While they were happy with what the fairphone 4 brought to the table, they seem to like what was changed for the fairphone 5.
What are you guys’ opinions on this? A welcome change? would you get one if your phone died within the next year?
Too bad they don’t sell them in the US. I would buy one immediately.
they’re selling the 4 with degoogled OS in the US, so perhaps they’ll do the same with the 5 at some point.
Amazing.
I’m sick of buying a new phone every three years because the battery is dead or the processor is slow, nothing can be replaced without it being wildly expensive and now it’s a paperweight.
To be fair, I don’t think the Fairphone will help much with outdated processors. You can’t upgrade the processor inside, and it comes with a relatively slow processor from day one.
This phone is not for people that need performance; it’s a very basic phone for people that value an ethical supply chain and repairability.
Relative slow my arse imo.Its all about use cases and the (potential shitty) apps you run. Been using the fp4 just perfectly fine for months, and before that the one plus x on android 11 just fine.
I would like to know what apps you use that would need the speed of anything besides the “best”?
( and for anyone wondering, one of the reasons you cant switch processor is because of the imei thats burned in. Changing that basically means that the whole id of the phone changes, including links to your mobile provider. It isnt allowed in some places )
Games
Like…?
Lately I’ve been playing Need For Speed Underground 2 on the AetherSX2 emulator. A Fairphone absolutely cannot do that.
Look bud, I’m not trying to attack Fairphone, you don’t need to be defensive. I’m just setting expectations that this is not a phone for people that need a high performance processor. The chipset is low-end, objectively. I’m sure it’s fine for people who don’t care about that stuff.
Seriously. What mobile games are worth time or money? Aren’t they all just pay to win now?
If that’s the sum total of your reasons for needing a more expensive, less free, less repairable phone, then I have nothing left except to laugh at you.
No, I just don’t have the time to explain the hundred obvious ways that a fast processor might benefit somebody, so I chose a single, INCREDIBLY obvious item near the top of the list for most people, and was hoping that I wouldn’t get follow-up idiotic responses like this. But alas!
Great news, really hope the 5 is next.
That and supporting grapheneos would do it for me
The Fairphone 4 supports /e/.
It seems graphene is limiting itself to Pixel devices. The developer is also mostly a one man show, so I don’t think he has the capacity to support many devices. He’s probably just busy keeping up with Pixel devices as-is.
What I would like to know is, how do /e/ and GrapheneOS compare.
Can’t really find info on that.
Calyx Os supports the FP4 and announced support for the FP5
That just to be said.
I have e os on FP4 and I would describe my experience as follows: Do you want to switch from IOS to Android without loosing the style of the launcher and gain some privacy? Go for it
If you want an Android that does a lot for you and give you tools like a vpn, a tracker blocker ect… Go for it
If you want to customize your experience (e.g. have an “normal” Android launcher, switch accent colors …) ? You get a very rocky experience to say the best.
And at least for the FP4, some stock apps like the Cam were just not working, but to be fair it seemed like that was a suppychain problem…
I consider changing to calyx Os, expecting to get a more customizable Android.
Is e os able to use all the camera lenses? That’s one problem I have with custom roms, they’re often unable to hook into the camera API in order to use anything other than the main back and front camera
Had to check real quick: Yes in the current Version of the stock cam it does recognise all cameras and even takes snappy pictures. That was the problem before but it seems to be patched.
Anyways due to this problem i switched to gcam
Such a shame that this kind of issue is a thing in the first place. I’d love to use a Fairphone and slap DivestOS on it, but potentially losing two lenses I paid for isn’t great at all
I think that should work, due to DivestOS being a fork of LinageOS just like eOS, and in fact the camera of eOS is just the cam of LinageOS (thats what i meant with supplychain problem). So i assume that DivestOS might just have the same camera app as eOS
But you could probably confirm that by looking into the repos
deleted by creator
Thanks, today I learned.
How do Calyx and Graphene compare?
I see Calyx does support Fairphone.
