I had a phone without before, that one came with a simple cheap passive adapter for USB-C to 3.5mm headset. You lose out on using headphones while charging, but other than that I was never really inconvenienced...
That post seems to be missing.
warm 84 points a year ago
After having a phone without a 3.5mm port or a microSD card slot, the top 2 features I want on a phone are a 3.5mm port and a microSD card slot.
Shame Sony discontinued their Xperia 5 series, even if they were also excessively priced.
lime 19 points a year ago
aw man, this is the first i'm hearing about discontinuation. apparently it's because people want larger phones?!
i have a 5 IV and it is by far the largest phone i've ever owned... i wish it was like an inch smaller. but it was the only model i could find that doesn't have a non-rectangular screen. these bloody camera cutouts are everywhere and i never even use the front camera.
warm 11 points a year ago
Yep... everyone wants phablets. Apparently.
I don't mind the cutouts (if done right), they just sit in the notification bar, so they never obscure anything anyway. That's a place Sony could have shaved off the extra height imo, the top and bottom bezels are pretty unnecessary.
We are slowly moving to under-screen cameras now though.
Mandrilleren 7 points a year ago
The Sony form factor is the best on the market IMO. You can hold it in you hand and get more screen in the height.
Pirate 0 points a year ago
What's the use case for microSD slots on phones these days anyway?
If it's (just) to avoid paying Google or Apple storage fees, you can work around that by buying one or several HDDs to keep at home and sync stuff over the local network, possibly even build a server and access your stuff remotely.
I really don't understand the need for that much space on the go, though. Are you watching entire series on your phone?
warm 6 points a year ago
"just", I think not giving money to Apple or Google anything is a perfectly good reason alone to want expandable storage.
Phone manufacturers charge a massive premium for more storage on a phone, storage which is then lost if the phone dies. A microSD card can be moved around and they cost little.
Not everyone has a home server, in fact a very very small percentage do and being able to store their photos and what-not on a microSD card is very valuable. The freedom to add more storage is a good thing to have. Most people can understand an SD card, but not how to setup an entire home server with syncing etc, let alone exposing that to the web to access it anywhere. It also costs money to run, a microSD card doesn't.
The only reason we don't have expandable storage or a 3.5mm port anymore is: money. They want to sell you that cloud service, upcharge you for more internal storage and make you buy their bluetooth earbuds.
stealth_cookies 32 points a year ago
I disagree about this being a good solution. USB-C is not meant to take the strain of being used as an audio port when being used in the go so there is risk of damaging the port while a headphone jack is more stable and allows the plug to rotate. Plus I don't want to have a dingle I can forget when in a rush.
idiomaddict 6 points a year ago
They should make cases with the adapter built in, the way they used to (still do?) for external battery packs.
PrinzKasper 3 points a year ago
Plus I don't want to have a dingle I can forget when in a rush.
Just have the dongle permanently attached to your earbuds like it's a part of the cable.
potustheplant 2 points a year ago
Awesome solution. Remove the port that everything used to have and make consumers buy adapters. I have like 5 headphones. Should I go buy an adapter for each one? Not to mention that I can easily fix a headphone cable but if a 3.5 to usb-c adapter breaks, it basically becomes junk.
masterspace 26 points a year ago
You also have to remember to have that adapter with you
Resonosity 1 point a year ago
If you need to plug the headphones into the adapter, you can just leave them plugged in after disconnecting from the phone
This way, the headphones almost become ones with USB-C connectors than auxiliary barrels.
HiTekRedNek 8 points a year ago
You can find adapters that can charge while still having a 3.5mm back
Badabinski 9 points a year ago
I use one of those daily and god they're all terrible. They're huge and they all break really easily. My phone is fucking huge, just give me a built in headphone jack!
tigeruppercut 8 points a year ago
I have a tablet that came with a C to 3.5 adapter and it worked well enough for a bit but soon enough it was only intermittently allowing the headphone connection to work, with a message about the port being dirty or something. Yet I could go right from unplugging that and putting the charger in and it worked fine.
There's just no substitute for a dedicated port, especially when it barely takes up any room
Laser 4 points a year ago
The reason for not using a headphone jack is making it simpler for the manufacturer, one less connector to handle which also limits how slim a phone can be.
I'm not saying this is good for the consumer, but there are reasons for integrating the functionality into the USB-C port.
hexonxonx 9 points a year ago
These points were all disproved long ago. The jack is a the same thickness as the display.
The reason is because BT headphones have a much higher margin, and need to be replaced every few years because of the battery (if not already replaced because they were lost or damaged).
It's just a dumb cash grab.
Ulrich 4 points a year ago
one less connector to handle which also limits how slim a phone can be.
The headphone jack is 3.5mm. iPhones are ~7.5mm thick, more than double. The smallest phone available on the market is 4.2mm.
ColeSloth 3 points a year ago
That means the audio still goes through another DAC, lowering the sound quality, compared to an analog 3.5 jack. Also, who wants to further risk wearing out\vreaking their charge port, jack inputs almost seem like they can't break.
potustheplant 2 points a year ago
Technically it only goes through 1 dac, not "another one". But still, yeah, your phone's dac is most likely a lot better than the one on a $10 adapter. However, the usb-c spec does allow an analog audio signal passthrough. Whether that's available or not depends on the phone I guess.
Auth -4 points a year ago
No one has been using aux cable mobile headphones for the past 10 years. Headphone jack is e-waste at this point. bluetooth audio is great and if you really want to be a boomer you can use the usb C headphones.
Ulrich 9 points a year ago
Headphone jack is e-waste
you can use the usb C headphones
What the absolute fuck are you talking about? What am I supposed to do with the dozen wired headphones I already have? Some of them decades old? Throw them in the garbage? Sounds real eco-friendly.
bluetooth audio is great
It is. We had it on phones since before the original iPhone. No one wants to take that away.
Problem is BT headphones last 2 years then they go in the garbage because the batteries are dead. How eco-friendly is that!?
FreedomAdvocate -1 points a year ago
You can use your dozen wired headphones you already have with a $10 usb-c -> 3.5mm adapter.
Dremor -1 points a year ago
Problem is BT headphones last 2 years then they go in the garbage because the batteries are dead. How eco-friendly is that!?
My 7 years old bluetooth headphone would disagree.
It is. We had it on phones since before the original iPhone. No one wants to take that away.
And no one except a vocal minority want to keep it. There are a lot on data on that, and manufacturer make their decision on that data.
But lets ignore that, and let's take my viewpoint as a customer. I don't want a port I have no use for. I don't want a DAC I have no use for. I don't want the extra weight that comes with them.
My needs conflict with yours, so what's the only way to make both of us somewhat happy? That's by making the 3.5mm jack an addon, which is what any manufacturer that does not focus on music listening would do.
Auth -2 points a year ago
Yes if they've lasted decades thats their job done. Now people are buying usb C headphones and there is no need to continue to support decades old standards. The ewaste from a pair of headphones is tiny so its not worth fretting over.
Also BT headphones last longer than 2 years. Mine are 1st gen samsung buds and going on 5 years at this point and still hold enough charge to listen to music during my work day. If im going to be using them all day I have 1 in and 1 charging in the case and then I can easily have music for 10+ hours on a 5 year old device. If I threw them away today I would consider them to have not been ewaste.
jumping_redditor 1 point a year ago
how else are you supposed to connect it to cars that weren't made yesterday?
