back to article Pains us to run an Apple article without the words 'fined', 'guilty' or 'on fire' in it, but here we are

Apple held court in San Francisco on Tuesday to announce updates for the iPhone and Apple Watch lines. Speaking to a hand-picked crowd at the Bill Graham Auditorium (The Register was not invited), CEO Tim Cook showcased the annual updates for both the smartwatch and smartphone pieces of Apple's lineup. A very swimmable Apple …

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  1. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    Stupid headphone adapter...

    Dumb idea.

    Settle down for a 15 hour flight. Get out the noise cancelling headphones.

    Where's the damn adapter? Oops.

    Or it's broken. Again...

    Yeah, enjoy your miserable trans-Pacific flight...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

      Actually, active noise cancellation is built in to the new design, the wireless or powered connected earphones work together to counter environment nose. The benefit of connected active headphones is that they don't run out of batteries (a feature I found rather annoying on my Sony noise cancelling headphones).

      Besides, there's still Bluetooth.

      1. Paul Hampson 1

        Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

        Bluetooth headphones are still banned on flights, like wireless mice.

        1. Tom 38
          Headmaster

          Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

          Bluetooth headphones are still banned on flights, like wireless mice.

          Only when taking off or landing.

      2. Blitterbug
        Thumb Up

        Re: environment nose

        I for one welcome an all-digital solution for this.

        1. Dazed and Confused

          Re: environment nose

          > I for one welcome an all-digital solution for this.

          You've got digital ears? Wow

          1. Adam 1

            Re: environment nose

            > You've got digital ears? Wow

            Yes, 10 of them with self evidently 0 in between.

      3. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

        >Actually, active noise cancellation is built in to the new design, the wireless or powered connected earphones work together to counter environment nose.

        Yep, it's like the Sony phones which have TRRRS ( Tip, 3 x Ring, Sleeve ) jacks - the extra Ring allows for *stereo* mic input at the same time as stereo output - this means that active noise cancellation can be done using the phone's existing DSP and battery. The upside is that the noise cancelling headphones don't their own battery or duplicate silicon, making them more convenient and cheaper.

        Its also worth noting that whilst the common TRRS (2x Ring) adheres to a physical standard, there is no standard for the electrical implementations for the microphone and remote controls on headsets, even between different Android phones from the same vendor, let alone Apple kit. As a result, the myriad headsets 'designed for iPhone' from Sennheiser, Klipsh, B&W etc etc seldom work properly on Android kit. [ there is a useful Android app called Sound About that allows you to override overly fussy headset detection, and lets you use iPhone headsets without annoying warnings - though you still may not get full mic/remote functionality]

        Generally, my headphones stay with my laptop, my earbuds stay with my phone. Earbuds get broken (always the cable) or lost, so I'm not 'invested' in the 3.5mm jack. If I were an iPhone user, the lack of a 3.5mm port really wouldn't put me off the new model. Heck, even on 3.5mm ports, I like to have a small Male > Female cable between the phone and earbuds, just to reduce the mechanical strain on the earbud cable. Ideally, I'd like a physical connector that can 'break away' - saving me money on damaged earbud cables and on damaged 3.5mm ports. (My Dell laptop has its 3.5mm port is damaged, meaning I'm using a USB speaker I had lying around).

    2. TheRealRoland

      Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

      yeah- another reason why i still carry my keyboard kindle, ipod classic and my phone with me; another bonus: phone battery not dead when i get off the plane.

      Sure, the more modern planes have outlets built into the seats by now, but guess what? After strapping in, surrounding yourself with cables of all sorts, there's that person that constantly has to go to the restroom, needs something from the bag in the bin, etc. And no, you can't always get that window seat.

      No thanks :-)

      1. JeffyPoooh
        Pint

        Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

        "...outlets built into the seats..."

        Big family vacation to Asia. I literally, no exaggeration, plugged in a power bar. One outlet became six. So the kidiots and I could plug in all our gadget chargers. Back in the day, Nintendo and PSPs.

        The seat outlets often have a 100w power limit. Some sort of self-resetting fuse. Not an issue with a half dozen little gadgets. But the 120 watt laptop couldn't charge and be on at the same time.

        1. scubaal

          Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

          back in the day - a book :)

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

        >Sure, the more modern planes have outlets built into the seats by now, but guess what?

        You have to unplug the analogue adapter most people with actually use (or the bundled digi headphones) to charge the phone?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

      I'm sure in a few months you'll be able to buy a package of three adapters for $10 on eBay, just like you can with Lightning cables so you'll have spares.