I would like that as well. In fact I’d like to switch to Calyx, but from eOS.
Check out iode.tech as well. Like /e/OS, also a lineage OS variant but with build in firewall which you can customize (or turn off). Fast security updates and great default informed FOSS apps (unlike /e/OS).
That’s more up to the grapheneOS devs
True, but part of the reason they don’t go for it is hardware things that are missing
For me, the problem was that they don’t support the right bands for US carriers.
I’m able to use Mint Mobile here in the States on my Fairphone 4. I believe 5 would also be compatible.
I appreciate you mentioning that, thats how I’m considering using the 5 if it ends up as my phone replacement, but I have a hard time interpreting the info around wireless frequency bandwidths supported 🙃 I like pretty user interfaces, networking hurts my brain
The FP4 (sold by Murena in the US) has a decent spread of bands, and works pretty well. Feel free to PM me if you want more detail.
That’s not fair
I’ve being following Fairphone since 2013, waiting for them to sell to Taiwan. After a years of waiting, in 2019 I just said fk it and bought one from official store, ship it with international packaging forwarding service. Couldn’t be happier with my Fairphone ever since.
I generally try to check every few years to see if they sell to the US yet. Last I checked they would finally ship FP4 to the US, but it will only work on T-Mobile :/ gonna check back in a few more years.
Well if you’re on ATT or any of it’s mvno’s good luck ever using any devices that isn’t on their approved list. I can’t even use my carrier unlocked Oneplus 7T. Really the only choice for device freedom in the “land of the free” is T-Mobile.
I really wish another viable mobile OS would come out. I don’t want android and apple iOS is wearing thin on me.
Have you tried Ubuntu Touch?
Perhaps next year will be the year of the Linux Phone. Alas, the same problems that plague the Linux desktop plague the phone. Lack of software.
It’s also very difficult to move out of the Apple ecosystem once everything just works the way you think it should. 
I’m quite interested in the developments on waydroid that would allow the use of Android apps on a Linux phone.
Now that’s an interesting concept.
Linux desktop is far more mature and there isn’t even a year for the Linux desktop yet. Linux mobile will probably never take off within our lifetime lmao.
Agreed. I don’t have a home computer. All of my online experience is done through my iPhone. I can’t be messing around with phones I constantly need to tweak or troubleshoot. I’ve done it to myself, but I’m okay with where I’m at rn.
Oh yes please stick with Apple. I don’t think I have ever heard of a better use case scenario.
I can’t tell if you’re being facetious or not.
Seems like an honest recommendation to me. You fit the apple use case pretty well, so if it works for you, great. I’d argue a stock pixel using stock android would be comparable in terms of not needing to mess with stuff since its a very curated experience, since google then controls the hardware and software, like apple.
The trade off is you’re giving google (or apple) 100% access and control to everything you do on your phone.
With a fairphone or any other android with (e, grapheneOS, calyxOS, lineage, etc) you WILL need to change some settings, maybe play around with it a bit to get it working how you want, but you are the one in control. Its really not that difficult to develop the small amount of technological knowledge needed given the amount of help available online and I’d say its a necessary life skill these days just like learning to use a computer became a necessary life skill.
I tried it on a spare old phone and found it pretty unusable tbh. Very limited application choices and I hated the UI / app management work flow.
Also I hated that by default the terminal (and superuser privileges) are VERY locked down.
It’s possible I just didn’t know what I was doing tho ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah, I’ve put Ubuntu Touch on a Pixel 3a and had a pretty similar experience unfortunately. I see potential, but it’s just not usable yet (for me at least).
Dang, I haven’t ever tried it. I was hoping for more configurability.
It would end up getting ignored or quickly devolve into the same shit as the others. 😞
Fuck, if Microsoft couldn’t do it, then there’s not much hope for anyone else.
There was so much competition in the early days of smartphones, its sad we ended up, the whole of humanity with two choices. Meego a collab between Intel and Nokia was really unique and a good model for social media and communications. Windows Phone was good purely to have another major competitor, but the interface was way ahead of Android and iOS for providing a better mobile experience.