Auth 0 points a year ago
Cars have had bluetooth and usb on their radios for almost 20 years. Even older than that you can replace the stereo for like $30. My car is 2004 and i did a stereo replacement and i've got bluetooth, usb C and aux.
lobut 20 points a year ago
I was just hoping a phone like fairphone would give me the option to buy a small module or something to let me do it.
Yes, yes there's adapters .... yes, yes, you don't need to use it ... I understand. I just want it.
Ek-Hou-Van-Braai 0 points a year ago
You'd ultimately be sacrificing battery size for that Aux jack you hardly use. For most that's not worth it
lobut 8 points a year ago
I mean ... you don't have to tell me that my opinion isn't popular, it's demonstrable. My opinion is statistically insignificant.
There's a plethora of other things I'd give up like have a slighter bigger phone or a worse camera or wireless charging... I'd also trade those for an SD card slot but no one agrees with me and it's just something I need to live with.
potustheplant 2 points a year ago
Not really, no. There are even people that have been able to ADD a headphone jack to iphones that don't have one.
foggenbooty 14 points a year ago
Big? The headphone jack is not large enough to protrude from a cell phone chassis. Any company telling you they can't fit it is just lying to sell you BT headphones.
Mandrilleren 16 points a year ago
I never use wired headphones even though I have a jack in my phone. But I have never bought a phone without a jack and probably never will.
Ipersonally think it's user hostile to remove the jack and also goes directly agains the green profile Fairphone wants to have.
ggwithgg 10 points a year ago
You have these usb-c to mini jack adapters. They are like 5 to 10eu. They are small enough to keep them attached to your jack headphone. It works perfectly for me.
I think it is better to view the usb-c plug as 'one protocol to rule them all'. If you do so, it makes quite some sense.
brotundspiele 13 points a year ago
Every adapter I had was broken after a year or less. I imagine if you keep them attached to your phone, they'll break even faster. Do these adapters exist with a 90° angle which might help preventing broken cables?
Not really in the spirit of reducing waste.
ChairmanMeow 5 points a year ago
I've never had one of those actually work...
timbuck2themoon 4 points a year ago
The sound quality on them blows no matter which you get.
danc4498 -2 points a year ago
Probably not a popular thing to say on here, but I think you’ve lost the battle for the earphone jack. It probably just requires way too much real estate to be practical on a modern day cell phone.
zod000 2 points a year ago
It absolutely does not require too much space. And you can still buy phones with headphone jacks, just not any of the (ironically) higher end models because OEMs know they can push their first party bluetooth headphones to these customers.
potustheplant 1 point a year ago
It absolutely does not. That's just the stupid propaganda companies distribute to make people buy wireless earbuds.
Ek-Hou-Van-Braai -3 points a year ago
Exactly this, that's a lot of space taken up to connect what 4 analog wires?
That's insanity when a AUX to Usb-C converter does the job
yetAnotherUser 1 point a year ago
USB-C requires a lot of space for charging, data transfer etc.
Let's remove it too and make phones rely on wireless charging instead.
Ek-Hou-Van-Braai -7 points a year ago
For the amount of space a earphone jack takes it really doesn't make sense for them to include it, when you can just use a cheap adaptor cable
Ross_audio 3 points a year ago
"For the amount of space it takes to include a second speaker or second camera it doesn't really make sense when you can just plug in an external one"
You sound like an idiot.
I can buy a phone from HMD that's more repairable, more modular, and has sustainable features.
Fairphone has been a busted flush since they ditched the headphone jack. It's just the most obvious sign amongst many they started making landfill phones.
Ek-Hou-Van-Braai -5 points a year ago
Resorting to insults really?
3.5mm Aux takes up a shit load of space to connect 4 analog wires. If a phone has Aux it should at the very least be 2.5mm.
It makes no sense to me why you can't just use an adapter.
More battery > Redundant analog cable most people don't use anyway.
I might be a idiot as you say, but the people at Fairphone don't seem to be because they ditched AUX as they should have
visikde 6 points a year ago
Having yet another thing to keep charged
a usb port is far easier to break
I hate earbuds, I want my same old over the ear $15 sony headphones that last for years
BT is just another thing to fuss with for no apparent benefit, I have an assortment of BT crap that won't connect consistently.
Whatever convenience BT might offer is negated by the time wasted learning the intricacies of the ever changing APPs [software]
Ross_audio 1 point a year ago
Still an idiot.
jumping_redditor 1 point a year ago
just make the phone larger and fill the empty space with battery
Goodeye8 -10 points a year ago
Honestly, I don't really get the people who complain about the lack of 3.5mm jack on a smartphone. If you're looking for quality you're more likely to get better quality out quality USB-C headphones than quality 3.5mm headphones due to the USB-C headphones picking up less noise and having its own DAC (which is probably better than the phone DAC that 3.5mm would use).
EDIT: I would've been surprised if this take wasn't controversial. But I guess it's a good example how the fediverse is not a leftist echo chamber. You have a loud minority complaining about not being able to use a century old technology that the vast majority in the mobile space has moved away from and any compromise on what you want is unacceptable. That's about as conservative as you can get.
Goodeye8 4 points a year ago
I don't follow? If you mean simplicity in terms of ease of use you might as well use BT headphones as you don't have to worry about any wire management. Ease of use is the main reason BT headphones are the go to for most people. No carefully packing the wires so it won't break, no accidental wiring mess or anything wire related. You just turn them on (which for most in-ear ones just means taking them out of the case), stick them to your ear and you're good to go.
If you meant anything else by simplicity you need to expand that idea.
timbuck2themoon 15 points a year ago
I never have to charge my wired headphones.
Nor do I have to buy new batteries or new headphones when they die.
Mihies 5 points a year ago
In addition to @timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works: I don't need pairing, I don't have to deal with bad reception, it's harder to loose wired ones and even if I loose them, new ones cost a fraction of bt ones. Also I still have some wired ones. The simplicity of simply plugging them in and it just works is something really abstract to alternatives.
potustheplant 1 point a year ago
You are completely and utterly wrong. I'm pretty sure that a $700 phone's dac is better than what you can find on a $5 dongle from god knows where. Also, by design there should be no "noise" or "interference" causing issues with the internal dac. If there is, you bought an extremely shitty device.
Goodeye8 1 point a year ago
You know you've got not argument when you have to compare a $700 dollar phone to a $5 dongle for your argument to even make sense.
First of all, I seriously doubt any $700 phone without a 3.5mm port is going to have a decent DAC, because there's no reason for it. In those phones the DAC is used primarily for phone calls. If those phones had a a 3.5mm port and they were flagship phones then maybe they would have higher quality DACs in them, but then they'd also cost more. And secondly, I wasn't talking about some cheap $5 dongle, I specifically said quality headphones.
potustheplant 2 points a year ago
You know you’ve got not argument when you have to compare a $700 dollar phone to a $5 dongle for your argument to even make sense.
Oh, so I should buy $100 dongles then? lol Everyone's argument about the dongles is that they're super cheap, that's why I made the comparison.
In those phones the DAC is used primarily for phone calls.
Oh really? And how exactly do you think that the phone is generating the audio that comes through its speaker when you're doing anything else? Like listening to music, videos, etc? Does your phone really not make a single sound apart from the audio in phone calls?
I wasn’t talking about some cheap $5 dongle, I specifically said quality headphones
headphone =/= dongle
The dongle is what you connect TO the headphone. Regardless, be more specific then. What's the one you recommend? Should I buy $50 dongles then and keep them attached to my headphones? Since I use 4/5 of them does that mean that it's ok in your opinion that I now need to spend $250 in dongles instead of just having a tiny, cheap, reliable jack on my $700 phone?
anzo 70 points a year ago
There's a deGoogled version too!!
