Comment on Ifixit gives fairphone 5 a 10/10 on repairability and maintanence

• BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I’m sorry, but I had to say something. I’m so tired of non-technical people moaning about the out phasing of the 3.5mm jack, and especially the arguments about audio quality and vendor lock in that has been raised in this thread. I had to make sure that it was understood, that the view is not unopposed.

  Could I have done it more diplomatically? Maybe, but I also wanted to drive my point home in as short a post as possible.

  I asked chatgpt to help out rewriting my comment, but with your criticism in mind. It came up with:

  While 3.5mm jacks may seem like a staple, it’s worth noting that technology evolves. Much like the transition from 3.5" floppy drives, change takes time to be widely accepted. The omission of the jack in smartphones isn’t about dismissing tradition but adapting to newer, more versatile alternatives. It’s been nearly a decade since the OPPO R5, and as technology progresses, embracing these changes can lead to a broader range of innovative features.

  I don’t want to bore people to death, but I can also see now how perhaps I could have attacked the technology instead of the people.

  We are better than our old /u/ on reddit, and we must strive to keep it that way. Competing with reddit on toxicity, will be a fight we’ll never be able to win.

  Thank you for calling me out on my BS, and helping us all to keep the fediverse a better place.

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  • potustheplant@feddit.nl ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Being an electronic engineer and a programmer I would categorize myself as a “technical person”. I am also a person that prefers devices that are as reliable an repairable as possible. A headphone without a battery and with a replaceable cable can last you literally decades. A TWS one, will not.

    To add to that, using a dongle means a separate device that can break (and is most likely not repairable), that isn’t necessarily compatible with anything you plug it in to, that has a dac (which is redundant since your phone could use the internal one if you had a 3.5mm connector) and that will cause extra battery drain (regardless of how much more, it’s more than 0).

    There are literally 0 benefits to removing the headphone jack. Several people have even shown that devices that “don’t have enough space” for it can be modded to add the 3.5mm jack and you don’t even lose any functionality.

    Removing the headphone jack is a step backwards.

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    • Mango@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      AND it’s on purpose. It’s to make you switch from your good headphones that work with any analog output to shit that requires their specifications and can be remotely fucked with so you gotta keep buying.

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      • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        AND it’s on purpose. It’s to make you switch from your good headphones that work with any analog output to shit that requires their specifications and can be remotely fucked with so you gotta keep buying.

        [Citation needed]

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    • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      My own background is in embedded electronics too. Whether there is a benefit in removing the jack or not has not been part of my arguments.

      Some people will say that the jack needs to go for waterproofing, but I distinctly remember owning a Sony Xperia M4 which had both a jack and an IP68 rating.

      I’m also not saying that your arguments aren’t valid, I just value different aspects… Except for the part about an external DAC being redundant. An external DAC, with RCA or XLR connectors, some proper cable can potentially give you a better result than the internal DAC and the 3.5mm jack. Emphasis on the “potential” part.

      I haven’t used wired headphones on a regular basis, since that Xperia in 2015ish, and I don’t miss untangling the wires, or fixing a broken socket where the solder is cracked, the pins are broken inside the plastic housing of the socket, or clearing a socket of a broken male jack.

      IMO the 3.5mm jack is a poor connector. It breaks too easily, dust in the socket leads to static and to be quite honest if I can tell a difference in sound quality, it’s my BT headphones that comes out on top.

      As long as there’s a demand for 3.5mm jacks in phones they’ll still be marketed. But if people could stop pointing out that another overpriced smartphone lacks the jack, it would just be swell. Just buy a more modestly priced phone instead of forking over +700€ for a frigging phone.

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      • potustheplant@feddit.nl ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I currently have a Sony Xperia 5V. It has an IP68 rating, it’s basically a flagship phone and it has a headphone jack. Manufacturers don’t include the jack because they don’t want to but it’s 100% possible.

        An external DAC, with RCA or XLR connectors, some proper cable can potentially give you a better result than the internal DAC and the 3.5mm jack.

        Sorry, but that bit about the external dac is pretty dumb. We’re talking about using a mobile phone and you’re talking xlr and rca? Really?

        I don’t miss untangling the wires,

        Maybe use a case? I usually have a small roud case for my IEMs that barely takes up space. You’re already carrying a case for tws so I don’t see why it would be a problem.

        or fixing a broken socket where the solder is cracked,

        At least you can fix it. If the battery on a wireless IEM dies, 9 times out of 10 you can’t fix it and need to get a new one.

        the pins are broken inside the plastic housing of the socket,

        Maybe don’t use shitty jacks?

        or clearing a socket of a broken male jack.

        Don’t know how or where you use your phone but that literally never happened to me. Honestly, none of the issues you mentioned have been a problem for me. Maybe take better care of your stuff?

        And regarding people pointing out the lack of a basic feature. Yeah, no. If a company makes shitty products, I’ll keep pointing it out. Also, there are fewer and fewer phones with a headphone jack every year. Cheap and expensive. So no, price has nothing to dp with this.

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  • Mango@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Technology evolves?

    You need an extra clump of stuff in your pocket that’s terribly unreliable now or your top shelf standard audio equipment now needs replaced by our branded earbuds that sound terrible. PROGRESS.

    This isn’t progress. This is forced obsolescence. Literally everything about it is worse. I can put my phone in a plastic baggie when it’s raining, but I’m not carrying around an extra fucking DAC/amp everywhere. I just have to deal with crappy wireless earbuds.

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    • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      your top shelf standard audio equipment now needs replaced by our branded earbuds

      What company does this? I keep hearing the argument, but I have no glue who it is.

      I haven’t found a phone my Jabra headsets couldn’t connect to. Only my ps4, but that is not really part of this discussion.

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  • Sanyanov@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Thank you!

    Much appreciated, unironically. All hail the fedi!

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    • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      You know the kind of guy who writes nothing but bad things and troll comments, and then wonders why his life sucks? Well… that was me. Every time something good happened to me, something bad was always waiting around the corner. Karma. That’s when I realised I had to change. So, I switched from reddit and joined the fediverse. I’m just trying to be a better person. My name is Earl bigdanishguy.

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• Mango@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  He didn’t even make a point. That was all insult and comparisons that don’t compare.

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