RIM Blackberry, Nokia, Palm, all had a red hot go. Amazon tried recently and failed, they look like they’ll give it another shot with their new OS.
Yeah its just sad
I miss WebOS as a mobile OS and I can’t bear to see what LG has done do it.
Wait… was this ever good? I hate it so much on my TV.
I found it to be a very elegant OS, paired with a very elegant form factor in the Palm Pre. This was over 10 years ago, before Android had cemented its place, but WebOS was a bit ahead of its time, or at least out of sync with the time it was introduced. But it was a slick, intuitive OS that influenced the UX we take for granted today. I believe it was the first to have card-based task management. That satisfying “flick” to close an app was first seen on the Palm Pre.
If the palm pre had better build quality and wasnt tied down to sprint in the US I sometimes wonder how things would have played out. It was a better OS than android(especially since it was competing with the g1).
Yeah, I remember some noise around that, which is probably why they made the Pixi with a lot fewer moving parts after that. For what it’s worth, my Pre stood up great and was still in good shape when I upgraded away from it.
Why not Android?
degoogling intensifies
Graphene OS might interest you.
I’m not going to criticize the project, because it’s good. But, to me, using anything that gives Google an edge in controlling the direction of technology is bad. So, no Chromium products and no Android.
I despise Google, and I agree with chromium, but when the only other alternative is using the proprietary walled garden that is iOS, I’ll take degoogled Android everyday.
What can android do that you actually do that iOS cannot?
For starters, you can degoogle Android, you can’t deapple iOS.
You can replace the manufacturer android with a clean, free software and secure Android ROM, like GrapheneOS. iOS is a black box, fully proprietary and controlled by Apple.
You can install apps from third parties on Android, like F-Droid. On iOS every app must be approved by Apple.
You can’t use an iPhone without an Apple account, you can use Android without a Google account.
Android has multiple profiles support, which comes handy for completely isolating apps from the rest of your phone.
There’s much, much more. That’s just what came to my mind right now.
Personally, I like using the terminal on my phone, and the only terminal I found for iOS is extremely slow because its emulating linux.
For a regular user… basically nothing.
I quit google products and services a decade ago, so I was “relegated” to iOS, which… does basically the same exact fucking thing but better in every way. It’s spendy though. I also like their privacy stance, which is “we cost a lot but we’re not selling all of your data to advertisers”
I have not found a single thing I can’t do on iOS that I COULD on Android.
People spout WaLLeD GaRdEn and what I read is “privacy” and I’m in
If you do that too much you’ll go blind.
Try Murena on fairphone!
Murena uses /e/OS, which is still Android though.
It’s less about the hardware and more about the software. I would love to use a fairphone
And I give it a 0/10 on having a 3.5mm connector
There is an adapter, buttt yeah I would really miss being able to just plug in a pair of headphones.
If they gave us a second usb-c port instead I wouldn’t complain so much. So dumb that I have to choose between charging and audio
Is that really that much of an issue in the age of USB-C?
Yes, the 3.5mm jack is more durable than USB-C (since it is rotationally symmetric twisting doesn’t apply force to the connector), it maintains compatibility with billions of audio devices and doesn’t block your charging port if you use it.
I don’t get why you get so much downvotes, because it’s not as obvious as people make it out to be and there are plenty of adapters. So it’s a good question.
But yes. The 3.5mm jack had the thing companies say they are striving for: simplicity.
DACs are nice and everything but the phone can just decide to not connect properly. The DAC can decide it had enough of your phone. In either case you’d need to reconnect them. And that means unlocking your phone, because a secure phone will block streaming to ‘unknown’ USB-C devices, unless it’s unlocked during the negotiation phase. And if your connectors have become wonky for whatever reason: Well, no music for you.
And then there’s the issue where you have to have them at hand when you need them. In your car, on your person, while at work.
3.5mm is great because it actually “just works”. One of the few things that can claim such thing.
