MtlTourist

No Qi wireless charging? Big deal breaker for me. Should have been a no brainer to put that in.

anrkitec

Being able to easily charge and listen at the same time is a big pluse.

Also, no wireless phones can match the audio quality of the best wired phones and buds and every pair of wireless Bluetooth phones I have tried [save the new Bose] have some degree of lag when watching video.

jfk747

By december prices will drop and we can anticipate the real change with iphone 8 ie 10th anniversary.

mvtm

What if i have some Sennheiser HD 800 headphones? Hehehe, i think i wouldn't like the idea of compromising my audio quality for the W1 chip wireless Airpods.

I have a Note 7 in it's box and i have been over yesterday debating wherever i want to send it back for a replacement or be refunded $900 and go with the $960 256GB 7 Plus.

I'm still leading to keep my Note, replaced and op out of iPhone. I think i would be grateful for the S-Pen, design aesthetics, amoled screen and that's just about it.

The thing that attracts me to the 7 Plus is the dual camera. Other improvements are "bah". I have until tomorrow to decide.

The Note 7 is 320GB as i already have the 256GB Evo card that came with my preorder.

WIRunner

But they took out the headphone jack to increase the battery....

Wireless charging is neat, but if they just made the thing a bit thicker, we could have everything. Seriously apple, no need to make a paper thick phone. There comes a point!

Xeno

MSP, when you place your iP on airplane mode by default it turns off BT and also Wifi. So one must manually reactivate one or both as needed. I do this routinely because of keeping my iP connected to my iWatch.

I think the iPod earbuds sound promising since the traditional Apple earbuds do not hurt my ears but with such a late release we should have good competing options. I am somewhat distracted by the interim issue as on domestic flights I typically watch movies while charging my iP.

Troopers

Will still able to...

Predicting within a year or less, no headphone jack will be industry standard. Just like the removal of CD/DVD drives.

Agree but wireless audio quality is more than adequate for normal daily use. If you need/want optimal audio quality, why a smartphone?

Jimmie76

Oh I do hope not, it bugged me to have to buy a separate DVD.
Possibly because otherwise you have to carry another unit just to play your music.

Jimmie76

A mate who is Mr Apple normally has said he won't be getting the new one because there isn't a headphone socket. He uses his phone hands free with the current aPple headphone/microphone cable whilst walking/working at the moment. Doesn't think that'll be possible with the new ear buds so will wait to see what happens. Now whilst I don't normally go for aPple stuff I didn't see anything in the new iPhone that is a revolution in new technology over that offered by other phones/manufacturers.

WIRunner

Motorola put the headphone back into the Moto Z Play (after removing it from the first to Z-series phones.)

My bigger concern is if they begin to remove the headphone jack from other products -- like the iPad. I very regularly watch movies on that when travelling, and like my phone, it is often charging at the same time. This was a poor decision on apple's part without creating a viable alternative for those who need to charge their phone and want to listen to music simultaneously. BT isn't a panacea.

tmiw

I mentioned elsewhere (possibly not on FT) that it probably would have gone over better had Apple decided to go USB-C instead of Lightning. At least there'd be a bigger base of third-party accessories/cables that'd make the lack of a headphone jack less of an issue.

WIRunner

That isn't the apple way though. I have two thunderbolt ports on my macbook pro that would be much better suited to being used for more USB (which actually have accessories.) The Mac Mini has shoved all of its ports on the back of the device, it isn't about making it convenient for the customer, just pretty.

Troopers

But Motorola isn't close to Apple...Motorola's decision to remove the headphone jack didn't influence the industry. Apple will...the industry tends to follow Apple.


I'm sure the the headphone jack will be removed from future products. It will be odd if one couldn't use the airpods with their MPB or iPads, thus requiring a different headphone for those products. I suppose those products could pair with the airpods and still offer jacks but unlikely, IMO.

There is a viable alternative to charge and listen to music simultaneously. Apple offers a lightening dock with headphone jack. And, there are third party assessories that allow the same.

ETA: here's one solution http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F8j198/

bocastephen

I've grown tired of Android - all the best apps seem to go to Apple, even versions of some of my Android apps have better features and more frequent updates on the App Store, not to mention the hours it took me to move from my S4 to the Z5 vs the 5 minutes it took my other half to move from their iPhone 4s to a new iPhone 6s.

I can sell my Sony Z5 Premium gold for about 300-400, which should cover the first year of Apple Upgrade monthly payments (buying an unlocked iPhone then upgrading after 12 payments), so I will have the phone for free for one year until the iPhone 8 comes out, which rumors indicate will be a major redesign and probably worth the upgrade.

Not sure if I want matte black, the shiny black or gold, and I am annoyed they didn't release a blue color, but once the phone releases and people have kicked the tires and written some reviews, I will make a final decision.

WIRunner

A dock isn't a viable alternative.