I would definitely try it, but all the phones I’ve been looking at recently don’t have any support whatsoever for any of those types of custom OS’s. No Lineage, no anything. All because they’re not flagship models and are more budget friendly phones (and have what I’m looking for: headphone jack and SD slot).
Can someone help me understand why headphone jacks and SD card slots are so important to people? All new phones have audio connections built into the USB-C port, and have enough onboard storage not to require any amount of expansion.
Is the lack of these features really a dealbreaker? I have a Pixel, with custom ROM, and consider myself a power user, and never miss those features at all.
SD cards were nice back when phones had like 16GB of onboard storage and you needed more space for apps and media, but with 512GB onboard storage and the ability to use cloud storage at Wifi 7 speeds, I couldn’t imagine needing more.
Integrated headphone jacks were nice before the vast majority of people used Bluetooth headphones. Even then, a tiny adapter lets me connect any of my old wired headphones or aux cables up no problem.
We’re 18 years into the smartphone age. When the first smartphones came out in 2006, microsd cards were only 2 years old. Now they’re 20 years old. Are we really surprised that this feature is no longer standard?
The 3.5mm headphone jack has been around since the 1950’s, and adapters have been required for tons of audio applications for even longer than that. Do we really need a 70-year-old port integrated into new phones?
[ confirmation bias at play. you have switched to bluetooth. it meets or exceeds all your needs. you don’t see much public indication to the contrary. you figure bluetooth is the best. ]
simplicity the cable just works. no configuration. no pairing .un pairing, figuring why it worked yesterday
Audio quality - bluetooth is lossy. we just were given AptX lossless in 2021
( another confirmation bias ) “Sounds great to me” “I can’t hear the difference”.
2 things are both possibly true though: I can’t hear the difference. Other people hear a big difference.
this seems impossible to some people. As if their senses are the apogee of human sense.
lag. new codecs lower latency, but lag lag lag. You couldn’t possibly use your device as a synth/music instrument
and ‘play’ the lag is far to great. Same with games.
whats the big deal. This is a bias for the plug users - would it hurt to keep it? we’ve always had it. The work is
already done. Its already baked in the cake, why you gotta take it out?
Investment - I have really good headphones. I have really good earbuds.
Yes there are adapters but they are finicky exactly when you want them to just work. They inevitably break.
They often downgrade the sound - I have 3 usb to audio adapters for android that all hiss for no reason.
The issue is that when the marketers are selling us a ‘clean vision of the future’ they purposefully gloss over
the things they are taking away. Then they paint the people who feel pain because of the change as neanderthals
who wouldn’t know better if it bit them. When they do know better. They had better (for them) and progress
made it worse (for them). To which the marketers generally say - you should be someone else.
Just wait until you find out some of us still want FM on our phones.
The thing with SD cards is that there’s a crapton of phones with 64/128 internals and still don’t have one. I for one wouldn’t really need one if I had 512, but to get to 512 you usually hace to pay a huge premium, because all major manufacturers have adopted the apple model of upcharging for storage. And frankly in the age of affordable 1tb SD cards I should’t have to pay hundreds to get a measly 256 or 512 gb of storage.
The jack is also a manufactured problem ( also pioneered by apple, iirc ). Why would I give up my existing wired headphones to replace them with expensive sub-standard battery operated ones. Its especially ironic for manufacturers who do a lot of greenwashing. The usb-c adapter is an ok compromise though, and I for one am coming around to that l because you can only find jacks on niche or crap phones these days.
I’m not sure why you brought the “tech is old” argument because frankly it doesn’t make sense for these two.
I can’t speak to the sd card situation but I still prefer a headphone jack over Bluetooth. I would argue that the vast majority of people (as you put it) use Bluetooth headphones simply because they were forced into it.
Bluetooth is neat and all but it’s also super old (28 years!). It’s older than smart phones and sd cards. But age aside, it’s also not reliable. You cannot guarantee it will work everytime you need it. Whereas you could reasonably expect a headphone jack to work everytime. So replacing old reliable with old not-reliable doesn’t seem right from a logical perspective.
My only other concern is convenience. But wired and wireless both have pros and cons and I just consider them more or less equal.
I feel like everyone keeps arguing with me about “Wired vs. Bluetooth”, but that has not been my argument.
My argument is “what’s the big deal about using a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter?”
