General Apple Megathread

[Cecil Terwilliger]

I think it should be obvious why people aren't so excited about Apple getting rid of the 3.5mm jack.

Like everything they do it is designed more to monopolize business than it is to benefit the consumer.

I'm all for a digital headphone jack. If it is introduced over the next 10 years and standardized across all devices it could be great. Just like previous audio/video transfer devices, they could have both or a choice of one or the other. Like companies have done with rca cables to component to hdmi.

Unfortunately Apple is obsessed with isolating their customers instead of pushing for industry wide adoption of a single process or technology. Could you imagine if 10 years later Microsoft and Sony were still swinging dicks over hddvd and bluray? Jesus we'd all be insanely pissed as consumers. I have no idea how there hasn't been more frustration and backlash towards Apple, especially as their products and technology have failed to maintain the previous gap to their competition.

[opendoor]

Yeah, that's where the floppy disc and optical media comparisons don't hold water; when Apple ditched those it was in favor of non-proprietary interfaces. I don't think it would've gone as smoothly if they got rid of disc based storage and only had Firewire ports on their computers as a means to connect devices and transfer data.

[Flames89]

Originally Posted by atb

The biggest thing for me is not being able to charge my phone while using headphones. There are countless times when I've needed to charge my phone while continuing to use headphones for music/netflix. It's silly and inconvenient I won't be able to do both at the same time without purchasing expensive wireless headphones. I assumed that this move would coincide with the addition of wireless charging, without that option this is a big miss imo.

I am sure there will be Y cables released that allow you to do both.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Flames89

I am sure there will be Y cables released that allow you to do both.

100% there will be. That doesn't make it okay to the shopping public however. Just another adapter to carry around, to lose, one for home, one for work. Another adapter to waste money on.

[Flames89]

Meh. You already carry a power cable. Just buy one that has the y attachment for headphones.
I don't see the big deal here. Until you break your current pair of headphones, just attach the adapter to them and leave it attached.
From here on out buy lightening headphones or go wireless. I am sure within a year most headphones will be sold in two models AUX and Lightning

[underGRADFlame]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Yeah, that's where the floppy disc and optical media comparisons don't hold water; when Apple ditched those it was in favor of non-proprietary interfaces. I don't think it would've gone as smoothly if they got rid of disc based storage and only had Firewire ports on their computers as a means to connect devices and transfer data.

I didn't realize Bluetooth was Apple proprietary?

People hammer Apple for playing it safe with the tech and that they are always a generation behind Samsung or LG. I'm sure if Samsung had done this first, someone would be singing the virtues of their forward thinking.

Plain and simple, if you don't like the phone don't buy it, but bitching about a companies evolution of a product is pretty futile. Products evolve and thank god they do or else we'd all be driving Model T's around.

[Flaming Choy]

http://appleplugs.com/

easy conversion from iPhone 6 to 7

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Flames89

Meh. You already carry a power cable. Just buy one that has the y attachment for headphones.
I don't see the big deal here. Until you break your current pair of headphones, just attach the adapter to them and leave it attached.
From here on out buy lightening headphones or go wireless. I am sure within a year most headphones will be sold in two models AUX and Lightning

There will also need to be USB-C headphones...

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

People complaining about the lack of 3.5mm jack are entering "Get off my lawn" territory.

Why are people so attached to a technology that is 40 years old?

Let's stop using the wheel, it's already over 6000 years old! Why are people so attached to antiquated technology??

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by underGRADFlame

I didn't realize Bluetooth was Apple proprietary?

People hammer Apple for playing it safe with the tech and that they are always a generation behind Samsung or LG. I'm sure if Samsung had done this first, someone would be singing the virtues of their forward thinking.

Plain and simple, if you don't like the phone don't buy it, but bitching about a companies evolution of a product is pretty futile. Products evolve and thank god they do or else we'd all be driving Model T's around.

The people that don't like Apple will criticize them regardless of what they do. If they make evolutionary changes they are criticized for not advancing past or falling behind android device advancements. If they innovate they are criticized for moving technology forward in a new direction and people always resist change. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

People don't like change but eventually come around. I recall most people ranting about the Loonie replacing the dollar bill and now we have accepted the Loonie and toonie with nobody complaining. I personally don't care if they removed the jack as long as there's still provisions to use my existing headphones as I can't think of a single time I've ever used it while charging but other people may be different. Really IMO this is pretty minor stuff as everyone likes the big screens so innovations will have to focus on making the devices, lighter and thinner, necessitating less holes and connections in the case.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Iggy City

What do you mean, it is waterproof..........

It's IP67 dust and water resistant, not waterproof. The problem is that the media and consumers don't know the difference. Its generally a rating of water resistance at 1 meter depth so if you drop your phone in the deep end of the pool, it's not guaranteed to be water tight.

The stuff about the headphone port needing to be removed to get this rating is marketing falsehood. Older phones like the Samsung S5 were already IP67 with an exposed headphone port.

As an audiophile - as far as all the stuff about the 3.5mm stereo minijack (TRRS connector to be specific) goes, that is all you need for a very high level of audio fidelity. The actual quality of audio depends on the digital signal processor, digital to analog converter (DAC), and the listening device (headphones, stereo-preamp, reciever, etc.) so everybody's experience will differ with different hardware. There's no apples to apples to oranges comparison here. Traditionally, most of the versions of the Bluetooth standard have been substandard with compression, loss of dynamic range, interference, etc. but newer standards are getting better. With technology improving we will get to a point where we have greater than CD quality audio over wireless.

Like Steve Jobs however, while I will listen on Bluetooth headphones at work, I go home and listen to analog music on a multi-thousand dollar setup so I don't really care about music on mobile phones.

