True wireless earbuds don't necessarily have to end up as electronic waste when their batteries reach the end of their lifespan. Fairphone demonstrates this with the Fairbuds 2, whose batteries can be easily replaced. The earbuds also offer active noise cancellation and support for Sony LDAC.
Just give me a fucking headphone jack. I’d buy one of these phones in a heartbeat for a headphone jack dude.
I used to agree; but I haven’t had to deal with cord noise in the same amount of time as has passed since the headphone jack went away. Inexpensive Bluetooth earbuds are a dime a dozen now. Besides having to charge my earbuds in addition to my phone, I’m struggling to find the inconvenience here.
For me personally, charging is the inconvenience. That and having to buy new earbuds over and over when I shouldn’t have to.
To each their own though
Why are you buying new earbuds over and over when you shouldn’t have to? I’ve got a pair of Skullcandy Dime 2’s that cost around $25 and I’ve been using for at least four years now. My wired earbuds didn’t last any longer, and it was usually the cord that would get messed up first.
Maybe I’m just not finding the right brand, every Bluetooth earbud I’ve tried have been pretty lackluster. Either the sound isnt good, the batteries don’t last or both. Haven’t had good experiences with them thus far.
Fair enough. If you can’t get a phone with the aux jack, then I’d recommend the Anker Soundcore P31i. Got them for around $30 on sale. Comfortable, active noise cancelling, the battery in each bud can go all day, and the case has enough battery to keep recharging the buds for weeks. I’ve only plugged them in two or three times in the 6+ months I’ve had them.
Same. I have some Anker model for 5 years now or maybe even longer. All of the previous wired earbuds (I even bought an expensive pair) didn’t last this long. I use them regularly as well. Battery seems to last ok even now, enough for most tasks.
From their website:
Why newer Fairphone models do not have an audio jack
Removing the traditional 3.5mm audio jack gives us space inside the phone to make key hardware improvements. Without this opening, we can fit a larger battery, design a slimmer smartphone, and preserve room for repairable spare parts. Removing the port also helps seal the phone against water and dust, allowing modern models to reach IP ratings like IP55 on Fairphone 4 and IP68 on Fairphone 5. Moving audio to the USB-C port and Bluetooth connections lets us build a more durable phone that lasts as long as possible.
I still call Bullshit though. So annoying. And the PP NTS that the make are not even really true. Its not like you can’t do this things with a headphone jack.
It’s not bullshit. I deal with the repair and engineering side of 1/8” phone jacks and they’re fucking stupid ass miniaturized versions of designs from 70 years ago that have to maintain mechanical backwards compatibility with several profiles and conductor arrangements, literally cannot be reliably implemented in a high IP way, cost a bunch, are worse to clean than even usbc and provide a very high leverage thing to torque on your board as well as necessitate additional pcb space for the dac and its power conditioning, shielding and other stuff.
And people who like 1/8” will just buy a dongle anyway.
Lmao same 🥲
I literally had it in my shopping cart ready to buy when I discovered they removed the headphone jack.
I went with Motorola instead
I too just bought a Motorola. My pixel 8 developed a line in the screen. I missed the headphone jack so much I decided I care more about that than I do the privacy of grapheneos. I did put /e/os on it though.
What Motorola did you buy? I went with a moto 5g 2024.
Lmao my Pixel 8 also developed the line. I had the screen replaced once, but it happened again within a year and by then it was out of warranty.
I’ve had so many different Nexus/Pixel devices over the years, but Pixel 8 was a much worse experience than a Motorola and I had to pay 2x more for the privilege.
Now I’m on a Moto g power 2025.
People who also miss aux, could you share what you use it for?
I mean, for headphones.
I did buy the fairphone 6, and it does in fact work in the US (with some finagling).
The lack of a headphone port is a disappointment, but it’s fine as long as you get a GOOD dac. A shitty one will be the worst audio experience you’ll ever have. I use this: generic dac (sorry for the Amazon link, I’m sure they’re available other places.)
My everyday earbuds are essentially cheap studio monitors. I like these because the sound is great and if the cable breaks I can just replace the $10 cable and keep the high quality headphones. And there’s no battery to fuss with, you just plug them in and they work.
I can see the benefits not having another battery to take care of, or for long trips. I guess it depends what you hate more, extra battery or cables.
Yeah 100%. So hey, if the cable bothers you more, then the audio port doesn’t really matter. But I just hate the battery management, so that’s where I stand.
Connecting it to a mixing station and doing a sound check before the band.
Thanks. Have similar use, for that we’ve got an adapter, what sucks is than you need one for C one for lightning.
Different usecases. Free hands vs. good sound.