Headphone jacks no longer a staple in phones
Continuing on with the series I started with trends in smartphones we are now being forced to live without. First I started it off with the removable battery and then the external memory (aka SD card slot). So now we talk about the headphone jack. A trend that actually started with the iPhone 7, though Motorola Moto Z beat them to it a few months earlier.
Manufacturers have argued against the headphone jack for many reasons such as another port to introduce water and dirt, it is not used as much with many people going wireless, and it prevents them from being able to cram all the tech and a sizable battery in a small footprint.
Though Apple, Google, and many other manufacturers have gone away from the headphone jack there are still quite a few phones still keeping it, a la Samsung. But the question is whether I can live without it?
First let’s go over the pros of the headphone jack. It allows me to plug in my phone to either my car stereo, boombox stereo, or standard wired headphones. There are still a lot of cars that do not allow for bluetooth hookup but utilizes the audio jack. And if you are on a long flight and your bluetooth headphones die you can break out a pair of wired headphones and continue what you are doing. And lastly some would argue the audio quality is better with wired versus bluetooth.
Can I live without it?
For myself I managed to do just fine without a headphone jack. I am one who have a car with the audio jack but no bluetooth connection. I was able to get around that with a bluetooth receiver that can be plugged into my car audio jack. And for the rest of the time my bluetooth headphones have been enough. For one I have several pairs of wireless headphones. One for working out (powerbeats), a set for work (knock off powerbeats), and I have the dongle to hook up my headphone to my usb-c port.
So for me I do not miss them and have managed to live fine without them. In the event I am concerned about my wireless headphones dying during a long travel, I will either purchase another dongle as a spare or pick up a set of usb-c wired headphones.
Can you live without a headphone jack?
