The Moondrop MIAD 01 is one of the most distinctive Android devices of 2024 thus far. It has a 4.4mm headphone jack to go with the more conventional 3.5mm type. Furthermore, it seems it might be as appealing to teardown enthusiasts as well as audiophiles, and may, therefore, also be easier to repair than most modern smartphones.
  • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    462·
    9 months ago

    Here’s specs: https://liliputing.com/moondrop-miad-01-smartphone-with-hifi-audio-features-launches-globally-for-399/

    Seems nice. I just wish it had removable battery, like phones used to, so I could carry a spare around, like I used to with Sony Ericsson W200i.
    Also dedicated dual SIM + MicroSD instead of hybrid.

    Just got an idea, the Galaxy Flip has 2 batteries. Small one, and large one. What if there was a small one built-in, and a larger swappable one. You could then hot-swap the batteries like with some ThinkPads (those with internal + external battery).

    • cm0002@lemmy.world
      121·
      9 months ago

      Oh look, a “specialty” android device with actual decent specs. Someday something like the Linux phone or fair phone or any of the other “specialty” phones to catch my attention over the years will get it together and do the same lol

    • tedu@azorius.net
      33·
      9 months ago

      Every phone can have two batteries if you just get a battery pack.

    • GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml
      416·
      9 months ago

      Unfortunately making the battery removable will make the phone considerably thicker and probably easier to break which is not what most of the users want

      • mobius_slip@beehaw.org
        14·
        9 months ago

        The Galaxy S5 was the last of the mainline series to have a removable battery, and was thinner than the S9 which came out four years later. It also had a pretty good water resistance rating.

        Any “downsides” to a replaceable battery are a myth.

        • pearable@lemmy.ml
          2·
          9 months ago

          I will say my Fairphone is a good bit thicker than my work Iphone but honestly it’s not a significant downside for me. The weight is a bigger deal but still not worth the trade-off for a phone I can be confident I can repair myself

      • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
        8·
        9 months ago

        Iirc, removeable batteries make phones harder to break. If you drop them, the back cover and battery come off, reducing the shock on the display.

        • GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml
          2·
          9 months ago

          Breaking a modern screen by dropping the phone on a flat surface is not that easy. What can break more often is the electrical circuit between the battery and the phone (causing it to force shutdown that can lead to potential software instabilities), the back cover and sometimes the display flat cable thing

  • njaard@lemmy.world
    25·
    9 months ago

    Man, this is looking really appealing:

    • Headphone jack!
    • Great global and US network support
    • “Honest” marketing of its cameras (lol!)
    • Huge :(

    Now the only thing that’s missing is if it’s reasonably easily rootable, so I’ll keep an eye on this phone.

    • iopq@lemmy.world
      7·
      9 months ago

      Yes, but it’s basically placebo if your headphone cable is of a normal length

      • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
        9·
        9 months ago

        I wouldn’t say placebo. It’s definitely doing something. I would say it’s unnecessary in most environments, and probably definitely on a mobile phone. But to lift right out of the article:

        You may be wondering if balanced audio is “higher quality” than unbalanced — the answer is no. Balanced cabling doesn’t provide a better quality of sound than unbalanced cables. Audio source and the quality of materials in the actual cable’s construction determine sound quality more than anything. However, balanced audio does a better job of eliminating noise, should it exist in your signal. In a case where extraneous noise is present, balanced audio will be clearer than unbalanced audio.

        • WaterWaiver@aussie.zoneEnglish
          52·
          9 months ago

          I wouldn’t say placebo. It’s definitely doing something.

          I would say this is still a placebo. Placebos always still do something. A sugar pill tastes sweet and modifies the sugar levels in your blood. The important questions are validity and effectiveness, not whether or not it does something.

          Balanced audio will not eliminate noise in most of the circumstances where a headphone user hears noise. There are far more likely sources (the source file itself, DAC limitations, audio amp limitations, external sound from their environment, etc). It will help in some very specific circumstances, but that’s like trying to sell snow chains to all car owners on the planet because you can claim that they improve traction.

