Hello! I have been trying to find a more modern phone with a headphone jack that functions on Verizon in the US. I’m still rocking the Samsung Note 8 and while it’s been a good phone, it’s REALLY showing its age lately and I’m trying to upgrade.
I really like having cheap, easy headphones that don’t need a charge and that means I need a headphone jack. But every single phone with decent specs I’ve found either doesn’t have a headphone jack or doesn’t work with Verizon.
I was hoping you could point me in the right direction?
Also, I’m sorry if this is “low quality content”, I didn’t see any explicit rules against asking for recommendations, so I thought I’d ask.
Don’t get a dongle. They are a pain. Here are some reasons why:
You cannot charge your phone and listen use the dongle at the same time (Biggest grievance)
When you need it, you can never find the damn thing because it’s easy to replace.
If you use public transport or travel, you’ll probably lose it at some point.
If the dog gets hold of it, you’ll need to buy another one, plus he might choke if he tries to swallow it.
There aren’t cheap
If you use several headphones and also maybe have a 3.5mm input in your car, you’ll need a separate dongle for each headphone/car. Trust me, you don’t want to be moving the damn dongle between them.
You’ll wear out your phones usb port faster
It’s a compromised experience. Why subject yourself to that when you can get a phone that has a jack?
I’d even switch mobile networks if it means I get a phone with a jack. That’s how important it is to me.
Get a Sony Xperia 5 because I think it will work. Another phone with a jack is Asus ZenFone 10 but check with Asus/Verizon if it works.
Dongles are actually not a compromise, but an upgrade in case you dont get a noname shitty one. You wont get a good builtin DAC for your 3.5mm port unless you buy a pretty expensive phone. Even then the quality is just “good enough” and not increasing linearly with the price.
A dongle does not need to be expensive for casual listening, and is by far the cheapest option for audiophiles as well. Alternatively you can use a bluetooth dac amp. Even more alternatively, you can buy a TWS adapter (forexample Fiio utws series) and an actually good IEM. You can buy both for the money you spare by not spending extra on some Sony and you will have a better audio experience.
I suggest buying Volla/Gigaset (has jack btw) and Fairphone since they are far more serviceable than any other devices. Fairphone will just send you a spare USB-C if you want.
@Swoggles@lemmy.world