You still get wired headphones. I have a Pixel 7 Pro and use my Sennheisers on them. I do not understand the problem. The feature isn’t missing, and the adapter is like $5 and has no downsides. For a couple extra bucks I got a Power+Aux adapter, and now I can plug it into my sound system at home and play it wired while it charges.
You mentioned two situations where you need additional adapters (to use headphones and aux output) but a 3.5mm jack would completely mitigate the need for them.
SD cards are awesome, because a high quality 256GB SD card costs about $30, while a 256GB memory upgrade is at least $100 with no option to transfer when you get a new phone.
Cloud storage is pretty expensive and only as fast as your internet speed is, so for a lot of people that is not really that feasible. Especially considering that some have data caps as well.
3.5mm jack is just more comfortable to use for a lot of people, especially when they have multiple source devices and want to switch between them. I have BT headphones and it is way easier and more reliable to just replug the wire than to go through the BT disconnect reconnect dance.
The issue with dongles is that you’ll have to find the correct aux dongle, some phones support analog passthrough, others require active dongles and so on
The issue with dongles is that you’ll have to find the correct aux dongle, some phones support analog passthrough, others require active dongles and so on
This is a pretty easy to overcome issue. There really isn’t a “and so on” here, there are only two types of adapters: active and passive. Nearly every new phone without a 3.5mm port needs an active adapter (check the spec sheet), which has the DAC in it.
This is fine, you were going to use a DAC regardless, the only difference is that it exists outside of your phone instead of soldered to the main board.
Probably best to buy from your phone manufacturer to ensure you’re getting a quality DAC, but I am not aware of any counterfeiting, supply, or quality issues for DACs. Quality Cirruslogic DACs are plentiful and cost manufacturers $1-3/piece, so even the AliExpress adapters are probably just fine.
I feel like people never complain that cases and screen protectors only work on one make/model of phone, but then they get upset that they have to figure out which of two adapters they need. You’re already dealing with a lot of device-exclusivity owning any smartphone, the headphone adapter seems like a trivial detail.
I personally love having extra storage that I can upgrade to whenever I want on a mobile device. Allows me to have things like all my music and text documents on a separate device so I don’t have to worry about most of my internal storage being taken up by these files (mostly music). Local music files are also pretty important to me because I don’t always like being connected to the Internet just to listen to my favorite songs.
Also, there isn’t a single online cloud storage solution that I know of that I trust. I’d set myself up my own, but I trust myself even less for things like that. Last thing I want is either me setting one up and getting my files deleted by random script kiddies finding a way in or for a pre-existing cloud storage provider to suddenly delete my files because they’re updating the service so people on lower tiers get less storage.
With headphones, I personally just love the ability to listen at any point without having to worry whether the headphones I’m using need charged. I personally don’t love the idea of getting a little dongle to connect to my phone just for plugging in wired headphones because that’s just another thing I could easily lose. Similar reason to why I hate short cords in general: easier for me to lose, as has happened plenty of times in the past.
If you have 512gb of storage I think you likely paid more for your phone than I have for my last 3 phones combined going back 5 or 6 years.
Decent wired earbuds are $20. Bluetooth earbuds in that price range are terrible and uncomfortable.
Some of us can’t or won’t spend lots of money on disposable tech like phones.
You consider yourself a power user, I’m just a guy who needs a phone to phone, text and do a few internet tasks like casual games for work downtime.
I don’t have anything against people who like having the latest and greatest tech but I don’t have that urge or see the need in some cases. I generally don’t like being pushed into spending more money with no appreciable gain in functionality.
I guess if you’re just using your phone for a few tiny things, the lack of an SD card should be no problem. What good is tons of storage if you’re just “texting and doing a few internet tasks like casual games”?
And dedicated headphone port or not, you can always plug wired headphones in with an adapter. The port is still there, it’s just a modern port, not one from the 50’s.
Still waiting on a real answer to why these dated features matter so much. Sure, my flagship phone may be more powerful than anything you need, but that doesn’t fit the narrative that these phones are missing critical features that you apparently need, especially not in terms of storage capacity or accessory compatibility.
These things aren’t deal-breakers they’re conveniences for me. It’s easy to transfer stuff to a new phone with an SD card, if your old phones screen dies (has happened to me twice over the years) you can still easily move your stuff over to the new phone.
My last phone only had 64gb of storage. I always have some audio-books and podcasts on my phone for when I go to very rural areas with bad reception like the lake. Up until the phone I bought this year with 256gb I would have been always cramped for space without an SD card.