          If you do work in an environment where changing to balanced headphone signalling helps… why are you working with your head inside an RF hazard zone?

          (From page): However, balanced audio does a better job of eliminating noise, should it exist in your signal. In a case where extraneous noise is present

          Misleading.

          Noise exists in all signals. Balanced audio only “does a better job” in circumstances other than what this product is being sold for. Discussing this at all gives it false merit anyway.

          EDIT: Giving this some further thought: balanced and unbalanced signalling is mostly moot when you’re an isolated device with one cable attached. From an RF standpoint you’re not forming both halves of an antenna (dipole or monopole+ground). Electrically they both look extremely similar in this scenario. Your partially conductive human arms waving around will probably couple to RF noise better than the headphone cable.

          • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
            1·
            9 months ago

            Ah. Yes. I see your original meaning. I misunderstood what you had meant.

            Balanced will reduce noise (in terms of RF noise, of course) significantly better than unbalanced, but the source of noise does need to be far enough away from the capturing device to not affect it directly and, therefore, be able to be negated by the balanced cable. However, the end user (listening to balanced vs unbalanced signal on a mobile phone) won’t be experiencing a difference between the two (IE placebo affect).

            Thanks for clarifying!

            • WaterWaiver@aussie.zoneEnglish
              2·
              9 months ago

              Balanced will reduce noise (in terms of RF noise, of course) significantly better than unbalanced,

              In this situation I don’t think it will at all.

              I don’t think that balanced vs unbalanced is actually electromagnetically that different in this particular configuration (see my edit at the end of above). Things like where the wire is sitting on your body and what pose you are in will probably affect RF noise pickup levels on the headphone wires much more than changing between bal & unbal signalling.

              but the source of noise does need to be far enough away from the capturing device to not affect it directly and, therefore, be able to be negated by the balanced cable.

              I didn’t get into near-field and far-field effects. I’m not sure that it really matters here, but I might be wrong.

  • Mango@lemmy.world
    141·
    9 months ago

    Well dang. I’m getting it. I’ll sacrifice a decent bit of CPU performance for a phone made with some principles and with the moon audio quality.

      • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
        31·
        9 months ago

        Hahaha!! I wish! Actually, I have old equipment that only takes the 6.35mm TS (and a couple TRS) connectors, and I don’t like adaptors, as they almost always noticeably reduce audio quality.

        • WaterWaiver@aussie.zoneEnglish
          3·
          9 months ago

          I don’t like adaptors, as they almost always noticeably reduce audio quality.

          Huh? 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapters, the small bits of metal and plastic, or are you talking about something else?

          • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
            11·
            9 months ago

            Yeah. Maybe I just bought the super cheap ones? Not sure. I ended up getting a 3.5 to 6.35 cable, and haven’t had a problem since.

            • WaterWaiver@aussie.zoneEnglish
              2·
              9 months ago

              That’s really weird o.o The adapters should just be metal and plastic, same as the cables.

              Maybe they have a really weak connection internally, ie high resistance? This might lead to both lower volume in the headphones and (in some circumstances) higher noise, especially if it’s an unstable resistor.

              I recommend starting a shelf of cursed items :)

                • WaterWaiver@aussie.zoneEnglish
                  1·
                  9 months ago

                  This could end up competitive.

                  Invite people to your house, give them a tour and briefly mention the shelf before scurrying them on. Watch their faces contort but don’t give them the opportunity to ask any questions.

                  EDIT: I have a vague guess at what could have gone wrong with your adaptor. It might have had OK L and R contacts but a broken G contact. You would then hear the difference between the L and R channels, which most often sounds like garbage. Music would be weird (entire instruments/vocals disappear) and mono audio would be silent or near-silent (so you’ll have to turn it up a lot and will hear noise).