It's almost mid-2018 and we've lived with phones without headphone jack for almost two years. And it still stinks as much as ever. But although Apple may have taken the idea to the mainstream, living with an Android phone without a headphone jack is even worse than dealing with it on an iPhone.
While Apple's decision to remove the headphone jack is still hostile and stupid, there are accessories available to help the situation. Beyond the basic adapter that Apple includes in the box, there are third-party headphones with Lightning connectors and several splitters that allow you to plug in headphones and a charging cable at the same time. This Belkin model has bad customer reviews, but it belongs to me and worked very well in my experience.
In the Android world, it's a completely different story. Android phones without headphone jacks rely on their USB Type-C ports to broadcast audio, which in theory should mean that a lot of cheap adapters and splitters would be available.
Reality is very different from theory, however. Not only is there a total lack of USB-C headsets worth buying, there is not a single adapter that allows you to plug in standard 3.5mm headsets and a charging cable at the same time. This week, Android Police reported that Google quietly pulled out the list of the only adapter it had in its online store without even selling it. The product is also not available on the manufacturer's website. According to Android Police some units were shipped from Amazon, but the revisions were so bad that the product was quickly removed.
There are a lot of cheap adapters on Amazon with terrible ratings or weird qualifiers such as not working with Google Pixel phones or HTC devices. I ordered one about a month ago from China, which finally arrived this week and has a strong and crusty parasite that comes through the 3.5mm connector, so it's completely useless. Sony is the only phone manufacturer I have found with the correct adapter that appears on its website, but I have not been able to find it anywhere. There's nothing like the Belkin model for iPhones that I connected earlier for phones with USB-C.
This situation makes using an Android phone without a headphone jack a big pain in the ass of a car; you have to use Bluetooth to connect wirelessly, which causes you pain (especially if you share a car with someone else), or expect your battery to have enough juice to last wherever you need while providing music and navigation. your trip. Forget about using Android Auto on your phone and sing music through your sound system, because your battery will never do it.
The solution to this problem is ridiculously easy: phone manufacturers have to put headphones on their phones or make sure that adapters made to handle the situation are actually available for their devices, making them themselves or partnering with another company to do it .
Anything less is not just hostile and stupid, it's insulting.
