“I said it when I wrote about the awful decision to remove the headphone jack, and I’ll say it again now: I like my iPhone a lot,” Jordan Minor writes for Geek. “However, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that since there are no more obvious improvements left to be made to the device beyond better specs, Apple is making its phones worse in the attempt to make them different.”
“The latest terrible-sounding iPhone feature?” Minor writes. “A mode designed specifically for use in movie theaters.”
“Some recently discovered 2014 Apple patents have been causing quite a controversy among film fans. The documents propose the idea of having users press a popcorn-shaped button to put their iPhone in ‘Theater Mode,'” Minor writes. “This would dim the screen, turn off sounds, disable certain wireless communication, and even let theater owners know who is being a respectful audience member in exchange for some reward.”
Minor writes, “The only ‘Theater Mode’ is turning your phone off.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, we agree wholeheartedly: The only “Theater Mode” is turning your phone off.
We do not agree at all that removing the antiquated headphone jack was an “awful decision.”
“Apple is making its phones worse in the attempt to make them different.”
There might be more truth to this than I want to believe.
That applies to a lot of decisions at Apple lately .
That’s how I felt about the 2013 Mac Pro – an Ives circle jerk. Plenty of flash but not the right form.
Theater Mode is a fabulous idea and has great potential. Think of it as “personalized sound” …sort of like a “personal computer” where you get to set it up the way _you_ like it.
Old ears simply do not function as well as young ears. There is also a lot of individual variation (at any age). And people have different personal preferences, too. Someone exposed to sound all week might prefer different settings than someone who worked alone in a quiet office. Parents might like the sound lower, while teenagers might be happy to keep it loud. Many performing arts venues already offer “broadcast sound” to people with hearing aids. Think of Theater Mode as a sort of “everyman” version of that technology.
Picture a lot of different people walking into a performing arts venue for a music concert, stage performance, theatrical performance, or even a movie — and letting them hear the sound they want to. Some may adjust for a different frequency response range. (As ears age, they can begin to fail to pick up certain frequencies as well as they once did — picture adjusting the frequency range for your ears.) Some may prefer different volume settings (including maybe a different level for each ear). Some people might prefer to select preferences for a sound range so, for example, they can well hear the spoken word, while avoiding the “highest highs” associated with, say, suspenseful background music. You get the picture. Personalized sound delivered over your AirPods via your iPhone.
Let’s take it step further and see “noise cancelling technology” built into the AirPods so you can go on a plane (or even use them in your car) to eliminate the loud background noises that audiologists know represent an affront to one’s ears. So we can save our ears for music & communication, rather than wasting them on plane, road, or car noises.
Picture an app that lets you review your exposure to various sounds and decibel levels, and even warns you when these are present. (Dangerous sound levels include both the level of exposure (in terms of decibels) as well as the duration of exposure.
So, yes, Theater Mode sounds like a great first step. And the technology can be pushed further. It is a health app and a personal lifestyle app, too.
i will use this iPhone 5 that I got for free until it no longer works.. then I will get a flip phone.
Smart phones are stupid.
Try to find a candy bar type phone, as that flip to open might be a little daunting to someone like you.
lol
thats right – I was just trolling like the little ass I am – ill do better folks really ill try but living here at my moms is just getting too hard.
I want a concert mode where when you turn it on at a concert it pipes the sound from the concert through your headphones. The sound in most arena’s and stadiums is so bad I wish there was a way I could listen to the sound in some controlled way.
This might also work in a teaser so I can block out the running commentators behind me.
Most concerts these days use line arrays, many made by JBL, which is owned by Harman, which is now owned by Samsung. Get the picture?
Check out http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/technology/ for some amazing new “old” tech.
These are some of the places that “get it,” including Lambeau and Bryant Denny Stadium.
http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/portfolio-list/
http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/danley-delivers-clarity-and-punch-at-alabamas-iron-city-music-venue/
Not affiliated, just a big fan.
yeah, I hate that they keep adding megapixels and cameras – I was much more happy with grainy iPhone 4 shots – the 12 megapixels are just too ‘very’
Should have a choice on pics (size) for this reason. I’m not a huge photographer, but damn, may 128GB is being eaten alive by photos/videos (I can change vid choices). And yes, I did use the smaller photos options where available. Just seems that I’m eating more and more space and not really seeing better pics, etc. I love my 6s. But I can’t imagine I only have 50GB free.
Sarcasm is lost on many
F.Lux have a solution that may work in theatres. They call it “Dark Room Mode”, which greyscales, inverts, and makes all the light textures red. So essentially you have reds and black. (See
)
The reason I often notice smart phones in theatres is because of the blue glow from the screen. If that’s muted beyond even what night shift can offer, then maybe it could work.
They also issue baseball bats to people. So we can bonk the idiots using phones during the movie.. HELLO WE ALL PAID MONEY TO BE HERE.. STOP BEING INCONSIDERATE.
BONK BONK BONK!!!
Switch off and enjoy film.
Theatre Mode already exists.
“The only ‘Theater Mode’ is turning your phone off.”
I’m guessing that MDN and the author (Jordan Minor) probably aren’t parents. When you take your wife out on a rare date night and leave the wee one(s) with sitters, having your phone handy (on vibrate) in case the sitter has an emergency is one of the things that let’s us relax and enjoy a night out.
I would use a “theater mode” button as described, so I could go out of the theater and take the call. Would it revolutionize my life? No. Does saving me several taps to configure my phone manually for such an occasion make for a better OS? Yes.
thats your own fault for bring life into this terrible world.
spoken like a true self-loathing leftist
Courageous? Apple doesn’t know the meaning of the word. Change for change’s sake is worthless. Innovation isn’t courageous, it’s brilliant, inspiring, delightful. Tim Cook seems to think anything different is spectacular in its own right because his thinking is mediocre and pedantic.
I wish The Steve had said “try to make the decisions I’d make” instead of what he really said, which was to not try to think like him and make reasoned decisions on your own. He trusted these guys too much, they were crap without his leadership, obviously. I don’t mean to be harsh, I’m still buying Apple stuff but not sure for how much longer. Remove the headphone jack on a portable device that’s supposed to replace my iPod? The benefit being waterproofing and making an already thin-enough device thinner at the expense of me not being able to use my expensive wired cans. BURN (on me)
As I understand it, Theatre mode is a setting that is specific to the location where you trigger it. Once you walk out, your iPhone knows that you’ve left and restores everything back to normal.
I think it’s this feature that makes it especially practical. There’s no danger of accidentally leaving your phone switched off after you have left.
holy hell, can we just get the carplay interface on our phones so we can utilize it while driving? Starting to lose faith, but being thousands of dollars in the ecosystem, I don’t have much choice but to have some…
People still go to theatres? What a waste of time, money and the shitty screens they have. 4K/UHD at home rules. And you can pause it to get your popcorn.
Of course. Modern arena style and IMAX theaters are not shitty screens.
Most of us don’t have 100″ – 150″ screen to mimic the experience of watching latest Star Wars movie in IMAX, which we also can’t watch at home because its only in theaters for next several months.
MDN, nothing but a bunch of “awful” apple ass kissers, F MDN.
What I had read is a feature similar to DONTDISTIURB (Auto, Manual) ,
If you dont want it put it on manual Never use it
If you like control put use manual, and be kind and use it, If you want auto: then when you enter a theater their Wifi, or beams tell your device to enter theater mode,