7 mo. ago • 62%

The future of mobile devices?

I wonder if the charging port on mobile devices will go the way of the 3.5mm jack and be replaced with Qi and other wireless charging protocols. I also wonder if we will be forced into Bluetooth for all extension devices we used to connect to usb-c.

18 comments

Apple is making moves in this direction. I certainly hope not as the Bluetooth thing is a legitimate concern. It's probably a matter of months until the next Bluetooth vuln.

13
- Apple will change it first, and Samsung and Google will make fun of them for it and promote how they still let you plug your phone in... Until next year's model when they do the same thing.
  
  14
  
  Apple will develop their own proprietary Bluetooth version first. iWave or some shit like that
  
  9
- We'll see. The rumors have been around... But Europe just required that they add a USB-C charging port to all devices. They can't afford to ignore the mandates of the EU.
  
  I don't think they'll get a pass for not having any port at all: the EU is the last remaining regulator.
  
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  The EU does not require a charging port, it only says that if you have a charging port it must be USB-C.
  
  6
Not a shower thought

12
Earbuds only cost $4 and last years before breaking. Wireless audio devices cost a lot more and break sooner. Of course they're going to get rid of the 3.5mm jack, there is no cash money reason not to.

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The only way that would work is if you can use your phone for longer than a day, or if wireless charging is powerful enough to use your phone while it's charging wirelessly. Most devices have pretty poor battery life with constant, active use, and users need to plug their phones in for extended gaming sessions, long video conferences, and stuff like that. You can't charge your phone wirelessly while you're using it right now, and that's a deal breaker for most people.

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God I hope not, that would lead to awful battery health and lots of laggy interactions with devices over Bluetooth since the bandwidth for bt5 is 2 Mbps

1
- that's just straight up inaccurate information. bluetooth low energy has a data rate of 2mbps, which was introduced with bluetooth 5. regular bluetooth 5 has a 50mbps bandwidth based on a very cursory google search
  
  3
It's definitely a possibility. Mac OS has a thing that will let you restore the operating system by downloading it directly from the web over Wi-Fi or Ethernet. So it wouldn't surprise me if phones eventually have that kind of recovery system that will let you connect to Wi-Fi as well to download the image.

1
I remember the beans and not that kid not pooping for 3 days. It was lit.

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