Yes, I should be able to play music, AND charge the phone without a 9 wire adapter like those universal charger plugs from 10 years ago. Wild concept. I wonder when phone tech will be able to support such a thing
I think phones should have 2 USB-C ports
Live by the wire, die by the wire(with a 3.5mm plug/jack of course)
Yes, it is.
my issue right now is that i use one of those charging + 3.5mm splitters in the car, but when they’re both connected there’s a loud ass buzz. a 3.5mm ground loop isolator works but made bass sound terrible. i’m probably gonna get an old phone just for music in the car 🤦🏽♂️
Yes, it’s fucking ridiculous! My cans are now either useless or cumbersome and everything else sounds awful! It’s like you people who just want some noise have never even heard decent audio!
No way i’m carrying a dongle
Give it a year or two and most headphones will come with USB-C plugs. You’ll have to adapt back to the antiquated 3.5mm.
As it’s now, most things that you would plug a pair of headphones into (or their current-generation equivalent) has USB-C (or USB-A), aside from home theater/pro audio equipment
High end ones will even have their own DACs and amps, and you’ll regret ever missing 3.5mm
Get over it, gramps 🤣
As well as a 5.25" floppy disc drive and betamax, you call that a phone?!? No thank you, I’ll stick with my x-phone https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nezImUP0w
People complaining about 3.5mm jacks remind of the people who complained about how the iMac G3 didn’t have a 3.5" floppy drive. At first yeah it was weird to leave it out, but it’s been 9 years since the first smartphone launched without a 3.5mm jack (the OPPO R5 in 2014).
If you want ancient tech then your options will be limited.
The number of comment that says " I would buy one, but" is amazing !
What this company is doing is what every company should do, from laptop to tablet. As well as tractors. Dot being able to repair what you buy is fundamentally flawed!
TBF it’s not available in the USA, and a lot of us are in the USA…plus even if we got one, a lot of the bands wouldn’t work, so it’s not like you’d have a good connection with it.
This is the reason why I never bought an Asus phone despite hating our primary options in the US (Samsung, Apple, Google) and really wanting one. It seems most manufacturers forget that T-mobile bands exist despite them being nearly tied for #2 in marketshare in the US.
Yea so many damn good phones basically are useless here in the states. It sucks.
How tragic. I’m sorry. As a dirty Yuropoor I’ll buy one in your place and enjoy it for you.
Please do lol, I’d love to own one but it’d be a wifi brick at best here state side.
It’s compatible with most of T-Mobile bands.
Unfortunately T-Mobile is really crap in most of the USA outside of major cities. I’m basically in a dead zone with T-Mobile in my town. ATT isn’t much better and Verizon is the best but both are still lacking… literally dropped calls in some areas.
That sucks when you are stuck in an area like that. I’ve had t-mo for about 15 years now and they’ve been great and have solid coverage everywhere I’ve been in and outside the state. Verizon really is a better option for more rural locations though generally. I had them for a little while when T-Mo didn’t have great coverage where I was. And I really dislike ATT so they were a hard pass lol
That’s the biggest thing for me. If I can get a similar phone to work in the US with no stability or functional compromises, I’m happy.
“Not available” in a given country doesn’t really mean anything these days. You can buy anything online and get it shipped anywhere. The question I have is does it work on American wireless networks? Because if it does, you can figure out how to acquire a phone…
You’re right, it is amazing. These people are giving honest constructive criticism of a product. Companies often have to pay money to get that information. These complaints are generally valid as well.
The company’s commitment to repairability is commendable but it’s in lieu of other important factors. If I have to make the choice between having the newer OS with stronger, more powerful hardware or the ability to repair my device I’m going to choose the former every time. From the get-go the device might last longer simply because I won’t want to get rid of it as quickly. The 5 is of course a significant improvement over previous releases but it’s still behind. If they can deliver a device that is not immediately outdated in comparison to other phones of similar price then this would be a no brainer for me and likely others as well.
