That's a load of horseshit. The note3 issues were software related. I know because I stuck with it and it got WAY better. After 2 years, it was running every bit as fast as day one. Only reason I upgraded is right at the 2 year mark, I cracked the screen when I sat on top of a ladder in a basement. The phone still works, and it still fast. My iPad mini that is NEWER than the Note3 is unusable. Slow as molasses. Apple may make nice hardware, but their BS forced slowdowns and forced obsolescence makes them a non factor for me. Your opinion is that Apple makes better hardware and software. Both are debatable. I find iOS mind numbingly boring. To do anything outside of the box you have to jailbreak, which you lose when the next update comes out. Not a huge deal for most people. I simply do not like the look of the iOS interface with a bunch of pain icons. That's my preference. My Note7 that doesn't run hot, doesn't have any issues runs great, is fast, and is a beautiful design. I use headphones. not ear buds, but headphones. I have 2 pairs that I personally use, the wife has her own pair. I have adaptors for lots of stuff. Well, I used to have adaptors. They all get lost, some stop working the more you plug them in. I am NOT interested in using yet another adaptor to plug headphones I have into a phone simply because they want more money. It was a stupid decision any way you slice it. End of the world issue? Of course not, but enough of a nuisance that if I were shopping for a new phone, because of how I use my phone, I would look elsewhere.

Just wanted to add, I did not steer clear of the iPhone because of the missing jack. It is the piles of iOS gear we have laying around that became obsolete after an astonishingly short period of time. I think we have 4 iPads here of various generations that all work at a snails pace compared to the several year old Android phone we turned in that was my wife's old phone. I am not an Apple hater, but not a fan. We do have Macbooks, which works out well since I can run both Mac and Windows OS' on them.

Joking aside...the removal of the headphone jack is a stupid and just another example of what happens when the captain (Steve Jobs) leaves the wheel house. Apple is worth hundreds of millions now so if the earn money every quarter its not because they are smart or innovative..its because they are already rich. If they lose money its a sign that they are really screwed.

Removing the ethernet port from the macbook...same thing. Just buy a dongle? Okay i bought one but it only works for windows under VMWare...not mac os. Okay so i buy an apple lightning dongle and problem solved. They i ditch vmware and use bootcamp for windows...and my apple dongle doesnt work.

Wtf with this nonsense? Who wakes up happy that there isnt an ethernet port or headphone jack? If i wanted a wireless experience i would use an iPad. Whos paying $3500 for macbooks that dont have enough ports and jacks? Oh that was me...guess who wont buy another one? Me. I havent upgraded to iPhone7 yet even though my screen on the 6 has been cracked for a month. Why? Because i cant bring myself to buy throw one piece of junk away and buy another pieice of junk.

ummm, try $550BILLION

That was a typo. I meant billion. $550 million can vanish over a crazy coke fueled summer...

Will Charlie Murphy be there?

I'm Rick James beeatch!!!

The last thing I want to do is buy another crippled Apple product that will be obsolete in a few months. This isn't isn't actually a problem for me at all as I don't have an iPhone. I went Android after my iPhone 4 became useless and have never been happier.

I don't think the issue is finding 2 hours to charge while you don't use the headphones, its WHEN you need to charge. For me, when I get home at the end of a long day I like to catch up on the news while I listen to music (with all the other noise in the house around that time, it's best to use headphones), but that's also when my battery is getting low and I use the downtime to charge as I'm not moving around anyway. This would suck if I had to choose between the headphones or juicing up.

I think the larger issue I have with it is that Apple had the foresight to anticipate people getting upset over this and threw in an adapter, but they didn't add a pass-through port. Even the dirt cheap 3rd party ones online have this, (although they probably won't last long before Apple forces an update that only allows MFi certified headphone adapters..)

Using the lighting jack as the headphones jack is great. The fact that they can provide power allowing headphone designers to be more innovative, creating things like noise canceling headphones that don't require a spears power source is pretty cool.

I am honestly shocked Apple has allowed Bluetooth to remain an option for so long and haven't switched to a propriety option

I used an iPhone4S for 3 years. Thats twice as long as any other cell phone i have ever had dating back to 1996. It wasn't crippled and wasn't useless when i decided to upgrade. The screen got cracked so i decided to just upgrade.


You could get Sonos.


People whined when apple got rid of the keyboard. People whined about the 30 pin connector to lightning cable. Some people just like to whine about change. You should see my dogs when we move their food bowls. You would think that the world has ended like we purposely plotted to ruin their lives by moving their food bowls 5' to the right. It causes lots of confusion at first but eventually they realize they were just blowing things out of proportion and they forget all about it.

The headphone jack is not the reason I am not sure about this phone. The missing home button is. Played with one the other day and I'm not sure I like the way the new one works/feels.

All things change eventually, Apple is maybe forcing it on people a little early in this case, but at the end of the day its all in the name of progress. I'm not really complaining here as it doesn't affect me personally, more just playing devil's advocate. I can definitely see why people are upset though, and I don't blame them at all.

I just saw this and thought it was cool and particularly relevant here:

[Link: engadget.com]

It's like a Mophie juice pack but with a headphone port and lighting cable pass through, not a bad idea..