Apple iPhone 7...

I have an Iphone 6 plus 128Gb, sena case, with a Bose sound isolating headphones 3.5mm.

I use my phone for listening to music on my commute, email apps Business and work.

Understand there is a new kid in town, IPhone 7 but its missing an audio jack.

My EE contract is due for renewal soon (this month?).

What do we do here plump for an in stock iphone plus s 128 and love my 3.5mm headphone socket for another 2 years or be brave and look at this iphone 7

 

The 7 comes with a 3.5mm adapter in the box, so who cares?

I kind of see Apple's point. 3.5mm jacks are incredibly old and do a single job - audio. They take up a lot of physical space in an era when everything is about thinness (USB C as an example). Essentially it's a rubbish port, but the problem is it is literally everywhere and the only standard. Apple want us on wireless, or if you really want a port they want it a multi-function port. That's actually reasonable to my mind, but equally I would never buy Lightning only headphones as that means they can only be used on an iPhone. So essentially it's wireless or use the 3.5mm adapter.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/51nles/got_sent_an_early_pair_of_the_new_apple_airpods/

I think it's too early to be dropping 3.5mm. Wireless is probably the future (even if the quality still leaves much to be desired via bluetooth). Also that adaptor is just begging to be lost or left on an aux cord/wrong jacket pocket/other pair of headphones.

 

Looks like electric toothbrush head to me Nice prank by the guy.

 

Think of all of the wireless Beats headphones they will sell now

 

Drop the EE contract down to Sim only then get the apple plan for the iphone. It'll be cheaper than EE & you can upgrade phone every year

 

Not a huge fan of the upgrade program......
I've been buying second hand iPhone, 1 year after its release, since the very original iPhone 8 years ago. This would mean, like Tesla, they preserve their premium price and makes it rarer through the normal second market.

The phone looks great, I especially like the big.LITTLE A10 processor (finally!) and the non-mechanical home button. If I can't secure a reasonably priced 64GB 6s, I may upgrade my 5s to a brand new 7 on their finance. When iOS10 gets jailbroken though.

 

Upgrade program seems like a pretty decent deal if you want a new phone every year. It will be significantly cheaper than paying O2 / EE / Vodaphone.

Not certain Apple cares for second hand market and even if you take the Upgrade program you do not have to upgrade. Your just paying 20 monthly instalments for your phone instead if you do not upgrade. At rates that are still less than the phone providers.

I think O2 / EE and Vodaphone will be pretty unhappy that Apple have done this.

 

Coming soon to a supermarket near you:

Airpod buyer tears, 10 Gallons only £0.19, infinite stock available.



Seriously though, in ear headphones that are not secured to you in any shape or form so you can only use them at home while sitting down (where you don't need a compact form factor and can use big can style headphones which by the way have more room for a decent battery as well) or face having to replace them due to loss on a regular basis?

Move over smartwatches, there is a new most pointless piece of tech in town.

As for the phone itself:
Very good to see Apple is finally getting on the water resistance train, although I'm still surprised it took them that long, Sony has been doing that for a long time now.

 

I use a Bluetooth adapter with 3.5mm jack to be wireless with all my earphones

 

There are many accessories that connect via the headphone socket, credit card readers for small traders, etc.

Any bets Apple will go just far enough with the bluetooth standards to make their earbuds the only ones that will work with the phone?

Besides, if Apple wanted a fully wireless phone, they'd ditch Lightning too, in favour of wireless charging.

 

No, it's not a rubbish port whatsoever. It works absolutely fine, is universal, and doesn't require any dongles or adaptors.

 

Times move on, considering there is a adaptor included they are not forcing anyone to buy wireless straight away. I'd imagine most on here probably realise once Apple does it, Samsung and company will not be far behind and we could well see the end of the headphone jack in smartphones inside 2 years.

 

Heh, you don't need to tell me about Sinclair and his beloved 3.5mm jacks Ear and Mic!

Still don't get the love for the idea of replacing the 3.5mm jack on a phone. If the mooted replacement was actually superior in some way, then I could see the argument, but the 3.5mm jack works.

 

As long as the socket exists the chances of high end DAC or AMPs been put into Smartphones is close to 0. With it gone we could well see a move to a more high end audio in the mobile space.

Remember nothing comes close currently to a dedicated Hifi setup and expensive open headphones.

 

As much as I'm not an Apple guy and my instinctive reaction is to kick against this, it does kinda make sense to me. Typical usage is one port at a time, so why have two ports?
The question I'd be asking if I was a prospective buyer would be whether it is a simple analogue passthrough in the lighting connection (as opposed to a DAC in the adaptor/headphones)? If it is I think I might be okay with it. Adaptors should be cheap, flexible and plentiful, and looking at it the other way, so should lightening equiped headphones.

I'm looking forward to the reaction to the first entirely portless phones

 

I've been using Bluetooth headphones pretty much exclusively while out and about the the last few years, and I don't intend to go back to wired headphones while mobile.

If I want better audio quality, and in the event I want to source this from a smartphone rather than something better suited, then I'm not going to be relying on whatever paltry amplifier is crammed into the Latest Ultra Thin Shiny 2016 Phone (regardless of brand), and instead use an outboard amplifier with wired headphones/speakers. All removing the 3.5mm port in this case does is either require an adapter for line-out, or use of an external USB DAC (again, with an adapter) both of which would be preferable even IF a 3.5mm headphone port were available.


As for Apple's own brand of bluetooth headphones, they look like they will experience the exact same issue as ever other 'separate' bluetooth headphone system: humans have pockets to the sides of their clothing. Placing the phone on one side means the big watery 2.4GHz RF shield of your body will always be between the emitter (phone) and at least one receiver (headphone).

 

To tell the truth, I just put my Fiio X1 in my other pocket.