Similarly availability is another major factor. You can’t buy what you can’t get your hands on. Even more importantly it’s even more futile to buy one for a network that doesn’t support it at all. Obviously the creators just aren’t ready to expand into another market and that’s fine but it doesn’t make the criticism any less important for their mission.
For the same price, a Fair Phone is always going to be outdated. They can’t scale as much as the big manufacturers can and they (are trying to) avoid slave labor etc.
It’s simply not possible to be as cheap as the others who do everything to be as cheap as can be.
Framework ship laptops to Australia and has a headphone socket. Great company. Great products. Great experience, highly recommend. I can’t recommend products that don’t sell and support in my market. I don’t have any loyalty to Fairphones or Steamdecks or any other product from low effort companies that don’t ship beyond NA or Europe.
Yet they don’t sell in the USA, and they don’t have a headphone jack. A company meant for repairability and reliability not having a headphone jack. That’s like when framework removed it from the 16 inch laptop.
I don’t think your comparison to Framework is justified since 1) they made a headphone jack expansion module that’s available along with all the other ports and 2) the Framework 16 has 6 expansion bays instead of 4. If you need a headphone jack you get a 25% increase in configurable ports, and if you don’t need one you get a 50% increase in ports. Plus, you can easily switch between those two cases.
- that is a solution to a problem nobody wanted.
- Technically 5 if you’re using one of them for the headphone jack (which you wouldn’t need if it was included on the device ready). Also the one with 4 already has a headphone jack included, so you’d still have 4 available ports.
And 3.
They’re small and I could lose it and would have to spend even more money for a replacement.
If my FP4 dies in the next year, I will fix it. Because iFixit gave it 10/10.
As soon as my FP 3 dies they will hopefully have a new phone with a headphone jack. In 10 years or so.
Don’t forget to let them know that at the various consumer surveys they send regularly. But I wouldn’t hold my breath…
Honestly I’d probably buy a phone without a camera before I’d buy a phone without a headphone jack.
I was sold on the idea of a fairphone but that’s a dealbreaker to me. I very briefly owned a phone without a headphone jack (borrowed from a friend while my current one was in repair), having to think of that stupid adapter all the time was hell.
Can’t you leave the adapter on the heatphone cable?
I have 2 main problems with that:
- My headphone cable is long and sometimes it gets tangled in all sorts of places. The adapters are small and flimsy, if I leave them on the cable I assume they’ll break soon. I have no problems with a broken headphone cable as it is an easy and cheap fix. I don’t think the adapters are seriously fixable tho.
- Everything else uses a headphone jack everywhere. I have yet to see a use for USB-C to audio jack anywhere else. Which makes sense as USB is digital and audio is analog. I assume many people have no use for headphones outside of their phones, I am not one of those people.
Yeah, that’s what I really don’t get about all the people in this thread. No matter how many headphones you have, the adapter is like 10$ at most. Just get as many as you need to always have one where you need it
I don’t intend on turning this into some sort of fight but to me your comment has big
“I don’t see the problem why can’t other people just have enough money”
vibes (Also I checked and an adapter costs me 12$ on Amazon). I don’t think you intended it this way, so I’ll shut up now.
As to my actual answer:
- Leaving it on headphones is not an option to me (I explained it above)
- Buying one for every jacket might work, but what do I do in summer?
- Please correct me on this but afaik it’s not standardized
- USB output is usually digital, while headphone obviously require an analog signal. I assume the vendors just use certain pins in the USB jack for transmitting the analog signal while keeping the rest grounded.
- I know for certain that Samsung adapters don’t work on OnePlus phones for example.
I could go on, but there’s honestly no point. We’re different people with different uses for our phones/headphones. I won’t buy a phone without a headphone jack as long as I still have wired headphones.
Adapters are literally <5 USD including shipping on AliExpress. At that point it’s not about the price if you’re buying a phone anyways, because the cheap phones haven’t abandoned the aux jack.
