The official tablet (and other useless electronics) thread!

[Apoc]

People that complain about the headphone jack thing just dont want to buy an iPhone anyways and that's alright.

Eh, I don't think that's true. I would think long and hard about sticking with my brand of choice if they did the same thing. My main problem is you're just plain screwed if the battery dies. It would be one thing if you could have a spare battery on hand, but that's not practical on earbuds.

Also, I just saw a picture of the airbuds and one thing I can tell you is Apply is going to make a lot of money on replacements.

[RawrImAMonster]

People that complain about the headphone jack thing just dont want to buy an iPhone anyways and that's alright.

I am on the fence about upgrading my 6. Probably will.

Not true at all. I've had iphones since my very first smart phone and was planning on keeping it that way until I heard about the headphone jack disappearing. It really is a deal breaker for me.

[Mike]

Like I said, no real technology advancement.

joking, right? removing a 100 year old connector and saying "you know what, fuck you guys, we're doing it" isn't FORCING technological advancement? kudos to them for having the balls to do it. sure, it'll piss a lot of folks off, but long term it will prove a great... TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT... and i wager you'll be thanking apple for making it happen.

[JPolen01]

Just gonna leave this here. And no, I don't know why Arthur has become a meme.

[ViPER1313]

Like I said, no real technology advancement.

joking, right? removing a 100 year old connector and saying "you know what, fuck you guys, we're doing it" isn't FORCING technological advancement? kudos to them for having the balls to do it. sure, it'll piss a lot of folks off, but long term it will prove a great... TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT... and i wager you'll be thanking apple for making it happen.

For something to be an advancement, it has to offer a compelling alternative to the existing technology. Bluetooth all the things has not been a compelling alternative, otherwise headphone manufacturers would have stopped offering wired headphones a long time ago. There is 0 need to do away with a standard that works.

[Ken]

Like I said, no real technology advancement.

joking, right? removing a 100 year old connector and saying "you know what, fuck you guys, we're doing it" isn't FORCING technological advancement? kudos to them for having the balls to do it. sure, it'll piss a lot of folks off, but long term it will prove a great... TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT... and i wager you'll be thanking apple for making it happen.

So... the technological advancement they have proposed is... wireless headphones? Which have been around for a while, I'm fairly certain. GROUNDBREAKING. My point, albeit grammatically challenged, remains.

THANKS APPLE FOR HAVING THE "COURAGE" TO "FORCE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT" WITH NO REAL SOLUTION. YOU'RE THE REAL MVP.

[Mike]

Like I said, no real technology advancement.

joking, right? removing a 100 year old connector and saying "you know what, fuck you guys, we're doing it" isn't FORCING technological advancement? kudos to them for having the balls to do it. sure, it'll piss a lot of folks off, but long term it will prove a great... TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT... and i wager you'll be thanking apple for making it happen.

For something to be an advancement, it has to offer a compelling alternative to the existing technology. Bluetooth all the things has not been a compelling alternative, otherwise headphone manufacturers would have stopped offering wired headphones a long time ago. There is 0 need to do away with a standard that works.

has bluetooth not been compelling because it sucks or because people have had a wired alternative? i'll give you that bluetooth is not perfect, but removing wires IS the future and they're only hastening it. not sure how you can hate on them for almost certainly sacrificing revenue to make this happen. you won't convince me that wireless is not a compelling alternative to wired and that wired didn't need to eventually go away.

[Mike]

THANKS APPLE FOR HAVING THE "COURAGE" TO "FORCE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT" WITH NO REAL SOLUTION. YOU'RE THE REAL MVP.

are you inferring they came up with a fake solution? they say "use bluetooth or this new tech that sucks less." they may not be forcing advancement, but they're forcing change... for the better. i don't think coming up with a proprietary wireless solution was the perfect answer, but this at least gets the ball rolling. had they sat down with the boards who control standards, they'd be drafting a new wireless spec for the next 10 years, which would be outdated by the time we got it.

[Ken]

THANKS APPLE FOR HAVING THE "COURAGE" TO "FORCE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT" WITH NO REAL SOLUTION. YOU'RE THE REAL MVP.

are you inferring they came up with a fake solution? they say "use bluetooth or this new tech that sucks less." they may not be forcing advancement, but they're forcing change... for the better. i don't think coming up with a proprietary wireless solution was the perfect answer, but this at least gets the ball rolling. had they sat down with the boards who control standards, they'd be drafting a new wireless spec for the next 10 years, which would be outdated by the time we got it.

That's still change for change's sake. They have offered nothing better as an alternative, and no they didn't come up with proprietary wireless solution. They developed a proprietary wireless chip that still uses ultralow-power bluetooth. Nothing new, nothing groundbreaking. Basically just accelerometers in the buds so that you can access Siri (which still sucks.)