      Anyway, I hope you didn't pay a lot if you have noise canceling headphones with a permanently attached cord, because that's always what fails at least in my experience.

      1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

        Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

        I've got loads of cheap ebay lightning connectors going spare, mainly because they don't work. The phone goes bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, and doesn't connect to iTunes.

        I gave up buying cheap ones.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

          I bought three MFi certified Lightning cables for $10, all work perfectly. The ones that aren't certified are the only ones were you run the risk of the phone not accepting them (and they maybe 50 cents cheaper if that, so not sure what the point of buying them would be)

        2. J. R. Hartley

          Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

          Fuck me I hate Bing. Do Apple have their own search engine yet? Something that puts the Apple Reality Distortion Field to good use perhaps?

          1. Tim99 Silver badge
            Gimp

            Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

            @J. R. Hartley

            I use DuckDuckGo with Safari, and find it's generally OK. If I need something better I use the it with a bang search (for an encrypted Google search type in !g "search terms" in the search/address bar).

        3. Dazed and Confused

          @Headley_Grange

          I've got loads of cheap ebay lightning connectors going spare, mainly because they don't work.

          Funny that, I always found them so much better built than the shite ones you get from the Apple store. My son used to go through the official ones at a huge rate and all his mates parents made the same comments. You only have to look on the Apple store at the shit reviews the official cables get.

          The cheap ones I've bought on Amazon have been much more reliable.

          At least that's been my experience.

      2. Steve Evans

        Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

        "I'm sure in a few months you'll be able to buy a package of three adapters for $10 on eBay, just like you can with Lightning cables so you'll have spares."

        As long as you are happy to run the risk of it suddenly stopping working, as happened to a work mate with his no appletax Chinese QI wireless charger case... Worked wonderfully for a few weeks, then "rejected".

        He had to buy a "proper" one, which ironically is less practical in that the lower portion is deeper, meaning his headphone jack wouldn't reach the socket... Well not until we shaved a few mm off the plastic with a box cutter! I can see why they deleted the socket now!

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

      A "supercomputer for photos"... we present, the camera.

    5. gnasher729 Silver badge

      Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

      "Where's the damn adapter? Oops."

      Looks like you are not actually using headphones. Here's how it works in practice: You buy an iPhone. You take the adapter out of its box and stick it on the end of your headphone cable. Done. Permanently connected. You won't lose it unless you lose your headphones. You won't take it off, because that only means you have to find the adapter and put it back on when you use the headphones.

      1. Ragarath

        Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

        And when you want to plug your snazzy (non-apple) headphones into another non-apple device, you are saying you can do that with the lightning adaptor still attached are you?

        1. P. Lee

          Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

          >And when you want to plug your snazzy (non-apple) headphones into another non-apple device, you are saying you can do that with the lightning adaptor still attached are you?

          If they wanted to ditch the standard audio socket, they should have replaced it with a better standard socket, not proprietary lightning. Maybe USB-C/Thunderbolt3? USB would be fine for headsets - there's a good chance the industry might coalesce around it. Lightning will always be a dongle-thing.

          Remember the 80's? Apple used to boast that "everything is built in." Now, everything is dongle-connected. I hate dongles.

          This just looks like a headline-grabbing distraction to avoid talking about the lack of significant reasons to buy a new iphone - not that I'm faulting Apple for that. However, a new license-free standard for some things would be nice. A combined fibre/copper comms cable would be good. I'd be happy for Apple to push for a new standard to replace RJ-45 NICs for mobile devices. Can we do "visible light comms" with an optic fibre to keep the costs down? I don't need LR lasers, I'd just like a magsafe network+power cable.

          If they wanted to do something really cool, how about using two cameras and processing the image so that when running video chat, you don't look as though you are looking away from the camera when you look at the screen? Surely that's more achievable than an autonomous car.

      2. dajames

        Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

        You buy an iPhone. You take the adapter out of its box and stick it on the end of your headphone cable. Done. Permanently connected.

        Unless, say, having acquired yet another set of headphones with every new device for several years (not to mention a few extras for the times you went away and forgot to pack any) you keep a set of 'phones in the pocket of every jacket for convenience ... and end up having to buy an adaptor for every jacket, too.

        ... and, of course, the adaptor is one-way, so you can't use your new iPhone 'phones with your older iPad or your PC ...

