[FirmwareBurner]

Out of curiosity, what got you to spend 1000 Euros on a Zenphone 10 phone when Samsung S23 was net superior and cheaper and provides like 5 years of updates? It's not like previous phones from Asus had a better track record. I kept waring people to stay away form the Zenphone yet the online community kept overhyping it for some reason as the second coming of Christ or something.

[campl3r]

Zenfone is smaller and has a headphone jack. It's the superior phone

[FirmwareBurner]

It is virtually the same size[1] as the era equivalent S23.

I don't think a headphone jack which you can get via a super cheap USB-C adaptor, makes the justification for a 1000 Euro paperweight.

[1] https://www.gsmarena.com/size-compare-3d.php3?idPhone1=12380...

[dvratil]

The problem I found about the adaptors is that you can't charge your phone and listen to music at the same time.

I have an older car with an old stereo where the only external input is via jack. Worked perfectly fine with my old phone. When I got a new Samsung, I went through the hassle of trying several "combined usb-c charger and audio jack adaptor" only to eventually find out they can only work in on mode or the other, not both at the same time. I ended up throwing away my old phone holder and spending even more money on one with built-in wireless charging so I could both listen to a damn music and charge my phone at the same time while driving.

[jicksaw]

Just a FYI for anyone that has the same problem. The reason the adapters don't work is that they're operating in Audio Accessory Mode. The signal comes from the phone's DAC, and is passed through the data lines of the USB connector to the 3.5 mm jack. Problem is, the charging mode also uses those lines to communicate. Thus it can't do both.

The solution is to use a USB hub with an integrated DAC. I use an older version of this: https://satechi.net/products/mobile-pro-hub-sd

[theandrewbailey]

> only to eventually find out they can only work in on mode or the other, not both at the same time.

I can't tell you how many times I've bought something small that should reasonably do two things at once, but can't. Literal e-waste garbage.

[FirmwareBurner]

Isn't the 1000 Euro phone a bigger e waste?

[lucb1e]

I bought several of those adapters. The issues are these:

0. They don't work on all models. Not product lines, e.g. not "all Pixel phones" or so, no, reviews mention "works with Pixel 3 but not Pixel 3a". You need to either waste a bunch of resources sending various ones back and forth, or scour listings until you find one where a review mentioned it works with the model you have. It turns out that all the ones I ordered work on the two USB-C phones I have by now (one from work, one privately) but...

1. The quality of the mic conversion is so bad that people cannot understand what I'm saying. It's described as though I'm speaking while holding the phone under water. Plugging the headphones into my work laptop makes it clear that the mic itself is not the problem, nor the meeting software or my WiFi or anything

2. Loose contacts in most of the converters, if not from the start then after a handful of uses. The headphone cable itself somehow doesn't have that problem, so I don't think that's a me problem (many reviews also mentioned it)

3. You can't charge at the same time. I've tried wireless charging but that makes the device overheat. There are adapter models that will let you also plug in a power cable, but I didn't buy one for some reason. Probably all of them had bad reviews about all of the aforementioned problems and I didn't find a single one that sounded like it was worth a try

4. You need to plug it in at the right time. One of the converters needed to be plugged in before joining the meeting. Another one after. The OS or meeting software (not sure) wouldn't route the audio correctly otherwise

And cheap phones manage to include headphone jacks somehow. It's just a status symbol when manufacturers exclude it from more expensive models, it doesn't seem to serve any purpose as the Zenphone 10 shows by having it and also being great on all other fronts -- except one.

> a 1000 Euro paperweight

It's actually 700€.

It does everything I want. After searching a few days for what models are small, have a headphone jack, and are capable of running Android 14 or so, I was so happy to find that the Zenphone 10 checked all boxes. Then I found out why it didn't initially show up: Asus was the manufacturer that I had previously excluded because you can't root the device. It's not your device: the manufacturer maintains control over what you can and cannot do with it. You can't make full-system backups, for example, because access to your apps' data folders isn't part of what they allow you. The device was easily worth the 700€ because it sounded like I could finally stop wasting my time on choosing which compromise I wanted to make (huge size, no jack, or old chipset were the main options). Finding out there was a dealbreaker after all felt like an ice bath. I just won't buy something where I can't access my own data and make a fricking backup

[Foobar8568]

I went the pure DAP + wired IEMS, couple with smartphone and Bluetooth only when I need to call. Overall, less distraction as well.

[lucb1e]

The issue with Bluetooth is that these earphones are ear-specific, and headphones cover both ears so you can't lay on an ear

I listen to audio books while falling asleep, having just one earphone in because I don't want to lay on one (they're plenty sturdy, but my ear is not)

Falling asleep is harder if you want to turn around but need to now look on the nightstand (if available, not always the case in a ho(s)tel room) for where you've left the other one, place the one you took out in the right spot, and your model needs to have pause/play available on both sides so you can extend the sleep timer on the audio book player. Ideally, they also work for meetings because you already have a set of earphones so why not dual-purpose them?

This sounds like a tall order when I write the requirements out, but the second-cheapest earphones models, the variant with a mic and button built into the cable for like 15€ when I last bought a pair, worked just fine ever since I was a child (Nokia 6230i) until now (S10e battery is on its last leg and the screen is discoloring pretty badly, idk what's wrong with this unit, I didn't drop it...). There just aren't performant phones with a headphone jack left, only this Asus "not your phone" device, cheap tablet-sized phones, and old models that won't run modern apps after a few years (not for performance reasons, just minSdk)

The pains of growing old and having to go with the times I guess

[pohuing]

What cempler said. I tried the dongle approach when the jack in my pixel 4a was failing but found I didn't like it. Having the cable go out the bottom in the center is a terrible place for me, as I rest my phone on my outstretched pinky. The zenfone ticked all boxes on paper and in reviews. Great chipset, solid build, a form factor fitting my tiny hands(though in retrospect it's so heavy that my pinky hurts after a couple hours of reading). And a headphone jack which I use to plug my phone in my stereo and my Sennheiser headphones. Really the jack is the primary reason I got this phone. Coupled by the fact that until now all zenfones had a hassle boot loader unlock and a decent rom community it really was the best choice on paper. God damn it Asus, I wasn't aware they're that dodgy :/