I would prefer GrapheneOS (If I can live with the irony of getting a Pixel phone just to deGoogle it...). Sandboxing there is way better. But you lose the Repairability.. Gotta check and compare the new EU metrics too.
They are just two different devices.
ElectroLisa 10 points a year ago
Degoogled version is €50 more, for whatever reason
pinesolcario 14 points a year ago
People don’t want to pay for privacy. That’s the real problem with end users. Imagine if more people did so. What a world we could have. Nah. Let’s be cheap AF!
proceduralnightshade 4 points a year ago
Locking privacy behind a paywall? Sounds like a nightmare.
That’s the real problem with end users.
The real problem with end users is that they buy according to whatever needs corpos inject via advertising.
FlexibleToast 8 points a year ago
Because the built in software is usually there because the manufacturer is receiving money from the software company. That's why consumer devices are always bloated with garbage.
sic_semper_tyrannis 5 points a year ago
I bet PostmarketOS will release for it
sic_semper_tyrannis 1 point a year ago
Because as you said it is available in some capacity already. Plus people complain about the slow speed of the 4 so maybe people will want to develop quicker for the 6. I could be totally wrong but I'm hopeful
kittenzrulz123 2 points a year ago
GraphineOS is more secure
sic_semper_tyrannis 8 points a year ago
We know GrapheneOS only makes their OS on Pixel phones or whatever their own device will be so it's moot
kittenzrulz123 -2 points a year ago
Thats because pixels fit the rigid standards, if Fairphone met them they would make a version for them
anzo 1 point a year ago
Just an update, I learnt that GrapheneOS developers are 'aggressive' towards other FLOSS projects (following comments on other thread, but you can searx grepheneos+controversy and see for yourselves).
So now, I might just prefer an FP6.
kepix 2 points a year ago
the degoogled roms like eos calyx lineage graphene are not just aosp zero work roms with no gapps inclueded. the devs do work on changing as much google related code as they can even within aosp. nothing is perfect obviously, but im pretty sure there are compatible mobile linux distros even.
blunderworld 62 points a year ago
It's too bad they dont ship to Canada. I'm in the market for a new phone and would seriously consider this.
IrateAnteater 37 points a year ago
The state of mobile phone market in Canada is so frustrating. Not only is our market dominated by 3 players who refuse to actually compete with each other, but we miss out on half the cool phones that the rest of the world gets too.
DeathByBigSad 18 points a year ago path: 0 17875319 17876870, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 1
5PACEBAR 10 points a year ago
Thanks for the tip!
I had a look at the bands and it is indeed compatible in Canada! 🎉
Source: GSMArena + Fido support
mesamunefire 3 points a year ago
Same US. EU gets the best stuff.
phantomwise 41 points a year ago
Why does The Fairphone (Gen. 6) not have an audio jack?
After some of the criticism that we received about removing the headphone jack from Fairphone 4, we did consider bringing it back for The Fairphone (Gen. 6). However, we realized it would be at the expense of increasing the phone’s dimensions. We also looked into the consumer data and Fairphone 4’s weight and thickness were more of an issue than the lack of a minijack, so we decided to keep the same approach, although it was a difficult decision. We didn’t want to invest in OLED technology for the display and then not have improved the phone’s dimensions and weight. But just like with Fairphone 4 and Fairphone 5, we will still offer an adapter, which has had overall positive user reviews.
"We heard the criticism but decided that no, you would still need an adapter to use headphones, plus a USB-C hub to be able to charge the damn thing while listening to music or watching videos"
Funny how that's the same excuses that we get for modern laptops terrible design. "We HAVE to make it thinner so there's no space! You wouldn't want a laptop that's not complete shit if it meant it'd also be less thin and breakable, now would you?"
dustyData 168 points a year ago
Let me expand, as I usually deal with surveys and population feedback. There's loud feedback, and there's statistically significant feedback.
People who want a headphone jack are very loud. They will interject this issue into every feedback opportunity given. They will mention it on the comment sections, forums, q&a sessions, answer their surveys accordingly, etc. That's all fine and their prerogative.
However, when you look at the statistics. They are unfortunately a very tiny minority of the entire population. They are not statistically significant for decision making. They don't have the volume to move sales significantly. This sucks, of course, and I personally wouldn't mind the return of headphone jacks, smaller phones and bigger batteries as a fair trade for thicker phones.
But unfortunately, the vast majority of the market is pre-occupied with other things. The phone screen is too small, the phone weights too much, the phone is too thick, I want to bring my phone to the pool without fear of it breaking, etc. They are not as passionate about it, not like the headphone people are, but they far outnumber them in several orders of magnitude. In the end, if the product doesn't sell, it won't matter how much it was worth to a single passionate person. It will sink the company if it doesn't have mass appeal. Making phones is already an extremely expensive endeavor.
FG_3479 22 points a year ago
You can get good Bluetooth earbuds for under $50 and a USB-C to AUX dongle for under $15.
The average person is fine with Bluetooth earbuds or an adapter, and audiophiles would not find the inbuilt DAC/amp on a phone to be adequate.
zod000 2 points a year ago
My wired earbuds cost more than ten times that and will probably last me until I retire. The vast majority of those USB-c to 3.5mm adapters are cheap crap that have a worthless DAC and/or fall apart after a short time. I have purchased my wife three such adapters since she decided it was worth it to get a phone without a headphone jack and none of them have been good.
I ended up having to buy her a separate portable music player to use. So thanks for that Google, Apple, and the rest of the greedy shithead OEMs.
ManOMorphos 0 points a year ago
Maybe I chose the wrong $10 adapter but I notice a big drop in sound quality using that vs Bluetooth, to the point that it's not worth using unless there isn't another option. I'm not really an audiophile, though I can notice the general quality of sound.
papertowels 12 points a year ago
If we revisit the "loud" vs "statistically significant" paradigm, while it is a shame you will not be able to charge the phone with a dac in without buying a specific cable, how often does the average person do so?
46_and_2 2 points a year ago
Wirelessly.
Or you switch to your bluetooth buds during a wired charge.
I'm all for audio jacks, but have been using a phone without one for 4 years now, and there are so many options to not be incovenienced.
Also I don't use my audiophile headphones with the phone at all - DAC on it just isn't good enough to get most out of then, prefer to use them with my desktop PC amp only.
xvapx 12 points a year ago
People who want a headphone jack [...] are unfortunately a very tiny minority of the entire population.
People interested in paying more for fair trade materials and repairable phones are also a very tiny minority of the entire population.
Of course I don't have any statistic, but I would guess that the proportion of people wanting a Jack is significantly higher in the group of people interested in buying Fairphone that on the general population.
In my particular case, I'm still using my Fairphone 3, and I'm not buying a Fairphone again unless it has a Jack.
falcunculus 31 points a year ago
I don’t have any statistic, but I would guess that the proportion of people wanting a Jack is significantly higher in the group of people interested in buying Fairphone that on the general population.
Fairphone literally does have that statistic. They spent effort to gather that info in order to inform their business decisions. And they report:
We also looked into the consumer data and Fairphone 4’s weight and thickness were more of an issue than the lack of a minijack
Benaaasaaas 6 points a year ago
Just out of interest, because I too love the jack, then what are you buying in the future?
Severalkittens 2 points a year ago
I have a Sony Xperia that has both a jack and a SD slot. I shelled out for the top of the line one, but since it has good specs I plan on keeping it for many years.
xvapx 1 point a year ago
I have no idea, I'm hoping for my F3 to still last a couple of years.