        Standards are called "standards" for a reason ... and even though it's nice to have a few to choose from one shouldn't go around inventing new ones willy-nilly.

      3. Antron Argaiv Silver badge

        Re: Stupid headphone adapter...

        ...and the moment arm formed by adapter plus 3.5mm plug efficiently enables any small sideways force on the headphone connector to bork the iPhone lightning jack, thereby requiring an expensive trip to the Apple store.

        Success!

        (From the Apple POV, at least)

      4. Headley_Grange Silver badge

        Looks like you are not actually using headphones

        gnasher729 - here's how it works in practice; I've got about a dozen sets of headphones. I keep a set in my work bag, a set in my work jacket, a set in the pocket of my hand luggage, a set in my bug-out bag that goes in my hand luggage, a set in my denim jacket and two sets (IEMs) in my gig-bag and a set in the car. That leaves a few spares lying around the house for when I can't find any of the other pairs. So what now - £250 on 10 adapters?

  2. Herby

    Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

    While i'm no expert, fresh water and salt water are entirely different beasts. I got a nice FitBit a couple of years ago, and after being wonderful for over a year, a dip in the warm waters off Hawaii killed it for good. Before that I had been taking showers and other stuff.

    All the pictures in the "event" showed swimmers in nice fresh water pools. A bunch less hostile!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

      Yes, but water resistant doesn't really mean "please take it everywhere wet", it's more about not immediately failing on you when it spots a drop of water in a 30 meter radius as they do now. Only the watch is advertised as "you can swim with it".

      I'd say that after salt water exposure you best give it a quick freshwater rinse.

      1. Fr. Ted Crilly Silver badge

        Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

        No need to bin the Eco-Drive ISO 6425 divers just yet then...

        1. Triggerfish

          Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

          Have quite a few friends who teach diving for a living. Citizen Eco Drive and Seiko Automatics seem some of the most common dive watches amongst that group, they have a good rep.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

      Good point. Will it survive the salt water from my salty tears as I cry over all of the useless sets of wired headphones I invested in before today?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

        How many people go 50 meters deep in a pool or a lake?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

          How many people go 50m deep without a proper scuba watch?

          Anyway there are some deep lakes.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

          How many people go 50 meters deep in a pool or a lake?

          In a pool definitely not many, unless they're allowed to bring along heavy equipment :)

    3. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

      My understanding is that "water resistant to 30 metres(/3 bar/3 atm)" is static pressure resistance. Start moving about and things change very quickly.

      This is why the manual for a wristwatch that is rated to 30 metres usually informs the owner that it's not suitable for swimming, at any depth.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

        To compare to a long established product line, inexpensive digital Casio Watches. Their manuals used to suggest the following:

        Water Resistant. 30M Splash Resistant. Fine in shower, but don't place directly in water jet. Okay for swimming, but don't use the buttons.

        Water Proof: 50M. Fine in swimming pool and shower.

        The only Casio I had in my youth that died from too much water was the calculator model, which my dad placed under a tap to wash some mud off.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

          According to what I saw in another article, the new watch is good to 50 meters, covered by the ISO standard 22810:2010 which specifies testing in salt water with equivalent levels of salt to the sea.

          Interestingly while the standard says it is good for swimming, white water rafting etc., the standard specifically says it is NOT suitable for diving which doesn't make much sense. Is your wrist exposed to greater water pressure than the depth you're at when scuba diving...perhaps because of the suit? Because I'm pretty sure you've got bigger problems than whether your watch is OK if it is submerged by 50 meters when you're wearing it while white water rafting...

        2. This post has been deleted by its author

    4. Black Betty

      Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

      Not even Apple's lawyers would like to try that one on.

      30m = 100 heels and toes, a depth that's pretty much the limit of all but the most hard core recreational divers, and that depth means diving for extended periods in saltwater, unless those extra functions are directed at the single digit demographic of freshwater freedivers.

      1. Triggerfish

        Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

        30m is not a hardcore diving depth, PADI Advanced diver goes to 30m (and it's not that advanced really, no gas mixes, no rescue techniques,BSAC in comparison covers some of this stuff at their basic level), a lot of people on holiday will do that in addition to getting their basic OW (open water diver). BSAC basic OW goes to 20m.

        Give you some idea, couple of popular wreck sites, Scapa flow the wreck depths are about 25-50m down, and Truk Lagoon is around the same. At that point you probably want to be a bit experienced as a diving past 30m (varies depending on the school) because of things like nitrogen narcosis and the bends get more risky, you probably start wanting to look at gas mixes.