[ken0042]

I understand some of the technical reasons to remove the headphone jack. In doing so you not only allow the phone to be water resistant, but the big thing is removing the digital to analog conversion part of the phone. They briefly mentioned it in the Keynote, but I think they should have gone further into it. Basically if they said that the reason for the better graphics and CPU is because of the space freed up by removing the converter, people would have been all over it.

[HotHotHeat]

Audiophiles have long clung to their cables (and vinyl records), believing wireless technology compromises the listening experience. But Olive, who is the research director for audio company Harman International, says the jack connector actually has little impact on acoustic quality. The two most critical factors to good sound quality are the headphone’s speaker (called the surface transducer or exciter) and the original sound recording.
The current industry standard, Bluetooth 4, is “good enough” as any wired connection, he adds, and the release of Bluetooth 5, which is expected in late 2016 or early 2017, promises to make fidelity even better. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group boasts that the newest standard will double the speed of connections and increase the capacity of data broadcasts by 800%.
Olive argues that Apple’s move to eliminate analog ports will help accelerate scientific research that could benefit a wider audience. As an example, he said an international conference on headphone technology he co-chaired in Denmark last month delved into hearing aid innovations.
As for environmentally minded skeptics, engineers note that the headphone cable is actually the first thing to break. “You can imagine without cables there’s going to be less headphones thrown away,” says Olive. “In that sense, there should be less environmental waste.

http://qz.com/775212/apples-aapl-iph...appy-about-it/

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I understand some of the technical reasons to remove the headphone jack. In doing so you not only allow the phone to be water resistant, but the big thing is removing the digital to analog conversion part of the phone. They briefly mentioned it in the Keynote, but I think they should have gone further into it. Basically if they said that the reason for the better graphics and CPU is because of the space freed up by removing the converter, people would have been all over it.

The phone still has a DAC, or else it couldn't have internal speakers. Perhaps it's a lower quality one, but I doubt they're gaining much space by changes in that area.

[Senator Clay Davis]

As I said before, $20 Sony headphones work just as well, last much longer, and are obviously exceptionally cheaper than Apple headphones (or Bose, or Beats, or whoever). The average listener isn't able to comprehend audio quality like an audiophile, nor are they going to give that much of a crap either. And if their target here is audiophiles, there's a 99% chance they aren't listening to music through an iPhone or iPod. Audiophiles spend big money on devices like that Neil Young FLAC player or whatever. They aren't using iPhones to begin with, so this has nothing to do with targeting them. It's clear what this is all about, and it ain't having the best sound experience possible. Nothing wrong with that, but acting like this isn't about further ecosystem entrapment (and relieving wallets of cash) is laughable.

[Mazrim]

I'm more peeved they didn't replace the headphone jack with another Lightning port (or a USB-C port), because there are definitely good reasons to have the availability there. They did this with the Macbook Air as well, and on a laptop it's infinitely more annoying to only have the one USB-C port.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

http://qz.com/775212/apples-aapl-iph...appy-about-it/

That environmental bit is laughable. Are they really trying to suggest passive headphones will have a shorter lifespan and larger environmental footprint than battery powered headphones, particularly ones without replaceable batteries? Apple didn't do this so they could sell fewer Beats headphones.

The rest is generally true though. Bluetooth will soon be at the point where it can provide a transparent audio signal. But sound quality is only one factor. Bluetooth headphones also need to be charged and using them drains the device's battery faster than passive headphones. In some situations like exercising they are clearly superior. But in others like wearing them all day at a desk they're not really and they have their drawbacks.

[Russic]

As somebody who has had their phone land in a toilet, the headphone jack can kindly go die if it helps get us get to water resistance.

If you own expensive, corded headphones, I do legitimately feel bad for your predicament. However, let's look at this as rationally as we can:

- Absolutely nobody is being forced to update anything
- There are exceptionally good phones from other companies
- Despite anger over planned obsolescence, since the iPhone 5 they've held up remarkably well from update to update
- There's a dongle in the box, and replacements are cheap

Every year I remain amazed at how mad people will get over products they don't have to buy. This isn't a government mandated product available from 1 company.

We demand these phones to do more and more, and we make fun of the companies that don't move the ball forward. Far and away (I believe) the most common annoyance people have with their phones is battery life. This is how you make room for things like bigger batteries and camera upgrades.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by opendoor

The phone still has a DAC, or else it couldn't have internal speakers. Perhaps it's a lower quality one, but I doubt they're gaining much space by changes in that area.

Nor could it use a little dongle adapter to go to 3.5. Are there electronics in that adapter or is there lightning pin to wire type capability? Does that mean it is going to be an expensive adapter?

The whole idea of proprietary ear buds makes my stomach churn. My kids use their headphones on lots of different devices. They could have at least went to usb c with this switch, and then everyone can start making non proprietary usb c headphones and ear buds.

Blue tooth ear buds are kind of cool for some applications, but I'm not getting them for my kids, nor am I going to worry about having them charged for road trips. I really hope that Android manufacturers don't follow this lead.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I understand some of the technical reasons to remove the headphone jack. In doing so you not only allow the phone to be water resistant, but the big thing is removing the digital to analog conversion part of the phone. They briefly mentioned it in the Keynote, but I think they should have gone further into it. Basically if they said that the reason for the better graphics and CPU is because of the space freed up by removing the converter, people would have been all over it.

Don't believe what Apple is saying. It's an outright marketing lie.

*** Sony, Samsung, etc. have had IP67 and IP68 rated water resistant phones for years without removing the headphone port or having to plug it with a gasket/cover or anything.

*** The phone must still have a DAC inside otherwise you wouldn't be able to have speakers built into the phone or use a pass through headphone port through the lighting port.