Confirmed: T-Mobile G1 has no 3.5mm headphone jack
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Sep 23rd 2008 1:18PM
posted Sep 23rd 2008 1:18PM
posted Sep 23rd 2008 1:18PM
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Well that sucks :(
not really a big deal, considering you can purchase the adapters on Amazon right now for $3.29, and people making the switch from other HTC phones like the Shadow or the WIng may already own an adapter.
Yeah, but the Wing and Shadow support A2DP, so you're not forced to sport that dorky dongle.
The point here is that many people do not want the crappy headphones that they package with the phones. They want higher quality headphones that fit better in their ears, offer noise reduction when travelling, have music / phone controls built in, etc.
Even the headphones that come on the iphone (which have many of these features built in) and offer a full 3.5mm jack, are often replaced by users with something that has better sound quality, better fit, sound isolation, etc.
Being forced to use a mini-usb dongle degrades the quality, and also makes it so that the music control and phone control functions of many 3rd party headphones will not work. (the dongles block the communications in some cases)
Plus, the G1 has no A2DP yet, so you don't even have the option of using a wireless bluetooth stero headset.
This is just a poor decision, especially for a phone pushing itself with features like the music store and video player, etc.
@MBN I'm fairly sure that A2DP will be supported in the next software update, however, the sound quality of any A2DP headset is not that good imho... I'd rather live with a adapter-dongle ;-)
http://store.allshadow.com/productaccessories.asp?id=13138&n=Smartphone-Experts-Mini-USB-Stereo-Adapter
This doesn't look too bulky to me besides its gonna be in your pocket, no one will see it.
I hope they add A2DP. I never listen to music that way because it sounds like garbage, but I do listen to talk (books and podcasts) with Bluetooth, and it's great!
Besides, I don't have any extra room in my pants for a(nother) dongle.
Yes And i dont normally listen to music so I won't have my headphone OR ADAPTER at all times and this prevents me from running into a store and buying a cheap pair on a wim... I had the same problem with my Dash and was stupid enough to not realize this before pre ordering the G1
Why? How about to make money! Plus, T-Mobile includes a headset with every phone.
The real question ought to be why do people, before the product even hits store shelves,
do their level best to rip the thing apart?
this is not the case. people have a legit complaint here. 3 years ago, not having a 3.5mm headphone jack was accepted, today, in this market place, we want openness. I want to use whatever headphone I have on new devices. This is a major flaw and as a result, people point it out.
I think the vast majority of response to the G1 has been positive so far. People, like me, are excited about new possibilities. This is an entirely different matter though. Manufacturers have been using proprietary formats, connectors, and everything else for years, at the expense of the customer. Just recently, the consumer has been winning the headphone jack war. The iPhone, several Blackberrys, Moto's music phones, and plenty of other handsets have been including 3.5mm headset jacks. Given the supposed openness of Android, this is pretty lame. No one is "ripping it apart", they're just pointing out a major shortcoming on what otherwise appears to be an excellent piece of equipment. I'm with everyone else here calling bullshit on a very bad decision by HTC.
Not to mention those adapters never seem to last that long. I've had four over the last 2 years: one I lost, one that had a loose connection and stopped working in stereo, and one that the casing around the plug started to come apart. It's not like they are that expensive, but I'd rather have a 3.5mm jack than deal with the crappy adapters. If someone actually made a decent higher quality one that would be great, but they are usually just cheap pieces of junk.
frank put it perfectly.
i love the google phone, but why the hell didnt they put the damn headphone jack in. This makes me want to wait until they make and android device that does have it. what does everybodybody else think?
...Blah. I'm so disappointed, but not entirely surprised, that corporate America has once again screwed over the consumer. This kind of BS illustrates that our capitalistic economy isn't functioning properly (at least in this market). The government has made competition with the big wireless providers impossible (because of lobbyists). Nobody is building the phone we want.
Apple did a great job with the iPhone, but they ARE NOT your friend. For example, did you hear they removed the 3rd party PodCast app from their store? They claimed it competed with their built in app. In reality it allowed people to do what Apple's app wouldn't, stream/download PodCasts on the road. With Apple's app you have to sync. ...I think that's a good example of how rotten Apple. ...And they've always been that way. The iPhone is a masterpiece, but Apple doesn't care about the consumer's experiance.
