[General question to the Android community] Have you given up on the audio jack, or do you still only buy devices that have it?
(Posting this here rather than !askandroid@lemdro.id as it's a quite general question)
I had a look at the GSM Arena phone finder, and it the choice is getting smaller and smaller every year (only 43 phones from 2023, reviewed by the site, had a jack)
The remaining ones are mostly
Xiaomi Redmi
Zenfones
Sony
Samsung entry range
So, has everyone switched to Bluetooth / USB-C dongles, or are there still a few people holding to the jack until the very end?
i avoid anything wireless like the plague short of wifi. pairing is always a miserable process, and by the time everything is connected, the batteries are dead. it drives me absolutely bonkers. thankfully many motorolla phones still have 3.5mm jacks . i think my current model is the motorolla 5g stylus
I consider myself an old fart, but you need to get out and do more experiences yourself.
Wireless Bluetooth headsets have been pretty nice for years. Don't go too cheap (but even cheap ones can be good) but don't waste too much money either on them and you will be fine.
Pairing today is smooth and easy, never had an issue in the last 5 years at very least. Battery life is pretty good, my tw buds get a week worth of charge at my usage (and I use them for daily sport training, calls and occasional video). They get charged automatically when I put them back in the box and the box itself recharge in like 30 minutes.
And you can use them one at a time, which is good to get truly unlimited "call time". .moreover, my model can both do noise cancelation or environment sound pass-trough which is amazingly good when running on asphalt (the latter) and trying to isolate in the office (the former).
Moreover having no chord dangling getting pulled and catching around is unreliable better experience.
I had to go back to wired a few times (forgot the wireless home..) And found how much worse experience that is.
Of course, I prefer the choice and I have always purchased a phone with audio jack and will do again if at the same price/hardware level.