this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
345 points (96.5% liked)

Android

28007 readers
135 users here now

DROID DOES

Welcome to the droidymcdroidface-iest, Lemmyest (Lemmiest), test, bestest, phoniest, pluckiest, snarkiest, and spiciest Android community on Lemmy (Do not respond)! Here you can participate in amazing discussions and events relating to all things Android.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules


1. All posts must be relevant to Android devices/operating system.


2. Posts cannot be illegal or NSFW material.


3. No spam, self promotion, or upvote farming. Sources engaging in these behavior will be added to the Blacklist.


4. Non-whitelisted bots will be banned.


5. Engage respectfully: Harassment, flamebaiting, bad faith engagement, or agenda posting will result in your posts being removed. Excessive violations will result in temporary or permanent ban, depending on severity.


6. Memes are not allowed to be posts, but are allowed in the comments.


7. Posts from clickbait sources are heavily discouraged. Please de-clickbait titles if it needs to be submitted.


8. Submission statements of any length composed of your own thoughts inside the post text field are mandatory for any microblog posts, and are optional but recommended for article/image/video posts.


Community Resources:


We are Android girls*,

In our Lemmy.world.

The back is plastic,

It's fantastic.

*Well, not just girls: people of all gender identities are welcomed here.


Our Partner Communities:

[email protected]


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

With no headphone jack thats gonna be a no for me dawg. How can they promote sustainability and then design a product that is going to be unusable in 5 years max. That's just the reality of all wireless headphones. The battery will fail to hold charge and they will become useless. Not the truth for wired headphones. Goodwired headphones will last as long as you're able to take care of them usually

Edit: if anyone could give me one good real reason to remove the headphone jack? It's not about the alternatives it's why remove it in the first place? And the space saving aspect of it has long been debunked.

[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I switched to using wireless headphones a good decade ago and I've never had a set die die to the battery going.

I've had plenty of wired headphones die bectthr cable became frayed or loose though.

I am still surprised at the lack of a headphone jack in the Fairphone, but I don't agree that wireless devices are somehow more prone to becoming e-waste.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (6 children)

How are they not going to become e-waste? At some point the battery will die. And more people will just throw those out then they will recycle them. The Bluetooth codec on the set will get outdated. I have old wireless Bluetooth speakers that are completely "useless" now because of the battery and old Bluetooth codec which doesn't work with modern phones. But damn if I still can't plug into their headphones Jack and use them while they're powered from the wall. If you look up the average lifespan of wireless earbuds you get answers anywhere from 1 to 5 years lol. I have a pair of headphones from the 90's that work great. I have another pair older than me.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Just because regular headphones don't have as much electronics in them doesn't mean they don't contribute to e-waste as well. That's what I am driving at, cheap headphones will die quickly and most people don't bother repairing them. The same will happen to cheap wireless headphones. However, good quality ones will last and an often misses benefit of wireless headphones is that there's a lot less wear on them.

The comments about the battery eventually dying may well be correct, but honestly the batteries last plenty long. It's not like they stop working, they just lose capacity over time. All I'm saying is that the battery "dying" is not the big contributor to e-waste that it's purported to be.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The answer to this problem is better wireless headphones

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Because what lithium ion battery last forever? They're well degraded after a few years.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So stop using electronics? We’re talking about a phone with its own batteries. I understand your point but Fairphone can’t solve every sustainability and e-waste problem with a single device. Not buying this phone, assuming you buy a different, less sustainable phone, is a net negative.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The phone has a removable battery. Not one that you need to break the device apart and unsolder everything to get to it, like almost all headphones.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Again, this is an argument for better headphones.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well tell that to Fairphone, they're only selling shitty e-waste ones instead of providing a headphone jack.

But do let me know who is making in-ear earphones with a removable battery. Not massive over the head cows. Portable earphones.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For those buy a dongle. This is not a reason to force a headphone jack on every phone. If it were a modular option, sure who cares. But “every phone needs a jack so some people don’t have to use alternatives” isn’t a good point

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Right, so when we're saying that it was wrong of the company that sells their products on the promise of sustainability and compatibility, to remove their headphones jack and sell shitty ewaste earbuds instead, we're totally saying that every phone in the world needs a headphone jack.

Also funny how quickly we went from "you can get headphones with AAA batteries" to "use a dongle".

If only there was some simple solution that has worked for decades, has zero downsides and costs almost nothing to implement. If only!

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You moved the goal posts. The original complaint was about wireless headphones. Now it’s about wired ear buds. If you dig hard enough you can be mad about anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s important.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Ok sir, only what you say is important is actually important. Got it. Bye.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They could create less e-waste by including a headphone jack and not removing it cause they wanna sell their own wireless headphones. Its a simple money move. And I don't wanna support a company like that even if in theory their message is just.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s also in keeping with the entire industry. “I don’t want to use a USB-C dongle” isn’t a principled stance

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've made plenty of other good points for why the headphone jack should be still included.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago

You’ve certainly made plenty of points about it

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

So use a AAA or something like my old pair did. We just need better Bluetooth headphones.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The battery will fail to hold charge and they will become useless. Not the truth for wired headphones.