Why use an adapter if you don’t have to, that’s just one more thing to go wrong or get in the way.
I had a pixel for a while and I did use an adapter for my headphones. They were awkwardly placed with the adapter, if the usb port broke because of the headphone adapter being awkwardly placed I couldn’t charge the phone. If I broke a headphone jack I’m just inconvenienced.
I don’t understand why someone being content using older technology bothers you so much that you want them to defend their choices.
Even if the $800-$1000 phones had those features I wouldn’t spend that much on a phone. If only the flagships had those features I’d go without. Thy’re nice to have but not must haves.
Do you also get annoyed with people who play retro games or listen to vinyl records?
Do you wonder why people drive classic cars or wear analog watches?
enough onboard storage not to require any amount of expansion
This is just wrong, my man! 128GB are NOT enough to not need expansion! And sure, I can pay the manufacturer 50$ for an extra 128 gig, but for the same money I can buy a 500GB SD card online! And many phones don’t even have the option for this much storage. Why not offer more storage AND an SD card slot?
All new phones have audio connections built into the USB-C port
Yes they have, but now I can’t use my headphones without a shitty adapter anymore. An adapter that can easily get lost! What is the advantage of that?
I can tell you: it’s greed! We can sell you more storage at a premium. Your device storage ain’t enough? We offer cloud based storage for free! Oh, your free x amount of gigabytes is full? We sell you more storage as a subscription! Well, you don’t need storage anyways, because everyone streams their stuff today, don’t they? (Also subscription models)
Your phone doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack anymore and you can’t use your headphones anymore? Buy our adapters for very little money (but that’s basically 5$ in extra profit per sold phone). Or, you know, bluetooth headphones! They are more convenient anyways, because they are wireless. Oh, you just need to charge them every few hours and the batteries in them are dead after ~2 years, that means we can sell you another pair for 150$! And god forbid you lose one of the tiny suckers, that’s gone be 150$ to replace them.
I would definitely try it, but all the phones I’ve been looking at recently don’t have any support whatsoever for any of those types of custom OS’s. No Lineage, no anything. All because they’re not flagship models and are more budget friendly phones (and have what I’m looking for: headphone jack and SD slot).
Can someone help me understand why headphone jacks and SD card slots are so important to people? All new phones have audio connections built into the USB-C port, and have enough onboard storage not to require any amount of expansion.
Is the lack of these features really a dealbreaker? I have a Pixel, with custom ROM, and consider myself a power user, and never miss those features at all.
SD cards were nice back when phones had like 16GB of onboard storage and you needed more space for apps and media, but with 512GB onboard storage and the ability to use cloud storage at Wifi 7 speeds, I couldn’t imagine needing more.
Integrated headphone jacks were nice before the vast majority of people used Bluetooth headphones. Even then, a tiny adapter lets me connect any of my old wired headphones or aux cables up no problem.
We’re 18 years into the smartphone age. When the first smartphones came out in 2006, microsd cards were only 2 years old. Now they’re 20 years old. Are we really surprised that this feature is no longer standard?
The 3.5mm headphone jack has been around since the 1950’s, and adapters have been required for tons of audio applications for even longer than that. Do we really need a 70-year-old port integrated into new phones?
[ confirmation bias at play. you have switched to bluetooth. it meets or exceeds all your needs. you don’t see much public indication to the contrary. you figure bluetooth is the best. ]
simplicity the cable just works. no configuration. no pairing .un pairing, figuring why it worked yesterday
Audio quality - bluetooth is lossy. we just were given AptX lossless in 2021 ( another confirmation bias ) “Sounds great to me” “I can’t hear the difference”.
2 things are both possibly true though: I can’t hear the difference. Other people hear a big difference. this seems impossible to some people. As if their senses are the apogee of human sense.
lag. new codecs lower latency, but lag lag lag. You couldn’t possibly use your device as a synth/music instrument and ‘play’ the lag is far to great. Same with games.
whats the big deal. This is a bias for the plug users - would it hurt to keep it? we’ve always had it. The work is already done. Its already baked in the cake, why you gotta take it out?
Investment - I have really good headphones. I have really good earbuds. Yes there are adapters but they are finicky exactly when you want them to just work. They inevitably break. They often downgrade the sound - I have 3 usb to audio adapters for android that all hiss for no reason.