I get what you're trying to get at, but if you're not presenting me with something better than why should i change? Especially when it was so easy to keep the port, it's not like floppy disc or DVD drive which legitimately took up space and the technologies existing were already better. "Forcing technological advancement" is a bullshit excuse.

As for the losing money, please. You don't think they crunched the numbers on the amount of users they'd lose to this and the amount they'd make by selling more headphones (both new an replacements)?

[WRXtranceformed]

[JPolen01]

:lol:

I think once people lose the initial set they will buy regular bluetooth headphones/earbuds at a fraction of the price. Personally I think the airpods are pretty damn goofy looking.

[Mike]

I thought the iWatch was stupid too. I'm sure these things will sell.

[Mike]

They have offered nothing better as an alternative

The alternative is to use the existing wireless technologies. They work. Adoption was slow because it could be. Bluetooth sucks because nobody used it. You could also argue the reverse of that. Anyway, maybe now Bluetooth will get better?

They've removed a large part from the device, closed a huge hole in the case... I think those are good things.

[Ken]

They have offered nothing better as an alternative

The alternative is to use the existing wireless technologies. They work. Adoption was slow because it could be. Bluetooth sucks because nobody used it. You could also argue the reverse of that. Anyway, maybe now Bluetooth will get better?

They've removed a large part from the device, closed a huge hole in the case... I think those are good things.

I guess, as a borderline audiophile, i'll always be against wireless. So, admittedly, there's that part of my resistance to this idea. Wireless technologies will always, inherently, have interference. There's a reason why you plug in all of your devices to your router rather than use WiFi (for those that matter anyway, PS4, Xbox etc), and plenty of advancements have been made there.

You're right though, eventually it will all move away from the 3.5MM port. I just think it was too early and for no real reason, really, then to make the fucking phone thinner. Which is dumb.

[Jake]

I think once people lose the initial set they will buy regular bluetooth headphones/earbuds at a fraction of the price. Personally I think the airpods are pretty damn goofy looking.

If they're anything like any other set of Apple 'buds ever made, they'll fall out of my ears the first time I take a breath.

Seriously, Apple has made some great stuff over the years, but every time I see some basic white girl jogging through DC with a set of Apple earbuds in, looking all happy, I wonder how the everliving fuck those things stay put.

Maybe my ears are weird.

[SlimKlim]

Speaking of headphones, and to break up the iPhone pissing match, anyone have a set of over-the-ears they would recommend?

I am rocking a set of ~8 year old Sennheiser HD555s, they are great but I feel like I've started to notice some more "noise" if that's the correct term. Songs that have soft drums or instrumentals in the background sound kind of static-y and the bass isn't as crisp as it used to sound. The plastic frame is starting to crack a little bit too, at some point im gonna put them down too hard and they'll fall apart.

I tried some $250 Beyerdynamics a while ago that completely blew my skirt up. Call that the rough budget. I listen to a shitload of music at work, probably 4+ hours a day, so it's gotta be something that will last and have ideal clarity. I also know some people like to run desktop DACs to get the most quality possible out of a laptop, which I don't know much about but am open to.

Not really planning to buy anything soon, just considering working this angle for my upcoming birthday.

[Mike]

I think once people lose the initial set they will buy regular bluetooth headphones/earbuds at a fraction of the price. Personally I think the airpods are pretty damn goofy looking.

If they're anything like any other set of Apple 'buds ever made, they'll fall out of my ears the first time I take a breath.

Seriously, Apple has made some great stuff over the years, but every time I see some basic white girl jogging through DC with a set of Apple earbuds in, looking all happy, I wonder how the everliving fuck those things stay put.

Maybe my ears are weird.

Nope, same here. The only way I use their buds is after cutting the left wire off and twist-tying the right to my helmet strap for safer music while riding.

[ScottyB]

it takes courage to charge $159 for earbuds that will get lost instantly, that nobody asked for.

feels a lot like the iphone is in the process of jumping the shark, and other phones are going to eventually pull ahead in the market with solutions people ask for at a price that is grounded in reality.

[WRXtranceformed]

Once battery tech and quality tech is drastically better for wireless headphones, I am all in. People are complaining about the new Canyons / Colorados not coming with CD players anymore. Well yeah, CDs are legitimately on their way out so it makes sense. The problem with the Apple move is that wired headphones aren't quite in their retirement years yet and nobody wants to have to recharge headphones after a short commuter flight.

[Sully]

I haven't looked it up but speaking of groundbreaking, have they at least added wireless charging? You know if you're doing away with wires and stuff? That'd be pretty ground breaking....4 years ago

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