Also the digital usb adapters should work on any phone (and computer), unlike the “dumb” ones that trigger the DAC inside the phone (if there is one).
I would love one of it wasn’t so big. I’m sick of big phones.
This. I just ordered an S23, just because it’s pretty much the smallest phone you can get (apart from the zenfone, which has a worse update policy).
Got a Zenphone 9 because I don’t really care about wireless charging. The hardware is great, but the software has it’s problems sometimes, like some missing QoL features. On the upside: Not nearly as much bloatware as other phones, especially Samsung ones.
To me I’d still say the ZenFone isn’t a small phone. Not only is it bigger than my current phone (pixel 3) its also bigger than some phones in the 2010s that were lauded for their large screens. We literally have no mainstream small phones, what we call small now are just smaller than the ginormous ones that have been normalised.
Samsung basically has a duplicate app installed for each stock Google app. And I think short of disabling it via adb, there is no option. But Samsung has really turned around and has a relatively good update policy in place. If not the Pixel, then Samsung is okay for me. I had love to have the Fairphone but it seems like they sell in limited markets only worldwide.
I never buy phones without bootloader unlocking capability for that reason
I’m still using a S10e, seriously considering buying another - it still suits my needs.
Yeah, I’m writing this on an s10e but the battery really isn’t that good anymore and the lack of security updates doesn’t feel good either. The current s series phones are roughly the same size as the e though, so I hope it’ll be okay.
That said, even the e is a bit too large for my taste. The top left corner is pretty much out of reach without adjusting your grip, so about half an inch less of screen would be preferable imho. Samsung’s one handed mode is much better than the android default though, which kind of makes up for it - and there’s just nothing smaller available.
Agreed, I happened to just make this mockup chronicling my journey through screen sizes. I loved the HTC One m7, the pixel 2 despite being a bit larger was still comfortable because it still has a “chin” at the bottom. I thought going to the pixel 5 would be fine and I chose it because it’s within ~1mm of the same body dimensions, but I forgot to account for the screen going all the way to the top/bottom - trying to press the back button at the bottom of the screen with 1 hand is so much more of a stretch and it sometimes makes my hand sore. Given that I’ve had the P5 for a while and my hand still hasn’t adjusted I just can’t go to a bigger phone, especially since the P5’s
increased height over the 2lower screen bottom compared to the P2 makes it want to flip backwards out of my hand when I’m trying to reach down to the back button. At a minimum I need my next phone to be same or smaller than the P5.(Comparison: https://i.imgur.com/gAc306o.png )
That said, I get that FP wants to make a repairable phone that appeals to the masses, and it might hurt that mission to cater to a specific crowd instead of competing with the veritable hand-tablets that other companies are producing. I just hope that they grow large enough to be able to make a “Luddite” version though with a non-cramp-inducing size and a headphone jack. I don’t care either way about headphone jacks but I feel like there’s a lot of overlap between the crowds that want smaller phones and people who want headphone jacks.
Agree, I want something that fits in my pocket and that I don’t have to perform hand gymnastics to use.
I would buy one in a heartbeat if it was smaller… My S22 barely fits in my pants pocket, and barely usable with one hand.
Still waiting for compact phones to return…RIP sony xperia
Same. I got a fairphone 4 after my beloved one plus X which was the perfect size… I just dont use a big part of my screen
The OnePlus X is such a beautiful phone. Sadly there’s no ROM left that’s being maintained.
Ye, latest rom i found back then was a lineageos rom that was android 11, june 2022 release iirc ( or 2021? ). It was awesome and worked great. Alas, after 8 years it is now my spare phone incase of issues :)
I laughed when I saw the size of it. It’s the same size as the S23 ultra…
I have an S21 Ultra, so the size doesn’t bother me too much. But the Fair phone is objectively a worse device on every level. I want something S23 nonplus non ultra sized if I’m going for an average long lasting daily phone.
S10e forever.
People just don’t seem to buy compact phones. The IPhone mini was a flop.
