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How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

arstechnica.com

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Re: How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

#21

Post by mhitza »

Valodim wrote: post #10

Not an expert, but I recently heard that apparently not everything is perfect in fairphone land: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/24134-devices-lacking-stand...

Fairphone makes their fair share of blunders. Software updates are a big issue, especially around the times that critical vulnerabilities need to be patched.

With the hardware I'm not impressed, and on their own forum I've seen plenty of people reporting issues with overheating on the Gen 6. Hopefully kinks have been ironed out on their 6+.

The current CEO also has a persona that would stir up any community (read a few of his AI-gened posts on their blog, if interested of context).

Still holding on to my FP4, but they are not of consideration on my future phone purchase, unless there is some kind of reality check over there and improvements materialize beyond words.

Re: How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

#22

Post by Aachen »

mentalgear wrote: post #4

Great what they are doing - yet I found Shiftphone to be also fair, equally or better repairable and even more open for alternative Operating Systems. I think Fairphone supports 2 OSes officially, Shiftphone has a whole custom ROM list of ~10. https://www.shift.eco/en/shiftphone-8/

Ten? So like Android and Linux flavors? I'm not sure I even know of ten: e/OS, Calyx, Lineage, Ubuntu Touch, eh is there like Mobian or something still alive... how do they get to ten?? Do they also all fully work? Camera and calling (and not only on 2G) for example?

I'd be interested in the list, the website you've linked is super sparse (the full menu is like shop, some feel-good pages about device deposit and impact, blog, and contact us - no knowledge base, documentation, or somewhere where you'd expect to find OS info or even downloads)

Re: How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

#23

Post by mdp2021 »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #17

I would love a Fairphone, but no headphone jack is a nonstarter for me. Still blows me away that a company saying they are focused on longevity would get rid of a universal audio interface that we've had for decades. In the article they claim it's to fit other features in, but frankly that's not a believable claim. Other manufacturers manage to get a headphone jack in just fine, without any noticeable downside.

I absolutely concour about the need of a headphone jack - I do not buy anything without it. So,

> to fit other features in

what exactly, one would ask. If there are tradeoffs, if would be nice if the customers can decide what to have, in a modular product.

Re: How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

#24

Post by Aachen »

rpdillon wrote: post #8
jqpabc123 wrote: post #3

The new $650 Fairphone Gen 6+ is designed both for longevity and easy repairability. I applaud the concept but to see how well this actually holds up in the real world, let's check the Fairphone web site. Where are the parts to repair any version prior to Gen 6? I don't see them listed anywhere. So it would appear that "longevity" is actually pretty limited.

This is a good point. Ifixit has guides for all the phones, but it reports that none of the replacement parts are actually sold in the United States. https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Fairphone Reminds me of the cold steel throwing axe that I bought that specifically has replaceable handles in case you break one. No one actually sells the handles though!

Didn't they launch only their first device (considering this is the sixth generation) in the USA a few months ago? Hopefully the replacement parts are yet to come. I'm not sure why it's so difficult, perhaps it's that they're stretched too thin and barely managed to get the base device to market there at all

I bought one a few years ago. Good device, too big for my hands (back then, there were still smaller options so I bought one of those smaller ones in second-hand). Not having spare parts available would make me hesitate since that's like 50% of the point (fair sourcing being the other half), but besides that it's a (big) phone like any other

Re: How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

#25

Post by armadyl »

moffkalast wrote: post #20
Valodim wrote: post #10

Not an expert, but I recently heard that apparently not everything is perfect in fairphone land: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/24134-devices-lacking-stand...

[flagged]

> neither will their own Motorola whenever they get around to actually making it

Source: You made it up

A quick search would basically disprove everything after your first sentence.

Re: How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

#26

Post by generalpf »

encom wrote: post #15
jqpabc123 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Afair, they started running out of some Fairphone 3 spare parts around 2024 So "longevity" is actually about 5 years. Or less if you live in the USA. https://us.fairphone.com/repairs

That's 5 years longer than Apple.

With Apple, you can't repair it yourself, but Apple will repair it for much longer than 5 years.

Not even Fairphone can repair your phone if it's out of parts.

Re: How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

#27

Post by paimapi »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #11
thg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fairphone 4 (2021) parts: https://www.fairphone.com/shop/category/spare-parts-4?catego... Fairphone 5 (2023) parts: https://www.fairphone.com/shop/category/spare-parts-4?catego... Parts for the Fairphone 2 (2015) and Fairphone 3 (2019) aren't available anymore, but I suppose that's not all that surprising after 11 respective 7 years. Afair, they started running out of some Fairphone 3 spare parts around 2024 and kept…

Afair, they started running out of some Fairphone 3 spare parts around 2024 So "longevity" is actually about 5 years. Or less if you live in the USA. https://us.fairphone.com/repairs

presumably longer if they were more popular and repair shops stock up on the parts. I assume most FP users are fairly tech savvy and would just purchase multiple components that are more likely to fail as a just-in-case (much like I do for bearings, headlights, and other small parts for my car)

Re: How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

#29

Post by mmastrac »

heikkilevanto wrote: post #16

Happy FairPhone 4 user here. Running 3+ years, only replaced the battery once. Aim to keep it 7-10 years, barring unforeseen events like theft. Not going to replace it just because a newer model is released.

I've been running mine for ~4ish I think, on my third battery and might run out my fourth because it's feeling a _little_ sluggish at times.

I am waiting for the next FP model where I can use a USB-C/dp external display and then I'm all over it.

Re: How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+

#30

Post by neobrain »

mdp2021 wrote: post #23
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #17

I would love a Fairphone, but no headphone jack is a nonstarter for me. Still blows me away that a company saying they are focused on longevity would get rid of a universal audio interface that we've had for decades. In the article they claim it's to fit other features in, but frankly that's not a believable claim. Other manufacturers manage to get a headphone jack in just fine, without any noticeable downside.

I absolutely concour about the need of a headphone jack - I do not buy anything without it. So, > to fit other features in what exactly, one would ask. If there are tradeoffs, if would be nice if the customers can decide what to have, in a modular product.

> If there are tradeoffs, if would be nice if the customers can decide what to have, in a modular product.

A "modular product" has tradeoffs in and of itself (such as size, price, water resistance, …), which presumably would not fly for a majority of customers.

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