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There's a new dongle in Apple land:
Apple ditched the headphone jack on the iPhone with the iPhone 7. The company's latest and greatest iPhones, the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X also don't have the headphone jack. The only way of listening to music on Apple's newest iPhones is to use a wireless headphone or use the lightning connector on the phone. But if you are charging your phone and want to listen to music with your wired headphones on the iPhone at the same time, that's obviously not possible.
Apple already sells a $39 dongle that lets you charge your phone and listen to music via a lightning connector at the same time, and it's now selling a new dongle that'll let you use a 3.5mm headphone jack instead. The Verge reports that Belkin has released a new version of its Rockstar adapter for the iPhone which lets you charge your phone via a lightning connector and listen to music via a 3.5mm headphone jack at the same time for $34.95.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 02 2017, @10:38PM (1 child)
LOL.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 03 2017, @05:27PM
Like the USB RS-232 adapters... layers on layers, because we're saving money.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 5, Informative) by Snotnose on Monday October 02 2017, @10:53PM (20 children)
When I'm shopping for a phone the top 2 things are: 1) can I add an SDCC card; and 2) does it have a headphone jack.
Those are 2 things I use all the time, take one out and your phone is useless to me.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday October 02 2017, @11:24PM
SDCC [sdccblog.com] on a card? Wow, the future's amazing. But yeah, both of those can be gating factors.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Monday October 02 2017, @11:34PM (17 children)
Don't forget about a removable battery! Good for for ease of replacement, spares, and security. I think LG is the only mainstream phone maker still producing such a phone.
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Monday October 02 2017, @11:45PM (2 children)
My Lumia 950 also has a removable battery. I used a phone with a built-in battery once. Never again if I can possibly avoid it.
I mean, it was a solid phone and I quite liked it. Until the battery bloated it apart. :(
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:31AM (1 child)
Interesting. Too bad it's a Windows phone. And that has more to do with the lack of apps though, I barely have any apps to begin with (because lets face it, they all suck, along with the whole mobile concept)
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Tuesday October 03 2017, @07:18AM
For all the complaints about apps, I have had very little difficulty finding support for the things I genuinely need (mostly various authenticators). And there's nevertheless a ton of what appears to be utterly useless stuff on the app store. I shudder to think what it must be like in iOS or Android land. As I mentioned elsewhere, recently [soylentnews.org], I am actually quite fond of the UI on Windows 10 Phone.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:17AM (10 children)
I charge my phone overnight and from my PC as needed. I don't travel much. My phone running out of battery isn't an issue for me.
My main battery drain is playing poker. All my communication is text. Voice tends to head into voicemail, which I delete instead of listening to (Virgin sux ass at knowing what my password is, I can enter it twice, then on the third time it sez "yeppers, that's it"). Then it spends a couple minutes for the "hit 1 for something. Hit 2 for something else. Hit 3 for something you would never wanna do". Hit a number, "Hit 1 for something. Hit 2 for something else". All in a voice like a dumshit talking to a mexican illegal who doesn't speak a word of english, but if you talk slow and loud enough they will understand.
All my friend know, if you wanna tell me something send a text. Cuz voicemail ain't gonna get heard.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:41AM (4 children)
I hate voice mail too. I made my outgoing message "You reached my phone. Text me instead. I do not listen to messages." Though, I've been thinking about using a clip from Aqua Teen Hunger Force where Meatwad says "Leave it so I can delete it" just to mess with people.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:59AM (3 children)
That's because you are not some sort of cave man. No-one uses voicemail anymore. Except my wife, for some reason.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday October 03 2017, @03:40AM (2 children)
My mother still uses it. Even though I tell her every time I talk to her, not to leave one.
(Score: 1) by hedleyroos on Tuesday October 03 2017, @05:39PM (1 child)
We must be brothers.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday October 03 2017, @05:41PM
Ha! I think she does it to fuck with me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:42AM (1 child)
Glad you explained that, but I'm still having a hard time texting you. Can you post your phone # again so I can make sure I'm using the right one?
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:20PM
Posts like this creates a desire for me to possess a 1-900 number. I'll even talk to the Indian bots for hours.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:48PM (2 children)
How do you text from a landline phone?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday October 03 2017, @03:24PM (1 child)
You ditch it and join the civilized world, that's how.
Do you still use faxes too? Or a horse and buggy?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @07:36PM
And what do you do when your phone has no service because of the scaffold (in place for over 18 months with no end in sight) right outside your window is covered in chicken wire, creating a faraday cage?
Not trolling here, just a reminder that your use case isn't everyone elses.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @01:28AM
The Moto E4 also have a user replaceable battery. That fact is why I have a Moto E4.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:23AM
I think Alcatel phones generally have removable batteries.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Kawumpa on Tuesday October 03 2017, @06:39AM
The Moto G5 has all of the above, is not expensive and works with LineageOS.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 03 2017, @05:30PM
While I think it's absurd that they removed it (after all, it was becoming a universal interface for things like CC readers...) I am one of the many who never, ever plugs anything into the headphone jack of my phone - not on purpose, just because I never ever have any reason to.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by requerdanos on Monday October 02 2017, @10:58PM (6 children)
So, basically, a minor inconvenience is replaced here by a different minor inconvenience that is less inconvenient in some ways (charge+listen to your DRM totem at the same time) and more inconvenient in others ($35 + must keep up with a dongle).
