The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[ownedbycats]

God how I despite Wikia/Fandom.

[ownedbycats]

I guess I can appreciate the honesty here.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

God how I despite Wikia/Fandom.

I'm happy to say that I don't even know what you mean.
Please keep it that way.

[Solitaire1]

One thing I find irritating is how people have been pushed to Bluetooth (BT) for their headphones due to the removal of the headphone jack. The standard headphone jack (3.5mm) is a proven connector that just works. I doubt that it was due to waterproofing issues because I think there should be a way to deal with the issue such as a cap when it's not in use.

I've got a pair of BT headphones (Shokz OpenMove) and while not having wires is a convenience, it's frustrating when I listening to something and the signal just cuts off. I don't know why it cuts off (I've eliminated the distance and low power as issues) and I wonder if it has to do with my BT version (4.2) or that I'm using the SBC protocol (since that's the only one my headphones support). Added to that is that my BT headphones don't sound as good as my wired headphones (Koss PortaPro and JVC Flats).

[Renate]

I'm a big Bluetooth fan but I don't deny that BT is a swamp of incompatibility. Frequency accuracy is important for good connectivity. It's not easily measured. It could be though. You have GPS for an accurate frequency reference and you have counters.

Bluetooth headphones are just another thing to charge.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

One thing I find irritating is how people have been pushed to Bluetooth (BT) for their headphones due to the removal of the headphone jack. The standard headphone jack (3.5mm) is a proven connector that just works. I doubt that it was due to waterproofing issues because I think there should be a way to deal with the issue such as a cap when it's not in use.

When Apple announced their "revolutionary" change, they were pushing how much thinner the new generation iPhones were. Waterproofing a 3.5mm jack is no more technically difficult than waterproofing a Lightning connector, but that waterproofing incurs bulk. I think the technical difficulty was with reliably waterproofing within the available space between the top and bottom shell layers.

They also had just finished acquiring Beats which at the time was the largest seller of wireless headphones in the world (might still be for all I know). I'm not saying that the change was to promote Beats sales, but follow the money suggests a very happy coincidence.