The Year OnePlus Started Ignoring Fans (venturebeat.com) 116
OnePlus has made a name for itself selling devices that punch above the price class. The Chinese smartphone maker has also built a loyal fanbase by proactively reaching out to its users and incorporating the changes and suggestions they make in its product lineup. But as the company grows bigger and embarks on a new journey -- entering the United States -- it is increasingly turning a blind eye to its community. From a story: To get the whole picture, we have to look at all of 2018. OnePlus releases two phones per year, and it makes sure to hype these before each debut. This year was the same in this regard, except for the obvious fan backlash. I'm of course talking about notches and headphone jacks. In March, OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei tweeted that users should "learn to love the notch." The outcry was so great that Pei deleted the tweet. The OnePlus 6 of course launched in May with a notch. Earlier in March, Pei also tweeted his usual annual poll about headphone jacks. The OnePlus 6T, which started shipping in the U.S. on November 1 and will hit the rest of the world on November 6, has a smaller "teardrop" notch. But as you likely already know, it doesn't have a headphone jack. [...] It's a bizarre set of decisions given OnePlus has always prided itself on giving its fans exactly what they want. This year, OnePlus seems to be happily pushing its fans to Samsung, which at least for now still offers headphone jacks in all its phones and has completely ignored the ugly notch trend.
boo hoo! (Score:5, Insightful)
"The Year OnePlus Started Ignoring what this one particular guy told them to do."
There, I went ahead and fixed the headline for you.
Re:boo hoo! (Score:4, Insightful)
If you think headphone jacks and notches are the opinion of one guy, you haven't been paying attention to the very site in which you're currently posting your ignorance.
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"The Year OnePlus Started Ignoring what this one particular small demographic of people think."
Is that better? Don't get me wrong, deleting the headphone jack for me (and likely the majority of people on this site) is a non-starter. I will give you that. But do you honestly think they did it without doing any market research? Obviously their research showed that people wouldn't care enough about headphone jacks to quit buying their product if they omitted it.
I went in to Walmart yesterday to buy a pair
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But do you honestly think they did it without doing any market research?
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/09/oneplus-ignores-its-own-user-polling-removes-headphone-jack-on-oneplus-6t/
https://arstechnica.com/gadget... [arstechnica.com]
>>small demographic
88% opposed
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Twitter poll != market research
Obviously their research showed that people wouldn't care enough about headphone jacks to quit buying their product if they omitted it
88% of Their twitter followers may LIKE a headphone jack, but I can only assume that their actual research showed that people would still buy their phone if it was omitted. Given the choice of "more battery life" and "headphone jack" maybe more people would prefer a bigger battery. I don't know, I don't have access to their research.
Stop following Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple can make extremely dumb decisions: iPhone notch, removing the headphone port from iPhones and iPads, butterfly keyboards on MacBooks. Even after three generations of butterfly keyboards, they still suck.
Stop following Apple and their dumb decisions. Stop making phones, tablets and laptops thinner. Just as there's "good enough" with technology, there's "thin enough" for portable devices. What we need is lighter devices with the same capabilities, not thinner with thermal throttling and no space left for batteries.
Re:Stop following Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
All true except most senior managers (who have nothing behind them except a degree in MBA) are dumb as fuck and they believe that Apple employs genius designers, so if you don't follow brain-damaged Apple design decisions then you're automatically fucked since no one will buy your devices. iPhones are extremely popular in China where BBK (the parent company) comes from, so they decided to mimic Apple in order to stay on trend.
Samsung used to copy Apple for quite some time but then they realized that not copying Apple gives you a competitive edge.
Also, as much as OnePlus is touted, they don't even have the guts to design their phones from the ground up: all recent OnePlus smartphones have their designs rooted in respective Oppo devices: OnePlus 6 = Oppo R15, OnePlus 6T = Oppo R17.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Noe of what you say makes sense (Score:1)
The notch allowed the phone to reduce in size by removing the top bezel, which we like,
Which YOU like. The rest of the world does not care because they mostly value substance above style.
