Yup. The timing was pretty bad. Bottom line is that the //gs was "Woz Apple" while the Mac was "Jobs Apple" ... and it showed.
It seems Apple has released a spiffy new set of wireless earphones. This by itself seems reasonable enough, but to punctuate this release they've removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7.
WTF?
If you want to plug in a set of wired earphones, you need to use their $9 dongle. No word yet on how you might fare if you want to charge the phone and listen to audio at the same time.
This isn't innovative. It's stupid.
Yeah! definetly! they also do not offer a cassette or vhs player and I can't use my vast collection of low quality porn stored on 5" disks. they are such a clueless company!
If you want to plug in a set of wired earphones, you need to use
their $9 dongle. No word yet on how you might fare if you want to
charge the phone and listen to audio at the same time.
Has NOBODY paid attention to their announcement that the dongle would be included in the box with the phone?
Look ... I have OWNED a phone line this. The HTC G1, which was released in 2008, had a special connector [ http://tinyurl.com/htykob5 ] that could accept either a USB mini or a special headphone adapter. From first hand experience I can tell you it was a royal pain in the ass. They realized it was a mistake and no sensible manufacturer ever did it again.
This isn't innovation on Apple's part, it's snobbery. They're like the restaurant that charges you $50 for half an ounce of food on a plate.
Your argument is "2008"? Technology has advanced a bit since that time, BT is ubiquitous.
In the living room we have a Marantz NR-1605 from 2014 which has Wifi, BT and AirPlay. It was the first in the NR series where you didn't have to buy an extra bt adapter for around 100€. It has an USB and a HDMI input on the front, but not a single analog one. (Well, technically, one for the Audyssey setup mic, but that has no other use.)
I own Parrot Zik 1 headphones, which are BT and wired, but i never use the wires. I hate wires on headphones, they introduce noise through friction on my close, they get tangled. BT headphones are a blessing, especially when they have ANC. (Ambient noise cancelation, not african national congress...).
I also have a Philips ShoqBox SB7300 (which sounds like shit but looks cool) with BT and audio jack.
We own a car from 2006 which has an aftermarket radio with bt, because BT wasn't wide spread in 2006. BT was just a bonus, it is one of those crappy chinese double-din multimedia monsters, with dvd playback, gps navigation, running Windows CE.
The inlaws own a Fiat Panda with an ubar-el-cheapo aftermarket radio which has BT. It was so cheap that nobody even noticed it had BT as an extra feature.
We have a JBL speaker in the kitchen witch has BT, a lightning dock and a 3,5mm audio jack. This speakers is awesome, it is loud and rocks. It is no audiophile device, but you can listen to music while the exhaust hood runs at full power.
All of these audio devices were made after 2008, all of them are not "the future", but the present. Instead of blaming Apple for removing something that I can easily live without, I'd rather blame Skoda for manufacturing a car in 2013 which does NOT have a fucking BT connection! It is probably the single most expensive new technological device we bought in the last years and it is incompatible with the state of the art in mobile devices. I love the car, but the missing BT is like a sore wound on your butt, you notice it every time you sit down behind the wheel. So this is the only place where a bt2audiojack adapter would be needed to ease the pain.
For the record, the only two non-bt devices in the house are the iPod classic 5th gen from 2005, belonging to my son and an iPod mini from 2004 attached to the JBL in the kitchen. Both pimped with a CF Card to 64gb storage. I know for certain that there was a BT module available for the mini.
My argument is that the 3.5mm stereo jack is not by any means obsolete. This isn't like removing the floppy disk on the iMac, where everyone had already stopped using them but no one except Apple was brave enough to be the first to remove the drive. Look around at people listening to music on their phones, and most of them are still using wired earbuds -- or even a full size set of cans.
I believe they've removed a feature that is still widely used and desired, and that this was a bad move. Some buyers will not care either way; some will select a different phone; some will modify their needs to fit the product.
So now you have TWO items to recharge! (phone and earbuds) Think about how easily it will be to lose those earbuds!
At the gym I see a lot of corded headphones. Perhaps I don't notice the BT sets but I see a lot of cables.
Remember when mobile phones used to keep charge for about a whole week? Before they became smart?
Today, we just charge every evening and keep a power bank in the backpack. <whine>which I can't use while listening with my audio headset now</whine> But don't worry, Belkin is already selling an y adapter for the rescue.
I have to charge my laptop, my tablet, my phone, my watch and rarely the ipods. Also the camera, if I want to take it on a trip. A BT headset is only one battery more to charge, but I have a spare battery in the backpack. And a power bank.
That being said, I prefer having the 3.5mm jack. I got a pair of bluetooth headphones for "free" when I bought my last phone. And as soon as the battery ran out I never used them again. Too much of a pain to keep charged, and I'm lazy when it comes to this sort of thing.
Honestly, we schleped around huge phones years ago. Double the thickness and give me some great battery life. I'd be much happier.
Don't get me wrong; I like Bluetooth. I have it in my car. We have a few devices at home. It's a great technology. My objection to the removal of the 3.5mm jack is that it isn't obsolete.
I like Ragnar's idea. Give us a couple of models with big thick batteries in them. Or maybe two batteries with the ability to eject them one at a time while the device is in use. Then they can also add the port consumers really want: a 1/4" headphone jack :)
I wouldn't call it obsolete, it just is a relict that lingers on but most people could get around it easily. Especially people with the money to afford every new iDevice. Just remember flash, that was one technology I am glad to be missing, too.
I am happy when car manufacturers lack one sorry excuse to put BT in my car radio. Which will probably add a bunch of security flaws in the car, but I never thought a device with an open CAN bus on its bottom is secure in any way.
Well, I'll give you that; someone who can spend 700-900 USD on a new iPhone can certainly afford a new set of iEarphones to go with it, and will probably want the whole ensemble anyway.
I think my Honda was built the very last year before they made Bluetooth a standard feature. I had to buy a gizmo to add Bluetooth audio via the aux input. In the 2016 models they not only have Bluetooth but also a screen with Android Auto and Apple iCar (or whatever they call it) which acts as a sort of terminal to supported applications on your phone. That connects with USB. I guess it needs a different adapter for an iPhone.