The Pixel 2 Proves Headphone Jacks Are Truly Doomed

Megalith

Megalith

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As usual, Apple started a trend: last year, it dropped the standard 3.5 millimeter headphone jack from the iPhone, and now that Google's Pixel 2 is confirmed to be headphone jack-less, it seems as if the port's survival, at least in the mobile world, is a lost cause. The truly sad thing? A year after this trend began, we still don't have a good explanation of why we're better off without headphone jacks.

With the Pixel 2 and its larger companion, in particular, we've gained very little by losing the headphone jack. Sure, they're much more water and dust resistant than the last models. But the Pixel 2's IP67 certification is something several Android phones have offered for years -- and they didn't need to lose the port to achieve it. Typically when we move away from legacy hardware, we're headed to something better. But in the case of the 3.5mm headphone port, the tech world seems to have forgotten that. Apple's joking explanation -- "courage" -- isn't enough.
 
we're not better off without them. Manufacturers are better off not providing one as it cuts their production costs meaning higher profit per device. And it gives them an opportunity to sell wireless headphones, equaling additional profit.

Stripping of features to sell them as DLC, essentially.
 
pearle said:
I'll just get something like the new LG V30 that retains the headphone jack. There are phones other than the iPhone and Pixel.
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It's not that other phones don't exist, it's the fact that the two (or two of) flagship phone lines have now ditched it.

Others will follow suit sooner or later.
 
Nexus6 said:
Does it though?

Or does it mean we're in the age of infinite adapters?
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Its like buying a car and having to go to the dealership to have the oil change done.....The service dept is the most profitable dept at the dealership there is. They sell you a car at a "reasonable price" and stick it to you deep with the repair costs.
 
I have a Pixel XL, previously I've been a fan of the nexus line of phones. The new Pixel 2 was super tempting, but not anymore! Time to try Samsung again and custom ROMs.
 
You know, there are an amazing amount of people out there who still find bluetooth to be very confusing, not to mention the times when it just doesn't work the way it's supposed to. The ability to run a simple headphone jack cable from your phone to your stereo was a great fallback for a LOT of people that actually made the idea of giving up FM radio for something like Pandora realistic.

And when actually using headphones with your phone... High-end headphones require good amplification to sound good. I love using my beyerdynamic headphones with my Galaxy S8+ and it does a great job amplifying them via it's headphone jack. Now you have to rely on the amplification that a cheap bluetooth adapter or USB-C adapter can provide? I guess it's no big deal if your idea of good audio does not extend beyond earbuds. The people buying this phone are probably the same people who listen to most of their music on youtube.
 
As a Pixel owner, I was looking at the Pixel 2, as soon as I heard this, the V30 was on my list in its place.

I am sure it will do well, as most people are fine with BT and shitty BT at that, because they have no idea what a good set of headphones are.
 
GotNoRice said:
You know, there are an amazing amount of people out there who still find bluetooth to be very confusing, not to mention the times when it just doesn't work the way it's supposed to. The ability to run a simple headphone jack cable from your phone to your stereo was a great fallback for a LOT of people that actually made the idea of giving up FM radio for something like Pandora realistic.

And when actually using headphones with your phone... High-end headphones require good amplification to sound good. I love using my beyerdynamic headphones with my Galaxy S8+ and it does a great job amplifying them via it's headphone jack. Now you have to rely on the amplification that a cheap bluetooth adapter or USB-C adapter can provide? I guess it's no big deal if your idea of good audio does not extend beyond earbuds. The people buying this phone are probably the same people who listen to most of their music on youtube.
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I don't find Bluetooth confusing, but it is occasionally annoying. People who have trouble connecting their laptop to wifi (like 90% of the population) will find it confusing, frustrating, and annoying. The ability to connect a set of headphones to a jack and just have it work is both reliable and reassuring. All these tiny annoyances we deal with on an everyday basis are starting to add up. Most people don't care about audio quality (to a point).
 
I've had my Pixel XL since release. I've plugged headphones into it exactly 0 times. When I use headphones, they are bluetooth connected anyhow. The battery life on my Bose noise cancelling set is amazing, lasted the whole flight to China with almost constant use.
 
Megalith said:
[...] The truly sad thing? A year after this trend began, we still don't have a good explanation of why we're better off without headphone jacks.

[..]
Click to expand...

We aren't, but the manufacturers have one less part to worry about on their assembly lines and the designers have one less space hog to contend with. I guess the silver-lining here is the potential to push bluetooth headphones into the more affordable space.
 
