Why no headphone jack?

Hello. I have been using older Boox I86ML and then N96 for a while. After a while I bough Boox Note. It has a lot of advantages compared to my older devices but also one big downside. There is no headphone jack. I’ve seen that other new Boox devices also does not include a headphone jack. I would like to ask, why?

Summary

There are speakers but in the most cases that I could imagine that is not ideal.
There are bluetooth headphones but not everyone wants to replace their/ or spend more money. Also it is another device that needs to be charged. The same goes for bluetooth adapters.
There are usb to audio jack adapters but that would need to be compatible to work while charging. That is, more money to spend and more things to carry around (or lose).
Of course the reason would be obvious if there was no space for adding another jack. But opening up Note has revealed that there is plenty of space inside and also another not soldered 9 pin jack. (even with plastic cut out inside).

1 Like

Yeah, that was kind of concerning for me too. I went with the Nova Pro, and that doesn’t even have speakers! TBF, I can’t read and listen to music at the same time, so the only thing I’d see myself using it for is the TTS reading.

It also could just be trend following. Ever since Apple left the headphone jack behind, more and more phone companies have also been doing it, cause it’s probably just easier to build a device and assume the user will provide Bluetooth headphones. It’s not a good reason, more of an excuse really, but it’s an explanation at least