Nice to see a mainstream option de-Googled in the US.
For those considering getting this phone for sustainability reasons, just a reminder that the most sustainable option is to keep the phone you have until there’s something actually wrong with it
I mean, as long as I chose to return/donate/hand-down/upcycle my current phone (whatever prevents it from going to a landfill) shouldnt it be fine?
If you have a plan for your current phone, then yea it’s not much different. I think you’re touching on the larger point at hand, because individuals have a miniscule fraction of a percent when it comes to things like e-waste. The overproduction of electronics is a much larger portion of e-waste
Sustainable
No headphone jack
They actually seem like quality phones when my girlfriend’s friend got one, but seriously? No headphone Jack and force you to use wireless buds that will have to be thrown away when the tiny battery degrades?
Also see their official response on the audio jack removal.
TL;DR:
- Modularity and its influence on the phone’s size and weight
- Market and legislative trends (headphone jack is getting less popular)
- Longevity (less ports = less vulnerable to dust, water and general wear?)
Headphone jack getting less popular? I’m pretty sure companies don’t want to include it so removed it from the models and the consumers had to buy that. Consumers aren’t choosing not to have them, they’re choosing phones that don’t have them because Apple and other big companies aren’t giving them a choice.
If you go by what the loudest ones are saying about the headphone jack removal, then yes, it does give the appearance that it’s a very unpopular change. However if you were to just ask random people on the street if they use(d) their headphone jack and what they think of this change, you’ll probably find there’s not a lot of vocal people out there that would not buy a phone just because it was missing it. That’s why Fairphone did their market research, right? Of course it’s still up for debate whether that was the right choice. And personally I would also prefer if the headphone jack was still default on phones.
I have an FP3 and I facepalmed real hard when I saw the announcement. That last reason, vulnerability to dust and protection from water, I find especially dumb. If that’s their reasoning, they might as well remove the USB-C port, too. Fuck it, just make it a featureless plastic brick.
Fellow FP3 user, cannot see myself getting a new phone at all in the near future. When this eventually falls out of support I’ll probably go all-in on a custom rom, instead of just rooting.
The FP3 was the closest thing to my previous S5 too, and even then I was giving up some creature comforts like the IR, waterproofing and OLED screen. That thing was ahead of it’s time by a long shot IMO
might as well remove the USB-C port
Well don’t say it too loud, if there is any big improvements on “wireless” charging… I could see the mainline of phones doing it…
Sadly it’s old (2021) and underpowered. That’s not a huge deal breaker because it has pros like being repairable and pretty private. The real problem is that they are regularly late on os and security updates (multiple weeks to months). For example they only officially added support for Android 12 this February and there is still no official support for Android 13.
Unless you specifically want the repairability a Pixel with GrapheneOS is simply much more secure and private.
for me it’s an ethical thing aswell. I bought a Pixel and am currently using GrapheneOS, but had I known about Fairphones earlier I would probably have gotten the FP4 back then. Sure they might not be as powerful as other phones, but if we don’t support them while they’re small, they will never get there at all. I gladly take the performance cut (to a certain extend), if that means buying an ethically (fair) sourced phone and supporting them becomming better in the future. I know this is not the case for everyone.
You’re right but I personally can’t overlook the security problems, that’s the main reason why I bought a PIxel and not one of their phones. If they at least pushed security updates on time I might have bought it. Ignoring the security flaws (and apparently the camera?) if you want a repairable and ethical phone it’s a great choice the best I believe, until they release a newer model).
As I liked the “fair” part of Fairphone I gave them a shot and bought the FP4. I cannot recommend them.
The camera app sucks, but by grabbing a GCAM APK from xda-developers and using that instead you can get acceptable photo quality.
Since Android 12 FP4 has a screen brightness bug that makes the phone rather unusable outside on a sunny day. This is the deal breaker as the problem hasn’t been solved yet.
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/random-screen-dimming-while-brightness-slider-stays-at-100-after-a12-update/93195
The camera app sucks, but by grabbing a GCAM APK from xda-developers and using that instead you can get acceptable photo quality
I don’t think any FP user uses the stock camera app 😅 personally I use both Opencamera and Nikita Gcam. Gcam’s night vision is crazy!
Buy a Pixel phone and flash CalyxOS or GrapheneOS.
As a GrapheneOS user I approve this message. (altho I’d rather support Fairphones than Pixels, so I am happy we have them as an option :)
Here’s to hoping that GrapheneOS will expand their support to devices like the fairphone.
I made an error taking on a Samsung galaxy, expecting it to be “well supported in the mod community”. It was the S10 (Exynos edition).
Turned out, in 2020, it was not well supported. And I moved to an even less supported Sony. Then I got a pixel, and now getting a custom ROM for a device released weeks ago is possible.
