Apple Event 9/7/16 - iPhones and Pokemons!

Hardware and technical stuff
101

I use to care about FLAC/ALAC… until I took the Philip’s Golden Ear test (I was going to link to it but apparently it was taken down). My ears are fine with compressed audio. Over Bluetooth, however, only aptX and AAC codecs are acceptable. The default SBC codec most BT headsets use is the low quality stuff.

Now for the most surprising part of today’s announcement. Apple will sell the standalone Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter for…are you sitting down? … $9. I’m going to pick one up just for the heck of it.

102

Right, but you can still use your regular headphones, just need to use the included adaptor. Do we know yet if that will decrease quality?

In my mobile uses, there are enough other factors that some good bluetooth headphone are perfectly acceptable to me. I am starting to think I am not as critical as most people. At home in a quiet room if I was using headphones, I would probably want something better.

Am I the only one here that uses bluetooth in my car and thinks the sound quality is fine for an already noise environment?

I have some expensive Sennheisers that have a 6.25mm plug that I have owned them for years. They live with a 3.5mm adaptor on them that I take off as needed (which is never nowadays). It has never been an issue for me. I just don’t understand it being that big of a deal for most people. When I get a 7, that jack will just live on my workout headphones, if I don’t upgrade to some good in-ear bluetooth headphones.

103

You can’t also have the phone charging while using the wired headphones, at least not from what I can tell.

That’s like 90% of my headphone use. Phone on my desk on the charger while wearing wired headphones to listen to music.

104

I mean, I don’t have anything against bluetooth, it works great for playing audio wirelessly if you don’t care about sound quality.

What I think people see as kind of lame, and a very apple move, is to remove something and spin it as a feature. You can’t really get me over that. I mean, headphones are… headphones. Like, everyone uses them. What does this accomplish? You had bluetooth before. The only thing this accomplishes is lower cost per phone to produce, which is not passed on to the consumer.

Removing a port is not a feature. It doesn’t matter, if you have one less way to connect to a device, that is a loss.

Phone on my desk on the charger while wearing wired headphones to listen to music.

Yeah, my phone is literally charging on my desk with headphones in it.

Remember when Samsung added the feature of “no SD card slot”, guess what the S7 had in it… and it is waterproof(ish).

The upgraded camera is really cool stuff, but you can’t sell the removal of a 3.5 jack as a positive at all.

105

You’re using it wrong (I am making fun of Apple, not you).

But Apple has made it clear that they envision users charging their phone at night and then using it all day without charging (which is why they need a big battery, but refuse to listen). I would guess their rationale is that music/bluetooth use alone isn’t a big enough of drain on the battery to worry about it. Not saying that is true, but I think that is how they see it.

I am all for them using that space for the headphone jack and replacing it with more battery.

106

I can live without the headphone jack, it’s really not that big a deal. It comes with an adapter (seems like everyone has forgotten about that?) and compatible earpods. And the $21 bluetooth mpow earbuds on Amazon are credited with decent sound quality.

They would have been better off with a clear statement - battery is 2,400mah with the connector, and 2,600mah without it. But then again Apple has rarely offered a great explanation to the internet cynics either.

The other thing is the camera. Regardless of internet reviews, the iPhone 6S / + camera is better than the Galaxy S7, by a significant margin too. The iPhone 7 looks to push that fact even further.

But all that said I’m super happy with my Nexus 6. Not upgrading for another year. Camera is good, 6 inch screen is awesome, battery life decent, clean Android…

107

Not really. :) I mean, sure it’s “fine”, but when I plug my phone into the USB port on my car stereo and listen to audio through that, I can hear a pretty big difference in sound quality, in my noisy car. I reserve BT for listening to podcasts.

108

Please help me get my hot new trending hashtag #nojackcity off the ground. I think I am the only one in the world that thinks that is clever, and one of the dozens that have seen the movie that is referencing.

I think the #nojackcity isn’t that big of a deal, It is just funny when companies try to spin removing features as some sort of upgrade. “Great! A tiny cable that I will immediately lose!.. UPGRADE!”

109

I think it’s frustrating that companies create proprietary hardware. Lightning is frustrating, the W1 chip enabling these AirPods are frustrating, etc. Back in the 1960s, we had this awesome explosion of public domain science and engineering research from funding of NASA, etc. That doesn’t happen much anymore because there’s not a lot of research funded in a similar way – or, when it is, the companies that receive the grants to do the research are allowed to commercialize it.

