Alternatively, if your current phone doesn’t have a headphone jack, do you wish it did?
I have a jack. I do use it on occasion. But man some of you really, really hate Bluetooth.
It’s not THAT bad. Maybe your phones just have a really shitty transmitter/receiver? Sure, it’s not as good as it can get with a jack.
But I also don’t want to have wires hanging while running or biking. Being able to change volume and songs without picking up my phone from pocket is also very convenient.
I still want a jack in my phone. But I really don’t get the extreme hate on Bluetooth. It’s not 2005 anymore. Bluetooth technology has progressed.
The hanging wires were the #1 reason why I always cracked the screen of my phone. I would hold it in my hand and listening to something and then one wrong swing with my arm and the phone was on the floor with a cracked screen. Since I switched to bluetooth headphones it has literary stopped happening, I have not cracked any screen in the last 5 years.
I have a pixel 6a. I have pixel buds. And I have a fossil sport gen 5 wear os watch.
Whne my phone rings, it’s a crap shoot which device will output audio and receive my voice.
Bluetooth sucks donkey balls.
That’s not a Bluetooth problem. It’s a device problem. Google wrote shitty software.
I got some boss headphones and Jabra earbuds. Never had any of those problems with my devices. Not even when switching between devices. The boss is always connected to both my laptop and phone. And the switch between which one it should use is seemless and pain-free. But like I said. It’s a question about software rather than protocol.
I really like that bluetooth devices can still work at distances farther than a typical cable would allow. I have a decently-sized studio apartment and I can see my computer screen from most places. It’s nice to continue watching a video as I move around the apartment to clean, get up to stretch, play with my cat, etc.
You could probably get wired headphones that long, but then you’d be dealing with that giant cable all the time. Or you’d have to constantly swap cables and interrupt the audio during that time. My AirPods work reliably from 15ft away. I can’t argue with that convenience.
I live in a 3 bedroom 1000sqft house and walk around with my AirPods on between rooms no problem. I’d need a 100’+ cable to have that type of freedom with wired. Range is unparalleled between the two.
That said, this is a phone we’re talking about which is quite easy to bring with me between rooms, and even if I’d prefer to be charging my phone there’s a high likelihood I’d be going back to my desk shortly anyway since I predominantly use my AirPods while I’m working.
So I have a:
- Sony WH-1000XM5 (which I use in both wired and Bluetooth modes)
- Galaxy Fold 4
- MacBook Air M1
These are all fairly recent devices, with the Sony one being the most recent headphones in it’s series, running the latest firmware too, which was released last month.
Now here are my issues:
- Fold 4: When I get a call on Google Meet or Duo and I turn on my headphones, the audio doesn’t work. I have to disconnect the call, close the app, and reconnect for it to work.
- MacBook: Similar thing happens with Microsoft Teams. In this case though, my headphones is already paired with my MacBook and connected, so I fire up Teams (from scratch) and dial in to a meeting. You’d expect it to work fine right, but the audio doesn’t work, even though Teams detects my headphones as the output device. I have to turn my headphones off and on during the call (or reboot my MacBook) for it to work properly.
I can reproduce these issues consistently. I’m not a 100% sure if it’s an issue with my Sony headphones, but the point is, all these products that I’ve listed are fairly recent and fairly expensive, and I deserve a better user experience. Bluetooth has indeed come a long way, and at least for me, audio quality isn’t really an issue, but the fact that these sort of connectivity issues are still occurring on recent, premium devices, is unacceptable.
Those all sound like software issues from Sony on their headset, rather than limitations of Bluetooth. I have a pair of BOSS that is connected to both my laptop and phone at the same time, and the switch between them is seemless.
Listen to music on phone. Pause, go to laptop. Put on a video on YouTube. And it instantly switches to my laptop for sound.
Be on a call on discord from my phone while I’m out. Get home, enter the call from laptop, and boom. Automatically switched from phone to laptop and I don’t have to change a single setting.
Sorry you have a bad experience with SONY. But I can assure you. It’s not a Bluetooth problem. It’s a SONY problem.
Well, my point still stands. How is one supposed to know that this particular headset had these sort of issues? I did extensive research before buying mine, and no one reported any such issues. Admittedly, it was still fairly new when I purchased it so there may not have that many reviews, but Sony isn’t some random brand and their audio gear is generally well received.
On the other hand, I could just pick up any cheapo TRRS headset and know that it’ll work without a cinch. We’re just not there yet with wireless headsets if we can’t even rely on reputed brands to work consistently.
The big issue for me is that there is any disadvantage between generations. My current 5 year old flagship has a headphone jack, expandable storage, and support for Bluetooth 5.0 which is all that most devices need. The only new phones that still have all 3 are cheap budget phones that lack in other areas compared to the one I already have.
I felt the same way. I recently broke my LG V20 and had to “upgrade” to a newer phone, and nothing felt like it was actually better in terms of features than my phone from 7 years ago
Yea, that’s been the case for phone development for a while now. Advancements aren’t coming in tactile feature sets anymore. I remember when every new generation of phone had a cool new price of technology that changed how you interacted with the phone, it gave me a reason to upgrade every year, sometimes more.
Now I’m on an iPhone 12 Pro and I see zero functional difference between my near 3 year old phone and my partner’s 14. The only reason I’ll be upgrading to the 15 will be for USBC.
I don’t hate bluetooth. I hate not having the headphone jack. Bluetooth headphones are nice but don’t cover all use cases. It doesn’t have to be a one or the other thing. Especially when they aren’t adding anything additional on the phones that don’t have a headphone jack. They’re just cutting features. The phones aren’t even cheaper for it.
I agree. I want a jack on my phone. I probably use Bluetooth 9/10 times. But that 1/10 I’m really glad I got a jack. It’s fine if the phone has to be a little bit thicker to fit a jack… use the extra space for a larger battery while you’re at it.
Not sure when I’ll buy a new phone. Still using a Galaxy S10. But if it doesn’t have a jack. I’m not interested. And give me access to a SD memory card too. Fuck internal storage.
Being able to change volume and songs without picking up my phone from pocket is also very convenient.
Wired headsets can do that too
Not all, in fact most, of the higher quality headphones that justify the inconvenience of the cables won’t have those in-line controls. I know not everyone uses wired because it’s better quality (privacy is a legitimate concern) but that’s the only reason I ever did, and none of my good headphones had in-line controls.
There’s also the fact that in-line controls create another opportunity for sound quality degradation, and my own searching suggests that it almost always has a negative impact on the overall sound quality of a pair of headphones.
Barring privacy concerns, I really don’t see the inconvenience of always having to deal with a cable as being lesser than having to periodically make sure my AirPods are charged. If I used them for 8+ hours a day, I would probably feel differently though.
