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FCC Photos Confirm Galaxy Note 10 Won't Have a Headphone Jack (theverge.com) 148

Samsung has been one of the only large smartphone manufacturers to insist on keeping the headphone jack in its flagship phones. But that is about to come to an end with the Galaxy Note 10. According to photos published by the FCC, showing both the bottom and top of the phone, there's no headphone jack in sight. The Verge reports: The FCC seems to have briefly shared these images by mistake. Samsung followed the usual protocols in requesting confidentiality for external photos of the Note 10 test device, and yet here we are. Whoops. There are two different models at the FCC, but neither includes 5G. So as with the S10 series, Samsung will likely produce a standalone 5G model. Aside from the headphone jack being a goner -- renders of the phone had already suggested this was coming -- we get a look at the triple-camera system on the back. There's another sensor positioned under the flash, which could be the same 3D time-of-flight depth sensor that Samsung included in the Galaxy S10 5G. The Note is usually where the company throws in everything it can, so it makes sense for it to carry over everything from the top-tier S10 model. The center-aligned front camera cutout is also faintly visible in one shot. Samsung is expected to formally announce the Note 7 at an August 7th Unpacked event in Brooklyn, New York.
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FCC Photos Confirm Galaxy Note 10 Won't Have a Headphone Jack

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  • Don't freak out wired headphone lovers, you can probably still use USB-C for headphones....

    I have to assume at this point the number of mobile headphones made that use an audio jack, had to be diminishing rapidly, so there was little point in Samsung keeping a point of entry for water.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      so there was little point in Samsung keeping a point of entry for water.

      USB-C is also inserted, yet it isn't considered an entry point for water. Why is a headphone socket harder to enclose than a USB socket?

      • USB-C is also inserted, yet it isn't considered an entry point for water

        Sure it is, it has to be sealed as well.

        Basically any point like that you can get rid of is helpful, and in modern phones there is a fair amount of space an audio jack along with hardware takes up. Note this model has another camera added if you wonder where the space that was saved went to....

    • Laptops will keep the headphone jack, same as wireless keyboards and mice didn’t kill off wired external keyboards and mice. Wireless headphones and microphones are a security risk, and a very easy point of failure - and a pain to keep charged and keep track of. Being able to keep your phone in your pocket or purse with just one wire hanging out for both listening and talking, and not having to go looking around on all 4s when you lose an ear bud is the opposite of inconvenient.
      • Wireless headphones and microphones are a security risk, and a very easy point of failure - and a pain to keep charged and keep track of.

        In practical terms how many devices have honestly been attacked via bluetooth? It's fairly secure. If I were the U.S. president I might want to keep bluetooth off but for the rest of us, we are never going to have an issue with someone trying anything over Bluetooth.

        AirPods address your other concerns, because of the case they are easy to keep track of (pro tip - add sti

    • But then I will need to carry the stupid dongle which _will_ get lost eventually. Very stupid decision by Samsung. There is no excuse for this on a phablet.l

      • But then I will need to carry the stupid dongle

        One thing I never understood about this argument - why not just leave it on your headset? Then you only have to remember the headset.

        They are cheap, if you have multiple headsets just buy more than one.

        • The dongle will not be left on the headphones all the time because they will be inevitably also used on devices with 3.5mm jacks.

          • And then you take the dongle off to use the headphones on the laptop, lay it down somewhere and... its gone.

            Won't be buying phones without headphone jack, my headphones are maybe 15 year old Radio Shack AM/FM phones that I use to help block out other noises. It plugs into my Edge S7, and will continue to do so rather than buying a $1K S10. But if the S10 was affordable, and had no headphone jack, I still wouldn't be buying it. I don't do ear buds, they hurt.

          • Why can't you imagine that there might be another device with a headphone jack?
        • Is it really that much of a stretch of the imagination that I would have ANOTHER device with a headphone jack I would want to use the headset with? I probably have around 20 devices with headphone jacks!
      • Agree. I just bought a Samsung tablet _with_ a headphone jack, which gets used regularly. I like it, I would buy again. But I won't be buying this new one.

    • by agaku ( 2312930 ) on Thursday July 11, 2019 @10:38PM (#58911378)

      Don't freak out wired headphone lovers, you can probably still use USB-C for headphones....

      I have to assume at this point the number of mobile headphones made that use an audio jack, had to be diminishing rapidly, so there was little point in Samsung keeping a point of entry for water.

      I have a high-quality earphone from Sennheiser with a cable and will not buy a phone without an audio jack. Why pay so much for a phone with a feature lacking compared to S5? I can get two Asus Zenfone 6 for the money, with audio jack and flash memory extension. Thank you Samsung for saving some money. Wired connection has better security and availability, I really can depend on it and use my Plantronics headset for business talks. And the earphone for music. Problems with battery or connection? Not with me. Either charging or connecting the headset? Not with me. Bye bye Samsung.