I've lived a year without a headphone jack and have ran into limitations several times. (I have an iPhone 7). I lost my lighting->3.5mm adapter at some point. I also always misplace my lighting headphone cables.
I don't listen to much much, but do like to take calls with headphones when I need privacy. Nothing worse than looking in your backpack and finding headphones - with a 3.5mm jack. This trend sucks.
I do have BlueTooth headphones - but same story, I either don't have them with me or they won't be charged. I can't win.

Give us our headphone jack.

Also - didn't Google make fun of Apple for doing this last year? Maybe I'm wrong....
 
Everyone has different use cases. I plugged headphones into my Pixel XL once last year when going on an airplane. That seems like a situation a free included adapter would come in handy. Having stereo speakers on the front is one of the reasons I am upgrading to the Pixel 2 XL. I don't like the option being relegated to an adapter, but for my use case the headphone jack missing isn't a deal breaker. If they want more space inside how about 2.5mm port instead of 3.5mm port? Adapters on the end of a headphone cable is pretty minimal.
 
Stupid. I'll keep my iphone 6s forever, and put one in the closet as a spare. I like my no dongle, high fidelity headphones. No bluetooth for me.
 
RogueTadhg said:
Why 3.5mm jacks are dying - For space for other nice things.
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Ding ding ding. Right here. Everyone wants to believe their own conspiracy theory - usually that they think the manufacturers are going to get rich selling dongles (whatever), but the reality is every cubic millimeter is precious. At least so say the designers of these things.

I like a headphone jack personally but I can see how it's cleaner not having one, like a laptop coming without an optical drive.

Time marches on.
 
Actually I think the real underlying motivator for ditching the headphone jack is just to fully usher people into a proper world of "wireless-ness". Hanging on to headphone jacks is like hanging on to a landline. It's just outdated and unnecessary. The only examples you guys provide for wired headphones are just a bunch of "what if" scenarios. You talk about how you might lose your headphones, how your headphones might die, how you might notice some loss of quality, how you might need to buy a $2 pair of headphones from the airport because you left your at home, etc etc etc. You just want it as a backup plan. Well we're past that now. We're no longer catering to the lowest common denominator. Bluetooth headphones work just as well as wired ones, are not difficult to setup, are more convenient to wear, and condition people into accepting a wireless culture so that they wont be so timid about other products coming down the line.

This is no different than when ultrabooks ditched the cd-rom drive and everyone lost their shit because "OMG but i have so many linux distros burned, I need those!". No you dont.
 
nysmo said:
Actually I think the real underlying motivator for ditching the headphone jack is just to fully usher people into a proper world of "wireless-ness". Hanging on to headphone jacks is like hanging on to a landline. It's just outdated and unnecessary. The only examples you guys provide for wired headphones are just a bunch of "what if" scenarios. You talk about how you might lose your headphones, how your headphones might die, how you might notice some loss of quality, how you might need to buy a $2 pair of headphones from the airport because you left your at home, etc etc etc. You just want it as a backup plan. Well we're past that now. We're no longer catering to the lowest common denominator. Bluetooth headphones work just as well as wired ones, are not difficult to setup, are more convenient to wear, and condition people into accepting a wireless culture so that they wont be so timid about other products coming down the line.

This is no different than when ultrabooks ditched the cd-rom drive and everyone lost their shit because "OMG but i have so many linux distros burned, I need those!"
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Agreed. Also like to mention that people want wireless charging but not willing to go wireless with headphones... they want wireless everything! But the world is ending because of a simple headphone jack? K.
 
Wow, lots of excuses here now that Google is doing it. Google, like Apple, wants to tie you into not only the phone and the OS, but now their earphones as well. E.g. the only-works-with-Pixel "real-time" translating Pixel earbuds. They want to sell you "their" specific earphones which will now have more features and functionality vs. third party headsets, which was more difficult to do when we could just say fuck it and plug in whatever headphone we wanted. Bet you a million bucks Samsung's next generation tries to sell us some Bixy bullshit bluetooth IEMs when they eliminate the headphone jack next year.

Less options for consumers is bad.
 
Vote with your wallets. I despise bluetooth for quality conversations. I've got basic apple wired headsets ive collected over the years scattered all over the house and at work and in my vehicles. I plug them in, I have good quality audio. No charging, no money, no interference, no driver issues - it just works. Dont give me no bullshit about "saves space" because I dont care. Nobody is crying and clamoring for thinner phones and the space is trivial.
 
TorryHolt81 said:
Agreed. Also like to mention that people want wireless charging but not willing to go wireless with headphones... they want wireless everything! But the world is ending because of a simple headphone jack? K.
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Not everyone wants wireless charging. It's not worthwhile wireless if you have to have the device resting on the pad anyway. I'm all for moving forward if the change makes improvement.
Personally I use my headphone jack most of the day and all through the night while sleeping. Can the phone charge with the headphone adapter in the socket? If not, Pixel2 is off my shopping list.
 
