I held on to my Note9 for as long as I could, but I think in a few months I’ll switch to S24 Ultra. While I’m excited for the better camera, I’ll be missing some features like the heart rate sensor, simulated home button, microSD slot, iris scanner. But the thing I’ll miss the most is the 3.5 mm jack.

While in general I’m not against bluetooth headphones, I still have 3 good wired pairs of headphones and I’ll be using them with a 3.5 to USB-C adapter until they stop working, which might take a while. What worries me the most is the fact that I’m running a lot, with my phone in my pocket and listening to music via the headphones. And I don’t mean some light jogging, I’m running fast, my phone is jumping in my pocket and I’m worried that this might damage the USB-C port on the phone.

What was your experience when you switched to the phone without the jack? Did you get used to it easily or did you miss it?

  • tonytheshark@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    I still miss it and I resent having been forced to abandon it. I’ve used USB-C to Aux adapters before and they work okay. But my gripe with those (which may end up being a problem for you when you’re on your runs) is that the adapter introduces another potential point of disconnect.

    In the good ol’ days with a simple headphone jack, you’d maybe every now and then check to see if the jack is fully inside the slot, and often the jacks were shaped such that all you had to do was push them inward from the flat top with one finger.

    My experience with the dongles has been a lot more annoying. I’ve got twice as many (2 vs 1) connections to check, and (in the ones I’ve used) they don’t have that nice shape where you can just push it inward with one finger. It’s a both hands maneuver.

    So I guess when you’re shopping for adapters, maybe try and look for something that has some kind of locking mechanism. Hopefully that exists, I doubt it though. I have a feeling you might find that Bluetooth headphones work better for your runs than any adapter solution that’s available.

    Anyway I have given up on adapters for the most part and keep them around as a last resort in case i get fed up with Bluetooth in some situation. But Bluetooth headphones have been good for the most part. I miss the simplicity of just plugging in headphones and knowing they’ll work–Bluetooth devices are not necessarily always that reliably easy to connect. I have noticed that they seem to be getting more reliable and consistent though. I’m largely satisfied with Bluetooth headphones. But I don’t think I’ll ever not be mad that this choice was made for me against my will.