    • I listen to audiobooks at night and music in the day. When am I supposed to charge again?
    • you can probably still use USB-C for headphones

      Unless you need to charge at the same time.

  • by RyanFenton ( 230700 ) on Thursday July 11, 2019 @09:51PM (#58911208)

    Bluetooth is a good idea - but implemented, it's worse than even USB ever was in terms of careless implementation by industry.

    Random disconnects while driving places or taking a walk, have to very meticulously manage 'bluetooth priority' settings - and even then, just sometimes it'll stop connecting, and you have to reset all devices.

    That, and having to manage yet another set of batteries, which also involves a countdown clock to another semi-expensive item needing replaced.

    I pay just $9 for a great set of earbuds, and have 0 problem managing a cord. The bluetooth problems just aren't worth dealing with - and every bluetooth audio device I've ever used has failed far sooner than a standard device, at twice the price or more.

    So, I'll stick with phones that have a built-in headphone jack, or else wait a few major tech generations until the future wireless connectivity standards at least aren't such a constant annoyance.

    The lowest common denominator is HUGE market force for phones - the 'need' to upgrade won't exist for years, the way that market actually works. I can wait quite comfortably - especially when I don't bother with freemium games ever.

    Ryan Fenton

    • Or, it doesn't connect at all. My AirPods are really annoying when I'm in downtown Seattle since both will almost never connect at the same time. Also, the audio delay is annoying when watching video.

    • I've actually had great experience with bluetooth the last 3-4 years. I suspect this has less to do with getting better bluetooth earphones and more to do with better devices (Pixels, as it happens, though I suspect that most flagship phones have better bluetooth hardware and firmware stacks).

      As for the battery management issue, I've found a fairly simple solution: Buy two. Yes, this is more expensive than a single $9 corded headphone. I buy a pair of ~$20 bluetooth headsets, so about $40. Lately I'v

      • Oh my lord, if I hear one more person give "buy something else" as a viable solution I'm going to hurt someone. Our society is already way too commercial, there are already way too many electronics being sent to the landfill. No, "buy two" is not a good solution.
        • Oh my lord, if I hear one more person give "buy something else" as a viable solution I'm going to hurt someone. Our society is already way too commercial, there are already way too many electronics being sent to the landfill. No, "buy two" is not a good solution.

          Works fine for me. YMMV.

      • As for the battery management issue, I've found a fairly simple solution: Buy two.

        How would having two dead sets of headphones in my bag the one time a month I need to use them help?

        • As for the battery management issue, I've found a fairly simple solution: Buy two.

          How would having two dead sets of headphones in my bag the one time a month I need to use them help?

          Why would they be dead if you only use them once per month? If that's your usage pattern, get a single pair of earbuds in a charging case, and charge the case twice per year.

    • You forgot audio quality. Bluetooth audio quality is almost universally terrible. You might as well listen to music through an old fashioned telephone. [wikipedia.org]
      • >You forgot audio quality. Bluetooth audio quality is almost universally terrible. You might as well listen to music through an old fashioned telephone.

        I've actually coded a G.726 vocoder for the DSPs they put in small devices, and basically sounds like a phone call with the noise cancellation. Bluetooth uses the same tricks, I believe, just with better bitrates. What you're maybe hearing there is likely a noise cancellation algorithm, more than the raw audio quality. But it amounts to the same thing

    • I've gotten had Note 2, 4, 5 and currently on 8. I can't imagine that the 10 is worth the price of upgrading. Anyway, no headphone jack is a non starter for me. Sometimes I forget to charge my BT headphones. Guess I'm just out of luck. Also, I have things that actually USE the headphone jack. I've got a chronograph used to get speed data on ammo reloads. Phone app connects to chrono over a cable from the headphone jack.

      I just don't understand the obsession with removing the jack. People tha

  • by Anonymous Coward

    To copy Apple five years later. lol @ Android scrubs.

  • by H_Fisher ( 808597 ) <h_v_fisher AT yahoo DOT com> on Thursday July 11, 2019 @10:31PM (#58911344)
    I won't purchase a device that doesn't have a headphone jack. I don't want reduced functionality for the purpose of selling me unnecessary dongles or peripherals - and I believe in voting with my wallet.
    • Good news is they are "one of the only large smartphone manufacturers" so you have an unknown quantity of other options. And it may be nonzero.

      And I'm apparently "one of the only" dashslot readers to care about proper communication. Nonsense or information free phrases should be avoided.

