Why did the headphone jack cross the road? OnePlus says it's due to the in-display finger scanner

[williamcll]

The weirdest thing is that the OPPO R17, the 6T counterpart with the same specifications, has a headphone jack.

 

Bluetooth headphones remains to be overpriced.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Isn't that the sad truth... almost every Android phone maker seems hellbent on copying the things that Apple gets away with rather than the things that let them get away with it.

I don’t really mind this - just the way the industry is headed. Customers want the best from a flagship and Apple seems to have great sales (not sure how they compare to other companies) and looks like what people want. Corporate business decisions drive so much in life! 

 

What I don’t understand is no water resistance, even though they remove the jack? There’s like zero point in removing the jack apart from looks? Even Apple had a reason! 

[D13H4RD]

10 minutes ago, williamcll said:

The weirdest thing is that the OPPO R17, the 6T counterpart with the same specifications, has a headphone jack.

Damn, you're actually right 

 

Except for the Pro version, which has no headphone jack and looks to be what the 6T is modeled after.

 

[Fetzie]

Yeah, I'm sure they couldn't have found the space if they really wanted to...

8 hours ago, Enderman said:

Headphone jacks are more of a "want" than a "need".

 

I don't WANT to have to charge my headphones. Having "another device I need to keep charged" is the primary reason why I ditched my smartwatch in favour of my old analogue one that lasts 3 years on a single battery.

 

I don't WANT to have to use an increasingly congested wireless band to transfer audio from my phone to my headphones.

 

I don't WANT to have to buy new fucking headphones because if I don't I can never upgrade my phone.

 

I want to be able to listen to music or watch a movie or play a game while charging the damn phone.

 

I can plug my 3.5mm headphones into my PC, my laptop, my iPad, my keyboard, my gameboy, my stereo, my TV and my phone. No incompatibility, no hassle, no pairing bullshit, no signal drops at the wrong moment. Just plug them in and I'm good to go.

[Mooshi]

Bluetooth is a shitty standard. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional. 

[D13H4RD]

2 minutes ago, Fetzie said:

Yeah, I'm sure they couldn't have found the space if they really wanted to...

There probably might be as indicated by some of its sister phones. 

 

Probably the shell they're using didn't have it. 

[Fetzie]

Just now, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

There probably might be as indicated by some of its sister phones. 

 

Probably the shell they're using didn't have it. 

Maybe introduce OnePlus to the concept of a "drill"?

 

If you are buying casings for devices, the manufacturer will make changes for you. The cases for the devices the company I work for manufactures are made to our design (and you can bet they get a fire lit under them if there is any alteration that we didn't ask for). If there is no 3.5mm hole in the shell, OnePlus told their manufacturer not to put it there.

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, Fetzie said:

Maybe introduce OnePlus to the concept of a "drill"?

 

If you are buying casings for devices, the manufacturer will make changes for you. The cases for the devices the company I work for manufactures are made to our design (and you can bet they get a fire lit under them if there is any alteration that we didn't ask for). If there is no 3.5mm hole in the shell, OnePlus told their manufacturer not to put it there.

The shell is provided for by their parent company. 

 

It's why their phones and phones from Oppo and Vivo bear an uncanny resemblance. 

 

Who knows why they didn't get the shell with the jack. 

[mr moose]

for all those claiming it should be phased out as an old standard, you are right, when no one is still using the the 3.5 then it can be left off the next design. until then like every other standard that has ever been replaced,  it must coexist with its replacement until there are no longer devices on the market that use it. 

 

Dropping it before all users are ready to move on is a fucking moronic way to force tech in a direction that doesn't give consumers the choice and evolutionary speaking isn't allowing the tech to prove itself. 

 

Also my console doesn't have a BT channel so when people come to me and ask to have their music played at a gig, if they don't have a 3.5 on their phone it won't happen.   Even if I did have  BT adapter, it'd be a very cold day in hell when my system plays the BT signal drop tone at 106dB during a gig

[D13H4RD]

1 hour ago, mr moose said:

for all those claiming it should be phased out as an old standard, you are right, when no one is still using the the 3.5 then it can be left off the next design. until then like every other standard that has ever been replaced,  it must coexist with its replacement until there are no longer devices on the market that use it. 

 

Dropping it before all users are ready to move on is a fucking moronic way to force tech in a direction that doesn't give consumers the choice and evolutionary speaking isn't allowing the tech to prove itself. 

Or at least drop it when a clear replacement standard has been found and is close to reaching maturity.

[S w a t s o n]

What a load of bullshit. I can't bring myself to remotely consider oneplus credible anymore. Moving the fingerprint reader from the back to the in-screen version 1. doest not use up space a headphone jack uses, 2. doesnt actually add thickness to the phone in the way he described 3. he keeps raising the price so it's not a flagship killer just a flagship 4. claims he can't afford to waterproof his now $600 USD phones when the A5 2017 from samsung at like half the price is IP68.

