It's just the power of...

 ... corporate greed cheap tech.

I have made no qualms about the fact I have a fruit phone. 

The type of smartphone that comes with two decals in the same box as the actual device. 

Why does it come with stickers? Are we five? 

I don't know, but I must have at least twice as many sets to show my allegiance to a company that no longer provides headphones or a charging brick... 

Yes, it's long been talked about.. the lack of 3.5mm jack in an Apple iPhone. The same hole you can plug in your (wired) headphones in to. 

Apple decided to remove the headphone jack when they came out with the 6S and SE models in 2016. I guess it was to make people start purchasing the airpods instead... only because Bluetooth was starting to catch on with a lot of things and people wanted to be tangle free. 

I don't know the whole answer, but I know it did anger some people, including myself. The hell do you do now? If you invested in some nice wired headphones, you now how to live a dongle life in order to continuing to use said headphones.  

Which I have to do now... in  2022.

Or.. you need to invest in the aforementioned wireless technology. Which is sometimes not the best alternative to use some voice chatting services. I've been there. I know. I've used various types of wireless headphones and none are great for chatting. They're pretty amazing for podcast listening, but to make a phone call or video conference? Forget it.

Not adding the "extra heft" could make more economical sense. By not providing wired headphones in the box, it makes shipping to stores less pricey. More money in Apple's pocket but less money in yours. Only because it makes you have to accessorize. 

Around 2020, Apple stated they wanted to "reduce its environmental footprint", so they won't include the basics, which would be any type of wired headphone. Lightning or otherwise. 

So getting rid of the 3.5mm hole was just the tip of the iceberg, 4 years prior. 

Moving on to other issues, they don't include a charging brick. Newer models (12 and 13) are coming with USB-C compatibility. So you can plug your phone into your MacBook if you need a quick charge. 

Way to assume people have MacBooks, Apple. Way to assume. 

Although, most laptops on the market today don't have as many USB connections. If they do, they have the opportunity to have USB-C ports, so you don't have to worry about sticking in your (charger, thumb drive, etc) the wrong way, like you do with normal USB items. Smart thinking if you're up on the times. Not so smart if you still work on stuff pre-2016. 

Stay with me... I'm circling my point and I know that.

What you lose in the box to gain the ability to be more mobile, Apple and it's benevolence has opted to gift you a SIM pin to be able to get a SIM Card in your phone. 

It must be cheaper than a brick or a headphone, apparently. But then again, what's the harm in a tiny piece of sharp metal?

Providing this pin is new in two ways:

1. It wasn't until the iPhone 4 (that I know of... because I didn't have a SIM card prior to having the iPhone 4... in late 2012. I had all Android level flip phones prior.. with no SIM cards) where you got to put a SIM card in the phone. Every model has an all encompassing shell and had no ejectable parts.. minus the SIM card spot. 

This includes the fact you still can't change the battery yourself if you have problems.

2. It's assuming you know how to do the whole SIM thing yourself. I know when I first got the iPhone 4, reading all the directions on how to make the phone my own, it said I needed to put my card in the phone. How do I do that? What do I do that with? 

After having a conversation with a tech at Verizon, they told me I need a push pin and find the little space on the side of the phone where it looks like the pin can go in to. Get that open, get the card in, put the tray back. Power on phone and I can finish updating it to my needs. 

What the hell??

Ok, sure. 

I did that. Popped the tray out, put the card in, turned on the phone. Followed the welcome screen to create my own ID and go forth I went. 10 years later and having used the 4, 6, and now 11, I've jumped around with the products but am not a fan boy by any means. I just now know what to look for to pop in my card. 

But.. when I got the 11, I was told we no longer need to keep using the same card... every new card that comes with the phone (somehow we get a new SIM card... I don't know), our information is backed up in the Cloud and on Verizon's servers. So once they activate the phone on their end, the new card knows what to do and we can throw out the old one. 

That's not weird? 

So I have 2 phones cards and nothing to do with them. I don't know why I'm keeping it. Maybe in the event the shit hits the fan and I'll need it? Who knows. 

All I know is the phone maker gets you coming and going and there's no such thing as lowering a carbon footprint if you're still making the products and shipping them differently. We are a society are still buying the accessories... the products... the everything. 

It's a need and want deal and I am struggling to want to need to use my phone, the longer I have it. I know it's nice to have, but do I really want a mini computer in my pocket? I can barely hear out of it. Hence the headphones. I could hear better on a flip phone because it was better to hold to my head. Trying to hold a flat surface and talking... not so great. Speakerphone is nice... to a point... but the world doesn't need to hear your conversation. Headphones can be challenging because you have the potential to not see your surroundings... which can be weirdly awkward if you're talking while shopping. People look at you funny. Or if you're listening to music, you don't know when people sneak up on you (happened to me). 

One of these days I'll figure this tech out... hopefully sooner than later...

Until then... stay dry in this heat and rain.

Cheers;

Side note: this post all came about due to my mother getting an iPhone 13 the beginning of this month...

See Also:

All this talk about tech... Amazon is having Labor Day Deals coming up. Which includes aforementioned headphones. Plus memory cards (my friend Tay uses them in his Android), snacks, vitamins, speakers and face cream.. much more. 

Maybe it's time to get a jump on next weekend's planning?