Motorola, Apple, Samsung, and now even Fairphone 4: NO 3.5mm headphone jack!!!

For the audio junkies among us, this is a no go. Was so looking forward to the Fairphone, but will probably use a phone with audio jack as “offline” music phone, one phone as “camera” phone (also offline) and one phone as actual phone, maybe the PinePhone X-D (#WARNING! IT IS STILL A BETA!) PinePhone Pro ready for pre-order! :)

PinePhone Pro (once it becomes available) will have: (checkout what pine hardware is in stock and what not)

back to topic:

  • Are Airpods is it “cool”? (yes the design is pretty okayish but still a bit strange “ear rings”)
  • “does it make sense” (not if the user likes to listen to music longer than 3h a day and hates to buy additional adapters and charging a multitude of devices, just to do what smartphones are famous for: make calls, take pictures and listen to music, while texting, browsing or mailing
  • also: was recommended by someone, but can NOT recommend “Anker Soundcore Life P2 Bluetooth In-Ear Earbuds”
    (sound is crap compared to Panasonic RP-HJE125)

If maximizing profits makes sense, then yes: “the real reason is to sell you more stuff”

AirPods Pro or non Pro: TINY TINY BATTERIES SUCK!

Reading through some of Amazon ratings from non-fanatic users (some Apple fans will just buy whatever Apple throws at them) what the user gets for 200 bucks are wireless headphones with tiny tiny batteries that die after 2-3 years and CAN NOT (WHY APPLE WHY?) be replaced easily. (ME SO ANGRY! INNOVATION WOULD BE EASY SELF SERVICE! BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT APPLE WANTS! APPLE WANTS TO YOU TRASH YOUR OLD STUFF AND BUY NEW! AGAIN AND AGAIN! THIS IS HIGHLY PLANETARY UNSUSTAINABLE!)

Really?

That is a future corrupt corporations want, but surely not what users want, that want a clean planet with clean oceans and no poisonous landfills (that emit massive amounts of METHANE! (see “Houston, we have got a Methane problem”))

Made the same experience years ago with the also high quality ORIGEM Bluetooth earphones-headsets

They are nice wireless headphones, BUTTTTTTT…  the weak design point of ALL WIRELESS HEADPHONES are (of course) the batteries.

So if Apple wanted to be truly revolutionary innovative, they would have to come up with a new type of battery, that lasts forever.

But they did not.

“Yes but those panasonic simple headphones do not have noise cancelation?”

YES THEY HAVE!

THEY ARE SO WELL MADE, THAT THEY SEAL SO PERFECTLY, THAT THESE CAN ALSO BE USED AS EARPLUGS THAT “CANCEL” NOISE, IN THE SENSE OF “NOT ALLOWING NOISE” TO GET INTO YOUR EAR BY (AGAIN) JUST WELL DONE JAPANESE ENGINEERING! SUCK THIS APPLE!

THE SOUND of the Panasonic RP-HJE125 IS JUST EXCELLENT!

You should get a pair from eBay and test them out: Panasonic RP-HJE125

(here is the official Panasonic website)

Of course cable-bound headphones can also die of cables breaking (also not easily repairable unfortunately) but they do not need batteries and cost a fraction (20x times less). (the author of this article is in no way affiliated or sponsored by Panasonic)

So in the case of latest smart phones without 3.5mm audio jack: it just sucks!

The user will have to buy “an external usb attached soundcard” (DAC adapter) (C’MON REALLY?)

But those USB-DAC adapters are unpracticable (some have headset (microphone) capability and if the user uses headphones, no sound is recorded during video recording… unless the DAC audio adapter is unplugged… so the user needs to remember everytime, before taking a video, to unplug the DAC adapter which SUCKS!!! (will result in a lot of videos without audio X-D)

Also: imho a complete waste of resources: the user pays for two sound chips (one in the smart phone (but never used) and one external)

 

Since Jobs: Apple is lacking innovation

It appears that just producing the same product over and over again (with minor improvements) without any significant revolutionary innovation or technical improvement (such as a magic new material allows magic batteries that power devices endlessly and last a lifetime) is not very innovative. (this is true for cars just as for Apple devices).

Wohoo Apple got a new engine: the M1-CPU, nice, but since Chief innovator Steve Jobs died, Apple is not Apple anymore.

