumer electronics had a Just Works™ standard for stereo audio. No pairing issues. No charging issues. No dongles for different devices.
For some situations (jogging, gym, housework, etc) I get that no-wires is also convenient, but others (like the car) make no damn sense, and even the situations where it does make sense aren't a reason to remove the feature.
But we did it anyway because it makes Apple more money.
Ideally we’d get rid of analog and have the same digital standard that works wires or wireless. In practice, I use Bluetooth and CarPlay.
USB Audio Class has been almost universally supported in computing devices for literally decades at this point, as has USB HID Class which supports media controls.
I have no idea whether Apple allows it to work on iOS devices, but a car head unit could easily expose a USB audio class device and it'd "just work" with Android, Windows, MacOS, etc. devices. Add a USB HID "keyboard" that can send media/telephone inputs and you're good to go without any new tech required to be invented. Works with anything that doesn't go out of the way to prevent it from working. All you'd be missing compared to Bluetooth A2DP/AVRCP would be communicating media info back to the head unit, which is more of an optional nicety rather than a necessity.
Plug a USB cable in to whatever computing device you want to source audio from and it would work great.
Unfortunately the majority of the non-technical community, and a surprisingly large amount of the technical community, acts like they're allergic to wires. I honestly do not understand the demand for wireless charging, wireless AA/CP, etc. when a single cable works better for both. It's not that hard to plug a phone in when you sit down in your car.
Wired CarPlay is pretty nice, though.
Yeah, I wasn't suggesting it as something that cars support right now, but it's something that 100% could be supported easily and would "just work" with basically every modern computing device.
> Maybe because "digital keyboard" is too generic compared to "play/pause/next/previous/volume"? Then there's also the phone call controls.
The HID class covers keyboards, mice, trackballs, gamepads, touch devices, spinners, media controls, telephony, etc. All the media and phone controls you could ever want have been defined for decades, so there's definitely no technical reason it wouldn't be usable.
> Wired CarPlay is pretty nice, though.
Likewise to Android Auto, I certainly wouldn't trade it for the controls and audio only system I'm describing, but those who don't want a screen or whatever else could be better supported.
For media playback I agree entirely, TBH I still browse podcasts and music on my phone even while using Android Auto because the app is unrestricted on the phone where over AA it severely limits browsing unless I'm stopped.
For me the screen integration is all about navigation. OEM navigation is almost universally terrible, the few that aren't terrible now will be in 5-10 years when the OEM has moved on to their new system and stops supporting the old, and none of them will ever support something like Waze that offers speed trap alerts.
The wires do work if I need them through CarPlay, or AndroidAuto. And I do use Waze on the car’s built in display sometimes. But mostly - I just enter the car and start driving. No need to put the key in the ignition, or the headphone jack in the phone.
I don't disagree, but I've been using AirPods for 5 yars now and am yet to have any of the issues you're referring to. I just get my tangle free, small headphones out of the my pocket and they just work every time.
https://hardwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/15086/how-d...
Yes, we have more choice with more channels, and streaming, and independent media, but I'd almost rather have limited choice of higher quality than to have a choice of thousands of "meh" options.
Remember when you paid a subscription NOT to watch commercials?
something, something, Pepperidge Farms meme....
Sure as heck aren't those. While I still want a physical connector, jiggling the cable to get a good connection when the jack started wearing out is something that should have been put it in its grave long ago.
Some of that you can chalk up to survivor bias, but if this is a conversation, the main reason anybody can actually have it is that we're talking about a standard that was universal enough for long enough.
I think this is mostly due to shitty cables though. I've had multiple Sennheiser earbuds that lasted for 4,5 years on average, while only costing 20 euros at the time. Similarly, my current headphones are semi-profesional studio monitors that I've used heavily for the last 8 years, (including DJing) and they still work perfectly.
I think there's a difference between solid-core or stranded cables. I don't recall which is the more durable one, but as long as you get the right one cabled headphones can last a long time.
Also when it does break it's trivially easy to repair or replace the cable.
♯ No extra device to remember to charge (unless, perhaps, you have big noise-cancelling cans).
♯ No running out at an inconvenient/irritating time if you don't charge them (or are just out for a long time).
♯ Standard fitting so anything can plug in, makes carrying a spare set (or buying one in an “emergency”) inexpensive.
♯ Easily plug in a double+ adaptor too (not seen it for a while that I remember, but there was a spate of people on public transport listening to the same music that way). Try that with BT.
♯ No pairing issues (tell me you've never had them, even with supposedly good quality kit, and I'll call you a lier!).
♯ Easily switch between devices (my headset doesn't always want to connect when I switch from work to personal phone, so I have to go through the BT-on-and-off-again-at-both-ends dance. At least these days decent devices (and most cheap ones) remember multiple pairings, it used to be even worse.
♯ The crackling from a poor connection was rare with a good jack+socket in my experience, and BT is not immune to interference in busy environments. I've also experienced BT dropping out temporarily if devices get too close (i.e. I sit and bend to adjust a shoelace while my phone is on a trouser pocket).
And of course there is little reason not to have a standard jack as a fallback option, even if you do usually use wireless playback.
If there was a wired digital standard as ubiquitous or at least as nearly as, perhaps people would be wanting that instead.
The 3.5mm jack debate on phones is not about digital/analogue, it is about what people know, understand, _already have_ or can easily afford/access. They don't specifically want analogue, like people buying vinyl, they want the port that common head gear plugs into, for the reasons I and others have mentioned, and that port being analogue is just a coincidence of its history.
With wireless headphones, it's always a question, do I have enough battery for this trip, what to do if I run out of the battery, the answer is usually just taking additional wired earphones with me, just as a backup.
The same reason is why I use wired mouse and wired keyboard, I don't want to have to think about the battery nor knowing that there will come a time when I'll have to change the battery or charge the keyboard.
As others have mentioned, there are benefits to wireless devices, but everything has a Yin and a Yang, you get wireless but you trade something else in exchange.
My dream would be resurrecting 1990s mazda with 3 models: the hatchback, 90s-size pickup truck , and the miata. All tactile control interior. Modern drivetrain efficiency ( direct injection, variable timing) . Primitive ICs (just air/ fuel mix, ABS, and minimal ODB-II features) .
There is a huge market of guys who just want usable, long-lasting, responsive & intuitive tools