misa

artharg said:

Ouch. Seems like no one here has been around long enough to recognize this. It's the clock of the processor you're hearing through some sort of electromagnetic coupling to the enclosure. In this case it must a beat frequency that is within the audible range. I remember being able to tell by ear which part of a program a CPU was in. Different loops made different noises.

This kind of thing happens with my computer monitor. When the screen is mostly white, I can hear some kind of high pitch noise, but it isn't present when it's mostly dark. Like I replaced the sound card and still hear it, so I know it's not coming from the desktop.

Also to note, I actually hear high pitch noises that my parents can't hear.

kpom said:

Capacitive gloves have been around for quite a while now. I just tried the button through my shirt. it worked fine.

But it can't read your fingerprint through it.

I'd probably wait for a revision of the Apple TV (Eg one that supports h.265 and 4K/8K) before considering it a reason to buy. 

The AppleTV has never been really compelling because other devices are more capable (like a Wii U, Xbox 360, even the ISP provided IPTV box) and the only reason to use the AppleTV over these other boxes is HomeKit/Siri

zroger73 said:

So, the moral of this story is to buy the Verizon or Sprint version or wait for the carrier-free version (assuming there will be one and that it works on both CDMA and GSM networks like the Verizon and T-Mobile versions with the Qualcomm chip):

- if you plan to change carriers
- if resale value is a top priority
- if tests prove the Qualcomm chip outperforms the Intel chip.

There won't be. The 2G CDMA 1X networks are being shutdown in 2019, and Verizon already has like 90%+ of their customers on the LTE network.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/international-cdma-shutdown-faqs/

As for Sprint, with no roaming partner on CDMA, it will be forced to do the same or lose half it's coverage.

herbapou said:

Since I always been using the headphones that comes with the phone,  I dont see whats the fuss about the headphone jack...

In a nutshell:

Will there ever be a market for SPDIF(Toslink/Coaxial) headphones?

Audio engineer here to dispel some misinformation.

Major consideration: it has to be powered somehow. That means at least two cables. I believe the term I learned in my Recording Engineering classes was "fuck that shit".

But seriously: there is no effective benefit.

The entire reason digital headphones haven't been done for the last 25 years is because powering the headphones is a problem. USB headsets, are near universally hated for much of the same problem. If you had a $300 sound card with it's own DAC and amp circuitry, you'd not want to plug a USB headset in and bypass it entirely. Same with HDMI "speakers" in your TV. When was the last time a TV came with good speakers? The entire "thinner, lighter" rabbit hole has ensured that speakers in anything thinner than a sandwich sound terrible.

So what did Nokia, Motorola and Nintendo do, and subsequently stop doing? Don't use your proprietary connection for headphones/carkits unless it can charge the device at the same time. 

The cable that should have been included with the "3.5mm-less iPhone" is a USB-c (power or headphones) with a 3.5mm jack (headphones) lightning bridge.

Just no USB-C digital audio support exists yet. So obviously this would be a futile thing to do right now.

But realistically, if they were going to get rid of the 3.5mm jack, it should have been replaced with usb-c or another lightning connector (perhaps on the other side of the device, or when it's in landscape orientation.) Forcing users to use wireless headphones is just not going to happen, because go back to point 1 "additional cables or chargers, FTS"

It should be noted that USB-C supports an "analog" mode which puts the same 3.5mm pins on the USB jack, but that would only suffice for USB-C headphones that can run on 500mv, and would require a charge-through connector.