Alex has crafted an iPhone UK FAQ. One of the questions/answers at the bottom is:
Q: Will the iPhone make me popular and increase my pulling power?
A: Preliminary research carried out by early iPhone adopters says yes – you will attract a large crowd in any public space if you whip out your iPhone. However bear in mind that mobile phone theft is a growing problem – and the last thing you’d want to do is have your new pride and joy pinched by some young hooligan types.
Which got me thinking. I was phonejacked back in June (read all about the humilating experience) and thus, I feel I’m now an instant expert in all things phonejack related.
My really funky Shure e4c headphones don’t fit in my iPhone. The way the handset’s headphone socket has been engineered prevents the Shure ones from working. A bit of an arse. Thus the only headphones I’ve got to use with my iPhone are the Apple-supplied muggerbait white ones. (The Shure headphones are black).
I’ve been using the iPod functions regularly out and about and I just hate it. Hate it. Every one looks. Particularly the shady characters that you get wandering around London. The last thing I want to do is take out my iPhone to change a track when I’m already advertising the fact I’m carrying some sort of Apple device.
Obviously a phonejacker would be spectacularly unimpressed at mugging you, only to find out you’re carrying an iPod Shuffle. Not that valuable. Compare that to an ultra hot 400 quid iPhone… now you’re talking.
So I’ve been very, very aware just how mugger-friendly I’ve been looking recently walking around London with WHITE headphones and, occasionally, taking out the iPhone to change track. Not good. Not good at all.
If you’re sporting an iPhone — take extra care when and where you show it off.
I need to get some black headphones. I wonder if Shure are making iPhone compatible ones now?
I purchased an official iPod Shuffle Sports Case (designed for the original shuffle) on EBay for £2.75 (including shipping) that had comes with a headphone extender that works with my iPhone and my Shures.
It’ll do nicely until Shure release their recently announced iPhone cable which has a small plug and in-line mic and call control button.
… said headphone adaptor beautifully worn by my iPhone here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danlane/1407951378/
Your’e annoyingly well prepared Dan. I’ll do the same…
The fact that any sort of adapter is needed at all (even if they’re inexpensive) is really ridiculous. This is an iPod with a phone crammed in, so you’d expect it would be able to work with pretty much any set of earphones with a standard plug, like pretty much any other MP3 player out there. But Apple’s done a fantastic job of making a standard connector a proprietary one.
This recessed connector is a really, really, really crap piece of design work from Apple, in spite of the company’s vaunted industrial design reputation. Great interface blah blah blah… but not being able to use the headphones I want without some additional adapter I’ve got to buy makes for a lousy user experience.
I’d give Ed Cave a kick up the backside and get him to develop Txt2Lock for the iphone…
..I mean just the other day he was complaining that he had too much spare time.
@Carlo:
See http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=851
It may just be marketing spin, but Apple’s apparent reported rationale is “Apple found, prior to the iPhone, that a lot of service repairs for iPods were for busted headphone jacks caused by headphone plugs being constrained, pulled, or bent in pockets or other tight areas. This is why they recessed the iPhone’s headphone jack into the casing.”
@ Ben:
Thanks for the link — but that explanation sounds like utter shite. I’ve had 3 iPods and never managed to break the headphone jack, even with extended use. Not to mention the 1000s of other models of MP3 players, portable CD players, Walkmen, FM radios and so on over the years that don’t seem to have had this problem.