RIP OnePlus, you are dead to me

 

Edit: Oh right and he wont include wireless charging until someone finds a way to break physics so that it doesn't generate any heat. Seems legit

[D13H4RD]

3 minutes ago, S w a t s o n said:

claims he can't afford to waterproof his now $600 USD phones when the A5 2017 from samsung at like half the price is IP68.

I think it’s been there. They just didn’t want to pay for the certification.

 

Either way, I wouldn’t use it in wet conditions 

[S w a t s o n]

1 minute ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

I think it’s been there. They just didn’t want to pay for the certification.

 

Either way, I wouldn’t use it in wet conditions 

While I am aware that many certifications are expensive I do not believe dust and water intrusion certification testing is. It's done on all manner of devices, I'm pretty sure they are just pulling an apple and not advertising it so they can stealth develop it, except that they started that with the oneplus 5 I think? So we're like 4 models deep

[D13H4RD]

Just now, S w a t s o n said:

While I am aware that many certifications are expensive I do not believe dust and water intrusion certification testing is. It's done on all manner of devices, I'm pretty sure they are just pulling an apple and not advertising it so they can stealth develop it, except that they started that with the oneplus 5 I think? So we're like 4 models deep

I think they said the 6 was resistant to rain and small splashes.

 

It’s probably there all along. Maybe not IP68 though.

[LAwLz]

9 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

You can't stop the copy cat train!

I wonder how many people realize that several phone manufacturers had already released phones without headphones jacks before Apple did.

Hell, I am fairly sure even Intel made a statement that they want to move away from the headphone jack before Apple dropped it.

 

Just another example of the entire industry moving one way, Apple following along and then all of a sudden "everyone copies Apple".

 

 

Here is a news thread about Intel wanting to replace the headphone jack with USB type C.

This was in April 2016. 4.5 months before Apple announced their first iPhone without a headphone jack in September 2016. The same thread also mentions the LeEco smartphone which did not have a headphone jack.

 

But hey, if manufacturers start doing something almost half a year before Apple does, and then Apple decides to do it too, then clearly everyone is just copying Apple...

[D13H4RD]

5 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

But hey, if manufacturers start doing something almost half a year before Apple does, and then Apple decides to do it too, then clearly everyone is just copying Apple...

I think the problem is this.

 

When the T-Mobile G1 had no headphone jack, people hated it.

When the Oppo R5 had no headphone jack, people hated it.

But when the iPhone 7 was rumored to not have a jack, some others pushed out phones with no jack and people were fine with it.

 

Then it started snowballing after the iPhone 7, especially when more and more big names are killing the jack. Anyone remember Google mocking the iPhone for it before doing the same one year later?

[laminutederire]

9 hours ago, OnyxArmos said:

I totally agree with you ^^ If it means that phones become easier to waterproof and more exciting technology can be added, I don't mind at all

Except when other manufacturers actually can do all of those and keep it

[D13H4RD]

5 minutes ago, laminutederire said:

Except when other manufacturers actually can do all of those and keep it

*cough* Note9 *cough*

[Drak3]

2 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

*cough* Note9 *cough*

You call?

[D13H4RD]

Just now, Drak3 said:

You call?

Yep

[Drak3]

Just now, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Yep

I can use 4 sets of headphones at all the same time.

[D13H4RD]

Just now, Drak3 said:

I can use 4 sets of headphones at all the same time.

So....

• 2x BT
• 1x USB-C
• 1x headphone jack?

[Ashleyyyy]

9 hours ago, OnyxArmos said:

That's actually a really good question... Any engineers here that can explain why the headphone jack tends to be on the bottom rather than the top??

I'm not an engineer but maybe it's because people (at least I do this) put their phones in their pockets top down... you can't do that if your headphones are plugged in at the top. it's just consumer preference I guess. 

 

9 hours ago, dgsddfgdfhgs said:

why did no one notice SOUND QUALITY of wireless headphones is much WORSE than wired headphones

agreed. I have Sony MDR-1000X headphones which are wireless but have an option to use them wired, and in wired mode they sound better. but if I listen to them in wireless mode they don't sound bad enough to annoy me or anything. 

 

10 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

or a dongle just to "adapt" when my wired headphones work perfectly well

why? I've never understood this. are you afraid of losing or forgetting the dongle?

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

So....

• 2x BT
• 1x USB-C
• 1x headphone jack?

Yes.

 

And it's actually 5. I have a 3.5mm Y splitter somewhere.

[D13H4RD]

2 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Yes.

 

And it's actually 5. I have a 3.5mm Y splitter somewhere.

Inb4 someone says it’s overkill