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?
No not it is not a must. And the vast majority of pwope don’t care.
After experiencing true wireless ear buds, I’m never going back. Yeah no thanks, I don’t want to be literally tethered to my phone.
Did you know?
Phones can have a headphone jack and still have Bluetooth for the people who don’t want to use it!
Ok… Don’t think I said they couldn’t?
Of course it is possible, but it is an inefficient use of internal phone space. It adds another physical failure point. Increases risk of water entry. And adds construction/repair cost.
All for some thing few care about already and that number gets smaller everyday.
Sorry to be harshly pragmatic about it (I have a few niche hobbies myself) but it’s time to let it go.
It is only inefficient for you. I never use the selfie camera. Should I be campaigning for its removal?
As you don’t use it, you don’t care if it fails.
No. This is a solved problem.
More so for the selfie camera.
If you don’t use it, you don’t need it repairing
I can’t even lol.
Google should remove the extremely popular camera (and takes a tenth of the size) so you can “you” can have a port…
Given the quality of that response, I’m just stopping there…
Have a good day, I’m out.
I’m showing how biased your logic is by swapping one word.
Headphone Jacks are also popular. Over 60% preference on android and 92% of people prefer the rear camera
My facts beat your feelings.
I still have been able to play games on my phone with truly wireless earbuds because the latency is awful. I’d love to have an option to plug in.
Do both your phone and earbuds support aptx?
Cheap devices almost never support it, but it’s truly what makes Bluetooth earbuds great.
Google pixel 6 Pro with Google Buds Pro. Not really cheaped out but no aptx on the earbuds. I assumed low latency codec would be there when I bought a pro version of an earbud from a company that removes their headphone jack, but noooooooo.
Google buds aren’t cheap but… They aren’t really a prime example or wireless earbuds. Basically just the equivalent of the air pods. Decent sound, but a solid middle ground in terms of features and quality.
Take a look at some other options that do support aptx or at least Bluetooth LE Audio. Aim for BT 5.3 support, but BT 5.2 may be acceptable if you are happy with BT LE Audio latency.
I use the Sony WF-1000XMS with BT LE Audio on the Steamdeck and the latency is fine for most gaming. Latexy seems to be around 30-100ms at my best estimation (depending on the quality and complexity of the audio being transmitted).
But the WF-1000XMS don’t support aptx. There are lots of devices that do though. I’d recommend looking for aptx-ll specifically, but aptx-hd is also a massive improvement.
As a side note, the reason I use WF-1000XMS is for the excellent ANC (I’m autistic), so I am not recommending them as gaming earbuds, but just as an example of quality earbuds that work for me.
You don’t have to go back. You can have both. A headphone jack does not preclude the use of Bluetooth.
Bluetooth can’t even transport mp3 quality. Let alone CD or even HD quality music.
That’s not true. It depends on the codecs both devices use. But regardless, I mostly listen to podcasts and my hearing is by far the limiting factor in audio quality.
There is no “mp3 quality”, as that can vastly vary depending on bitrate. And what is HD quality music supposed to be? I bet you couldn’t reliably differentiate high quality mp3, CD audio and completely uncompressed wav in a series of blind tests.
That’s like saying people can’t tell the difference between 720p, 1080 and 4K
No, it’s not
Maybe it’s your ears or system but in this house we can certainly tell the difference between a 2 mb mp3 file and a 400mb DSD.
Try a high Bitrate mp3 and the difference becomes a pure technicality.