The issue is that when the marketers are selling us a ‘clean vision of the future’ they purposefully gloss over the things they are taking away. Then they paint the people who feel pain because of the change as neanderthals who wouldn’t know better if it bit them. When they do know better. They had better (for them) and progress made it worse (for them). To which the marketers generally say - you should be someone else.
These are all great rebuttals to arguments I never made. Top tier strawmanning 🏆.
Anyway, there’s a headphone port built into your USB-C port. Use any headphones you want.
I didn’t respond to _any arguments you made. I thought you posed the question ‘why?’
Just wait until you find out some of us still want FM on our phones.
The thing with SD cards is that there’s a crapton of phones with 64/128 internals and still don’t have one. I for one wouldn’t really need one if I had 512, but to get to 512 you usually hace to pay a huge premium, because all major manufacturers have adopted the apple model of upcharging for storage. And frankly in the age of affordable 1tb SD cards I should’t have to pay hundreds to get a measly 256 or 512 gb of storage.
The jack is also a manufactured problem ( also pioneered by apple, iirc ). Why would I give up my existing wired headphones to replace them with expensive sub-standard battery operated ones. Its especially ironic for manufacturers who do a lot of greenwashing. The usb-c adapter is an ok compromise though, and I for one am coming around to that l because you can only find jacks on niche or crap phones these days.
I’m not sure why you brought the “tech is old” argument because frankly it doesn’t make sense for these two.
FM on a phone is a banger. I used to have an old Nokia with a FM transmitter as well.
To be honest, the FM transmitter was more reliable and easier to set up on a random car with no aux than Bluetooth was.
I can’t speak to the sd card situation but I still prefer a headphone jack over Bluetooth. I would argue that the vast majority of people (as you put it) use Bluetooth headphones simply because they were forced into it.
Bluetooth is neat and all but it’s also super old (28 years!). It’s older than smart phones and sd cards. But age aside, it’s also not reliable. You cannot guarantee it will work everytime you need it. Whereas you could reasonably expect a headphone jack to work everytime. So replacing old reliable with old not-reliable doesn’t seem right from a logical perspective.
My only other concern is convenience. But wired and wireless both have pros and cons and I just consider them more or less equal.
Bluetooth also introduces significant latency (noticeable for gaming) and lower audio quality. What a bad deal.
Audio quality reduction might not be noticeable to the average user, as long as they don’t use the mic
I feel like everyone keeps arguing with me about “Wired vs. Bluetooth”, but that has not been my argument.
My argument is “what’s the big deal about using a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter?”
You still get wired headphones. I have a Pixel 7 Pro and use my Sennheisers on them. I do not understand the problem. The feature isn’t missing, and the adapter is like $5 and has no downsides. For a couple extra bucks I got a Power+Aux adapter, and now I can plug it into my sound system at home and play it wired while it charges.
You mentioned two situations where you need additional adapters (to use headphones and aux output) but a 3.5mm jack would completely mitigate the need for them.
SD cards are awesome, because a high quality 256GB SD card costs about $30, while a 256GB memory upgrade is at least $100 with no option to transfer when you get a new phone.
Cloud storage is pretty expensive and only as fast as your internet speed is, so for a lot of people that is not really that feasible. Especially considering that some have data caps as well.
3.5mm jack is just more comfortable to use for a lot of people, especially when they have multiple source devices and want to switch between them. I have BT headphones and it is way easier and more reliable to just replug the wire than to go through the BT disconnect reconnect dance.
The issue with dongles is that you’ll have to find the correct aux dongle, some phones support analog passthrough, others require active dongles and so on
This is a pretty easy to overcome issue. There really isn’t a “and so on” here, there are only two types of adapters: active and passive. Nearly every new phone without a 3.5mm port needs an active adapter (check the spec sheet), which has the DAC in it.
This is fine, you were going to use a DAC regardless, the only difference is that it exists outside of your phone instead of soldered to the main board.
Probably best to buy from your phone manufacturer to ensure you’re getting a quality DAC, but I am not aware of any counterfeiting, supply, or quality issues for DACs. Quality Cirruslogic DACs are plentiful and cost manufacturers $1-3/piece, so even the AliExpress adapters are probably just fine.
I feel like people never complain that cases and screen protectors only work on one make/model of phone, but then they get upset that they have to figure out which of two adapters they need. You’re already dealing with a lot of device-exclusivity owning any smartphone, the headphone adapter seems like a trivial detail.
