Be Excellent To Each Other

So i'm have my second iphone 3g since august, and now it has almost the same problem as my first: my headphone socket works weird. I use my iphone an awful lot as music/podcast player on my bike, and a bit used that my headphones develop a malfunction on one side because the cable is pulled to hard or something, but can't explain this.
Why does the headphone work when i put it in loosely, but when i press and put it in correctly it just works for 20% in one ear. how can being inserted wrongly be better than correctly , and what do i do?

Oooh, could this be the fact that its non standard? The metal connector is a but longer to include the talking hands free data. This means you need to use the standard white headphones that came with it, or special other ones.

At least I think.

I base this on sticking my iPhone headphones in my laptop and it all going weird like you describe.

it says "made for iphone" on the case (first thought it was my headphone, so bought a new white talky -sennheiser- headphone, now probably not such a smart move.

that old black headphone, with talky stuff works weird on my DS too..

Actually, The extra band on the connector is to include the mic signal which doubles as the pause switch.

The connector itself is not longer. However, the socket on the iphone is recessed and most connectors won't be able to insert fully, they need the housing to be narrow to fit into the recessed bit.


From what he says, his headphone socket probably is knackered.
I would try a bit of isopropyl alcohol or contaclean on the connector and try to clean the socket contacts by inserting it a few times, but if that doesn't help then the socket will need to be changed.

Check with another set of headphones first of course in case it's the plug / cable that's at fault.

listen to kalmar not me!

that happened with my first iphone, luckily my insurance sent me a new one

The headphone socket on the 3G/3GS is not recessed and any headphone jack will fit normally. It's recessed on the 2G, however.

Try getting a can of compressed air and squirting some into the headphone socket on the phone, or getting a bent paperclip and picking away at the insides. Sometimes fluff and other pocket lint can work it's way into the socket and get compressed down by the headphone jack, leading to a bad connection.

Gazzie, you're my new hero! had already tried to suck dirt out (that sounds horrible), but just a minute of plicking, let to the removal of quite a lot of dirt..