Comments on: The AudioFile: Jacking Off the iPhone

By: Henry

Henry — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 09:49:19 +0000

I believe Phil is correct. Haven’t you guys realized the inherent mechanical weakness of the eighth inch plug standard. They break all of the time due to cyclic side loading. Everyone complaining about design oversight is really illustrating their lack of experience in any sort of mechanical design. Kudos to Apple for addressing this common failure mode.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:05:06 +0000

Great idea with the exacto knife. A very simple fix indeed, however, does anyone want to do this to their $300 earbuds? I’m going to wait for the Shure adapter. Looked pretty good from the pictures. I’m not sure if it has a built in mike so that you can talk on the phone with it. That would be cool if it did. Too bad I have to wait until August!!!

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 18:06:40 +0000

I found a very simple fix that cost nothing and looks factory. I simply took a sharp Exacto knife and carefully removed about 1/8″ of the rubber near the end of my headphone plug. If you lay the plug on the counter and lay the knife perpendicular (and back about 1/8″) and just roll the plug back and forth you’ll make a very clean cut. Then just pull off the extra rubber piece and it will fit perfectly (at least mine did with my Nike Vaport headphones)

By: ActiveFan

ActiveFan — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 15:03:06 +0000

The design idea is obvious if you step back and think about it. What did they design? Extra space on top of the headphone hack. Why would they want extra space on top of the jack? To allow space for something on top of the jack.

A transmitter for wireless headphones. This thing will slide right into the jack and the result with be a beautiful flush adapter to transmit to your wireless earbuds. This is how Apple thinks different.

Geez, the other companies in the world (like Belkin) just think like: Hey it don’t fit, lets stick an adapter in there that sticks out and looks like crap so people can use our headphones. unbelievable.

By: Phil Kulak

Phil Kulak — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:00:47 +0000

Eh, I think it’s just to brace the plug more so that yanking on it from the side doesn’t damage the phone.

By: scc

scc — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 23:49:05 +0000

The rings on the plug are R and L audio out and mic in. The plug is not proprietary. V-moda is making the Vibe Duo for the iPhone using a compatible jack. Apple is not licensing the plug. The recessed jack is intentional as it reduced the possibility of the plug being sheared off.

By: brian

brian — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 21:27:20 +0000

unlike a standard stereo-minijack-plug which has 2 rings around its shaft (mono headphones only have one ring), the iPhone headset/phones have 3 rings… what does the 3rd ring enable, and could this be the cause of/reason for this strange design choice?

By: Remo

Remo — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 14:13:06 +0000

Everyone knows that Apple wants to control how you use the device. They want you to buy only Apple branded gear. “This” device only works with “this” and hey it’s Apple! They want to make it easy for all humans, so they give you one choice… Apple!

*I’m a geek, so I like total control over my devices and happily never purchased even one thing from Apple.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:28:14 +0000

Possibly so that the iPod-style straight plug will also be more recessed into the iPhone? That way it wouldn’t fall out as easily?

By: Mike Kobrin

Mike Kobrin — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:57:29 +0000

Paul —
The jack itself is indeed a 1/8th inch jack. It’s just recessed quite deep, which to my mind seems like more of a design oversight than anything else. There’s really no way it could benefit a future accessory electronically, either, since it’s just plastic that’s in the way. Who knows? We’ll find out though.

Aaron –
The iPhone supports Bluetooth, and there are already kajillions of Bluetooth headphones out there that are compatible. So that ain’t it either.

Hmm…

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:34:33 +0000

Maybe we’re not supposed to use the jack at all… Apple said something before about a new bluetooth headset, could we be seeing wireless headphones?!

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:48:30 +0000

Mike,

Maybe I’m missing something, but Apple doesn’t need to support anyone’s fancy headphones or any existing standards - though it would make sense that they did in this case. To date the majority of other music phones also don’t support standard 1/8″ jacks either.

Perhaps this new jack is needed for a series of unannounced, complicated devices that are not possible with the normal jack.
I’m sure there is nothing monopolistic in nature here (think Sony). We’ll all find out soon as we can seem to escape the iPhone propaganda machine.

BTW, you guys should post a picture of this so we can all see.

By: Mike Kobrin

Mike Kobrin — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:08:56 +0000

Paul G —
The entire point is that Apple doesn’t need to approve it. So “because apple doesn’t want you sticking anything unapproved devices in there.” is definitely NOT the answer.

By: Music Fan

Music Fan — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:59:28 +0000

Very good Question, and very good post, thanks.

I’ll be well interested to see how this pans out.

Keep up the good work!

By: Paul G

Paul G — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:56:30 +0000

After reading your article, it seems pretty obvious that this new jack will support a microphone possibly remote control function. After all, it is a phone. The jack is recessed because apple doesn’t want you sticking anything unapproved devices in there.

But who really cares anyway - this is not the second coming of Jesus - it is a phone. As long as I have two pockets, one for my current cell phone and one for my current ipod, I don’t need a this. :)