Confirmed: T-Mobile G1 has no 3.5mm headphone jack

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 23rd 2008 at 1:18PM

Hey, that's pretty awesome that Amazon's thrown together an MP3 store app for the G1, isn't it? What would be even cooler still, though, is if you could actually listen to those tracks without a crazy dongle hanging off your phone. Like many recent HTCs (Touch HD notably excepted), the G1 eschews a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for its proprietary ExtUSB connector, meaning you'll need custom headphones or an adapter to plug in your own. What's worse, the adapter won't be available immediately at launch, just a bundled headset. Why, HTC? Why?

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, HTC, T-Mobile, Android

Tags: android, extusb, g1, headphones, htc, jack, t-mobile

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highest Ranked

Daniel @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:30PM

Well that sucks :(

Neutral

Restoration @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:38PM

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.

Neutral

MBN @ Sep 23rd 2008 3:31PM

Yeah, but the Wing and Shadow support A2DP, so you're not forced to sport that dorky dongle.

Highly Ranked

Shane @ Sep 23rd 2008 4:35PM

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.

Neutral

DarkFox @ Sep 23rd 2008 5:22PM

@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 ;-)

Neutral

deyanimay @ Sep 23rd 2008 7:36PM

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.

Neutral

MBN @ Sep 23rd 2008 9:12PM

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.

Neutral

jim @ Sep 30th 2008 8:17AM

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

Neutral

Hushpook @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:40PM

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?

Highest Ranked

andy @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:06PM

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.

Highest Ranked

frank @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:26PM

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.

Highly Ranked

Michael S @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:57PM

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.

Neutral

moose @ Sep 23rd 2008 3:16PM

frank put it perfectly.

Neutral

moose @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:42PM

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?

Neutral

8r13n @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:46PM

...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).

Neutral

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.

Highly Ranked

michaelikotun @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:47PM

That's just plain stupid!

Neutral

Sam @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:51PM

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.

Neutral

Brian @ Sep 23rd 2008 1:58PM

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'.

Neutral

Patrick Horne @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:34PM

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!

Highly Ranked

MBN @ Sep 23rd 2008 3:36PM

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.

Highest Ranked

ManoloDF @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:21PM

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.

Neutral

Hemppis @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:21PM

No jack = Touch HD for me :)

Bummer for the big G, HTC wins anyway ;)

Highly Ranked

troy @ Sep 23rd 2008 3:52PM

agree totally

i cant wait for the HD!

Neutral

DssTrainer @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:31PM

BT Headset is the answer.... but since it doesn't support A2DP i guess its a bad thing.

Neutral

Eric @ Sep 23rd 2008 2:38PM

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.

Neutral

MBN @ Sep 23rd 2008 3:38PM

Agreed. UMA and no A2DP. I wonder if 3rd party apps or future upgrades can/will solve those issues.

Neutral

The_Kegs @ Sep 23rd 2008 6:31PM

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...

Neutral

kevinwin @ Sep 23rd 2008 8:46PM

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.

Neutral

mar2k @ Sep 23rd 2008 10:23PM

Wow, epic FAIL. Like someone above posted, some open platform, huh?

Neutral

mar2k @ Sep 23rd 2008 10:26PM

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....

Neutral

GhostDoggy @ Sep 24th 2008 5:40AM

"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.

Neutral

Benson @ Oct 2nd 2008 7:02PM

700 G$ bailouts are profit, too, you know. ;)

Neutral

l3it3r @ Sep 24th 2008 8:28AM

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.

Neutral

galavanter @ Sep 24th 2008 4:29PM

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

Neutral

jerry @ Sep 25th 2008 4:02PM

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.

Neutral