I'm honestly pretty tired of Android, and that's another can of worms.
Maybe I'll try with a linux phone, but I'm still undecided.
squaresinger 3 points a year ago
Have a look at their impact report. They themselves claim that they don't spend more than €5 per phone on fair trade or environmental stuff.
You are only paying more for that phone because they are a tiny boutique manufacturer who has to outsource everything. The fair/eco stuff is just fair- and greenwashing.
If you buy a phone because you want to look fair/eco, buy a Fairphone. If you actually really care for fair/eco, get an used phone and donate some money to the correct NGOs or charities.
__dev 6 points a year ago
Have a look at their impact report. They themselves claim that they don’t spend more than €5 per phone on fair trade or environmental stuff.
I've looked through their report and I can't find this info. The only thing I've found is a ~€2 bonus per phone to their factory workers, which is only a small fraction of a phones supply chain. Can you provide a more detailed reference supporting your claim?
timbuck2themoon 1 point a year ago
Like I've said before- their market is small enough they should be trying to get everyone they can to buy it.
Havald 0 points a year ago
That's what they're doing. That's why they remove the headphone jack in favour for a slimmer, lighter phone. Their market research showed that's more important to a bigger portion of their customers.
potustheplant 2 points a year ago
You know why there aren't more users complaining about this? Because they flat out did not buy the device for that reason (e.g. me). Removing the jack is also extremely hyprocritical coming from a "sustainable" company.
dustyData 0 points a year ago
And if it did have it you wouldn't have bought it either because the company is hypocritical. So why do you care? Why should they care?
The point is, the people who did buy it didn't care, and the people who care don't buy. It's a conundrum. Pair it with performance data of other phones that do have a headphone jack, plus the engineering compromises over other very important features. Then the decision makes sense. You lot aren't buying phones with headphone jacks either, so it isn't economically worth it. It's not like the motor g or the Asus rog phone are breaking sales records just on the headphone jack.
It's the same story as with small phones. People who aren't buying phones like to complain about phone size. But then when a small phone is made, no one buys it. Then the people who didn't buy the phone complain again, because the phone wasn't perfect for them.
It happens all the time, people are usually very vocal about things that actually don't drive their decision making.
potustheplant 1 point a year ago
Why should they care?
Because they should want to capture more customers? Is that really your question?
The point is, the people who did buy it didn’t care
Yeah and how many were those?
phantomwise -3 points a year ago
What statistics? People buying thin phones over thicker phones doesn't mean much when that's almost all that's being sold nowadays and every phone is trying to be as thin as possible. It seemed to me that 90% of what we're told people want is actually just what companies want to push on us because it's cheaper and more profitable.
All the people I know who are average users couldn't care less about how thin the phone is, two mm more or less doesn't make any difference. They care about screen size and being able to use it without too much hassle. If they get a phone without an audio jack half of them will just assume that they can't plug earphones at all. And they are not the ones who will complain. But then, Fairphone isn't marketed towards average users, so maybe their users have different priorities? Idk
dustyData 2 points a year ago
If you ask people what they want, they will tell you they want a phone that has 15 inch screen that looks perfect under the sunlight. But also fits into their pocket. And it has to have a battery that lasts a week, but it must not weight anything at all. But also has to play all the highly graphical games, and also have a professional level camera. It must do so and also last forever and be indestructible.
That phone obviously can't exist, and a lot of what people want are things that oppose each other from the engineering pov. That's the point of surveys and market analysis. You don't just look at what people say, you look at what they do, what they actually buy.
It is true that the other side of marketing is convincing people that what the company is offering is what they would also want to buy. But it is never a guarantee. I mean, look at the Samsung Edge flop. Marketing is not magic, you can't brainwash 100 million people to buy something they don't want. Marketing is marrying what the company wants to do in terms of cost cutting and profit maxing, with what the market is actually willing to buy. If people keep buying slop, they will keep selling slop, and they will keep marketing slop to people to convince them they want the slop. To break the circle someone has to stop, and it won't be the corporations.
sexy_peach 25 points a year ago
Is it repairable only with a screwdriver and parts you can buy from the manufacturer?
Dogyote 3 points a year ago
Okay, I'm going to ask... why don't you use wireless?
Edit: some results are in, and the only reasonable answer is better audio quality, although that's probably no longer true. The rest are fairly weak reasons.
Lol'd at the 10m extension cord though, thanks for that one.
jumping_redditor 8 points a year ago
wireless headphones run out of battery, and most seem to have atrocious build quality and battery life.
TheOakTree 9 points a year ago
Battery degradation. Wired earphones/headphones can be BIFL if treated properly. A typical wireless device will see battery degradation within a handful of years, and I have yet to see a decent TWS solution with replaceable batteries.
Kannushi_Link 6 points a year ago
Latency issue, in some use cases it's not acceptable to have 0.1~0.3 sec lag, like racing games or rhythm games.
(Yeah, I know there are some wireless protocols to make latency shorter, but it might cost a lot to buy a supported headphone, and it's still useless if the phone doesn't have proper protocol supports.)
Allero 3 points a year ago
1.Wired headphones deliver better audio quality 2.Wired headphones are harder to lose 3.Wired headphones don't need batteries, so: a)less e-waste b)no need to check if they are charged 4.Wired headphones are more secure, connection cannot be intercepted and phishing attacks with BT are not possible 5.While wired headphones are plugged, no one can take your phone without you noticing
Dremor 2 points a year ago
Phishing attacks? On a headphone? 🤣
Wired headphones can be intercepted, as the wires unfortunately also act as an antenna (I'm a computer security technician, we semi-routinely do such interception).
As for sound quality, it will always be limited by the DAC quality, and there is little way to add a good quality DAC without adding significant weight to the phone. Did you ever wonder why audiophiles audio players looks like bricks? That why.
But I agree with point 2, 3 and 5, they are valid, but I don't agree with some aspects:
- You can make some TW headphones bips to find them, which you cannot with wired ones for obvious reasons.
- The cable is unfortunately often their weakpoints, and I had to throw away multiple of my headphones (which were fairly good quality ones) because of that. That's actually the main reason I went wireless. I was tired of the cable breaking, and it getting in my way.
Now all my audio equipments are wireless, and I change their batteries every 5 years or so. Unfortunately I bought mines before Fairphone launched theirs, so it wasn't an option, but once any of my headphones eat the dust for good, I'll probably buy an easily repairable one if audio quality and codecs are acceptable (I'm an Audiophile, so that's important to me).
Allero 1 point a year ago
Phishing attacks?
Yep. There was a type of attack that utilized wireless headphone merging as an attack vector. With wired headphones, you can simply turn Bluetooth off.
I know of DACs (been through audiophile phase myself), and sure, a typical integrated mobile one doesn't deliver THAT big of a quality. Still, wired headphones are not bottlenecking much just by the means of connection. And they are generally cheaper for the same audio quality, because you don't need to put batteries etc.
Agree with your counterpoints. On the cable - I much prefer detachable options, so you can replace the cable easily. but the connector has to be strong enough - I'm a bit tired to see my Moondrop Chu disconnecting and shaking somewhere in my pocket.
Severalkittens 2 points a year ago
It's about options. You can still use Bluetooth even with a phone that has a 3.5mm jack. I also run live sound and have used the ability to plug my phone directly into the board for background music multiple times.
potustheplant 2 points a year ago
Let me give you simple example. When I take a flight, I like to watch my own media. Those flights sometimes are upwards of 10 hours. If I use wireless earbuds, both the earbuds and my phone will run out of battery and I have to charge them separately. However, since I have a phone with a headphone jack, my earbuds never run out of battery, I can charge my phone while I'm using them and I don't need to use a single adapter.