My daughter really loves my old S10e. Apart from the dwindling battery life, it’s still an awesome phone, capable of taking beautiful photos.
Yeah it’s a shame the processor also wasn’t that power efficient yet. The new Snapdragon Gen2 would bring insane battery life to small phones.
The Zenfone line is your best bet for a compact phone today. I switched from the LG V60 to the Zenfone 10 when it came out and it’s no contest. I loved my V60 but its laughably massive to me now
RIP sony xperia? I just got a Sony Xperia 5 V and it’s a great phone. Maybe a bit tall but the width makes it very comfortable to use with one hand.
I want the headphone jack back.
Lack of one is an immediate showstopper for me, too.
Genuinely curious, is it the lack of Bluetooth earphones? I can’t remember the last time I saw someone using wired earphones
It was definitely a showstopper when Apple first did it because most people were still using wired earphones, but these days everything is wireless
Not who you asked, but I also refuse to buy a phone without a headphone jack. I am constantly listening to music/podcasts/audiobooks on my phone while out and greatly prefer using wired headphones over wireless for a number of reasons-
-Bluetooth can be finicky in connection. No matter the pair I’ve used, just the act of walking can make the connection falter at times and there’s no way to fix it
-Bluetooth headphones have a much worse cost/performance ratio than wired when it comes to sound quality.
-I use the mic when taking calls and even a cheap wired mic is dramatically better than any bluetooth one
-Wired headphones don’t have a battery. This is huge for me. I hate, hate, hate it when caught out and my headphones run out of battery. Additionally, batteries put a life span on electronics that I like not having to think about with my headphones.
-Simplicity. If I want to use my headphones, I plug them in. If I don’t, I unplug them. I can quickly switch to a new device when I want to use them on something else. I don’t have to think about what they are paired with at any time or fiddle with it when swapping devices
-Small case, but I like that when I need to take my headphones out for a bit, I can just ease one out and leave it wrapped around my ear rather than deal with the case just to talk to a cashier
Absolutely that, confirm as OP.
For me it’s mostly two major reasons: Security and ease of use.
I don’t leave Bluetooth turned on unless I actively need it.
And wireless headphones are just one more thing to charge. I’ve tried them. It ended up more of a hassle than just…plugging in a wire.
Oh okay. For me, the hassle of coiling the wires and resolving knots was infinitely greater than keeping track of the limited battery life of my earbuds
One of the best headphones I’ve ever used had magnets in the buds which basically eliminated tangles completely. Highly recommend sport earbuds with magnets.
No, it’s because of batteries. At least for me. We’re creating more ewaste by shoving Bluetooth earbuds down our throats due to no headphone jack.
Edit: Currently rocking the Pixel 7 Pro, and once I’m done with this phone (I hope to have it for at least 4 more years), I hope Sony still has headphone jacks on their phones. Since that’s what I’ll most likely go for.
Same here. I work long shifts and know that some 200MAh batteries aren’t going to cut it for long before being thrown in the trash. I have some nice BT headphones that I use at home or on flights but my primary pair are still wired.
My $350 Motorola phone has a headphone jack and an SD slot. And apparently superior build quality from what I’ve seen of my girlfriend’s and coworker’s P7s.
I too can vouch for Motorola. I have the 200$ G31 and it’s got a headphone jack and micro-sd-slot. I’m very pleased with its quality and performance so far, and hope it lasts some years to come.
Honestly I feel that.
I could plug a MIDI keyboard to my Galaxy Note 9, play it on FL Studio Mobile and send the audio to a mixer
The delay inherent to bluetooth headphones is unbearable for me
Also, you know, wired headphones don’t have batteries
BT delay is such a pain in games. And honestly for me not needing fucking batteries for every damn device in my life is a highly preferred feature. Fucking hate that every device has a separate time limit that I have to keep track of.
