Ah, HTC when will learn that extUSB to audio jack will never catch on. By now they are just doing it out of stubbornness. But in all seriousness the only lacking qualities are the extUSB, the 3.2 Megapixel camera, and the fact that it will be a WinMo 6.1 instead of 6.5 device. All if which are negligable (except that damn extUBD audio jack).
@Raz - I do hear you on the 3.5, but my thought is that they are just expecting people to prefer stereo bluetooth headsets to wired ones, and therefore not putting the jack in for that reason. I have the current Touch Pro and use the Motorola S9-HD stereo BT headset (I also own a Jabra BT3030 if you prefer wired earbuds its great), and I can't imagine having wires going from my head to my phone any more. Once you go to it, its impossible to go back, it's SOOOO convenient and non-intrusive. I'm never catching the wires on crap, untangling, etc.
I think the digital to analog conversion and the big jack just take up a bunch of space and they'd rather keep the device as compact as possible and just assume stereo BT will become the de-facto replacement for headphones. I'm surprised it hasn't taken off more than it has actually.
I just hope they have a new chipset in this phone, the Qualcomm ones they currently use aren't that snappy, although I read that Qualcomm is trying to up their game and are about to release a new chipset for mobiles thats way faster.
I already prefer Stereo Bluetooth Headsets over regular headphones (3.5mm). iPod headphones (being the most commonly used) are horrible as they leak out so much of the sound's quality with that design that takes no consideration over how a person's ear works. And as you turn up the volume, you are slowly deafening yourself with it.
I've been using a SE HBH-DS980 for the past year, and SE's HBH-DS970 for 2 years before that, and it's been good to me. A fairly simple noise-cancelling design, and it's earbuds are compatible with those of Skull Candys (they provide free earbuds, so that's a plus to get both the SE headset and the Skull Candys)
The compatibility though with some of the features from the DS-980/DS-970 have been a bit disappointing when I used it on my RAZR V6 and BlackBerry Bold, but after I went from those to my K850 // Xperia X1a respectively, I've always been delighted by the SE compatibility, seeing the names of who's calling and what song/artist is playing at the time on the LED display.
However, where do you get the MOTO S9-HDs? I haven't seen them on the market, 3rd party (re-)sellers, or available on the webstores either.
i too am one that kinda wished i had a 3.5mm jack. but seriously, i use the sony hbhds980 headphones (bluetooth) and i absolutely love it. phone stays in my pocket whether i change volume, skip or go back in songs. YES there are wired headsets that do this, but have 1) a proprietary cord stinks and 2) well, having a cord stinks. i've been considering buying a miniusb to 3.5 adapter for the few times that i'm just sitting on the metro w/ my phone actually out in my hands, but in all honesty when i'm out and about and on the move...i'd have having my ears tethered to me phone.
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Ah, HTC when will learn that extUSB to audio jack will never catch on. By now they are just doing it out of stubbornness. But in all seriousness the only lacking qualities are the extUSB, the 3.2 Megapixel camera, and the fact that it will be a WinMo 6.1 instead of 6.5 device. All if which are negligable (except that damn extUBD audio jack).
@Raz - I do hear you on the 3.5, but my thought is that they are just expecting people to prefer stereo bluetooth headsets to wired ones, and therefore not putting the jack in for that reason. I have the current Touch Pro and use the Motorola S9-HD stereo BT headset (I also own a Jabra BT3030 if you prefer wired earbuds its great), and I can't imagine having wires going from my head to my phone any more. Once you go to it, its impossible to go back, it's SOOOO convenient and non-intrusive. I'm never catching the wires on crap, untangling, etc.
I think the digital to analog conversion and the big jack just take up a bunch of space and they'd rather keep the device as compact as possible and just assume stereo BT will become the de-facto replacement for headphones. I'm surprised it hasn't taken off more than it has actually.
I just hope they have a new chipset in this phone, the Qualcomm ones they currently use aren't that snappy, although I read that Qualcomm is trying to up their game and are about to release a new chipset for mobiles thats way faster.
I already prefer Stereo Bluetooth Headsets over regular headphones (3.5mm).
iPod headphones (being the most commonly used) are horrible as they leak out so much of the sound's quality with that design that takes no consideration over how a person's ear works.
And as you turn up the volume, you are slowly deafening yourself with it.
I've been using a SE HBH-DS980 for the past year, and SE's HBH-DS970 for 2 years before that, and it's been good to me.
A fairly simple noise-cancelling design, and it's earbuds are compatible with those of Skull Candys (they provide free earbuds, so that's a plus to get both the SE headset and the Skull Candys)
The compatibility though with some of the features from the DS-980/DS-970 have been a bit disappointing when I used it on my RAZR V6 and BlackBerry Bold, but after I went from those to my K850 // Xperia X1a respectively, I've always been delighted by the SE compatibility, seeing the names of who's calling and what song/artist is playing at the time on the LED display.
However, where do you get the MOTO S9-HDs? I haven't seen them on the market, 3rd party (re-)sellers, or available on the webstores either.
i too am one that kinda wished i had a 3.5mm jack. but seriously, i use the sony hbhds980 headphones (bluetooth) and i absolutely love it. phone stays in my pocket whether i change volume, skip or go back in songs. YES there are wired headsets that do this, but have 1) a proprietary cord stinks and 2) well, having a cord stinks. i've been considering buying a miniusb to 3.5 adapter for the few times that i'm just sitting on the metro w/ my phone actually out in my hands, but in all honesty when i'm out and about and on the move...i'd have having my ears tethered to me phone.