Just randomly sharing my experience here. My sister told me a few weeks ago she was going to change for a new phone (a Motorola, she likes AOSP-like experience). I noticed that her new phone wouldn’t get a jack.
“Yeah, I know, I hope I can make it work with a USB-adapter”. She has nice headphones that she likes to use, so USB-C earplugs were not an option.
Fast forward to today, she told me the adapter she got starts to malfunction:
- she has to twitch the jack in the adapter for the thing to work
- when she plugs the adapter in, Google Assistant takes over and randomly starts skipping songs.
She’s now considering getting wireless earbuds, but she’s not a fan of having to recharge them to be able to use them, and is also cautious about the e-waste potential.
I have a Moto G84 which does the job. It’s not the best phone in the world, I’m eyeing a flagship from time to time and keep the G84 as a “connected walkman”, but would it break today, I would probably get a G55 (https://www.notebookcheck.net/Motorola-Moto-G55-smartphone-review-Inexpensive-doesn-t-have-to-be-boring.932900.0.html)
That’s it for me, do you have similar experiences to share?
I think that the insistance on headphone jack has gone too far.
There are now enough wired USB-C headphones and wireless earbuds available.
Yes, there are edge cases, like people who work in audio industry where most equipment uses jack as standard connector, or car aux ports, etc.
But when it comes to most casual listening, there are enough solutions.
When migrating to the new phone I tried with USB-C to 3.5 adapter. It did not work most of the time. I suspect that the issue was in my somewhat defective headphones, which have damaged wire and therefore unreliable connection.
Previous phone and other devices were probably able to mitigate the occasional “disconnect”, while the adapter completely dropped connection.
But then I bought USB-C headphones, which work fine.
Some people have good quality headphones (think Sennheiser HD series) and like to use them with their phones in public transport. I don’t even think they make this kind of headphones with USB-C, that would defeat the purpose of being able to use them with anything else.
for sure I don’t want to buy a new one. why the fuck?
and how do I charge while using a jack? I mean when the phone is connected to a PC through USB, it is charged a little so that at least does not drain. but a USB DAC obviously can’t do that, and afaik there are no splitters that would allow to connect a charger