Hi Paula, it wouldn't hurt to let Apple know that you appreciate the headphone jack. YOu'd want to use some sort of general feedback mechanism, since this is a high level hardware decision and not accessibility-specific. Hopefully, they won't take it away. As I said in the article, even the best sources get it wrong sometimes. But it's such a horrible prospect that perhaps it is good for us to let Apple know that we value the jack. Jonathan Mosen Mosen Consulting Blindness technology eBooks, tutorials and training http://Mosen.org
> On 2/12/2015, at 5:45 AM, Paul and Paula Jordan <pau...@roadrunner.com> wrote: > > Hi Jonathan and all. I completely agree about not losing the earphone input > jack. Is it time to contact Apple and let our voices be heard, or is that > premature. If so, who is the best person or department to contact. While I > could use blue tooth devices, I prefer to use wired headphones and want the > freedom to continue to use them. > Thanks. > God bless! > Paula and Boston > > From: viphone@googlegroups.com <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> > [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com>] On Behalf > Of Jonathan Mosen > Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2015 10:49 AM > To: viphone@googlegroups.com <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> > Subject: Apple, Don't Take my Headphone Jack Away > > Hi everyone, I waited a few days to see if this issue might be raised by > someone else. But I'll raise it here myself, because I'm not sure whether > Apple may be flying a kite here and seeing what reaction this idea gets. > > There's an unconfirmed rumour from a source that has in the past been > credible, that the next generation iPhone will not include a headphone jack, > so Apple can make the phone thinner. > I'm pasting a blog post that I wrote and published on this subject 72 hours > ago. Here goes. > > I like thin, lightweight technology, but it isn’t the only criterion that > determines what I use. If thin and light doesn’t give me the performance I > need, I’m happy to choose something heavier or bigger. > When the iPhone 6 Plus came out, I bought one. Initially, it seemed > absolutely enormous, and I thought I’d never get used to it. Now I’m on the > 6s Plus and would never go back to a smaller iPhone. The battery life and the > bigger screen for Braille screen input make it the right choice for me. > After being a MacBook Air user for three years, I recently bought a 15-inch > MacBook Pro with all the specs maxed out. It includes 16GB of RAM and 1TB > solid state storage. > Compared to my MacBook Air, the Pro feels heavy and thick, and I’ve therefore > given it the nickname “The Big Kahuna”. But it fits in my backpack just fine > when I travel, it isn’t really that arduous to take places, and the thing is, > it goes like a rocket. I enjoy having OS X for a few apps and functions, but > Windows is still my primary operating system. With a laptop this fast and > powerful, I can run JAWS in a virtual machine with superb results, and still > tend to iMessages and FaceTime calls. > Sometimes I pick up my old MacBook Air and think, “oy, what have I done? This > thing is so cute!” But the performance factor soon reminds me that I made the > right decision for my particular needs. > There’s plenty of choice of form factor in the MacBook line now. If you want > to go ultra-portable, there’s the new 12-inch retina MacBook, which is just > adorably thin and light, with compromises to match. It sports a single USB > type C port, which is the only way both to connect peripherals to it and > charge it. And the keyboard is, to put it charitably, an acquired taste. > So when it comes to Mac, Apple now has a line-up that can meet the needs of > the road warrior who wants something really light for a bit of word > processing, email and web surfing, all the way to someone who needs plenty of > grunt and is willing to lug it around. > There is not so much flexibility in the iPhone stable, where there are > usually now two current models with similar specs but different screen sizes. > So when I read a rumour that Apple may dispense with the 3.5mm headphone jack > in iPhone 7 models, it had me concerned. > Before I explain why, let me be clear that Apple itself has made no official > statement about the future of the headphone jack. It’s only a rumour. But I > read a lot of technology sources, and have come to know which sources tend to > be more reliable. The source of this story, the Japanese technology site Mac > Otakara, has a good track record. No news site that reports things like this > gets it right 100% of the time though. It’s also possible that Apple wants to > monitor customer reaction to the idea, by letting it leak. But there’s no > doubt that decisions as fundamental as this are being taken now, or probably > have already been taken. > You can read an English summary of the story at Mac Rumours > <http://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/27/iphone-7-no-3-5mm-headphone-jack-lightning/>. > Even if the story is wrong, and I hope it is, I want to write a defence of > the headphone jack for those who think its loss wouldn’t be a big deal. Some > of us really, genuinely need it. > The story suggests that the 3.5mm headphone jack will be dispensed with, > because it’s preventing Apple from making the iPhone thinner. If they removed > the jack, they could shave more than 1mm off the thickness of the phone. > If this