[WhitneyLand]

Is anyone making different decisions based on the headphone jack?

After a steady upgrade cadence since iPhone 1, this is the first time I've postponed my decision, still deciding how to proceed.

Google is making the right moves but I'm not sure how much it can help them. Pixel is an excellent product, but you need a crowbar to pry people out of a well worn and comfortable habits.

[ak217]

In my opinion Pixel is a disappointment. iPhone 7 brought two features that I really like (waterproofing and a faster CPU) but screwed it up by removing the headphone jack. So I was really looking forward to the Pixel. But it has no water resistance, no wireless charging, a poor backplate design, and an uncompetitive starting price. So at this point I'm disappointed in both flagship launches of the year. I don't know what to get to replace my Nexus 5. Maybe I'll get an iPhone 6s, despite the ugly antenna bands.

I think if Apple kept the headphone jack and added wireless charging, they'd have a lot of very happy customers.

[paublyrne]

When you can mostly charge your phone in half an hour, wireless charging becomes a little irrelevant.

[JeanMeche]

Am I the only who thinks wireless charging is a terrible idea ?

[neolefty]

Have you tried it?

[nixy]

Headphone jack doesn't matter to me at all. Headphones work perfectly with the adapter that comes with the 7. The lightning ear pods also work perfectly fine. It's really a non-issue.

[toomuchtodo]

Can you charge and use the headphones at the same time?

[gempir]

Are you really that often in that situation though? I see that happen maybe like once a month or so. Sure a bit inconvenient but not a deal breaker

[toomuchtodo]

> Are you really that often in that situation though?

Yeah, my phone is a business tool, and I'm on the phone frequently. Its useless if I can't be on it on wired headphones while it recharges from long phone calls.

[eridius]

You can if you're willing to shell out $40. Belkin makes an adaptor for this. http://www.apple.com/shop/product/HKKP2ZM/A/belkin-lightning...

[wtetzner]

I suppose people who listen to music on their phone at work might want to charge the phone while listening.

I dunno.

[sammoth]

I do that all the time

[coldtea]

Moved on to wireless (2nd gen Zik Parrots, there are better wireless headphones out there, but I like those and wont buy 3 because the changes are minimal. Waiting for them to put out a Zik 4).

[WhitneyLand]

Don't you pay a double lossy compression penalty?

1). .mp3 or .aac throws away data

2). Transmitting over bluetooth recompesses and throws away more data

I think in principle Apple could avoid one of these with AirPods if the the iPhone7 streamed .aac/.mp3 as a custom Bluetooth codec, but I haven't heard if they wen that route.

[coldtea]

>Don't you pay a double lossy compression penalty?

Yes, in the sense that the results are doubly compressed.

No, in any meaningful sense that I would have an issue with. The headphones have the appropriate BT codecs for high definition audio (the 3 even more so, aptX et al), and the end results have been on par with my wired AT-50x.

You can try double and triple compressing a 320mbps mp3 file and you'd hardly notice any change. Of course such compression algorithms are not omni-potent, but it's close enough.

At a good enough bit rate (256 and especially 320), mp3s are indistinguishable from "CD quality" (which also throws away data in the sense that it quantizes the analog signal, but it doesn't matter there either), and all blind A/B/A tests have shown that.

In headphones that cost less than $1000, and for everyone over 40 that's even more so.

Audiophiles excepted of course, because they have magical unicorn audio senses -- even when they can't use them on a blind test.

[WhitneyLand]

I generally agree but:

1) Your headphones have good codecs, but they are only used if they match an iPhone supported BT codec. For example AptX will not work with iPhone.

2). Yes double compressing .mp3s is not as bad as it sounds, but double compression can be worse with two different codecs. For example I believe iPhone uses SBC codec for Bluetooth, which is pretty different from .mp3/.aac.

I would be interested in knowing if AirPods solve this by doing .mp3 or .aac pass through.

[coldtea]

>1) Your headphones have good codecs, but they are only used if they match an iPhone supported BT codec. For example AptX will not work with iPhone.

The headphones do support AAC BT streaming though, which IIRC is Apple's slant on AptX.

[idanoeman]

CD quality doesn't throw away data that your ears can hear, thanks to the Nyquist sampling theorem. If your ears can hear better than 20khz I'd be very surprised.

[coldtea]

>CD quality doesn't throw away data that your ears can hear, thanks to the Nyquist sampling theorem. If your ears can hear better than 20khz I'd be very surprised.

Yes, Didn't say it throws away data "that our ears can hear" but that it "throws away data", period (which is true). And not just frequencies but also dynamic range.

That said, a high quality mp3 also doesn't throw away data that "our ears can hear", not with absolute physical certainty (as in Nyquist et al), but with psycho-acoustic research level certainty. (I say high quality because lower quality mp3s trade more usable signal for space savings).

[matwood]

> Is anyone making different decisions based on the headphone jack?

Not me. I already use wireless headphones at the gym and while running. The only loss is I cannot charge and listen at the same time which is something I rarely did anyway.

Given how Google abruptly leaves projects behind, the Pixel needs a few releases before I would trust it staying around. Flagship priced Android phones are also a tough market because you can get decent ones at very low prices.

[euyyn]

> the Pixel needs a few releases before I would trust it staying around

Genuinely honest: Android's been out there for a long while. Even if the Pixel was the last Pixel ever, why would that be a problem from me as a user? When it's time to replace, I'm going to look at the other Android phones too anyway.

[matwood]

That's good point. Probably a non-issue since I assume it would get updates for at least 2 years.

[LoSboccacc]

I postponed because what I was hoping for was a new Iphone SE - I just like that form factor better.

Also, if people valued having wireless phones they'd had bluetooth headset already, Apple isn't exactly breaking new grounds here, just removing the options of having passive battery-less sets.

Since I'm locked to the system, I'm stuck with the 5S, for now. The SE was bad value (in Europe) when it came out and it's just getting worse and worse.

[huxley]

Won't affect my decisions come renewal time, I have no beef against the jack but I've come to despise wired headphones so much that the loss of the jack is inconsequential to me.

And even driving my old beater won't cause me any hassles because the FM radio transmitter I bought for the car uses USB for both power and audio. Lots of inexpensive car stereos offer USB and Bluetooth in.

[Angostura]

I am - I'm hanging on to my 6 asap

[wojt_eu]

Did you mean ALAP (as long as possible)?

My 4s became really sluggish after upgrade to (I think) iOS 7. I wonder at which point I should stop upgrading iPhone 7 to extend its life a bit.