Honestly, I expected A LOT more from Google. So far I still like my iPaq 910c better. It's way thinner, it has GPS, etc. And with SkyFire (a remote FireFox 2.0) the web is A LOT faster than any cell phone (because it only sends the image you see, not the whole web page).
No shit dude, Apple, MS, Google, etc. are all corporations. The only thing they care about is money. They are all equally as bad as another.
That's just plain stupid!
ridiculous. HTCs phones always have to have this stupid adapter. It's bulky, changes the way the phone sits in your pockets, just totally ridiculous that they couldn't put a 3.5 jack in. I mean really. The Curve has it. Way to drop the ball on this, especially with the AmazonMP3 ability.
I really was hoping I could get rid of my iPhone for the G1...but after reading all the features/specs, I'm going to hold out for Google's real 'iPhone killer'.
Stupid! They must have hired away some of the Treo staff from Palm. The new Treo Pro finally shows Palm could get it's head outta the sand.
About 1/2 of my audio is done while charging. Can the geniuses at Palm (800w!), or HTC inform us as to how this is to now be done, with only one mUSB? Stupid beyond compare!
They have an annoying "Y" dongle that allows headphones and USB to plug in together.
It's a genius answer to a moron problem that shouldn't exist in the first place.
They dropped the ball by not adding UMA support, but this is just insult to injury, though to be fair the 1st gen Iphone also needed a silly adapter that was overpriced and not included. I do think a headphone jack should come standard in the phone though. But the UMA not being there, that seems stupid from the company trying to take UMA to the next level.
No jack = Touch HD for me :)
Bummer for the big G, HTC wins anyway ;)
agree totally
i cant wait for the HD!
BT Headset is the answer.... but since it doesn't support A2DP i guess its a bad thing.
Well there goes my idea of changing phones to the G1. Too many shortcomings to make the jump. Nice phone, but not enough to leave my BB. No UMA is probably what did it for me.
Agreed. UMA and no A2DP. I wonder if 3rd party apps or future upgrades can/will solve those issues.
I've been waiting for this phone for over a year so I could jump ship from Verizon but having UMA was key for me so I could also ditch Vonage. I never would have guessed they would leave it out. Too bad G1, too bad. Lack of UMA and a 3.5mm jack makes me wonder if they didn't think the design of this through very well..... or maybe they thought about it a little too much. Who knows maybe some killer-apps will win me over anyway...
You guys are silly..you say that the device that doesn't have a 3.5mm jack is really going to sway you? how hard is it to get an adapter from a 3rd party like JAVOedge or efforcity so you can have your headphones attached. This is an easy fix guys. What about all you early adapters of the iphone.. which still doesn't have MMS or copy & paste.. that didnt keep you from buying it did it?
The device is solid all around. Deal with it.
Wow, epic FAIL. Like someone above posted, some open platform, huh?
Actually what's even worse is that little grommet that covers the jack. That looks like it'll break off within 60 seconds of taking this out of the box....
"Jesse S @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:46PM
No shit dude, Apple, MS, Google, etc. are all corporations. The only thing they care about is money. They are all equally as bad as another."
Isn't it the nature of a for-profit company, and especially a publicly traded company, to focus on profit? Sure, I can imagine if you were a lender in the subprime market that would not be the case, but then you would be looking for a $700 Billion bailout.
I think a company that is in the business of making a profit should focus on money. And if I own stock in said company I dang well expect them to be 100% focused on making money.
700 G$ bailouts are profit, too, you know. ;)
The Adapter I have on my HTC Hermes (aka ATT 8525) doesn't degrade the sounds quality, and I use it every day in my vehicle. I see no problem with using an adapter even though a dedicated jack would be better. In the end, I'm not too worried about it since I'm holding out for the Touch HD which will inevitably run Android - either from an official HTC ROM or one from our genius friends over at XDA-Developers.
No UMA = No G1 for me. It's why I signed up with T-mo. I get no reception at home, and UMA works great.
I have read that it may be possible to add it with a software upgrade, contrary to most reports that a hardware chip must be present. Post #24 here: http://androidcommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=352&page=3
So we can expect UMA and A2DP within a month or two? (maybe even about the time mine shows up in the mail... ) I think I'll be alright w/ that. Glad I jumped on the band wagon.
Deal with it? Okay how do you "DEAL WITH" charging your phone while listening to you headphones... not as solid as you think...