Live data from Hacker News

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

androidcentral.com

501–510 of 531 posts

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

#501

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"Choose your dopamine [fix]" :)

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

#503
post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So, for every Fairphone 5 we make, we responsibly collect and recycle 212 grams of electronic waste. And a lot of that waste is taken from countries where e-waste recycling is not a reality yet. It does not seem like they are buying offsets. Also why would Fair materials mean nothing?

They are claiming that they are recycling something to offset their phones... that's nice but it tells us very little. "Fair materials" means nothing in itself and certainly nothing in relation to sustainability.

They have made extensive blog posts about their supply chain and material sourcing over the years.

And they're claiming to recycle e-waste proportionally to the weight of each sold phone, what more specifics would you want?

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

#504
post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, some devices (Pixel 9 at least) have now added a tiny little touch sensor exactly where the fingerprint reader used to be - it doesn't read the fingerprint, but you can regain this functionality by mapping taps to actions. I can't even imagine why they decided to keep the fingerprint sensor on the front but add a whole separate sensor on the back.

Are you talking about the feature "Quick Tap" in the settings where you can double tap the back? There's no sensor for that, they just use the accelerometer to detect that input. It's been incredibly unreliable for me.

I suppose so! I didn't realize that's how it was implemented. I guess that explains the... less than stellar reliability.

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

#505

All phones eventually become obsolete, but their guts could be used in so many ways. I'd love for example if someone made an enclosure acting also as multi port docking station so that old phones with unlocked bootloader (Fairphone being one of them) could be reflashed with a different operating system then used as mini PCs, media players, IoT wall terminals with bigger screens or other uses. Seeing all that perfectl…

For what you say, the most important is that the USB Type C connector of the phone must not be an antediluvian USB 2.0, but it must be an USB 3.0 or better, and also supporting DisplayPort. For such phones, using any kind of peripherals, including external monitors, network interfaces or docking stations becomes possible. There are relatively cheap smartphones with such USB ports, e.g. around $400 from Motorola, but…

Alas, the official website says "USB-C 2.0".

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

#506
post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should someone who is going to throw their phone away in 2 years (or less) anyway be forced to subsidize those who want to keep theirs longer? There is a cost to supporting old hardware and that needs to be paid by someone.

I was assuming that we as a society would rather want to survive this century, but you're right, maybe we don't. We surely act like we really, really don't. But hypothetically, if we were to want to survive, such regulations would be some of the very easy steps to take (and by far not enough, of course). And again, I think you're right: it's far more likely that we as a society will just collapse, so maybe it's not e…

Throwing phones away is not going to cause society to collapse.

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

#507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, I am more interested in a 4G/5G modem to connect some modular computer. A smart phone is an expensive one. Do you know of a simple modern 4G/5G modem, USB? Only IPv4/IPv6 bridge, I guess you need USB CDC or something for that (NDIS is deprecated)? Any tip?

This looks like the chip that was used in the Pinephone as well as the modem card in the machine I'm typing this on. It works well on Linux although sometimes it's not available after waking from suspend (I think that was fixed although I've gotten used to not expecting it to be so I haven't been checking it.) It's pretty easy to dial the PPP (IP) connection with network manager + modem manager, doing it from scratch…

Need a driver?

I think there are a few USB standards for IPv4/IPv6 bridges (CDC and more), namely, it should not require a specific driver.

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

#508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This looks like the chip that was used in the Pinephone as well as the modem card in the machine I'm typing this on. It works well on Linux although sometimes it's not available after waking from suspend (I think that was fixed although I've gotten used to not expecting it to be so I haven't been checking it.) It's pretty easy to dial the PPP (IP) connection with network manager + modem manager, doing it from scratch…

Need a driver? I think there are a few USB standards for IPv4/IPv6 bridges (CDC and more), namely, it should not require a specific driver.

No. It's just PPP over USB CDC. In theory you could even use it with the FreeDOS USB drivers and Windows 3.11's network drivers if you were willing to write the appropriate modem script.

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

#509
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

They do Face ID because it's cooler and for unreasonable ideas about "security". As if most people are enough of a target to mess around with bio identification.

Apple best product is marketing by far; this is just one of the results.

I have been using Face ID since the iPhone X and agree that it sucks. It doesn't even really solve the "problems" I thought it would solve (unlock while cooking or other activities where your hands are dirty) because you need to look at the thing in a particular way and you need clean hands to interact with the phone anyway.

It is especially annoying because the design of the notch/dynamic island is just terrible/stupid.

There are days where I get so many misses that I feel like disabling the thing entirely since I have to use the passcode so much anyway. I was already very skeptical of Touch ID but Face ID is just worse and more expensive for not much benefits.

This is the issue with technology nowadays, most of the real "problems" have been solved so tech companies come up with all kinds of nonsense to sell newer and shinier stuff. At some point a screwdriver is a screwdriver and a smartphone is a smartphone, we just need it to be of good quality and last long, that's it. But this does not make for "infinite" growth so here we are...

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

#510
post #265

I am still waiting for Fairphone and Graphene OS collaboration. This is match made in heaven. Any Fairphone/GrapheneOS developer reading this? Just do it, document if something is not secure enough for you, but do it. Nothing to think about, you fit together like hand and a glove and any seconds thoughts are depriving the planet of THE PHONE! Pick the cash we will throw at you and make second generation with the cpu…

I recently suggested that GrapheneOS support devices with average security on Mastodon. Much like yourself, I think "moderately okay security" is better than "just use Google's spyware infested OS". The GrapheneOS folks replied in disagreement, insisting that this is a terrible idea because security would be less than perfect. They then started making up stories about me and throwing around unfounded accusations. I d…

That's like suggesting to Formula 1 World Champion to accept not being at the pinnacle of excellence and despite their talent to voluntarily move to a mid tier team because having a moderately okay car is better than not being in the sport. Same for cycling, tell last years Tour de France winner to stop using that light high end carbon fibre bike and just use that heavy 1960s steel bike instead, they both have wheels and get you from the start to the finish after all. Don't aspire to be more than average or the best. Just settle.
Post reply on HN