It's hard to argue with someone who sees more screen and thinks there is less, so I'll leave that argument there with you being wrong and you can understand my point when you so choose to understand how reality is.
The only reason a poll of iUsers right now would tell you "most people are not using it" is because iUsers can
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Which you're still not allowed to use on most flights.
Do you ever fly?? It would appear not, because you can use WiFi on many flights now, what makes you think any Bluetooth is not allowed? I've never ever on any flight anywhere in the world been told some kinds of bluetooth are unacceptable.
And means you need to charge your headphones.
You already need to charge your phone soooo........
Guess you thought you had a point there but all I see is dullness.
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How do you know most people aren't using the headphone jack? Headphones came with my iPhone, headphones came with my previous Android phone, so it's clear that many customers already have the headphones (well, earbuds). Removing the headphone jack means that now uses need to obtain bluetooth headphones or a headphone adapter. Did the later iPhones ship with those?
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How do you know most people aren't using the headphone jack?
Because Apple has sold more than a couple hundred million iPhones without them over a multi-year period?
Ignoring or listening? (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure, some very vocal fans make a lot of noise about notches and headphone jacks, myself included, but do they represent the majority?
The number of companies introducing notches and removing headphone jacks suggests that they must be getting some market feedback. Contrary to popular belief they don't all just copy Apple, they do extensive market surveys and testing with potential customers all through the prototype stage.
It sucks but I have a feeling us notch hating headphone jack lovers are in the minority here. Most would prefer a bigger screen, battery and the like.
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What's the fucking advantage of having a fucking notch in the fucking display?
What's wrong with you people?!
Re: Ignoring or listening? (Score:2)
Whatâ(TM)s the advantage of having whatâ(TM)s basically a full-width notch instead? As long as thereâ(TM)s no way to integrate camera, sensors and speaker into the display you will have them above the display and either have reach the display at least around these to the top (leaving a notch in the middle) or have a full strip of no display at all on the top.
I really donâ(TM)t understand what people who hate the notch really want instead. Do they want a full-width notch instead of a part
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Re: Ignoring or listening? (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes. Ideally, on both the top and bottom, and put some freaking speakers there while you've got the real-estate. I'm sure it seems wasteful, but that's roughly the area I put my thumb when I'm holding the phone in landscape (mainly to shoot video, like god intended).
And it's called a "bezel". You're allowed to say it; it's not a dirty word.
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What's the fucking advantage of having a fucking notch in the fucking display?
Is it really that hard to understand? Look at your phone (Assuming you don't have an Apple... I have a galaxy S8) and note that for non-apple products there is a 1/4" stripe of dead space across the front of the phone that houses all of the forward facing sensors, camera, mic, etc. What's wrong with shrinking that dead-space down as much as possible, and putting usable pixels there?
I mean, I understand the griping about not having a headphone jack, I'll give you that. But why is everyone so butt-hurt abo
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Because most of the time it isn't made more usable. As it is, my notifications bar takes up maybe an eighth of an inch on my rectangular screen, but it's wide enough to fit all the notifications without needing to section them the way most notches do. If my phone were to have a notch like an iPhone, I'd be gaining barely any usable space while making my notifications harder to read. That is literally removing functionality from my device purely because Apple dictates design.
And at the very, very least, the
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The very concept of authority is what's wrong with them. Apple is an authority to some, the will (or at least lack of resistance) of the masses is an authority to others. I haven't used headphones with a smartphone in over 10 years, but I'd still prefer to have the jack available on the off chance I need the output. I am my own authority; suspect you are as well.
Re: Ignoring or listening? (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Ignoring or listening? (Score:2)
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What about the IR sensors used for Face ID.
Please understand, I REALLY do not want Face ID.
Firstly, it implies an always on sensor. It may not be a camera but a fingerprint sensor has a very limited range. Your camera will probably recognise your face up to a foot away. If you don't like surveillance, you don't like FaceID.
Secondly, fingerprint is much faster. I have seen people with the latest #shiny iThing spending up to a couple of seconds in showing their face to their phone. Tapping a finger or thumb is instant - or certainly less than a q
Re: Ignoring or listening? (Score:2)
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Anyone who wants rid of bezels is not in the habit of holding their phone and either wants to stop the rest of us doing so or wants us all to put their phones in cases.
