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Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

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Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

#351

Post by sspiff »

pachico wrote: post #289

I 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…

Is this still the case? It certainly was in the early days of smartphones, where every update it felt like you needed double the memory to keep up.

But I've been using devices with 4GB-6GB of memory for the past 8 years almost, and they don't feel that bad to use. My phone still has 6GB of memory and does all I want it to just fine.

Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

#352

Post by sambalbadjak »

I thought that fairphone was: you buy once, and you can upgrade modules over time. But it seems that modules of newer fairphones don't necessarily fit an older fairphone. So it's more about repairable for that specific version. Which is still better than no repairability.. but I imagine you can feel quite duped still having to buy a new phone every 3 years and throwing the old one out.

Anyone with experience of having a fairphone for multiple years?

Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

#353

Post by pachico »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #343
pachico wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Spanish BBVA and Triodos bank apps combined with Brave browser on a redmi with 4+2 GiB of ram.

Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

#354

Post by prmoustache »

baz00 wrote: post #317
prmoustache wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having an IP67 phone is of little help if your phone end up at the bottom of a river/lake. Ask me how I know.

I dropped mine in a river in central asia. I went in and got it out.

You got lucky to find it.

Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

#355

Post by PennRobotics »

toast0 wrote: post #71
mikece wrote: post #12

Earlier 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…

Looking at the GSM Arena Phone Finder [1], there's currently 494 cataloged phones released in 2023, and 286 of them have headphone jacks. I won't buy a phone without one, as I want to charge and listen to the movie I'm watching on a plane, and I'm not doing wireless headsets because I hate bluetooth and I hate unnecessary audio latency. [1] https://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3

This feels misleading. As soon as you add a minimum price, there are 236 phones---implying those are probably prohibitively difficult to buy in the U.S. or West Europe.

Cursory browsing... There's Infinix (serves mostly Africa and Asia) and Tecno (popular in India) and a few other brands that are mainly released in Asia. Beyond that, can you really count all 14 "Redmi" as separate phones when some only differentiate "5G" or "not 5G"? Same with various "Fan" or "VIP" editions, which typically tweak one or two peripherals?

Are you really in the market for vivo, Realme, TCL, Oukitel? Or a specialist/rugged brand like Ulefone or Doogee?

Ironically, the most popular handset made outside of China for a worldwide market is the Galaxy A24, which has a horrendous single on-board speaker. So much for audiophilia! (In fairness, as soon as you restrict Chinese and Hong Kong headsets, you're down to just a few brands. Weird tangent, it's nice to see Nokia putting out spec-competitive mid-market Android phones. I might get one next because Asus and Sony are sticking with two OS upgrades.)

Then I fell into a rabbit hole and plotted the GSM Arena prices of phones with jacks and without: https://gitlab.com/PennRobotics/permalink/-/raw/main/handset...

From that, I can fathom that headphone jacks are largely bullshit features tacked on to devkit-derived bargain bin phones, which creates a huge peak in jacked sub-$150 units. From $300 up, where you expect good peripheral selection and a normal Android experience, it's clear that headphone jacks are in the minority.

I was in the same boat: gotta have headphone jack. The best player here was LG. Keyword: was. Now I'm convinced that until phone makers actually prioritize wired audio, the better path forward (and which won't be long-term obsolete) is picking the smartphone with the best overall specs/support plus a USB splitter and whichever grade of USB DAC you prefer to drive your headphones. It's easier for the manufacturer to waterproof their case and gives more room for battery, etc. This also lets you quickly transfer your preferred hardware to a tablet/laptop/desktop, which seems like a pain unless you're in love with something high-impedance like HD600, ATH-R70, DT990, etc.

Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

#356

Post by DamonHD »

sambalbadjak wrote: post #352

I thought that fairphone was: you buy once, and you can upgrade modules over time. But it seems that modules of newer fairphones don't necessarily fit an older fairphone. So it's more about repairable for that specific version. Which is still better than no repairability.. but I imagine you can feel quite duped still having to buy a new phone every 3 years and throwing the old one out. Anyone with experience of havin…

I first bought a FP1 and I am now on a FP3. The FP1 is still just about operable as an emergency phone, and maybe a tiny bit of browsing. The FP3 is going fine. I have chosen not to upgrade the camera module, though I am still thinking about it. The 'F' has fallen off the backing plate so I in fact own an 'AIRPHONE'. A friend by the same token owns "A PHONE" which I pointed out is an entirely accuate failure mode! B^>

Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

#357

Post by throwaway290 »

DeathArrow wrote: post #275
throwaway290 wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only way this model would work is if specs are completely open, there is optional certification/audit for parts and third parties are encouraged to freely compete selling the parts.

Like in a PC?

More or less, yep.

Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

#358

Post by keraf »

fancyfredbot wrote: post #80

I owned a fairphone 3. It was expensive but very easy to take apart and promised years of updates. Then it broke, after about 18 months. Fine, I thought, I'm glad I got a repairable phone. I'll just fix it, it'll be easy. I determined the problem was with the main logic board and found that a) a new one would cost much more than an entirely new, and more capable phone and b) it was out of stock. I just bought a new p…

I bought a FP3+, still using it after 3 years, but would not go Fairphone again. Despite supporting what the company stands for, I feel they didn't deliver on their promises.

I was hoping for more upgrades to be available over time, but that was never the case. Instead, two new models appeared with a year interval and the 4 didn't even get any upgrades. Worse even, the 3.5mm jack was removed, following the trend of getting customers to buy headphones with a limited life time due to their battery. The promise of being the responsible choice for the planet is fading away.

I also faced issues when it came to repairing my device. After only 3 months the USB-C port died, impossible to charge it and once out of battery, I couldn't get my data from it. I contacted the support and they offered me two solutions: I send in the phone, it will get fixed but wiped clean or I order the part online and they reimburse me (they couldn't just send it from the repair center...). I chose the latter as I didn't want to loose my data and felt it was the more ecologically responsible choice, especially since the phone is so repairable. Well, the part was not available on their store, checked every retailer in Europe and third party parts don't exist. I was stuck with a brick for 4 months. The irony is that if I had an iPhone or Galaxy, I could get it fixed the same day at the phone repair shop around the corner...

I appreciate all the efforts Fairphone put in setting up more responsible supply chains. But in my opinion they still failed on their sustainability promise. The devices aren't well supported, it's difficult to repair them and they quickly fall behind due to the lack of upgrades (that also goes with the main board not being replaceable). New devices follow the disastrous trends of other brands with a new model each year and removing the headphone jack. Sure, they are a business and need to make money, but not by going against their own values.

Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

#359

Post by crimsoneer »

sambalbadjak wrote: post #352

I thought that fairphone was: you buy once, and you can upgrade modules over time. But it seems that modules of newer fairphones don't necessarily fit an older fairphone. So it's more about repairable for that specific version. Which is still better than no repairability.. but I imagine you can feel quite duped still having to buy a new phone every 3 years and throwing the old one out. Anyone with experience of havin…

I got the 4 a little over a year and half ago... and I feel mostly happy. I've replaced the screen twice because I'm an idiot, and like replaceable batteries. Would be nice to be able to upgrade the camera, so sad I can't do that.

Re: Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10?

#360

Post by xnickb »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #325
pachico wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, that's what I'm dealing with and it sucks. I am typing this from a phone that I am already considering replacing for this very same reason although it does everything well and I looks brand new (rubber case, screen protection, etc.). I understand phones are harder to upgrade because space is very limited but the e-waste we're generating (and the money impact) seems something that needs to be addressed.

I think it is also about the use cases and apps you use. For example: I have 1 phone older than 10y serving as a music player, almost never having Internet connection, almost always being in airplane mode. Another phone as my normal phone, also nearing 10y old, with a screen that is partially broken, but still accepts touch input fine everywhere, inherited from someone else, used usually only for Signal and Hackernew…

> Use a phone as a phone, not as your universal computing interface

Sounds limiting. Nowadays there are plenty of phones that can handle reasonable workloads at a reasonable price. Especially if you don't care about the camera.

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