        The hardcore divers are either the pros who do it for a living and work at some really really deep depths, or technical divers who seem to like pushing limits on how deep they can go (and it gets super geeky with all the prep etc), think the deepest so far recreational diving is about 330m and it took almost nine hours to ascend from that depth.

        Jumping in can add pressure to the watch, likewise swimming and so have an effect on water resitant watch depth ratings. From what I understand resistant is it will hold be ok at a presssure rating it says but prolonged exposure gives a chance of water ingress, waterproof it will be waterproof for full exposure at the pressure rating.

        I wouldn't buy a dive watch rated for less than 100m waterproof, and usually there are not many that are less than that touted as dive watches. Dive watches are rated at ISO 6425. Which is a bit more thorough in testing. I think you also get issues with things like gas epxpansion, thermal shock etc. I have had a perfectly good brand new watch have all the screws bar one on the bezel come out on a dive, only thing I can think of may have been one of these issues as they were all tight when I started the dive.

        1. Jon Massey

          Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

          You wouldn't take an apple watch diving, it'd be no use. I take my tmx-upgraded luna and an old Vytec DS as a backup bottom timer with the plan on a slate. Never got the point of "diving watches" other than for posing. Get a computer, get a backup.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

            After all, how much wifi signal will you get through that much water?

            And what you gonna do with your Apple watch down there? Though I warrant it'll stop anyone nicking it from your kit.

            In deference to reality, I must add I haven't dived since the late 80s (with a university BSAC group)

          2. Vic

            Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

            Never got the point of "diving watches" other than for posing. Get a computer, get a backup.

            See, I've gone the other way; I still use my old Suunto Solution Nitrox, but bend the snot out of it on every dive[1]. I've got an HS Explorer computer, but I rarely use it; most of my dives are with my watch (an Apeks-branded thing ,but I don't know who actually made it) and my Solution...

            Vic.

            [1] The Solution Nitrox is a single-mix OC Nitrox computer. I dive CC, with nitrox or trimix diluents to suit. As such, the calculations performed by the computer are completely wrong - but I like the display, so I just use it as a dive timer.

            1. Jon Massey

              Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

              Then how do you do your deco calcs?

              1. Vic

                Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

                Then how do you do your deco calcs?

                DDPlan. Written by a Gentleman of this Parish.

                Vic.

                1. Triggerfish

                  Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

                  Never got the point of "diving watches" other than for posing. Get a computer, get a backup.

                  I agree dive computer is king nowadays, and yes some people wear dive watches for posing values. But there are plenty plainish watches that don't really scream dive watch, I quite like wearing a watch versus digging out a phone, and so might as well get a properly waterproof one, plus I don't have to worry to much about it ever getting wet and taking it off, useful if snorkeling versus leaving it on a beach for example.

                  Also tbh ever really done enough harder diving yet to feel the need for a backup yet, still a relative noob.

                  1. Vic

                    Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

                    But there are plenty plainish watches that don't really scream dive watch

                    Mine looks like this. Pretty unobtrusive, although it did get spotted at an airfield the other day by another diver.

                    plus I don't have to worry to much about it ever getting wet and taking it off, useful if snorkeling versus leaving it on a beach for example

                    Yep. Mine stays on my wrist unless the strap breaks or the battery goes flat. That's when my backup watch comes out. I've never taken that one underwater, though.

                    Vic.

    5. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

      First, the article is factually incorrect:

      Samsung has long touted a similar degree of water resistance as a major selling point for its Galaxy line of smartphones,

      Samsung is a relative newbie to the IPXX world. Panasonic, Sony, etc have been there for several years now and are still way ahead of both Apple and Samsung.

      Second, even pools are not necessarily freshwater. I had a "jacuzzi pitstop" on my annual trip through Europe at a German spa. I was surprised to find the water twice as salty as the Mediterranean (at least). Apparently the mineral springs run through a rocksalt layer somewhere. I want to see it surviving that for more than a couple of minutes.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Water to 30 meters, but what about SALT water??

      Salt water? Not a problem. From the Apple website: "Apple Watch Series 2 has a water resistance rating of 50 metres under ISO standard 22810:2010. This means that it may be used for shallow-water activities like swimming in a pool or ocean. "

  3. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Adapter

    Apart from the obvious inconvenience of loss or breakage...

    How long will replacements be available?

    How steep will be the rise in price of these?

    This 'walled garden' looks progressively more like a prison.

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