I can only wonder why all that work to keep alive a connector that was born defective in the first place, especially when the patent is for something that obvious. I'm strongly opposed to removing analog output from devices, but would hope someone somewhere could make a more modern and reliable design then implement it successfully and release its specs for public use without the aggressive involvement of any law firm. ...Geez, it's a connector!
I consider it defective because it's merely the bigger connector shrunk in size, but if spring tension can ensure at least decent electrical contact in the bigger one (as a bass player I can tell you the bigger one has its problems as well), the smaller one suffers from all sorts of problems due to lousy contacts and excessive force imposed to them because contacts are used to keep the plug inserted, thus forcing them to a bigger strain. We already have a solution: flexible PCBs. Just make one large enough to carry the desired number of signals, then shape it to be easy to insert into a receptacle with flat contacts (think of micro-sd cards) or even using micro spheres with springs which would make contacts self cleaning; make the retention mechanism act on the sides of the connector and contacts on its surfaces, so that contacts elasticity is not abused.
Why not just make a new 2mm-1.5mm port and ship 3.5mm to 2mm adaptors with all phones? I know it would easier to bend but I feel like they would be pretty cheap to replace the adaptors and could be designed so that they break in such a way that you could pull the broken end from the phone. You could also have high grade titanium reinforced plugs/adaptors.
I just switched to USB-C/Thunderbold and I cannot be happier. I can do absolutely anything with a single port - listen music, connect my monitor, charging my laptop, network connection, connect an external graphic card etc...
That floating corner there is very likely to snap off, furthermore it'd require quite a hefty bezel to even fit it without having a weird gap in your screen.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 24.9 ms ] threadBasically all the music you've ever heard has gone through many versions of this and it's larger (1/4in') equivalent.
If it's defective, it's making the world go round regardless.
It seems like if you accidentally closed the lid it might do damage to the screen?
I guess you would have to have a rim around the front of the lid with a notch if you wanted to avoid that?
What does the USPTO actually do these days?
https://www.cultofmac.com/85736/apple-patents-ways-to-make-a...
Too small tolerances needed?