I don't know how you use your headphones, but in my case I switched to wireless because every single pair of wired headphones I had would break. Usually the cable, earbuds because they were in my pocket, and the overhead ones I'd drive over with my office chair.

Switched to wireless a couple years ago, no issues since then.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's cuz you don't put them in a protective case every time like you do with wireless earbuds. If you took the same care to wrap them up and properly protect them every single time before you put them away which takes like three more seconds than wireless earbuds they would last just as long.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's not the same care though. Wireless earbuds come with a box. For regular ones, I'd have to make a suitable box, and also carefully roll the cables every time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

A lot of wired earbuds especially if you're willing to spend the kind of money you would spend on wireless earbuds come with very nice carrying cases. For cheapos there's really cheap like silicone wraps that are super easy to use. It's a little piece of silicone with a few little cutouts that makes wrapping the headphones really easy and keeps them relatively protected and tangle free. I put headphones on it every day for years and they've kept just as well as the ones with the fancy carry cases. In any case you can get much better sounding wired headphones plus the cheap carrying case for cheaper than any just as good wireless headset out there . And even if you're not looking for a deal out of wired headphones. There is always a better fidelity over the microphone and sound quality than most wireless earbuds in my experience. Especially if you're spending the same kind of money you are on wireless earbuds. And the only inconvenience comes at the lack of a headphone port. Putting them away is not this hassle people make it to be. There is a convenience of seconds with wireless earbuds.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Moondrop Aria. $70/80, comes with a carrying case + detachable cable.

If all of your wired iems broke, you either broke them yourself or were buying very crappy iems.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Really? My wired headphones have lasted 10+ years. My oldest bluetooth headset lasted 5.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Wired Earbuds or Headphones? Most wired earbuds are crap, so it makes sense to use Bluetooth. Wired Headphones should not break. I don't want to argue with your experiences, but I have never seen headphones break. I used a pair for seven years, and only stopped using it wasn't worth it to buy new pads (the headphones cost $20, pads $10).

[–] Lethtor 2 points 1 year ago

I've had plenty of cables on wired headphones die, and if the headphones don't have removable cables, that's it for them (unless you can solder on new cables, but you could also argue that you can replace the battery of wireless headphones). I've had the cable of my Sennheisers break like 3 times so far and I've only had the headphones for a couple of years, luckily they can be replaced easily

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I've gone through many pairs of headphones too, I've worked from home for years and had a long-distance relationship in a time before smartphones (and before cheap wireless headphones) so Skype+headphones was the solution. Both driving over them with an office chair and accidentally pulling them were real dangers and caused real damage.

Now I just don't use them anymore, since I have meetings on a company laptop, and the relationship is much closer.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just leave one of these on your headphones and you'll never know the difference.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I don't want to. And I don't want to carry one around with me everywhere. I use several different types of wired headphones. Plus the convenience of being able to plug into basically any sound system is unmatched. Still plenty of cars that just use aux cords. Plenty of speaker systems that are easier to connect to with a headphone cord and sound better.

And my final point is there is no practical reason to remove it it is just as easy to waterproof and it does not take up that much space.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Yeah. I actually went from usb c only phone to one with a headphone jack again, and I've decided I'm not even considering devices without a headphone jack. The dongles suck from either a usability perspective or a software one, and they just add another point of failure rather than just using a very simple aux jack. I get why a lot of manufacturers stopped supporting them (it costs some money, and the dongle make them some), but it's still very, very dumb.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I rather enjoy all the people telling you that your use case is invalid because of inferior compromised solutions available.

There are a bunch of people who express a strong preference for a feature, don't invalidate peoples requirements.

Doesn't matter if that feature is something you use personally or not.

What this does indicate is there is demand in the market for a GrapheneOS/CalyxOS phone with a headphone jack. This is why I'm running a Pixel 5a still!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I too still have pixel 5a. Glad somebody gets that every "solution" has been vastly inferior to just a headphone jack

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I use bluetooth headset when i'm at home to watch videos, but if i take a call, i plug in my wired headphones to get reliability and clarity. When i go out into the city I only have a pair of wired headphones in my man purse.

I'm multimodal and I like it!

Nothing is worse then being on a group chat and somebody is fighting their bluetooth with extra delays or scratchy audio... I dont want to be that guy

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm with you. Guess what sometimes I have a call and my Bluetooth buds are charging or not in the same room. Guess what I have connected to my computer? A headset. Guess what isn't easily plugged into my phone! This headset! I've had dongles die on me too man.

I hate that all phones have removed them. Screw Apple for this trend. I wish Apple had the balls and removed them from the laptops too. Would have loved to see that backlash.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Based on the responses people are too ignorant for that to ever happen.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

USB DACs are quite small now. I don't mind having to plug mine into my phone to use wired headphones.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I refuse to buy a phone without a headphone jack but in my experience wired earbuds last about 9 months while my cheap JBL 110bt bluetooth buds are still going strong after more than 5 years of almost daily use. The battery still lasts about 7 hours.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Stop buying crappy earbuds then. I have IEMs and headphones several decades old that still work just fine.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, if you use earbuds, Bluetooth is so much better. I don't know why wired earbuds are so garbage, but I had two die in three years. My headphones still work after seven, but the pads are worn off, so I stopped using them