iPhone 7 Bids Farewell to the Headphone Jack
By: Chris Merritt
There I was, 6:40am and standing in line at the Verizon Store in Ventura, CA. Not knowing what to expect I arrived ahead of the planned 7:00am time and found that I was only the 8th person to be there. I approached the line and the kind couple in front of me had lawn chairs, their dog and said they had been in line since 5am. iPhone 7 launch day is certainly a unique one in American society. This year seemed a bit down compared to the last time I upgraded when the iPhone 6 was released two years ago.
Nonetheless, there I was, standing in line and making idle chit-chat with those in line because we all wanted the same thing - a new iPhone 7. The allure was different for each person. Some people just desperately wanted to replace their beat up and cracked iPhone 5, or the new camera, or the new waterproof and more durable design.
The question was raised only a mere 10 minutes of my being there. The question everyone asked themselves when they first heard about the iPhone 7 - “what am I going to do without a headphone jack?”. For some, they didn’t realize the implications that this decision Apple made would have on them.
To some the solution is simple - there’s an adapter in the box. To others, it’s a bit more complicated. Some people own cars that do not have USB inputs in them. They were able to always run an aux cable from their phone to their input. If they needed power for a long trip they could simply plug it in. Now with what Apple has given them they are faced with a choice - A. listen to music on their phone, or B. charge their phone. With a shared Lightning port there is no both.
That is where Scosche comes in to save the day. The StrikeDrive Converter Kit provide you with the option to be able to do both. The design is simple. Plug in your normal Lightning to USB cable into your phone and then into the adapter that looks like a standard car power adapter that plugs into your car power port. Then simply plug your old aux cord into an adapter, and then into your input in your car. The converter serves as both a power adapter AND adapter for your music. Problem meets solution.
There are other people, much like myself, that have their favorite pair of headphones. Ones that they love how great they sound and they may not want to admit how much they cost. Sure I can use the adapter that Apple provided, but Scosche was able to take things one step further - they have been able to add volume control, pause/play and next track to cords that didn’t have them. There are two ways of doing this depending on how your headphones are corded - either an adapter that connects right into the Lightning port (StrikeLine Adapter) or if you can plug in a new cord into your headphones the controls are right there on the cord (StrikeLine Cable). These are also much easier to keep track of than the Apple Adapter that is barely 2 in. long.
Flash forward a couple months down the road. The new iPhone 7 is great, and thanks to the great lightning audio solutions from Scosche I am able to enjoy it just like I enjoyed my previous phones with their headphone jacks.