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Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

androidcentral.com

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Re: Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

#231
post #7

They mention the Pixel and I just got to say, I wish someone would bring back the fingerprint reader on the back of the phone. That was seriously the best solution. Fastest way to unlock your phone, because no matter how slow the fingerprint reader is you activate it while pulling it out of your pocket. I honestly don't get why people like Face ID more (what I currently use). Someone, please bring this back

The Pixels had the worst option for a while: the under-screen optical sensor. Slow and prone to failure. They've since switched it out for an ultrasonic sensor, but it was shockingly bad for a few years.

Nothing better than trying to unlock your phone at night and the screen blasts the white light to illuminate your fingerprint to be read.

Ultrasonic ftw.

Re: Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

#232
post #7

They mention the Pixel and I just got to say, I wish someone would bring back the fingerprint reader on the back of the phone. That was seriously the best solution. Fastest way to unlock your phone, because no matter how slow the fingerprint reader is you activate it while pulling it out of your pocket. I honestly don't get why people like Face ID more (what I currently use). Someone, please bring this back

the scene early in Demolition Man where Wesley Snipes takes advantage of the most critical flaw in biometric security has always made me shy away from it. if someone is motivated enough, removal of the unlocking body part is all to easy so I'll stick with pass codes or patterns

Don't they actually detect pulse nowadays? Or is it facial micromovements for faceid?

Re: Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

#233

I will repeat again what I'm saying since they announced the Fairphone 4: being able to repair the phone is good, but what I really would like to see is for them to go the framework route and design a phone with a standardized form factor. It doesn't need to be crazy modular, I'd just like to be able to upgrade mainboard/camera/display/storage/battery independently, and I'd like to push product development around the…

Your phone feels slow either because you are now used to faster devices or because the software used is becoming bloated. There is no reason a phone feels slower except for these two reasons (or maybe if thermal got worse over time but it should not). Personally I don’t care if a phone feels slower compared to other devices as long as it is not becoming slower because of crap software updates.

Re: Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

#234
post #204
post #7

They mention the Pixel and I just got to say, I wish someone would bring back the fingerprint reader on the back of the phone. That was seriously the best solution. Fastest way to unlock your phone, because no matter how slow the fingerprint reader is you activate it while pulling it out of your pocket. I honestly don't get why people like Face ID more (what I currently use). Someone, please bring this back

The fingerprint reader is one of the things I most love about my iPhone SE; I don’t see any reason to get a new phone. Apple’s declining software quality and walled garden incline me more and more towards ditching iPhone for GrapheneOS or a dumb phone like the Punkt MP; I find far more joy reading on an eReader, taking photos with a camera, or taking notes in my notebook than I do using the phone for any of those. Es…

Mail on iOS stopped working properly months ago, touch on this particular device sometimes does not work. Photos app is ridiculous. Software quality is declining. Even very average user like me can notice it.

Re: Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

#235

When unscrewed, users are likely to be greeted with an option to remove the battery as well as it isn’t attached to the device with the help of glue but rather with additional screws. What a horrible state of things that "not gluing the battery in place but screwing it in" is considered an improvement. IMHO smartphones have been on a horrible decline ever since ~2016. Before then, most Androids had [1] easily replace…

FairPhone used to be a manufacturer still doing the right things. My FP3 has all of that, including an official guide for unlocking the bootloader. At least they've kept their promises regarding updates, because I won't be buying their newer phones.

It's probably going to be the end of the FP3 updates sometimes in 2026, so it will be time to change. For me, it will certainly be a by a FP6.

Re: Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

#236
post #7

They mention the Pixel and I just got to say, I wish someone would bring back the fingerprint reader on the back of the phone. That was seriously the best solution. Fastest way to unlock your phone, because no matter how slow the fingerprint reader is you activate it while pulling it out of your pocket. I honestly don't get why people like Face ID more (what I currently use). Someone, please bring this back

The backside fingerprint reader could even be used as an input device on some models for scrolling, or pulling down/up the notification bar. Great for scrolling through content or swiping through screens without having to cover your display for gesture input: https://www.androidauthority.com/miss-rear-fingerprint-scann...

There was a "healthy" phone called the Bloc Phone which had the screen in Black & White by default but allowed you to use the fingerprint on the back at any time to give you a few minutes of colour when (say) looking through your camera roll. Really cool idea.

Re: Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

#237
post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sony tried to compete with the best camera, best DAC and I don't think those phones sold. Manufacturers build products the market wants. Wired headphones are not what the market wants. If you are a true purist you buy stuff from fiio and carry more then one device. This is the same thing as with small phones. A vocal minority cried far and wide that they wanted them. Apple made them.. and they did, not, sell.

> Manufacturers build products the market wants. Every single person wants smaller phones. What do we get? No small phones. Apple doesn't count… they are priced at 3x 4x what an android would cost. People want small phones but don't want to spend their whole salary on a phone.

I don't know of a single person who has switched to a smaller phone after having a bigger one (though also don't know anyone who bought a phablet, so maybe that's too big). As people moved most of their computer use to phones, bigger phones where you can see more of the web on your page, while still fitting in your pocket or purse, have won decidedly.

By and large, the only people who want small phones are those that still do most of their computing and media consumption on a PC or laptop. And that's becoming much, much rarer (and gaming doesn't really count here - lots of gamers have a separate stream or something on their phones while playing).

Re: Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I could probably use it for a few more years but I may upgrade to the 6 if the speakers/microphone are better I don't get this. Isn't the whole concept of the company modular parts? Shouldn't you be able to put the better speakers in your existing phone?

It's not modular, and each fairphone is not compatible with the previous one. FP3 had an update camera if I remember well but it was the exception.

Yes, people often get that wrong, it's not modular or upgradable, it's repairable, which is already great.

IMO we are far past the point when we should have decided smartphone hardware is good enough, and stop having people upgrade over and over. But I guess capitalism needs to be fed and everything is made to make sure that never happens (including making sure everyone thinks we do need better hardware)

Re: Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

#239
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's about planned obsolescence. It's about cutting costs and having one less hole water can get in. Also wired headphones are a very niche market. If you care so much there are wireless DACs that can feed your wired headphones better than any phone in history.

> If you care so much there are wireless DACs that can feed your wired headphones better than any phone in history. Don't they all have 50-300ms of latency? If you have a quality non-bluetooth suggestion, or I'm wrong about the latency of bluetooth, I'd be excited to hear it.

I have no idea if those numbers are correct, but I'm curious - why would latency matter for high quality audio? Jitter is the only thing that impacts audio quality, unless you are doing two-way communication.
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