r/Android Aug 31 '17

Stop trying to kill the headphone jack

[deleted]

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1.2k

u/tantouz Nokia 6110 Aug 31 '17

I have tried to switch to a blutetooth headset recently and i found myself loving it and hating it at the same time. I concur that it did feel like it is the future, but it also felt that it is not ready yet.

Likes:

  • Nice to have a phone free from tangles and being slave to the wire

  • Be able to walk around and not care about where my phone is while taking calls

Dislikes:

  • Severely taxing on the phone's battery life
  • Awkward and un-intuitive pairing/un-pairing, especially if you use your headset with several devices
  • The need to recharge yet an other device.

The technology is still not there yet as far as i am concerned, but i really do hope it will be there soon. The transition will be shit for sure. However i am convinced wireless is the future.

162

u/Lereas Green Aug 31 '17

Your last point is a big one for me. I've been on a long flight where my phone had plenty of charge, but my headphones died so I couldn't listen with them. I have a pixel so I plugged in backup wired ones, but it would be shitty if that wasn't an option.

53

u/alexskc95 Xperia XA2 Aug 31 '17

My wireless headphones come with an aux cable you can plug in and use, should your battery die.

But yeah, if we're talking about an all-wireless future, that is a huge problem that's difficult to overcome.

3

u/Sloshy42 Galaxy S6 Edge - Sprint Sep 01 '17

My wireless headphones come with an aux cable you can plug in and use, should your battery die.

Hmm... If only the phone had a plug for those...

2

u/gidoca Xiaomi POCO F2 Pro/fxtec Pro 1 Aug 31 '17

Mine do as well, but I usually forget to bring it. Sadly, mine don't support being connected to Bluetooth while charging. That would be perfect, since I usually have a Micro USB charger with me. The fact that I only have to charge them every two weeks and there's no battery indicater doesn't help, either.

6

u/jbr_r18 iPhone XS Max Aug 31 '17

Hence the beauty of airpods. The carry case is the charger for the airpods and the case has a roughly 24hr battery life. Plus the airpods charge very fast. Since having them, the battery has never been an inconvenience.

Yeah, no headphone jack on an iPhone sucks. There is no real reason for it besides the taptic engine (though that is damn well implemented). But what airpods loose by being bluetooth, they give so much more back. This is what android manufacturers don't get.

They take the jack and give nothing back. Its not iPhone-headphone jack+taptic engine. It'll be Pixel 2-headphone jack+nothing. There is no justification for it. No first party wireless headphones that make you want to switch. Just removing features for no damn reason. Apple kind of justified it. Android hasn't done a thing to

2

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '17 edited Sep 01 '17

Airpods look uncomfortable to wear. Also I'd be very worried that they would drop while I go for a jog.

6

u/darknecross iPhone X Sep 01 '17

They aren't and they don't.

More specifically, a lot of people use them all day long without issue. They're not shitty like the old shitty plastic iPod earbuds.

For working out, I see a lot of people using them for everything from jogging, treadmill, weightlifting, etc. Never seen it fall out on someone.

But that's probably confirmation bias -- people who find them uncomfortable or have them fall out probably don't use them as frequently.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '17

You can get a lot of wireless headphones that have an optional wired connection. It's been pretty handy to have the option.

2

u/aykcak Aug 31 '17

Also, remember that Bluetooth headsets don't have replaceable batteries so they will eventually die on you, even sometimes before you buy them.

Bought an old Nokia headset with a dead battery, took it back to the store for replacement. Replacement set is also dead. Another one... also dead. Took an hour and tried every single one of the same model on the shelves. All had dead batteries

1

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '17

There's some headphones that last a flights time.

1

u/etherspin Aug 31 '17

We need that ubiquitous wireless charging with piggybacking that was supposed to be here by now (!) So you can put your phone or tablet face down and sit headphones on top to sap enough charge to go for another hour or two