    • by green1 ( 322787 )
      I stopped buying from Samsung years ago, when they stopped offering flat screens, when they dropped replaceable batteries, when they started shrinking the width of their screens in search of higher "screen inch" numbers at the expense of actual screen size, when they dropped HDMI/MHL output, when they dropped IR transmitters, when they stopped making phones with backs made of sensible, non-slippery materials.

      The Note 4 was the last Samsung phone worth buying. Prices have continued to skyrocket since then, b
    • So it looks like I'll be upgrading to a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 from a Galaxy Note 5. I did have a Galaxy Note 4 which is my absolutely most favorite phone I've ever owned but it stopped working and T-Mobile couldn't find a direct replacement in a timely fashion since it is such an old phone.
    • Here's something to consider: nobody gives a fuck what you think.

      I'm not trying to be inflammatory, but as pointedly truthful as possible. Your money will be able to buy things for a while, but eventually, it's likely that you won't be able to buy the thing that you want. You might perhaps be able to find niche products that support you for many years, but they'll be expensive or inferior.

      The problem is that techy people like us think the world and the market revolve around us, and it's largely the opposite

  • Well.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Trimaz ( 4609805 )
    My long history of owning Samsung phones is going to come to an end next year, by the looks of things.
    • My history with Samsung stopped after it was loaded with tons of scrap and their own set of applications that duplicates everything but in worst, so I stopped at the Galaxy S2, and installed a custom ROM on it.

      • by Trimaz ( 4609805 )
        I usually just resort to rooting and wiping their bloat off it. Keep the gallery, messaging and phone apps but clear out the Microsoft crap, Facebook, Flipboard and the likes of that garbage nobody wants.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    I won't be buying the Note 10.
    You can pretend all you want that bluetooth headphones or using a USB C to Audio jack adapter is "good enough", but it's not.

  • by blind biker ( 1066130 ) on Thursday July 11, 2019 @11:14PM (#58911478) Journal

    The Galaxy Note 10 won't have a headphone jack, and I won't have a Galaxy Note 10.

    Besides, I like phones with removable batteries, so I'll probably go for the LG K8.

    (don't judge me, I still use a Galaxy S5)

    • Why is this voted so high? The K8 is a cheap ass budget phone. The Note 10 is not targeted towards anyone who would even consider the K8.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    All you morons keep buying phones with features removed from previous versions. Fuckin' stop.

  • Not that I was in the intended market but I do still have a Galaxy Note 3

  • The higher tiered phones require some level of cognitive dissonance - you know damn well that lack of a headphone jack is an antifeature, and what type of slashdot reader doesn't want a user replaceable battery and a micro sd card slot?

    Budget phones to the fucking rescue, ya'll! In the ~$200 tier, you'll find plenty of options for phones with all of the features the flagships have been withholding. Check out the Moto brand, for example. The E6 has a 5000 ma battery with several days talk time for less th
    • Not only that, even the new 400 dollar Google Pixel 3A came back with the headphone jack, and after the sales disaster that was the Moto Z with its mods, Motorola/Lenovo just released the Moto Z4, with a headphone jack of course.

    • and what type of slashdot reader doesn't want a user replaceable battery and a micro sd card slot?

      The stupid kind.

      Anyone who would trade ~0.01mm of thickness for the loss of a user replaceable battery and a micro sd card slot is an idiot.

  • Honest question: Will there be any phone in the market with a stylus and a headphone jack? I use a stylus frequently but I need a jack, since I care about the environment and don't believe in Bluetooth headphones. I have a couple old wired headphones still going strong and have way outlasted Bluetooth batteries.
  • Also it seems very troubling that people seem to buy multiple Bluetooth headphones to deal with the problems of Bluetooth. Terrible for the environment.
  • No audio jack, no removable battery, curved screen, bloated OS (Android, iOS, ...), mass surveillance, ... All of this is terrible for the environment, my privacy and my pocket$.

    I'm waiting for my Librem 5 to move out of this mess. On Librem 5, I will be able to replace the battery and the modem (M2) to keep up with new frequencies/standards. Also have hardware kill switches for camera, microphone, WiFi/Bluetooth, and baseband. Everything in this phone is made to protect privacy as much as possible. Bonus:

  • by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Friday July 12, 2019 @09:27AM (#58913168) Journal

    Corrected Headline:

    "FCC Photos Confirm I Won't Buy A Galaxy Note 10 Because There's No Fucking Headphone Jack"

  • Then what is the round hole on the bottom right side?

  • Now I know not to by this phone. Stop phucking with features and requiring extra phy$$$ical dongles, and they won't lose sales. All companies can take their paper thin phones and shove them up their own asses.

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