Oh yeah, and the audio quality is also better.
phantomwise 0 points a year ago
- They are expensive. You can get wired earphones for 2 euros that actually work and are reasonably durable. It's not a great loss if they fall in a puddle or if I step on them.
- They are a lot more failure prone. Half of those I tried didn't work or only half worked, and those that did work didn't last very long.
- They have shitty range. I can use a 10 meters extension cord with wired earphones if I want to.
- They require charging. And it's a law of physics that everything that requires charging always run out at the most inconvenient time.
- Also THEY ALWAYS GET LOST. Wireless earphones, mouse, controllers... it doesn't matter, if it's not attached with a cable they'll just disappear.
Redex68 34 points a year ago
Interesting that they seem to be using a consumer grade Snapdragon chip this time, typically they used weird chips ment for industry applications if I'm not mistaken. Wonder what sparked the change, did Qualcomm start supporting their chips for longer?
tinsuke 38 points a year ago
Probably yes.
And probably due to EU mandating new phones to be supported for longer.
9blb 17 points a year ago
Looks like it.
Starting with Android smartphones running on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform, Qualcomm Technologies now offers device manufacturers the ability to provide support for up to eight consecutive years of Android software and security updates. Smartphones launching on new Snapdragon 8 and 7-series mobile platforms will also be eligible to receive this extended support.
[Source] (https://www.qualcomm.com/...)
squaresinger 4 points a year ago
They only did that once for the FP5. It was a terrible choice, leading to high battery usage and compatibility issues. They only did that because when it came out, 5 years of software support wasn't something crazy any more. Samsung already provided the same on their mainstream flagship phones. So to top that they chose that embedded chip with 10 years of support from Qualcomm. But 10 years is practically speaking really hard overkill, especially considering the very impractical downsides of that chip.
By now, most major phone brands have support times rivalling what Fairphone is bringing to the table, and for that to work, Qualcomm has to support their mainstream phone chips for longer.
RejZoR 33 points a year ago
Snapdragon 7s Gen3 is a pretty decent chipset. Decent display too. 8GB RAM is a bit on the low side. Camera is all about how good processing is. It's not that crazy expensive if all works well and considering what their goal is.
KryptonNerd 2 points a year ago
I'm on an S10e with only 6GB of RAM and it's still running smoothly. If it was still getting security updates I would keep it for way longer, but alas it's not so I'm going to upgrade to the new fairphone (not thrilled about losing the headphone jack and getting a larger phone, but I support their overall goals so it seems like the best choice for me)
TriflingToad -6 points a year ago
why you gotta be so rude about it? like we're forced to live here, your bragging doesn't help anyone
N0MAD 12 points a year ago
From their own site it would seem they don't. There is a "US" version but you can't buy a Fairphone from the website directly.
Vanilla_PuddinFudge 2 points a year ago
Rofl if they dump them on ebay as new from a third party US shipper.
Adulated_Aspersion 8 points a year ago
https://m.gsmarena.com/fairphone_6-13955.php
There is some band overlap, but I am no expert.
Joeffect 27 points a year ago
If they are all about swappable parts, and being able to upgrade your phone how you want ... Shouldn't this just be a module upgrade... Of the main part? Maybe I don't understand it ... At the very least the old parts should work with the new system right? Unless something major has changed.
squirrelwithnut 26 points a year ago
I would totally buy one of these if they were sold in the US. Sadly, last time I checked the newest phone wasn't sold here. So I doubt this one will be.
tonur 23 points a year ago
I posted this elsewhere but the tech specs for the Fairphone 6 say the following:
USB-C 2.0 (OTG capable) can be used to connect USB Sticks/SD-Cards/Audio Amplifier/Network-adapters directly
I was really looking forward to use this with a pair of display glasses, like the XREAL One Pro, but this seems like the Fairphone 6 might not support display output? That's sad. Especially since the Fairphone 5 had this in their tech specs:
USB-C 3.0 (OTG capable) can be used to connect USB Sticks/SD-Cards/display (also Android™ desktop mode)/Camera/Audio Amplifier/Network-adapters directly
But maybe it was not used enough?
KryptonNerd 2 points a year ago
Yeah that is a shame honestly...
bramkaandorp 2 points a year ago
When I read that, it decided me on the phone. I was almost completely certain my FP4 replacement would be the FP6, but the USB downgrade makes it a no-go for me.
Too bad, because I love the easy repairability.
Railcar8095 136 points a year ago
Just to be clear, unless you're shooting RAW you never have your "real" photos. Every phone/camera performs massive amounts of post processing, including using ml models.
AI is only a buzzword for something that has been the norm for a while.
ElectroLisa 11 points a year ago
I want my photos to be grainy, with natural lens distortion, instead of current trend of pictures being shouty to look good on social media
HandMadeArtisanRobot 21 points a year ago
You can shoot RAW on your phone today.
ElectroLisa 1 point a year ago
Only with primary lens
Bogasse 9 points a year ago
Also, working a bit on developing my photos from RAW over last years taught me how we actually expect a lot of magic from a regular camera. The brain does a lot of work and low/high light compensation, color balance, etc... are required to some extend. Of course sometimes it becomes a bit absurd : most smartphone pictures seems oversaturated, with clear blue skies and I one took a photo of a blue-ish mountain because (I think) some classifier thought it was part of the sky.
TriflingToad 1 point a year ago
happy cake day!!
carrylex 21 points a year ago
Compared to the Fairphone 5 it has some improvements but also a few downsides:
Pro:
- It's a bit smaller (4mm) and lighter (20g)
- Slightly better camera (future tests will tell how much better)
- 120 Hz display
- More RAM and storage (although I feel that the previous 6GB/128GB option was also sufficient for most users)
- WiFi 6E Tri-Band (however you will likely never need this speed)
- Bluetooth 5.4
- Slightly larger battery
Con:
- Backpanel now requires a screwdriver
- Display has less resolution/PPI
- Performance of processor will likely be nearly identical to predecessor (however it's more efficient and modern)
- Downgrade to USB 2
- 600€
My conclusion: Overall the improvements are ok, however just releasing the Fairphone 5 with a newer SoC might have been the better/more cost effective choice. Sacrificing display resolution for 120 Hz feels also quite wrong. 600€ is very pricy for a phone like this. Cutting some premium features away like the 120 Hz display or a bit of RAM and storage (that you can extend anyway with an SD card) might have saved enough to get the launch price down to somewhere near 500€ which would make it accessible for a wider audience.
bvoigtlaender 20 points a year ago
Was really hoping to see a Fairphone 6a. Similar to the Google Pixel Series. Just a cheap version of it. I really don't need 120Hz, OLED or "No Bezels" all i want is big battery and a headphone jack that is all.
Quibblekrust 20 points a year ago
For real, though, what is it?
FG_3479 17 points a year ago
I love the idea but the price is too high for the chip given that this is designed to be a longevity phone. A chip like the 7s Gen 3 would make the phone sluggish after a couple of years with how unoptimised todays apps are.
The Gorilla Glass 7i and IP55 water resistance are also concerning given that budget Samsung, Xiaomi, etc phones beat this.
However having components of the phone being easily replacable is a great thing.
rfr_Foglia 16 points a year ago
Fairphone is probably going to be my new phone when I upgrade.
potentiallynotfelix 16 points a year ago
a few things i like:
- moments is an interesting concept
- it says you can toggle off gemini ai. this is good
- display goes from 10-120hz for battery
- ultrawide selfie camera
- microsd card slot!