Why? I have a OnePlus5 and it has, perhaps 1mm of bezel either side. If i hold it safely, I am touching the screen on both the left and right sides. This makes it difficult to hold securely so it is in a case (which is a good idea anyway). I can now hold it securely without touching the screen. Fortunately, I bought it for its price and
Re: Ignoring or listening? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
What's the fucking advantage of having a fucking notch in the fucking display?
Is this a trick question? I think most people prefer to have a front facing camera, and plenty (most?) would also prefer a front facing speaker. Until tech advances sufficiently that we can affordably embed these things behind a functional display, you need to reserve the top of the phone for these items. Given that most people also prefer to have a status bar there, what makes the most sense: having the status icon pushed up into the dead space around the camera/speaker, or having them take up the actual u
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I like being able to take a picture of myself with the kids without blind guessing whats in the frame. But more importantly, you really need a front facing camera for video chat.
WITH A HOLE IN IT! (Score:1)
A BROKEN display area
FTFY
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I suspect it might go over better if the upper area had icons appearing on a black background. It would serve the same purpose only it wouldn't look like a notch and it wouldn't look like a copy of a feature. I think using the notch emphasizes more that the screen is larger (sort of), which is why it's used.
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You're totally free to make that happen on the OnePlus 6/6t. It's a toggle in the display settings. Were there no option, I might see the outrage (the notch doesn't bother me and I leave it enabled), but since you can completely hide it, I don't get the outrage at all.
Re:Ignoring or listening? (Score:4, Insightful)
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They showed that 18000 Twitter users said so. That in no way implies a majority of all users share that opinion. Methinks you need to look up the term "selection bias."
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Sure, some very vocal fans make a lot of noise about notches and headphone jacks, myself included, but do they represent the majority?
The number of companies introducing notches and removing headphone jacks suggests that they must be getting some market feedback. Contrary to popular belief they don't all just copy Apple, they do extensive market surveys and testing with potential customers all through the prototype stage.
It sucks but I have a feeling us notch hating headphone jack lovers are in the minority here. Most would prefer a bigger screen, battery and the like.
I can't understand why manufacturers didn't go down to a 2.5mm jack, if they were so concerned about space. A 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter is very small and can easily stay on your headphone cable, and it allows charging and listening at the same time.
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It sucks but I have a feeling us notch hating headphone jack lovers are in the minority here. Most would prefer a bigger screen, battery and the like.
As correct as you are, most people also love watching 4:3 content stretched when viewing on 16:9 TVs. The majority can be wrong sometimes.
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>do they represent the majority?
Overwhelmingly.
https://arstechnica.com/gadget... [arstechnica.com]
The air got very stale (Score:2)
Notch is stupid (Score:1)
I don't understand the notch. It's the stupidest idea ever, even worse than removing the headphone jack (which I can understand, to some degree).
But the notch, all it does is remove valuable space from the screen, like why?
The person that thought of that should be taken out back and shot.
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
The entire notch exists because Apple is introducing Face ID with the iPhone X, a replacement for Touch ID that uses infrared cameras to scan your face and log you into your phone. Apple’s camera array is significantly larger than the single sensor on the Essential Phone, making the cut-out a lot bigger as a result. Apple definitely could have avoided this, either by creating a device with a slightly larger top bezel to accommodate the camera array, or by using a black background across the status bar to hide it.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/14/16306298/apple-iphone-x-screen-notch [theverge.com]
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I think the idea is not to remove space from the screen but to expand to screen into the area where the front camera is.
It is worth it to make the screen non-rectangular? Not in my opinion.
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I don't see why the screen isn't rectangular with software round corners.
Couple years late chief (Score:1)
OnePlus started falling off as early as the 3. The first OP phone was predicated on wanting a pure Android experience with flagship-levels internals at non-gouging prices. The second one was more or less a direct extension and improvement on that promise. By 3 they weren't using CyanogenMod and started adopting more of the prevailing flagship cruft while also charging more.
