they probably should have went with 9.5 in case something better comes along
Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?
341–350 of 491 posts
Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?
#342I never broke a phone, not even scratched the screen but I feel force to buy a new one every 3 years because they become obsolete (I guess apps require more and more memory to the point I cannot have two open at the same time, which kills my ability to pay online). I bought a Framework laptop for the same reason and I successfully managed to upgrade it, not repair it! Is there a phone that allows me to upgrade over t…
I honestly don't think you have to. If banking apps are a bit slow, so what? I know that individual actions have limited impact, but do you realise what's at stake when it comes to environmental issues? FWIW I run a 6yo xiaomi and I avoid crapware, it's working fine, I can AV call, message, browse HN and other forums/links aggregator, navigate, track my sports and calories... The resources (some) apps and websites us…
> I honestly don't think you have to. If banking apps are a bit slow, so what?
Many phones are essentially abandoned by the manufacturer and don't receive any security updates not too long after release, which might just be an issue: https://source.android.com/docs/security/bulletin/2023-12-01
Not only that, but many apps won't run on the older versions of the OS either, due to the API level deprecation in Android: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...
In other words, you don't really get much of a choice, unless you are buying a flagship device and not everyone will be able to do that. The same goes for the comparatively expensive iPhone devices, the cost also being a factor there for many.
Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?
#343Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow. Without a When I think about my atari 1040ST and what it could do with a single core running at a few Mhz and a few hundred kilobytes of RAM, it makes me realise how wrong we've gone with smartphones. (before someone mentions it, I know that my atari didn't have wifi, couldn't play full HD videos, etc, and that it was harder to develop software for it, but still, something's off IMHO)
At least not with vanilla settings.
What phone and bank app is this? I have a 6 year old phone. I've never come across such issues.
Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?
#344Earlier quoted context omitted.
How many current phones have a headphone jack? When I upgraded from my Pixel 4a to the 6a (both running Graphene OS) I never noticed that the headphone jack was "missing" because I use a Bose bluetooth headset. And when I want to route the audio through my car speakers? Oh... I have a USB-C pigtail splitter which allows for power to be passed through another UBS-C port and connection to the car audio system through a…
> who needs a headphone jack anymore? Anyone who wants to listen to music with headphones and doesn't want to be tracked via bluetooth. Bluetooth tracking beacons are used extensively and can log your location within a foot of where the beacon is placed or from as far as 20 miles away. Bluetooth also increases your security risk. There have already been several exploits with bluetooth over the years.
but you can get an adapter, no?
Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?
#345Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. waste money on good adapter when jack worked fine 2. connect it to the end of my headphones and leave it there 3. remove it so I can connect same headphones to laptop 4. lose adapter repeat
It doesn't work anymore because no one cares about audio jacks on their devices, so no manufacturer puts them in. Apple may have started it, but every other manufacturer eventually followed as not enough people complained. Doesn't your laptop have USB ports?
Roughly speaking every laptop on the face of the earth, including every Apple MacBook, has a headphone jack. Speaking of Macs, many of them have very high-quality DACs and amps that can drive quality headphones. Apple has gone out of their way to make the headphone outputs very good.[1] Why then would you occupy one of your maybe two USB ports with an inferior dongle?
"Not enough people complained" is a terrible metric. Companies do anti-consumer nonsense all the time and there is no effective way for the customer to "vote with their wallets" when near enough everyone converges on the same solution.
And why did Apple do it? Don't overthink it -- it is more profitable for Apple not to put headphone jacks in their phones because then they get to sell expensive AirPods. That's it, that's the reason. There have to be millions of super frustrated iPhone users like me out there that are annoyed every single time they have to use a stupid fucking Lightning dongle just to listen to stuff with decent headphones, but Android is not an option for me and the iPhone 7 is too old to be viable, so I just clench my fists in my pockets every time I think about my garbage iPhone (and sometimes whine about it on the internet.)
Removing the headphone jack was bad, is bad, and will forever be bad. Just bring it back. Sell it in the Pro Max as a super audiophile high end DAC thing, I'll pay the $2000 or whatever you want, I don't care, just put the fucking jack back in.
Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?
#346I really like the concept, but I hate it's size. I just can't buy something that big for daily use. Why can't they make a smaller version, idk, like pixel 3/5 sizes, isn't this more sustainable/eco friendly?
Indeed! I would buy it if it were smaller (e.g., 4.7')
Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?
#347> Fairphone promises five Android version upgrades and at least eight years of security updates, with an aim for a total lifespan of a decade. Impressive
This is comparable to Apple timeline. The iPhone 6, released sept 2014 got a security update earlier this year.
imo it's better than apple. With apple you are pretty limited with apps after end of life. With android, the play store is more decoupled from the system, more apps to install even if not on the latest version. You can also sideload. But still, it's nice we have this
Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?
#348Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, yeah, that's why I mentioned other electronics instead of biodegradables. Is there something especially bad in the raw materials of phones that older bigger electronics didn't have?
For one thing an old desktop computer is almost entirely air by volume... Most of the reason that phones are small is that they've managed to make them without having to have a lot of air inside.
Sure, but every PCB in it is still bigger than a phone. I mean, this isn't some weird hypothetical situation, like we're comparing phones to mysterious cardboard boxes or something. I'm just talking about the actual e-waste that people throw away every year, and wondering how it's changed in the phone era.
I looked into a bit. Seems like no, the overall quantity (by weight) is increasing every year. There is a tiny decrease in big CRT screens, but it's offset by the steady increases in electronics of all sorts in developing countries. Phones and other small devices do make up a smaller portion of the overall weight, but overall it's still going up year after year.
https://ewastemonitor.info/gem-2020/ has a lot of good info.
Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?
#349Earlier quoted context omitted.
There should not be a need. There is enough performance, and it has plateaued.
I also don't understand their comment. I've been buying either a flagship Android or iPhone every upgrade and don't remember not getting at least 5 years out of a phone. Even at 5 years I only ever felt like I was upgrading because it was 'time', not out of a direct need. I can only imagine a person getting 3 years out of a phone if they are buying junk.
They talk about online games. Mobile gaming has become night and day in the last 4-5 years, so if you're trying to play the newest ones you may not even meet minimum specs.
I feel it's a temporary problem like PC's, where eventually they will plateau on performance and a 10YO potato will (eventually) be able to play 99% of "high end" games in some capacity, similar to how a Steam Deck can play most games (even most AAA) without special accomadations. But I imagine there will be at least 5-6 more years of moore's law before it falls off (like it did on PC around... 2015-6?)
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could also just be a low end phone. My Asus ROG 5 lasted 2.5 ish years before it literally died (sent it in for repairs to the motherboard based on online symptoms, for 3 weeks. paid $100 for shipping... died 2 months later) and instead of buying a brand new phone I just purchased the same model for half the price I bought it at launch. Still chews through pretty much every game despite being 3 years old.
Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?
#350Really loving my Fairphone 5 - basically smartphones are enough of a commodity now everything feels really high quality and fast physically. The sky blue colour is really nice. AND also it avoids conflict metals, is repairable. Much much better than my last Fairphone (which was the Fairphone 2). I switched from an iPhone this time. I'm also enjoying that Android is a bit more programmable without rooting it - running…
Have you tried the camera? How did you find it?
I honestly don't care much about processor speed, if it can run a browser, messaging and banking apps I'm fine. But I need to be able to take family pictures which are good enough quality for occasional full page prints.
I've always been disappointed with these kind of niche devices in the past, where the cameras were barely of the level of 2 year old sub-$200 phones, especially in capture speed and low light performance. You can't ask kids to reenact something in better lighting if you missed it the first time.