- power button fingerprint scanner, way better than underscreen
absquatulate 13 points a year ago
Is it me or did they get slightly more vague on their marketing materials, wrt the environmental impact ( at least compared to fp5 ) ?
Also the battery seems a bit harder to replace, as you now need a screwdriver. It does appear to be more flush, so it may be due to size constraints.
Edit: and there's "more" replaceable parts because the back is split in two. That split might prove better for durability tho, because pulling the back on their older phones felt like it would break every time.
ChairmanMeow 35 points a year ago
Screwdrivers are pretty entry-level tools though.
absquatulate 10 points a year ago
I know I know, but it was really convenient to keep a spare battery and do a quick swap on the fp4.
ChairmanMeow 2 points a year ago
That's a pretty fair point, though I assume a spare powerbank would solve the problem nearly as well (albeit slower and with a cable).
absquatulate 2 points a year ago
Not sure. This phone seems better in some regards and worse in others, so I'd say wait for reviews.
As for me I probably won't get it. Already have a fp4 I got in a sale to experiment with and see if I can completely degoogle and couldn't ( not completely anyway ). Now it's more or less a paperweight that I might revisit in the future, when my daily phone kicks the bucket. The dealbreaker is Android15 because that's when they shoved gemini in, so any phone with Android14 and security updates will do fine. God I hope that linux phones finally get off the ground already
Bogasse 3 points a year ago
I don't mind having a few screws to remove every few years when I need to replace my battery.
Although there is another thing, I'm not sure but I wonder if it has any impact. My FP3 has made a few very bad falls and nothing ever broke. I wonder if its "bad" integrity makes it very good at dissipating the fall's energy.
bonus_crab 13 points a year ago
love fairphone but i cant go bacl from graphene os. its so nice not having google attacjed to everything.
IndustryStandard 12 points a year ago
Honestly, this might be the first fairphone which I would classify as good enough for daily use.
unexposedhazard 43 points a year ago
Basically nobody has this in hand yet. Its lighter (193g) and shorter (156mm) than the previous ones which is nice. Harder glass surface (Corning 7i) so less scratches. Its still thick tho at 9.6mm but i dont mind that. If gsmarena is correct, then they didnt include video output over USBC for some fucking dumb reason this time. Ridiculous.
newram 2 points a year ago
I was thinking: Online-people have been asking for thicker iPhones and MacBooks in favour of battery for a while now. So I suppose this is that + repairability. I think we as a community could highlight that a bit tbh
crank0271 11 points a year ago
Good question. I was just reading the article about it on The Verge, which mentions:
On the back, you’ll find a 50MP main camera and a 13MP ultrawide camera, while the front has a 32MP hole-punch camera for selfies and video calls. That’s a significant step down from the Fairphone 5, which used 50MP sensors on all three of its cameras.
No mention of camera quality, though, as it's basically a press release post and not a hands-on or review. I wish this would be available in the US for a fair price.
unexposedhazard 30 points a year ago
4000x3000 (12MP) is completely fine for a secondary camera imo. 32MP for the front cam is more than enough too. Upwards of 12MP, the denoising and optics are much more important than the resolution.
AbnormalHumanBeing 9 points a year ago
Haven't had an FP6 in my hands yet, but I've been using FP since the Fairphone 2, am currently using the FP4 and besides the ethics in sourcing their materials and manufacturing (which they genuinely attempt to provide, and while there is no ethical consumption in capitalism, there are still degrees of fucked-upness.), I do enjoy the repairability, longevity and long-term support. They are also decently supported by de-googled-android and even pure Linux phone operating systems, if you want to experiment there, and come without a lot of bloat that nowadays is ubiquitous with most smartphones.
OfCourseNot 3 points a year ago
Do you have a bit of info on these Linux mobile OSs? The FP5 didn't convince me as a main phone when I needed a new one last year, but if it can take a real Linux distro it could be a cool toy.
AbnormalHumanBeing 4 points a year ago
Sure - check out this list from the community forums:
OfCourseNot 2 points a year ago
Thank you!
JustEnoughDucks 1 point a year ago
You can also look at the MKBHD 2024 smartphone camera comparison test with the FP5. I would suggest taking the test yourself if that is still possible.
I would guess that the camera will be comparable. (Everything below if FP5 assuming about the same performance with the FP6)
For me, daylight pics were after all of the pixels but before anything else. I like the more neutral not supremely over-saturated over-sharpened/smoothed pictures that many phones take nowadays.
For me, it was middle of the pack for dimly lit photos.
For the overall ELO with everyone, FP5 was on the mid-lower end (of a comparison of all flagships + pixel A series), but perfectly usable for people who aren't doing social media as a job.
corsicanguppy 12 points a year ago
3.5mm Jack or - sadly - GTFO
KryptonNerd 1 point a year ago
Or two USB C ports, I don't really mind using a USB to audio jack converter but it would be nice to be able to easily charge and listen to wired headphones at the same time
AlteredEgo 11 points a year ago
I bought an oled phone for 200€ a few years back. What I'd really want is that every smartphone sold in the EU is open, with open drivers and OS with root access if you want to. And some investments by the EU to support open smartphone OS.
What a shithole civilization.
mormund 11 points a year ago
If I didn't miss it, no wireless charging again... Some one told me they refuse to do it because it wastes electricity. To which I'd say, even just turning on a car probably uses magnitudes more energy than charging my phone wirelessly. I don't want to mess up the USB C port if I don't have to, thanks.
philpo 7 points a year ago
Yeah, the wireless charging is a no-go for me as well. I understand that it costs licensing and wastes energy. But the environmental impact of all the useless/lost cables is also a point,especially when you get your energy fully renewable/self produced. And in a lot of areas (airline lounges,etc.) it has become widely adopted/the norm.
They could easily have offered a "swap" battery that has a little less capacity but includes wireless charging - give people a fucking choice.
nekusoul 2 points a year ago
It's also less waste if one of your charging methods breaks, as you can just swap over to the other method and might even find ordering replacement parts unnecessary.
Though ideally I'd also like to see more than one USB-C port for even more redundancy.
newram 1 point a year ago
I agree wireless charging would be nice. But for a small company I don't think they can do it "easily". It's 150 people team and how many phones do they even sell? I imagine it's not enough yet to support all that.
frank 10 points a year ago
I'm sad that the battery swap requires a screwdriver, but it's really fine. As long as it's not glued in I don't care honestly.
The modular back is cool, specs look nice, lighter and smaller than my FP5 is a great thing, cuz this thing is heavy and the battery is mid.
It looks cool! Good direction I think. Of course I want a headphone jack, but I am learning to live without
cosmicrookie 9 points a year ago
My 3 greatest wishes are:
Replaceable battery
Replaceable usb charging port
120 watt cahrging
VirgilMastercard 4 points a year ago
Ultra fast charging is so good though. I've got a oneplus 12 and it charges from 0-100 in like 30 minutes.
troglodytis 5 points a year ago
See wish list item 1
daellat 2 points a year ago
It's all about the heat. It's not dumping 120w non stop even over 90% for example. OnePlus also use supervooc not standard usb pd. My phone legit does 150w max and while I mostly use my 80w charger because my tablet uses that I can't say my battery seems affected much 2,5 years in.
A little more info on it https://www.androidauthority.com/...
Blackmist 1 point a year ago
Hence item number 1 on his list.
I've been through two smart phones, and both of them were down to eventual battery issues and randomly powering off at (allegedly) 30% remaining battery when you fire up the camera or something.