Nowadays they're just another big Android name getting by on their old reputation, minus any innovation or differentiation besides price
Re: Couple years late chief (Score:2)
Just like the new phones, the old One plus phones where based on one single factor. Rebranding Oppo phones under a viral campaign.
Fanless? (Score:5, Funny)
It's a free market (Score:3)
You sell what the customers want, or they buy from someplace else.
Me, I won't buy a phone that doesn't have a headphone jack nor an SD card slot. The Huawei Mate SE (or Honor 7, or soon the Honor 8) provide excellent alternatives to the OnePlus 6T, at about half the price with nearly the same performance.
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Very true. The problem is that the very noisy, very much in the minority, "fans" mistakenly believe they represent the customer. By and large, they don't.
this is all completely pointless (Score:3)
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A LOT of products from China spy on you, have backdoors, steal your logins, etc?
This can all be overcome since it's just software but the real problem with made in China by a Chinese brand is the horrific working conditions. Made in China for some western brand at least has some leverage to insist on somewhat humane conditions but local brands are brutal.
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you're an idiot, there's such thing as hardware backdoors, and firmwares we never get to mess with (baseband). You shouldn't be speaking on security matters when you obviously don't know shit about it.
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Re: (Score:1)
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Who cares. It's just the Chinese. I'd be more worried about local western made phones made with the approval of a TLA who actually has a meaningful impact on your life.
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Wow, impressive ignorance. It sort of makes one wonder if slashmydots has ever even heard of the NSA. All phones, pretty much anywhere in the world can be hacked, backdoored, and/or turned into spy devices by the NSA.
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The NSA doesn't steal my IP and compete with me.
OnePlus doesn't make anything (Score:5, Insightful)
I hate the notch (Score:4, Insightful)
I will never buy a smartphone with a notch. When I watched the Apple and Google keynotes, every time they showed a full screen photo or game on their respective new phones, I kept thinking, "This looks great...except for that stupid notch!" Previously I have liked many if not most of the designs Apple has introduced which everyone else has seemed to copy. But the notch is the worst design decision Apple has ever made. And damn all the Android vendors who copied that crap.
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So... hide the notch?
I don't understand the headphone jack point (Score:1)
I don't understand the outcry about the lack of a headphone jack. You just leave the small adapter on your old headphones. For new headphones, digital output should be superior anyway as you can place the DAC in the headphones, away from the electronics; and if you buy a good set of headphones, the DAC can be much better than the ones integrated in a phone with headphone jack. That leaves the problem of charging at the same time as using headphones. This can be solved with a simple adapter, which should
OnePlus - Never Settle (Score:4, Interesting)
OnePlus's motto is 'Never Settle' yet all they have done with their feature set is require you to compromise on the things users want/need. I was so excited when I saw the announcement about the 6T. I am not the person that reads upcoming phone specs nor do I obsess about them. I know I get a new phone every 2 years or so, it is the latest model and it will be sufficiently fast enough. When it is time to buy, then I look at specs. It is now time to buy. Samsung is dead to me after how they completely botched the entire Note 7 (yes I got that one on the first week of release... not fun with the recall, loaner phone, get back a second Note7, final recall, offered a Galaxy, switch to LG). Ultimately I have been pleased with my LG V20, but it is showing its age, so I figure I would go to the ThinQ 7 or V40, then I heard about the 6T. Then I looked at the specs of the 6T:
No headphone jack - I can compromise on this one. I have a Sansa Clip for music and books. Bluetooth on the phone for external speakers is all I do anyway.
Notch - I don't even see this as a comprise. Consumers want an edge to edge screen and they want a front facing camera. If it were up to me, I would go without a front facing camera, but will accept the notch. It is really not that big on the 6T.
No replaceable battery - This one still burns my ass, but any modern phone has to be water resistant so whatever. My V20 has a replaceable battery and I have done so twice.
Fingerprint reader in screen - this is good, I guess. I think it is a step backward from where LG has it on the back. I just think that on the front, in the bottom it will be awkward to one hand it for an unlock. I am sure it is not as bad as I am imagining and some hands on time with the phone would change my mind.