I personally love having extra storage that I can upgrade to whenever I want on a mobile device. Allows me to have things like all my music and text documents on a separate device so I don’t have to worry about most of my internal storage being taken up by these files (mostly music). Local music files are also pretty important to me because I don’t always like being connected to the Internet just to listen to my favorite songs.
Also, there isn’t a single online cloud storage solution that I know of that I trust. I’d set myself up my own, but I trust myself even less for things like that. Last thing I want is either me setting one up and getting my files deleted by random script kiddies finding a way in or for a pre-existing cloud storage provider to suddenly delete my files because they’re updating the service so people on lower tiers get less storage.
With headphones, I personally just love the ability to listen at any point without having to worry whether the headphones I’m using need charged. I personally don’t love the idea of getting a little dongle to connect to my phone just for plugging in wired headphones because that’s just another thing I could easily lose. Similar reason to why I hate short cords in general: easier for me to lose, as has happened plenty of times in the past.
If you have 512gb of storage I think you likely paid more for your phone than I have for my last 3 phones combined going back 5 or 6 years.
Decent wired earbuds are $20. Bluetooth earbuds in that price range are terrible and uncomfortable.
Some of us can’t or won’t spend lots of money on disposable tech like phones.
You consider yourself a power user, I’m just a guy who needs a phone to phone, text and do a few internet tasks like casual games for work downtime.
I don’t have anything against people who like having the latest and greatest tech but I don’t have that urge or see the need in some cases. I generally don’t like being pushed into spending more money with no appreciable gain in functionality.
I guess if you’re just using your phone for a few tiny things, the lack of an SD card should be no problem. What good is tons of storage if you’re just “texting and doing a few internet tasks like casual games”?
And dedicated headphone port or not, you can always plug wired headphones in with an adapter. The port is still there, it’s just a modern port, not one from the 50’s.
Still waiting on a real answer to why these dated features matter so much. Sure, my flagship phone may be more powerful than anything you need, but that doesn’t fit the narrative that these phones are missing critical features that you apparently need, especially not in terms of storage capacity or accessory compatibility.
These things aren’t deal-breakers they’re conveniences for me. It’s easy to transfer stuff to a new phone with an SD card, if your old phones screen dies (has happened to me twice over the years) you can still easily move your stuff over to the new phone.
My last phone only had 64gb of storage. I always have some audio-books and podcasts on my phone for when I go to very rural areas with bad reception like the lake. Up until the phone I bought this year with 256gb I would have been always cramped for space without an SD card.
Why use an adapter if you don’t have to, that’s just one more thing to go wrong or get in the way. I had a pixel for a while and I did use an adapter for my headphones. They were awkwardly placed with the adapter, if the usb port broke because of the headphone adapter being awkwardly placed I couldn’t charge the phone. If I broke a headphone jack I’m just inconvenienced.
I don’t understand why someone being content using older technology bothers you so much that you want them to defend their choices.
Even if the $800-$1000 phones had those features I wouldn’t spend that much on a phone. If only the flagships had those features I’d go without. Thy’re nice to have but not must haves.
Do you also get annoyed with people who play retro games or listen to vinyl records? Do you wonder why people drive classic cars or wear analog watches?
This is just wrong, my man! 128GB are NOT enough to not need expansion! And sure, I can pay the manufacturer 50$ for an extra 128 gig, but for the same money I can buy a 500GB SD card online! And many phones don’t even have the option for this much storage. Why not offer more storage AND an SD card slot?
Yes they have, but now I can’t use my headphones without a shitty adapter anymore. An adapter that can easily get lost! What is the advantage of that?
I can tell you: it’s greed! We can sell you more storage at a premium. Your device storage ain’t enough? We offer cloud based storage for free! Oh, your free x amount of gigabytes is full? We sell you more storage as a subscription! Well, you don’t need storage anyways, because everyone streams their stuff today, don’t they? (Also subscription models)
Your phone doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack anymore and you can’t use your headphones anymore? Buy our adapters for very little money (but that’s basically 5$ in extra profit per sold phone). Or, you know, bluetooth headphones! They are more convenient anyways, because they are wireless. Oh, you just need to charge them every few hours and the batteries in them are dead after ~2 years, that means we can sell you another pair for 150$! And god forbid you lose one of the tiny suckers, that’s gone be 150$ to replace them.
FUCK THAT!!1!