However, for me, I find most wired headphones to be a hassle. I’ve long thought that it would be great to have some well-designed wireless ones without the lag of Bluetooth. While I’m not arguing that these are either well-designed or without the Bluetooth lag, I would put up a mild argument that they’re a step towards lightweight, lag-free, long battery life, wireless headphones. Are we there? No. Will we be in 5 years? I hope so. Like the removal of DVD drives and offering of the external SuperDrive, the first company to make that type of tech change is rightly criticized for disrupting the workflow and hardware of many people. Innovation sometimes needs a jolt to get started, however, and wealthy companies with the reach of Apple, Google, etc. have the clout and resources to take the hit associated with those jolts.

I have an iPhone 6s and I’m not planning to get an iPhone 7. I am, however, very curious to see what happens over the next 2-3 years (during which time I’m unlikely to upgrade my phone) to improve wireless headphone technology. I guess I’m sort of hopeful that this move by Apple kickstarts more research and innovation in the wireless headphone and/or communication protocol arena.

My hearing is terrible, however. I’ve thought about going for hearing aids. Headphones are great for me only because they pump the sound straight into my noggin which makes it easier for me to hear. More than anything, I would like some nice headphones that I can use with my television and/or gaming rig that would allow me to game without making a lot of TV noise and simultaneously actually hear and understand the dialog in the games.

For me, I consider the loss of the 3.5mm jack a positive if it leads to research that improves the quality of wireless headphones. I guess I feel like we’re at a local maximum with wired headphones and that taking the hit to eliminate them from phones may eventually lead us to a higher peak on Clay’s Headphone Upgraded Design (C.H.U.D.) curve.

Also, they’re not the only company looking at replacing the 3.5mm jack:

110

I understand, but nowhere in that is an explanation for how this is an example of innovation.

Further, you make several errors;

  1. Why will this kickstart added bluetooth development? Headphone makers can still use lightning instead of 3.5mm and there seems to be no extra impetus to develop bluetooth.

  2. Iterating bluetooth headphones into being lighter, sounding better and having longer battery life is not innovation.

  3. Improving the sound of headphones themselves (rather than improving the sound arriving to them) is platform agnostic.

111

While it is absolutely Apple standard to push everyone towards proprietary connectors, if they really had courage or cared about driving the market towards better solutions they would have ditched their crap connector for USB-C and provided a USB-C lightning adapter.

I think people would be far more willing to move towards USB-C headphones.

112

The built in speaker was never loud enough when trying to block out other sounds in a busy hotel.

113

The argument would be that Apple has the resources to do bluetooth/wireless research and when the technology is improved than push a hardware change. If Apple was really worried about all the cables we carry than I rather them put their effort behind a cable standard connector but they are usually the company who does the opposite.

114

Heck, sounds like you need to find a good bluetooth speaker anyway. Plenty of good ones out there that would fit in your luggage and still sound good. The Wirecutter has a good article on them.

115

He already has a speaker. He was lamenting that he would no longer be able to use it as he would not be able to charge and use a 3.5mm cable at the same time.

He said those things Apple Event 9/7/16 - iPhones and Pokemons! where you replied to him, why are you seemingly unaware of them?

116

And I told him he should look into a bluetooth speaker because they are great. Sorry I confused you kedaha.

117

I was unlikely to ever buy an iPhone, but I’ll be pretty peeved if this pushes other manufactures in a similar direction. My most common phone usage, other than Restroom Reddit, is charging in my car while navigating and listening to music over a 3.5mm cable. Bluetooth has a noticeable crackle and hiss not present on cabled audio on my stereo, so I just don’t use it.

And while just listening to music may not kill battery, navigating does absolutely, so I definitely need to charge and listen simultaneously. I REALLY hope this change never catches on elsewhere (specifically removing audio port and forcing you to use the charging jack as replacement).

118

No, you repeatedly got confused that he was talking about an external speaker rather than the built in ones because you seemed to be too busy justifying this change to everyone to read most people’s posts.

119

LOL, nothing like arguing with an angry Android user. Ok Kedaha, I apologize again. I was too busy studying how water systems would work on foreign planets to pay much attention to this thread.

120

I have found it to be true, my iPhone has plenty of battery life unless I am participating in the raison d’etre of this very site. Gaming slaughters battery life.