Lack of innovation will definately be the end of the world’s (currently) most valuable company, with a peak that is (probably) already reached and a steady decline from there.

Apple devices used to be famous for:

  • “it just works”
  • dedication to simplicity & usability (also subsums to “it just works”)
  • high quality software (not anymore? Apple imho has become lazy at software quality and created so many different products in a short time, more products means more complexity means: more effort  when it comes to firmware-software support, so Apple just decided (just as some other smart phone vendors) to not care about long term usability and long term support or updates)

Instead of “it just works” and innovation, Apple has become known for:

  • screen quality (retina displays are used by Docs to look at x rays, but possible with programs running in windows (!))
  • good camers (no doubt, theIPhones have that)

If that is all the user needs, go ahead.

The M1-CPU just means: Apple still got excellent CPU and hardware engineers (clap, clap, applause) the first RISC chip that outperforms many of Intel’s latest x86 CPUS (the Intel empire fought back with the i9, but x86 consumes WAY more power in the process)) but it is not a Steve-Jobs-kind-of revolutionary innovation.

Apple wants to become the new Google: BigBadBoldBigDataMothership

Corona shows: patents suck and kill people (part of the problem)

Did u know that Steve Jobs actually tried to patent “pinch to zoom” but not (!?) two-finger scroll?

(src: selectpatents.com)

Actually making the case for: screw patents, they are what makes the Corona pandemic that worse (now effectively killing people by US gov not enforcing Pfizer & Biontech to make the COVID19 vaccine “Open Source” or “Public Domain” aka open knowledge, as Tesla does)

Elon Musk famously announced in an open letter in June of 2014 that Tesla would “not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.”(src: startupnation.com)

But not all of Steve’s ideas were pure gold, such as the Apple-stuborn one-button-mouse (same as the Atari track pad) it lost the evolution race and the 10 bucks two button mouse with scroll wheel won.

(“Indeed, the mouse is largely considered one of the worst Apple product flops of all-time”)

So it is no suprise that the IPhone 13 does not sell that well: That could mean customers are … “skipping the iPhone 13 altogether and waiting to upgrade next year, when its successor comes out” (src)

One’s forecast is: the IPhone 14 won’t sell that much either, face it, the IPhone hype is over, everyone that want’s an IPhone, has already one.

Right 2 Repair: Apple and Microsoft, suddenly repair friendly?

“iFixit: Microsoft Surface Pro receives worst tablet repairability score” (src: zdnet.com)

Shareholder activists forced them to!

(AMAZING WORK! KEEP IT UP! SUPPORT EM! 🙂 👍🏻😎✌🏻

Plus a “new sheriff in town at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Lina Khan, backed by a Biden executive order, adopted a get tough on right to repair issues(see FTC Votes 5-0 to Crack Down on Companies For Thwarting Right to Repair).” (src: justicenewsflash.com)

Nice video explaining how it works:

 

https://dwaves.de/2021/05/16/the-fight-for-the-right-to-repair-and-diagnose-your-own-tech-hardware-from-pc-hardware-to-cars-to-tractors-reason-vs-profit-monopoly-madness/

e-Recycling Guru goes to Jail over Windows restore discs court ruling

if that does not make the case for Open Source (aka GNU Linux) and Free Software – then what does?

“The appeals court upheld a federal district judge’s ruling that the disks made by Eric Lundgren to restore Microsoft operating systems had a value of $25 apiece, even though they could be downloaded free and could be used only on computers with a valid Microsoft license.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit initially granted Lundgren an emergency stay of his prison sentence, shortly before he was to surrender, but then affirmed his original 15-month sentence and $50,000 fine without hearing oral argument in a ruling issued April 11.” (src: washingtonpost.com)

“US Public Interest Research Group defended Lundgren, issuing a statement over his sentencing through its Right to Repair campaign.[33]

Lundgren was released after serving one year of his fifteen-month sentence for good behavior.[1]“ (src: wiki)

Eric, just ditch Windows altogether and ship with GNU-Linux 🙂 (try Debian11 (non-free, for maximum hardware compatibility) the “universal (runs anywhere) OS” works on a lot of old hardware very very well and most of the time way faster and more efficient than Windows. Just GIVE IT A TRY WILL YA?

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