DPI said:
Ding ding ding. Right here. Everyone wants to believe their own conspiracy theory - usually that they think the manufacturers are going to get rich selling dongles (whatever), but the reality is every cubic millimeter is precious. At least so say the designers of these things.

I like a headphone jack personally but I can see how it's cleaner not having one, like a laptop coming without an optical drive.

Time marches on.
Click to expand...

However it didn't eat that much space and nothing else is added. I fully agree it's for space, but I don't want phones any thinner, I can't hold onto them as it is, and now everyone is on the ROUNDED EDGES ON EVERYTHING train to make it even harder and make it so glass screen protectors have bubbles or dont fit to the edge....Thanks Google for doing this on the Pixel as well.

I don't hear anyone I know talk about wanting a thinner phone, only about having a newer phone and hoping for longer battery life or better camera or more storage. I can't remember the last time someone has talked about wanting a faster phone or a thinner phone.
 
I think that's the real issue, that many people prefer wired headphones and while you can leave that adapted permanently attached to the headphones, typically you can't charge and listen at the same time, same as with the disappearance of the mini HDMI jack. Ameliorated somewhat by fast charging, but still.... One more annoyance and item to plan for instead of "just doing it". That's why I got a Moto G5 instead of the z, the headphone jack.
 
Not too hard to understand. They know that the few customers that they lose over this is more that made up by the cost savings. Its too bad - I prefer the jack because it just plain works with so many devices.
 
Think about what you actually do with your phones, then try to buy phones that offer real-world, functional advantages like headphone jacks and multi-day or high-capacity batteries. Send a message with your wallet, stop being marketed-to.
 
They need two jacks, one for charging and one for adapted headphones. I have heard some people say Apple wants to go all wireless and have no ports on the phone.
 
Quote " The truly sad thing? A year after this trend began, we still don't have a good explanation of why we're better off without headphone jacks."

We aren't, the sound is inferior to wired phones, they need charging regularly and they cost a lot more than a decent pair of corded ear/headphones !! Consumer loses , manufacturers win !!!
 
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illram said:
Wow, lots of excuses here now that Google is doing it. Google, like Apple, wants to tie you into not only the phone and the OS, but now their earphones as well. E.g. the only-works-with-Pixel "real-time" translating Pixel earbuds. They want to sell you "their" specific earphones which will now have more features and functionality vs. third party headsets, which was more difficult to do when we could just say fuck it and plug in whatever headphone we wanted. Bet you a million bucks Samsung's next generation tries to sell us some Bixy bullshit bluetooth IEMs when they eliminate the headphone jack next year.

Less options for consumers is bad.
Click to expand...
dude, it's bluetooth, it's an open standard, there's nothing proprietary about it. The fact google makes their own line of headphones does not mean they had to ditch the jack to get you to use them. Their headphones offer a particular advantage with the translation ability which is amazing. Heck they might also just be normal headphones in which case any bluetooth set could perform the same translations. Point is you're not locked into anything, and you could translate with wired headphones just the same assuming the headphones themselves dont augment this capability somehow. I imagine there might be some hardware decoding involved to assist the translation into full blown real time as quick as it was.
 
nysmo said:
Actually I think the real underlying motivator for ditching the headphone jack is just to fully usher people into a proper world of "wireless-ness". Hanging on to headphone jacks is like hanging on to a landline. It's just outdated and unnecessary. The only examples you guys provide for wired headphones are just a bunch of "what if" scenarios. You talk about how you might lose your headphones, how your headphones might die, how you might notice some loss of quality, how you might need to buy a $2 pair of headphones from the airport because you left your at home, etc etc etc. You just want it as a backup plan. Well we're past that now. We're no longer catering to the lowest common denominator. Bluetooth headphones work just as well as wired ones, are not difficult to setup, are more convenient to wear, and condition people into accepting a wireless culture so that they wont be so timid about other products coming down the line.

This is no different than when ultrabooks ditched the cd-rom drive and everyone lost their shit because "OMG but i have so many linux distros burned, I need those!". No you dont.
Click to expand...
"Lowest common denominator?" Really? Bluetooth is not a superior technology for listening to music. It compresses the signal. If you find it convenient, good for you. The presence of a 3.5mm jack in no way impedes your ability to use bluetooth, while its removal creates a hassle for many of us.

The V30 or something like it is definitely in my future. Who is really asking the manufacturers to make the phones so damn thin? Should this really be what drives design?
 
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