rumour is correct, Apple would probably include Earpods with a > Lightning connector, since specs for headphones that use the Lightning port > have been available since 2014. > According to the story, the Lightning port would include a digital to > analogue converter, so you’d still be able to connect 3.5mm headphones. There > is no word in the story that this Lightning port would be in addition to the > one already on iPhones, implying that you’ll have one port for both charging > your device and listening to wired headphones or connecting the device to a > mixer. > My first objection to this rumour is a philosophical one. 3.5mm headphone > jacks are ubiquitous. The standard is supported by a massive number of > manufacturers. It would be sad if Apple required its users to carry a > proprietary adapter, probably sold separately, to connect standard equipment > to their single proprietary port. But they’ve done this before. Even on my > maxed out MacBook Pro, I have to buy a special adapter just to connect to > wired Ethernet. > My remaining concerns relate to functionality. As a hearing-aid wearer, I use > my iPhone with a cable between the headphone jack and my hearing aids about > 95% of the time. There’s no latency because it’s analogue all the way, and > since no Bluetooth is involved, it’s energy efficient in terms of hearing aid > battery usage. The Lightning to analogue adapter would be one additional > device to carry, use and potentially lose, and it would mean that I couldn’t > use my iPhone in the way that is optimal for me while I’m charging it. > There’s also the possibility that the digital to analogue converter may > introduce latency. That wouldn’t be important for most tasks, but it would be > detrimental to all VoiceOver users who use 3.5mm devices, not just hearing > aid wearers. > But there’s always Bluetooth, and that’s the way the world is going, right? > There may be a few exceptions, but the majority of Bluetooth audio I’ve used > on iOS is laggy with VoiceOver, Apple’s built-in screen reader for blind > people like me, that I find it a frustrating, sub-optimal experience. > Streamers for hearing aid wearers often power down very quickly after > VoiceOver has stopped speaking, to save energy. This means that hearing aid > wearers who use VoiceOver with Bluetooth streamers often must cope with > missing the first second or two of what VoiceOver is saying, as the Bluetooth > streamer powers up after detecting audio. If you’re taking a phone call or > listening to music, that’s no big deal, but for a VoiceOver user, it’s not a > good experience. And Bluetooth streamers chew through hearing aid batteries > faster than an analogue connection, imposing additional costs on hearing aid > wearers. > Taking hearing impairment out of the mix, there are many people who use the > 3.5mm jack, and want to do so while charging their device. Bonnie, for > example, has a pillow speaker, because she likes the radio on at night. It > plugs into her iPhone while it’s charging. > We may be about to see a similar controversy with iPhone to the one that > greeted the new MacBook’s single USB C port and all the inconveniences that > go with that. When that controversy was at its peak, proponents said that > Apple often likes to move the tech agenda forward, and that they’re uniquely > positioned to do that by making “bold” decisions like this. Sorry, I don’t > consider a single port for peripherals and charging a bold decision. It’s > just a pain. If you want to use multiple devices, you have to buy some sort > of hub, which detracts from the convenience of having an all-in-one device. > I realise that as a VoiceOver user with a hearing impairment passionate about > getting the most optimal audio experience, I’m a minority within a minority. > But if this rumour proves to be true, it will be my queue to seriously > examine other mobile options. I really don’t want a phone one more millimetre > thinner, when it’s going to create an experience for me that would be poorer. > > Jonathan Mosen > Mosen Consulting > Blindness technology eBooks, tutorials and training > http://Mosen.org <http://mosen.org/> > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - > you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com <mailto:caraqu...@caraquinn.com> > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ > <http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/> > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > <mailto:viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com > <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com>. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone > <http://groups.google.com/group/viphone>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout > <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - > you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com <mailto:caraqu...@caraquinn.com> > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ > <http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/> > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > <mailto:viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com > <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com>. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone > <http://groups.google.com/group/viphone>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout > <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. 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