VirgilMastercard 1 point a year ago
To some extent, yes. But it's not a feature you have to use. You can still limit the charge to 80% and use a slow charger if you really want to.
It's a neat feature if you need to boost your battery quickly in a short amount of time, like if you need to go somewhere urgently and unexpectedly.
pulsewidth 8 points a year ago
I'd love one and have checked back each year after their first model, but they still don't sell to Australia - and I'm not going to buy something I can't get direct parts and services for, and would need to go through third parties for.
If their model is a successful business I honestly thought they would have expanded beyond shipping/supporting only Europe by now, its been a decade since their first model. Maybe they're still not a very big player / modest success?
NGnius 3 points a year ago
There's at least two limitations that they've mentioned before with shipping outside of Europe.
First is they need extra certifications (e.g. FCC ones for selling to the USA), which are expensive and basically redundant. Probably not worth the business cost to do it and maintain it.
Second is they do carbon neutral shipping, which is hard to do when you have to cross an ocean. I know in Canada our national postal service can do carbon neutral for packages, but figuring that out for every country and the international legs of the shipping is a lot of work.
Part of the cost of being ethical is being at a disadvantage with capitalism, so while they're doing pretty alright they aren't going to grow like big tech did.
ABetterTomorrow 8 points a year ago
Waiting for swappable OS. No need for android
Ilovethebomb 5 points a year ago
OTG compatible is a rare feature, I have an endoscope camera that uses OTG, but not a compatible phone.
Also, no mention of a headphone jack.
thomas_h_bombadil 4 points a year ago
No headphone jack means I won't even consider it, very sad to see it's still the case.
yournamehere 4 points a year ago
no jack, no deal
HappyRedditRefugee 5 points a year ago
Jack will never come back, too much space to apeace a fraction of the total users.
yournamehere 7 points a year ago
i'll do my own phone with (black) jack and hookers then
orclev 4 points a year ago
This is nice for Europe I guess, and I want to like the fairphone, but unfortunately it's not viable for me.
Besides basic phone features and the ability to run Android apps I have 3 requirements, 2 of which the fairphone fails at. I need it to be usable in the US on my phone carrier. I need to be able to use Google Pay or another mobile payment alternative (that's accepted in most stores). Finally it needs to have at least a 48 hour battery life.
Fairphone unfortunately doesn't work in the US with most carriers, and the one that kills not only it but all the de-googled phones, it doesn't support mobile payment of any kind. I've done a ton of research trying to find some kind of fix for that second point because I'd gladly use something like GrapheneOS if I could, but every time the answer I come to is it's just not possible.
TonyOstrich 9 points a year ago
For whatever it's worth I have been using a Fairphone 5 in the US for over a year on T-Mobile.
phoenixz 8 points a year ago
That too has to to with the fact that all of that is an impenetrable black box. Google gets access, but if your oso isn't Google, amor is rooted, they won't allow you access "for security"
Never mind that the banking web version works fine in any OS including Linux, no safety issues there (nor should there be any) but the app? Yeah, Google only and it's all because of security. Uh huh...
orclev 1 point a year ago
That's certainly part of it, but I'd use any mobile payment app, not just Googles one, but there's basically zero competition there. Some banks apparently had their own mobile payment support briefly, but it seems like just about every single one of them has removed that feature and replaced it with a wrapper around Google Pay.
GreenKnight23 4 points a year ago
I've been using the fairphone 4 in the us for almost three years.
squaresinger -2 points a year ago
Don't worry, it fails in Europe too. I ended up giving away my FP4, because it fails to do even basic stuff like make a call after 3G was switched off in my country.
Worst phone I ever had, with quite a margin. And the only one I ever kept for under 2 years and the only one I replaced while it was still physically ok.
HenriVolney 4 points a year ago
Looks like they hit the nail strong and sharp on this one. I am still using my 2019 Nokia which does not look like it's going bust anytime soon. Too bad, I would have loved to use the FF6
raspberriesareyummy 4 points a year ago
Fairphone has really gone off the deep end. 6 phone models in what? less than 12 years? That's what they call dedication to sustainability? Really? They used to say the most sustainable phone is your old phone, assuming you can continue to use it. Yet - my Fairphone 1, still in good working order hardware-wise, I had to "scrap" because no more SW updates. When my FP2 hardware (charging port) eventually failed, they no longer sold the relevant spare parts.
What good are exchangeable parts, if they are removed from the shop around the time that a well-treated phone might need them?
Laser 3 points a year ago
Think I'm getting it, my Redmi Note 8 is aging and I'm pretty sure the current batch of custom ROMs is basically the last apart from the fact that the kernel is no longer supported, and Xiaomi is closing the doors on custom ROMs more and more it seems. Yeah, the new FP isn't perfect but it seems good enough to pull the trigger, and while the Pixels seemed like a good alternative in some aspects, Google recently made it very clear where they see Android's future, and it's not more open.
ExLisper 3 points a year ago
This looks pretty good. The main issue with Fairphone for me is the price. FP 5 is still about 2x as expensive as Pixel 8. I got my Pixel 8a on promotion for ~250 euros. FP 5 still costs over 500. I never paid more than 300 euros for a phone and I'm not planning to.
VacuumSauce 21 points a year ago
Fair wages and sustainable practices cost more than sweatshop labor
ExLisper -1 points a year ago
Pixel is build by Foxxcon. Foxxcon has 3.5 stars on Glassdoor. From what I found Fairphone is build by TCL which has 3.2 stars on Glassdoor.
It's all still made in Asia. It's really hard to monitor conditions there and it's pretty much impossible to monitor conditions at every step of the supply chain. I understand paying extra for a more sustainable phone (repairable, longer support) but paying double for a vague promise of being more "fair"? Thanks by no thanks. Pixel has 8 years of support now so the difference in sustainability is minimal.
Mad_Punda 6 points a year ago
The final assembly is only part of the story though. As far as I understand, fairphone does actually try to check their supply chain to ensure the raw materials are (more) ethically sourced. As opposed to those optimizing for profit, who will intentionally look the other way.
GreenKnight23 5 points a year ago
foxxcon? you mean the same company that had a mass suicide from workers jumping off the buildings?
edit: sorry wasn't a mass suicide just dozens and dozens of people killing themselves because of the working conditions at foxxcon.
it's hard to find details about the mass protest with the threat of suicide because there's so many other single suicides at foxxcon.
If you're using a pixel or apple phone I wonder if you're using a phone that one of those workers put together 🤔
Lazhward 4 points a year ago
a vague promise
"Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, we collaborate with suppliers to develop improvement plans that are informed by detailed assessments and worker surveys." p. 28
From their recently published annual(I think?) impact report. There's a bit more detail under section 4.3, not crazy specific but definitely better than a vague promise imo.
ExLisper 1 point a year ago
The single best thing for sustainability is long lifetime of the phone. Now that EU mandates it and Apple, Pixel and Samsung all offer 7 years of updates Fairphone's advantage here is slim. The rest are just vague promises. Apple also promises to support people and communities involved in its supply chain: https://www.apple.com/supply-chain/ All the companies try to avoid sweatshops because it's terrible for PR but unless you are actually going to assemble the phone in EU you don't really know who made it. For me the difference between two phones made in China is not big enough to pay double.
