TECHNOLOGY and MEDIA

Apple – iPhone 7 and wireless ear bud insanity

As anyone reading this blog knows, I have never been a big Apple fan as they have always taken credit for innovations by others though Steve Jobs more artistically packaged them, usually in Zen white boxes.

So here is the bottom line:

This super/over-valued company (which cuts tax corners and cheats on its taxes as the EU has now revealed) has not had a new successful ‘invention’ in years and is doing catch up all the time.

Apple TV has failed dismally and the Apple watch has gone through 2 or 3 upgrades and is still – like the Samsung and other predecessors – a niche product that most buyers soon leave in a drawer.

And as smart phones by all manufacturers have systematically and more and more widely replaced iPods and similar music only devices, cameras, desktop computers and even laptops and tablets, Apple, among others, now finds itself in a pickle.

Its smart phones account for 70% of revenue – and no new ‘break through’ device is on the horizon for Apple or any of the numerous, other competitors.

Apple Pay may help the bottom line, but it was a concept invented years ago in Africa to meet the needs of people without any nearby bank branches.  Barclay’s of Britain then copied the concept and it has spread around the world and even now to the mighty Apple.

So, for the moment, smart phone ‘upgrades’ is everyone’s focus and selling point.

And this brings us to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Will a faster processor and fancier cameras really get people to abandon last year’s purchase?

Are wireless/cordless ear buds superior?   Because that IS the only ‘new’ feature of the iPhone 7 lineup.

And please note that it is NOT an Apple creation; far from it.

I t is a descendent of the Bluetooth wireless technology invented by Ericson in 1994 – over 20 years ago!

And again, even for smart phone use, Apple is not the great innovator as wireless ear buds have been available for almost a year from Motorola and Bragi. (See https://9to5mac.com/2016/01/08/iphone-7-wireless-headphones-beats/)

The above website already has warned the wireless ear buds require separate chips and batteries that will run less than 4 hours.

And so far, feedback and reviews have been less than enthusiastic.

Individual ear buds are already being lost and the separation of the cord – the pseudo-umbilical cord – will not be an easy adjustment.

More importantly, the new ear buds, as a 3rd level of digital sampling and compression is simply BAD for sound quality which no extra speaker can overcome.

Digital sound is ‘sampling’ and there is always some ‘dropped’ notes and sounds in digitizing.  That was a secret Sony and other kept hidden for decades as quality analog and vinyl records were replaced by sampling CDs.

All sound on an iPod and iPhone or competitor devices which store sound as digitized files already have degraded the original analog sound, and further file compression to save storage space creates another layer of deteriorated sampling.

Compared to a live a concert or vinyl record, such digitized and compressed sound is noticeable ‘dulled’. 

Just ask Neil Young who has withdrawn his music from Spotify as streaming is even worse.

And replacing analog cords with another layer of digital compression causes further degradation and quality drop.

Put simply, the iPhone 7 and wireless ear buds add a 3 round of sound quality reduction.

Just check the test results comparing iPhone 6s corded system and iPod 7 wireless at http://bgr.com/2016/09/20/iphone-7-headphones-jack-sound-test/.

Such a tradeoff will not create the havoc that 8 track produced as adjoining songs slipped into each other, but quality will certainly decline.

So, because our ears are designed to hear continuous sound waves and are sensitive enough to discern the disparity between continuous, layered analogue sound as in a symphony concert or U2 vinyl record recording – people talking, instruments playing, by comparison digitized ‘sampling has a ‘tinny’ and ‘dull’ quality.

Adding a third digital and compression round on an iPhone 7 is, consequently, a very BAD idea.

If Apple needed more space to ‘squeeze in’ better camera technology and other features, the price of cutting the analog cord is too high.  And a conversion cord adaptor will not solve the problem. 

Garbage in … garbage out.

Better to make the device less anorexic and keep the sound quality higher.

Perfectionist Steve Jobs may well be rolling over in his grave.