No SD slot - FULL STOP, I WILL NOT BUY THIS PHONE. seriously this is the one that just blows my mind. I guess I am old school and don't trust the cloud.
In the end I followed OnePlus's motto to "Never Settle" (on their phone) Looks like I will be sticking with LG. I don't mean that in a negative way, the LG has been a great phone, I was just really excited to try a stripped down version of Android.
Isn't SD slot also an aspect of water resistance (Score:2)
No replaceable battery - This one still burns my ass, but any modern phone has to be water resistant so whatever....
No SD slot - FULL STOP, I WILL NOT BUY THIS PHONE
Wouldn't the instruction of an SD card slot be a major potential point of failure as far as water resistance goes?
Real question, are there any phones that can go underwater for a while that have SD card slots? I know there are cameras that are water resistant and even some that are truly water proof that have card slots, but all of the cameras
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Hardly anyone changes an SD card frequently, you can easily have a waterproof seal over the SD card slot, and you also have the same waterproofing issue with the SIM card slot as well.
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Okay, and? (Score:1)
My only question is if there's another good hardware manufacturer that sells a phone with vanilla Android?
Oh, and capitalism really sucks when only the rich decide what you can buy. We need to pry open the market.
Idiotic oneplus gambling (Score:3)
The notch is just useless fashion (I for one dislike).
Killing the 3.5mm jack is to push pricey wireless earbuds as the USB dongle prevents the use of wired earbuds while charging.
This time they are betting high on their reputation.
normal lifecycle (Score:2)
A big so what (Score:2)
In talk radio, if you're not pissing off at least a quarter of your listeners every hour, every HOUR, you're failing.
Phone customers think they can dictate specific design decisions. So they wail about notches, which if they serve a purpose are going to stay, and they do (the cosmetics of having narrower bezels except for where the sensors/cameras sit, a big woop), customers have to vote with their feet. Headphone jacks are gonzo. If you're still wired, please 'splain the big deal having to use an adapter.
notification LED (Score:2)
also the removal of the notification LED, one of the very few distinctive features google and oneplus had, especially over the iphone.
Removing headphone jacks ... (Score:2)
... is about making money selling those sweet beats wireless headphones. Who cares what users want when polls indicate they'll give in in large enough numbers to ramp up profits on the headphone front.
The never listened to fans (Score:2)
OnePlus NEVER made their phones. I'm not sure why this mistake is made over and over and over by One plus fans. OnePlus repackages and slightly customizes Oppo phones. They have NEVER made their own phones. That's why they can get away with the price break. Whatever Oppo makes? That's what the OnePlus is going to look like.
Samsung may be dropping the headphone jack as well (Score:2)
Samsung is rumored to drop the headphone jack in the S10 [forbes.com]
As far as I see it, OnePlus includes a USB-C adapter in the box and that's good enough. You probably only use one set of headphones with a headphone jack. Hotglue that sucker on and be done with it.
But, let's be honest... are people used to an open system like OnePlus - which encourages mods, releases the kernel source code, provides easy unlocking of the bootloader, etc....and all without voiding the warranty, going to flock to a closed Samsung phone
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OnePlus includes a USB-C adapter in the box and that's good enough. You probably only use one set of headphones with a headphone jack. Hotglue that sucker on and be done with it.
That's absolutely NOT good enough. I use three sets of wired headphones. There is one set in my gym bag, another one at home for the times when I walk the dog, go shopping, and so on. And a third set that's a backup set for the times when one of the others is lost and misplaced. A few times I have ended up in gym with no headphones
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They do sell USB-C headphones. The new OnePlus bullets [oneplus.com] are USB-C for $20
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Samsung already lost me by making the "infinity edge" display the only display you can have on their galaxy devices.
It blows my mind why many people insist of having battery-killing CPU-devouring QHD resolution on their phone even though it makes no difference to the human eye, and yet will accept the rounded edge display which gives you a clearly visible distortion at the edges of this marvelous display with QHD resolution.