iPhone 7 announced, will not have a headphone jack

[Becky]

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has unveiled the new iPhone 7 (and 7 Plus) during their product launch event today. The new smartphone will feature better cameras, a water-resistant body, stereo speakers, and a better battery. A highly speculated feature (or lack of) is that the headphone jack has been removed, although users will be able to use an adapter with their existing headphones. The adapter will be included when users buy the handset. Based on prior years, it is expected to be available on 16th September 2016.

Apple signed the death warrant for the headphone port on Wednesday afternoon, ushering in – it hopes – a new tangle-free era of wireless listening. But the move is a bold one for Apple, and one that tech pundits predict could have consumers staying away in droves.

The world’s biggest tech company had been widely expected to kill off the headphone jack at the a launch of the iPhone 7 in San Francisco. The 138-year-old technology will be replaced by headsets that plug into the device’s Lightning connector, which is also used for charging.

The change allowed Apple to make the new iPhone slimmer and waterproof.

Read more at The Guardian

Live news feed here: http://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/apple-iphone-event-september-2016

 

[EvanDavis]

And the iSheep will still flock in their thousands to buy it.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Okay, I just have to do this rant, I cannot resist.

A highly speculated feature (or lack of) is that the headphone jack has been removed, although users will be able to use an adapter with their existing headphones.

No thanks, I think I'll stick to my trusty BlackBerry Z10 from 2013, which actually has a proper headphone jack! Still going strong despite being over 3 years old!

It's better this way, because I don't have to pay £50 for Apple's stupid proprietary adaptor.
People who grab the "latest and greatest" (yeah right) iPhone every year have way more money than sense. We should be considering our environmental resources, rather than happily exhausting them without a care in the world (pun intended). I'm not just blaming Apple, other manufacturers do have a similar business approach, but Apple fan(boys/girls) seem to be the worst.

And the fact that Apple fan(boys/girls) actually believe that using the lightning headphones can offer enhanced sound quality?!

Don't make me laugh! If you listen to or stream MP3s at any bitrate (which most iPhone users do), it's still going to sound despicable, 3.5mm headphone jack or lightning headphones.
If you really cared about sound quality, you would at least use M4A (AAC files), or better yet, FLAC/Apple Lossless (lossless files). But even then, a 3.5mm headphone jack with a good quality DAC (digital-to-analog converter) will reproduce these perfectly anyway!

I've never hated Apple, iPhones (and most* people who use iPhones) anywhere near as much as I do now.
My iPhone 4S is my final iPhone and it's only used to play music in the car. It's stuck in 2013 with iOS 6.1.3 for good measure, I will refuse to update its OS any further.

- Capt. Jack Sparrow.

* If you're on these forums, and you own an iPhone, then at least you probably know your stuff, so I don't hate you as much!

 

[V_R]

 

[muckshifter]

If I'm looking for a replacement phone, I'd be tempted with the new V20.

 

[Becky]

Wireless earbuds seems like the worst idea ever. I certainly wouldn't go back to using an iPhone any time soon...

@Captain Jack Sparrow I found you a solution to all your portable music needs

 

[Becky]

No, Apple, killing your headphone jack is not 'courage'

 

[floppybootstomp]

I certainly won't be buying any more Apple phones. I'm still using an iPhone4 which I bought 2nd hand off a mate of mine. It works and it does what I want it to so I'll use it until it goes belly up. I even have a replacement battery for it should the current one die.

Apple's policy of a two or three year lifespan then throw that Apple product away sucks. I actually think Microsoft have more dignity than Apple, they really do practice some obnoxious business practices.

I've never been much of a mobile phone person though, they're way too expensive for what they actually do but they certainly do seem extremely popular - even addictive - with a large chunk of the population.

So I have Apple iPhone 4; 1 month contract with Virgin; 400 minutes; unlimited texts; 2Gb bandwidth per month; £6 a month. That'll do me

 

[V_R]

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

@Captain Jack Sparrow I found you a solution to all your portable music needs

Is that actually real? I have to get one of these! But every time you take a step with one of these on, the tone arm would fall off the record!

Unless it's anything like those old car record players which apply a very high tracking force to the record, which quickly trashes the grooves on the record.

I think I'd rather use a Walkman, there's nothing wrong with a properly recorded cassette!
Perhaps I should dig out my tape deck, and see how a cassette tape compares to an MP3 file. This will be interesting. I've got a feeling the humble cassette has a chance of winning.

Back on topic, I hate how the iPhone still does not support the FLAC format natively! BlackBerry devices have supported this format natively since BlackBerry OS 5! I'm using BlackBerry 10 now. Android has supported FLAC since Android 3.1 Honeycomb.

The iPhone does support the Apple Lossless format, which was recently made open-source, but this means that I have to keep two copies of the same song in both formats! Not that I don't have enough storage, it just annoys me.

- Capt. Jack Sparrow.

 

[floppybootstomp]

I still have a couple of cassette decks, a Yamaha KX-393 with my main system and a NAD-613 with my bedroom sound setup. I rarely use either tbh, sometimes I'll record an old cassette to WAV on the NAD as I have around 1000 cassettes still, from around '79 up to the late nineties.

The cassettes are mostly Maxell XLII and TDK SA, both chrome settings and contain mostly vinyl recordings or FM radio live concert broadcasts from a multitude of bands.

I can confirm that they still sound remarkably good, easily superior to both mp3 and m4a files.

Out of interest, some TDK-SA cassettes have failed over time but so far every single Maxell cassette has been good so it seems the Maxell brand has better longevity.

My intention was to convert all the old live recordings to WAV, then FLAC, build up a library and then dispose of the cassettes but it's very time consuming and tbh a little boring so I doubt if it will ever happen.

btw, the Star Wars pic gave me a chuckle but even though the space ship is meant to represent future transport the scene was actually from the mid-seventies, around 40 years ago, so not surprising the headphones being used are wired.

I do wonder when the desirability of the iPhone will wane as there are now so many more attractive alternatives.