Yes, they are. Glad you're finally on board the "batteries beat wires" train. Choo choo.

The cheap phones are cheap because they lack other features, not because a headphone jack makes them cheaper.

I don't want to drag this conversation into American politics, but I will say ICE has been doing things against USA law. Things are not great here. Even noncitizens have rights that need to be respected, and ICE is failing to do that. They have also arrested lawful residents, citizens too, in their sweeps.

The ICE tracker app is a protest app/ direct action sort of thing, not a tool for criminality. Surely you can see the value of being able to use technology to resist a tyrannical government?

By the way, do you want the USA government to potentially control which software can be installed on your phone? Google is an American company. USA courts could decide (international company) is violating (American IP law or something else) and instruct Google to disallow their app from being installed entirely.

They can pull apps off the app store now, and they do that, but currently you can still side load stuff.

probably doesn't have the necessary antennae

I grew up in Czechoslovakia and Australia, more Australia really. There might be a genuine reason why google is doing it or not. Most things require an identity these days. You cant drive without an identity , you can't purchase alcohol without an one, of open a bank account. Where does your privacy feeling stand there I suppose you don't have any of that? I'm actually amazed with so much fraud on the internet governments don't require an ID to open a browser on your PC. Isn't internet like a network of highways really ?

You need an ID for those activities because it is required by law. Apples and oranges. Your argument is a logical fallacy of false equivalency.

A government dictating what you can and cannot do by law is a completely different thing than some random company telling you what you can and can't do with a device you own.

And again, if you're uncomfortable with that - then you still have the option of only downloading apps via the play store where identities are already verified.

So again, it's the gay marriage argument - do you support the freedom of others to do something you may not want to do? Or would you rather restrict others freedom when it doesn't effect you? If it's the latter, then I think you're an objectively bad person.

Run the cable through your shirt. Problem solved.

New problem created. Now when you want to take your phone out of your pocket to take a picture of something or scan it for an NFT sale you can't do that easily because you have this wire running through your shirt connecting your phone to your headphones. Also, if it's winter, now your phone has to go in an inner pocket not an outer one so you can't easily access it anymore.

Or you can, I don't know, unplug the headphones for 2 seconds.

And start blasting whatever you're listening to to the whole world? Well, you could pause what you're listening to first. Don't you see how this is much less convenient than wireless headphones where you don't have to make all these compromises?

Redundant. Also, put your phone in your pocket and stop whinin'.

Ah, accept a less convenient alternative because of the limitations of the wires. Sure, sounds great.

My man, are you allergic to speakers? You're cooking in a kitchen.

You're cooking in a kitchen. There are loud fans, loud kettles. Why would you use a speaker that you have to turn way up to blast over all that noise? What's wrong with you. Use headphones, you're in a kitchen!

Skill issue. Run your wire underneath your jacket and you won't have this """problem""".

Now you have the other problems with your phone being inside an inner pocket and not easily accessible for doing things like taking pictures or doing NFT transactions. You really haven't thought this through, have you?

If the ICE app is breaking the law, and ICE itself is breaking the law, two wrongs don't make 1 right. There are legal ways to protest.

Like I said, earlier if you aren't breaking the law then if someone asks you to ID yourself
, what's your fear? Loss of privacy?

You can't use privacy to hide the act of breaking a law.

Unless you're a developer it doesn't affect you anyway, you can still sideload apps. You just can't use a public highway like the internet to break the law and expect nothing to happen. I know it's not what any of you want to hear.

Tbh I'm not even sure the app is breaking any laws at all. Reporting on the presence of law enforcement is (not always but sometimes) protected speech here. I don't use the app, and I haven't heard that they are trying to arrest anyone in regards to it.

Honestly though... Have you thought through everything you're saying? Sheltering Jewish people during the holocaust was illegal in Germany.

Anyway, have a nice day, those are my thoughts.

Owning device is not the same as owning the right to the software that runs on it. Google is well within their rights to say if you want to code on android, show us your ID, it's not your ethical right to do as you wish with someone else's software. There may or may not be a valid reason (ie. Too many suspicious apps that have no ownership). You need a license to drive on a public road owned by government , you need a license to code on Google's Android . I can open up a restaurant that serves no alcohol and request people for ID when they walk in because it's my right. No law that says you show me your ID but there's also no law that says I have to let you in.

replaceable batteries, dumbass

I can't even follow your arguments anymore.

As a user, I want as many options as possible, but if I can get a phone that's $100 cheaper because it doesn't have a headphone port, I'll definitely choose that option.

You're the one that implied headphone jacks add cost to phones. I'm saying that they don't, and whatever cost they do add is minuscule. The implication that any cost savings is being passed to you is laughable.

Look, they killed the jack because they could save a couple bucks of design time and get a few cubic millimeters of space, but most importantly they could softly force their users to buy wireless headphones (maybe even the ones they sell and bundle?!). The former outcomes being happy accidents in order push the latter. It's win win for them, and lose for the customer.

They know that their price concious customers are still using wired headphone and unlikely to take them up on their bundle, so they keep including it there. The affluent ones are the ones with cash to burn and little care for this issue. I get you like BT headphones, so do I, but there's simply no good defense for the 3.5mm removal other than shilling.

Now when you want to take your phone out of your pocket to take a picture of something or scan it for an NFT sale you can't do that easily

Sure you can. Just unplug the headphones.

And start blasting whatever you're listening to to the whole world?

You're either trolling or you've never used wired headphones. Playback stops automatically when you unplug a wired headphone. It's the same thing when you disconnect a bluetooth headphone.

You're cooking in a kitchen. There are loud fans, loud kettles. Why would you use a speaker that you have to turn way up to blast over all that noise?

Wtf? Lol. If you're kitchen is that loud, something's wrong with it.

or doing NFT transactions. You really haven't thought this through, have you?

Yeah, you're either trolling or a very special kind of person.

Apple now allows sideloading of apps and Google is trying to get rid of sideloading.

What... the Fuck?

> be me
> buy new phone, chose android cause I can install anything on it
> get free iphone from work
> sell iphone on ebay cause I can install anything I want on my android
> google doesnt want me to install anything I want

Fuck me. I kept the wrong phone.

We're just not gonna see eye to eye on this.

I want privacy and freedom. You want Google to dictate what apps you can use even though it doesn't effect you.

You don't give a shit about people who rely on apps that aren't from the play store. You cant seem to understand why it's bad because it won't effect you. It's selfish