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Comment by bigstrat2003 | Hacker News Reader

bigstrat2003

I would love a Fairphone, but no headphone jack is a nonstarter for me. Still blows me away that a company saying they are focused on longevity would get rid of a universal audio interface that we've had for decades. In the article they claim it's to fit other features in, but frankly that's not a believable claim. Other manufacturers manage to get a headphone jack in just fine, without any noticeable downside.

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The headphone jack is inside USB-C connector. You can use USB-C-to-3.5mm passive (!) cable to connect your 3.5mm headphones, or you can buy 3.5mm headphones with USB-C audio connection.

There's no additional DAC involved, the analog audio is already on a USB-C pins.

How do you charge your phone while listening to music?

put this on your music device:

https://images.thalia.media/-/BF2000-2000/939d34e30a3d4f6587...

How is that better than having a dedicated headphones port?

I didn't claim it is better

Fair enough.

With a charging input + 3.5mm dongle?

https://ae-pic-a1.aliexpress-media.com/kf/Sfa5566c711b14a4aa...

Going from separate ports to one port, when its easy to yank the headphone cord and ruin the usb-c so now you can't charge your phone is great.

I've tried those dongles and they are all a huge hassle compared to just having a headphone jack built in.

Well yes, I agree, but the option is there.

I think I'd rather stick with a phone that has a separate headpones port.

This is always the question, but who does that?

Me.

I can't find anything about that in the article or the Fairphone 6 manual. Do you have a source for this?

My main problem with USB-C headphones on my Android phone is how unreliable they are. But if the USB-C port can just pass through an analog audio connection, that should work much better, I expect.

Edit: This feature is apparently deprecated (removed?) in newer versions of the USB spec! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C#Analog_Audio_Adapter_Acc...

I absolutely concour about the need of a headphone jack - I do not buy anything without it. So,

> to fit other features in

what exactly, one would ask. If there are tradeoffs, if would be nice if the customers can decide what to have, in a modular product.

> If there are tradeoffs, if would be nice if the customers can decide what to have, in a modular product.

A "modular product" has tradeoffs in and of itself (such as size, price, water resistance, …), which presumably would not fly for a majority of customers.

Yes, the water resistance is what keeps my phone from dying if I go for a hike in the rain or a small splashy boat ride, replacing the water damaged motherboard isn't as sustainable as buying a used flagship phone from an earlier time.

At this point headphones with an usb-c connection have become nearly as common as 3.5mm trs ones. Additionally you can permamently hook a small usb-c dac with 3.5mm trs output to the headphones of your choice.

Only issue is some very cheap ones are actually bluetooth headphones in disguise where the usb-c connection only exist to power the bt recepter inside the headphone. I find this completely stupid.

I tried the "jack to USB-C" in the only product I was forced to that needed it: an unthinkable battery drain.

Given how severely that hard requirement restricts your available options, I'd suggest adapting to the USB-C audio world. No, it's not as nice as a headphone jack. But it is a relatively small con to just stick an adapter onto the ends of your 3.5mm devices and replace it a few times a year when it breaks. And yes, you can get a "charge and listen at the same time" adapter.

Serial is a universal data interface that we've had for decades. Don't need RS232 on my phone though.

Boy it would be nice however.

On that note, I remember reading how some phones were able to use the headphone jack as a serial debug port, which is pretty neat.

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Serial_debugging/Cable_sc...

The Apple 30-pin connector on the iPod and early iPhones had serial!

That is how your car radio could display the name of the current track.

https://theapplewiki.com/wiki/30-pin_Connector

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