But this time, the Devil's not in the details, but rather the elephant in the room: The iPhone is a closed-proprietary privacy-removing device that prevents your installing free software via aggressive DRM. It's a non-starter on multiple fronts, by deliberate policy and design, for anyone concerned about these issues, and I'd expect to find more people concerned here than in the general public.
Even Stallman's list of dozens of Reasons Not To Use Apple [stallman.org] doesn't even give a mention to minor headphone inconveniences.
(Score: 3, Funny) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:37AM (5 children)
But all the cool kids have em. Don't you want to be cool like those trendy people in the Apple ads? Don't you want to exude confidence and style every time you leave your upper east side apartment with your air buds, idrone and non-white GF that you'll never marry cause she isn't white, but you still get the "I fucked a minority, see how progressive I am" cred? Don't you want to appear worldly and cultured? I mean, obviously they make lots of money and get laid a lot because of that idevice. God.
(Score: 4, Funny) by bob_super on Tuesday October 03 2017, @12:55AM (1 child)
Dang! I thought they were happy because they drink beer and drive overpowered pickup trucks, while not completely shaving with 5 blades, dying their hair, using some deodorant, and taking a pill for the ED...
Thanks for saving me some effort! The iDevice is a lot easier to park than the pickup, I hate beer, and I was failing at ED.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday October 03 2017, @01:28PM
Glad to be of service!
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:53PM
How do you know what's in Apple ads? You're not actually watching ads, are you?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday October 03 2017, @03:51PM (1 child)
and non-white GF that you'll never marry cause she isn't white, but you still get the "I fucked a minority, see how progressive I am" cred?
WTF is this shit?
In my experience, the wealthy urban white women (i.e., the ones who drive BMWs) are the ones who love iPhones the most. And in surveys, women are the ones who are most discriminatory against non-iPhone owners.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday October 03 2017, @04:08PM
If they drive BMW's then yes, you're in trouble if you don't have deep pockets or idrones. But most girls I've dated, regardless of race, didn't give a fuck because they didn't come from snobbish assholes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @01:32AM (4 children)
It was all just a ploy to allow Belkin, [sarcasm]that bastion of low cost cables[/sarcasm], to sell the fanboi's adapters containing about $2 worth of parts and plastic for a cool $34.95 each.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 03 2017, @02:36AM
Thank goodness for people with more money than sense!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PocketSizeSUn on Tuesday October 03 2017, @05:01AM
Nah ... the MFi chip [Made For iPhone] (Apple assurance that you only buy certified Apple products) is prolly about $5 on its own.
For every iOS update about 1/2 the effort is identifying and disabling peripheral hardware w/knock-off MFi chips...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday October 03 2017, @01:10PM (1 child)
I find your lack of faith disturbing.
Once all the Apple fanboys buy these headphone jack adapters, Apple will:
Apple fanboys will cheer and rejoice at the news.
I plan to rush right out and buy one. It's on my TO DO list, right after I upgrade to Windows XP.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 3, Informative) by quacking duck on Tuesday October 03 2017, @09:12PM
The rest of your points have merit, but this particular criticism has never made sense.
Since the iPhone was released in 2007, and in fact since around 2003's 3rd generation iPod, Apple has changed their main mobile device connector exactly *once*, from the 30-pin to Lightning, and there were two very legitimate reasons for doing so: saving physical space and reversible connector.
In the same timeframe, the rest of the mobile world went through at least 2 or 3 major changes: various proprietary ports to USB mini, and then to USB micro, with a few phones even sporting USB3 micro-B, before USB Type C finally gave USB a reversible connector, two years after Lightning was introduced.
(Score: 1) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday October 03 2017, @06:57PM
... Back in the days of the Apple Newton. They had a PS-2 cabled keyboard (made just for the Newton) that you had to connect to the multi-connect port of the MessagePad 2000 via a dongle. That multiconnect port could theoretically interface with other stuff, but outside of development I never saw anybody use one except with the keyboard.
I lost two of those suckers before I learned how badly dongles suck.
So when it came time to replace my phone a month ago (and I'm stuck with Apple because of work,) I was allowed to get a brand new 6S Plus to replace my 6S. I want my headphone jack more than I want their "progress."
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday October 03 2017, @07:42PM
Now I can get a headphone jack (which I don't use) for an overpriced phone with an inferior UI!
Hooray! I'm not even going to go out and buy it, I'm going to sit right here and order it online.
That way, I'm never far away from my cookies, chips and insulin.
Apple device? No thanks. I'd rather have my tonsils extracted through my ears.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by arslan on Wednesday October 04 2017, @12:08AM
I for one actually like Apple's bold approach to phase out cables. Progress comes with a price/cost of course. Hopefully at some point in the future we'll have phones that are totally cable free - I really detest cables.. and all the fun that ensues from wireless signal hacking.
Now as for this device, it is more of a 2 in 1 to charge and plug in wired cables. There's already lots of bluetooth adapters for wired cables out there to ease the transition into a cable free phone world. Here's a review [thewirecutter.com] of some of them.