MystValkyrie 2 points a year ago
Fairphone has been a really disappointing experiment in so-called sustainable tech over the years. They keep making new phones instead of continuing to support the old ones, which might be greenwashing. (Whereas if you got a legacy Framework 13, it's still user-repairable and upgradable.) If they wanted to make a non-upgradable device, maybe it would have been wise to make it high-end to futureproof to work until 4G gets phased out. Fairphone still is not making their products available in the U.S., and Murena is a borderline scam company and I am genuinely shocked Fairphone works with them.
And I've heard their logic with the headphone jack, but I do think AUX is the lesser of two evils as removing it will just lead to more e-waste with broken bluetooth headphones that rarely last as long as good wired ones. Fairphone's own bluetooth accessories have gotten negative reviews for their lower build quality, so Fairbuds are likely not the solution to the headphone jack problem.
For the simple fact that non-Europeans can buy them directly off the website, I would sooner recommend feature phones from Sunbeam as it also has user-replaceable batteries and you can send it in for repairs. Or just any phone used.
Smokeless7048 1 point a year ago
I know people complain about big phones, but as a 6'5" guy i LOVE my big screens, and i think i'd struggle with a 6.3" screen. I have a 22U i plan to use for another year or two, and would go larger if i could.
philthi 1 point a year ago
Fuck these guys... Seriously. I bought a phone off of them hyped at the idea of the ethics. It didn't work on arrival. Over 3 months later and not one single reply to my helpdesk request (other than the Automated acknowledgement of receipt).
Unbelievably bad user experience, I went from hyped at the concept of reducing my production of electronic waste to beyond disappointed at a brutally bad user experience.
Then to make matters worse, it is difficult to source spare parts for the fairphone 4 (according to a friend of mine who owns one that he bought a while ago)... Like is that not the entire point of the phone, reduced consumption of new phones by supporting repairs. If you're going to stop producing the spares at least release the patents then.. if you really believe in the promoted ideals that you spout... Which they clearly do not.
It turns out that it's just another money hungry company hell bent on burning the planet down to see a line go up, as far as I'm concerned. All gaff to sell shite phones at higher prices.
Do not buy.
dependencyinjection 26 points a year ago
Then don’t spread information online that you don’t know to be true, Jesus Christ man.
Shardikprime -6 points a year ago path: 0 17879257 17881747 17882296 17883368 17888830, hotness: undefined, score: -6, children: 0
kopasz7 2 points a year ago
Of course they are going to offer dongles too! The profit margins are way better on those. Fuck what the users want, we want money!
Louis Rossman on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRdL0StldJM
dependencyinjection 1 point a year ago
This is the vibe I’m getting from Lemmy lately just angry people shouting at clouds.
GreyEyedGhost 4 points a year ago
If it makes you feel better, I do that off of Lemmy, too.
pineapplelover 5 points a year ago
Yep same here. Also they're not capable of installing grapheneos which is kind of a deal breaker for me.
Bahnd 7 points a year ago
The GrapheneOS team makes their hardware security requirments very clear.
Its up to the hardware manufactures to include a few additional components used for securely storing keys, so far Google Pixles are the only consistent line of products that do so.
kopasz7 1 point a year ago
I think I had this all wrong. Fairphone isn't / doesn't want to be an enthusiast DIY brand at all (like framework for laptops) but a mainstream brand that's eco-friendlier* and non-exploitative.
So of course they will not care much about niche features like other ROMs or audio jacks. The privacy focused, tech-savvy or feature focused buyers are not their target.
*IC and PCB related footprint is still roughly 80% of the FP4 and FP has little to no control on those processes, according to an independent study.
Trihilis 1 point a year ago
They are easily repairable and you don't have to throw them away if the battery goes bad (just replace it).
How is that a bad thing? About 90% of other brands you can throw them away if the battery goes bad or they break.
kopasz7 2 points a year ago
How is that a bad thing?
I have to buy them? Every replaceable and repairable stuff is manufactured and has an impact.
About 90% of other brands you can throw them away if the battery goes bad or they break.
I don't have any of those, for related reasons. The best one can do is to consume less and less often.
Buying a USB-C-2-Jack dongle or BT headset is anything but eco-friendly. It goes straight against the whole brand if you need to buy new stuff in addition to make it work.
Trihilis 1 point a year ago
What about people who already have a BT headset, or people who are looking to buy their first headset and don't own one yet? You just straight up assume everyone still had a headset with wires lying around and that they somehow never break.
Having to buy something makes it bad isn't really an argument. The very post you are making right now is made from a devide that has been manufactured at some point in time. If you start reasoning like that its better to start living in the woods with no possessions at all.
thanksforallthefish 11 points a year ago
Hmmm that looks like parts listings for the Fairphone 4 to me, why do you ask ?
sherlockhomeless 23 points a year ago
What do you mean with stopped producing spare parts for FP4? They are still widely available
Black616Angel 16 points a year ago
What are you talking about? I exchanged multiple mails per day when I had a problem.
Also as others have mentioned, the parts are still available on their website.
philthi -9 points a year ago
In terms of fp4 replacement parts, I am only quoting a friend of mine, I haven't personally looked into that; though I was ready to believe it after my experience.
In terms of your good customer service experience... I mean, good? I'm glad your experience was better than mine? Mine has been the worst customer experience I've ever had with a company and I genuinely went in to this with a high opinion of them.
I don't know what more to add here, we had different experiences, I'm sharing mine... You're sharing yours? Different things are different to each other...
Your experience being different to mine doesn't prove my experience never happened.
Occhioverde 0 points a year ago
I really respect Fairphone and I'm a happy owner of the Fairphone 5, but I find a bit puzzling for a company that suggests its customer should keep their phone for more than the 2.5 years average to release a new model just 2 years after the previous one.
Just my two cents, but they shoul've focused on developing either a tablet or a smartwatch to fill a gap in other markets before announcing yet another smartphone.
kittenzrulz123 0 points a year ago
I dont understand Fairphone, flashy hardware with poor software security and awful sustainability (they stop selling parts quickly).
Shardikprime -6 points a year ago
600 euros? That's like 700 USD
Remind me again, wasn't like 80% of the American population on the verge of poverty and homelessness if a 500 USD emergency happened?
Who's benefiting from this?
Shardikprime 1 point a year ago
But these are made in china...
pmk 1 point a year ago
Yes, sorry I fumbled the wording, I meant to say it makes me wonder what the other chinese factory workers make and under which conditions they work compared to the chinese workers that make fairphones. Maybe it's all propaganda and fairphone uses slave labour, but that would surprise me. Another thing I thought about is that tech is just more expensive in europe in general. It's common that we pay 20% more for the same phone or laptop in europe compared to the US.
GreenKnight23 3 points a year ago
I did.
did it because I was tired of having every conversation I had popup as an ad. the "fair" part was simply a bonus.
I also refuse to use a pixel because I don't trust any firmware written by Google to not have some kind of backdoor in.
Shardikprime 1 point a year ago
You can literally buy an excellent phone that will last you for 3-4 years for less that 400 USD, hell I'd say it's even better for the environment to buy used or refurbished phones and save even more money
troglodytis 3 points a year ago
Ooo they sell these in the US?
GreenKnight23 3 points a year ago
you can get them from resellers.
Hello_there 1 point a year ago
No
Harbinger01173430 -8 points a year ago
Can we get it for 100 bucks max?
They are aware that people can't afford to waste money on luxuries, no?
blinfabian -15 points a year ago
650€ is way too expensive for an unknown phone brand with an unknown OS installed on it smh. i'd love to buy one but considering you can get a samsung for less than 500€
thanks for using Leebra!
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No earphone jack again. That's a bit sad. Even though I mainly use BLT earbuds, I still sometimes wish I could use my wired headphones. It's just a small inconvenience
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