Wanted:
- large screen
- good battery life
- great camera
- long device lifetime, i.e. repairability, software and security updates, swappable battery, …
- enough RAM (8GB) and built-in storage (256GB)
- SD card slot and 3.5mm won’t hurt (but we use wireless headphones all the time)
The competition are (from my POV):
- Samsung S23+ (or similar)
- Motorola Edge 40 Pro (or similar)
- Google Pixel 8 Pro
I ruled out all other vendors due to disappointing update promises. Motorola with 4 years security updates promised (out of which the first year has already passed if the model is not brand new) is the minimum.
All phones are stretching the budget; must be really good to justify the expense. Benchmark for “great” is better than the previous generation (S10).
Overall, the Fairphone 5 is a low-to-mid tier phone with a top-tier price tag. If you support what they claim to do and if you have no issues with not buying the best phone in that price range, get one.
Really? Is it that bad? I can see, it’s behind flagship phones, but low-to-mid, really? How do you justify this?
I can sort-of understand your point looking a the benchmarks, e.g. https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=12540&idPhone2=12083&idPhone3=12070
Not that great
Based on the specs, the build quality (according to data sheets stating its plastic), and some of the features (especially the low-res screen) and the software and components (e.g. the outdated UFS, no WiFi 7, the old BT standard, the small battery, etc.)
460ppi low-res? You got some proper eagle eyes, dang
Edit: Just saw your other comment, didn’t know you could bump down the resolution on a Pixel 7. But scaling down to 1080 on a 1440 display won’t look as good as native 1080, I reckon