Not OP, but some cars don’t have bluetooth. My 2009 honda civic didn’t have bluetooth for music. It had bluetooth, but just for the handsfree calling (really dumb), but I also swapped the head unit myself to an android head unit. While there are adapters for USB-C to aux, I found the ones I got weren’t super reliable. My phone doesn’t have an aux, but I wanted one. I made the sacrifice of no aux to get 5G on a different model phone instead. It’s worked out, but when looking for phones in the future having an aux port is a point in that phones favor.
This is why I hope to go for Sony in the future.
I use wired headphones and I use an aux jack in my car. I have a set of BT ones I use if i’m walking around but if I’m stationary (which is the case 90% of the time I’m using my phone) wired is better. Better sound, no battery to worry about failing, no BT delay turning everything you watch into a shitty dub.
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Yes agreed. The headphone jack is a perfected technology. If a device does not have a headphone jack I am not buying it. Full stop.
For me it’s the micro SD card. Which the FP5 has… but I use my phone for emulators, and their phones aren’t as powerful as I would need. Also, they don’t sell in the US, so I couldn’t use it even if I wanted.
I would buy one if they shipped globally and it was about 100-150€ cheaper. The specs are not worth 700€. I would also need official GrapheneOS support as well.
The specs are not worth 700€
That’s what those specs are worth if everyone who’s part of it gets compensated for their work appropriately.
Imagine the price of a Galaxy S23 if Samsung actually was fair to everyone involved.
There’s no GrapheneOS support for it, but CalyxOS is going to support it.
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It wasn’t free. You paid for it
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Someone gifted you a phone and you are not paying them money at all?
They’re probably talking about mommy and daddy that got them the phone. Which is why they’re responding like a 5 year old.
That is no way to insult a five year old!
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Agree with the message but not with the tone. I buy used phones from eBay and they are awesome. Like $100 for a newish device.
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Yeah it’s just crazy watching you be ableist as if you have a point
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Since I can’t get the Fairphone in the US, I got a Pixel 7a for $350. It’s not as repairable as my ancient 3a, but if it lasts 7 years like the 3a, I’ll have gotten my money’s worth.
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this is great! i have a friend who needs a new phone and is ordering one, and i’m gonna get my hands on it to help him out and eventually flashing LineageOS on it if it comes out
i just wish they complied with the android stack security features so that it would be compatible with GrapheneOS. it would be the perfect phone
For real, we need more phones that are compatible with GrapheneOS. Going to Google for THE De-googled phone is nothing shy of extremely ironic and borderline hypocritical.
Most importantly - more such phones that are affordable. Even specifics like giant size aside, the only Pixel I can afford is the one that is either not supported or close to the end of support. Also they’re not even officially available here, which seems to be a common problem.
Can you ELI5 on the Android Stack Security compliance thing?
I would like to know about ASS, too.
NICE ASS
I really like the idea of these phones and I’d really buy one of my employer wasn’t providing me a phone and allowing me to use it for my private stuff.
Of course, it might be expensive for the hardware, but just look at the price of a non repairable and non ethical iPhone.
I’d jump on the Fairphone first thing if not having a single tie to an advertising/tracking company was an option. But here we are.
Also when visiting Fairphone forums, I get “This community is not accessible in your location.”
It is still a business and a business is gonna business, thus never gonna be as ethical as one would want.
Well I would buy the Murena version of the Fairphone. The one with /e/os installed. Apparently everything works on it, without google learning too much about you.
Sounds like a your country issue.
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I would recommend getting a personal device. Using employer-owned devices for private use is a liability to both yourself and your employer, and it’s exposing yourself to serious breaches by your employer.
Thanks for the advice, but I’ve already thought about it a lot and I see more advantages than inconveniences. But if course I agree with you about the risks involved.
I wouldn’t say the Fairphone 5 wins prizes for looks or functionality but it does show that it is entirely possible to make a phone with a replaceable battery and repairable components in a modern form factor. If they, a small boutique phone maker can do it, then there is absolutely no excuse that Apple, Samsung, Oppo etc. cannot do the same.
One failing of Fairphone is you cannot buy the mainboard (the core component) from their store. All the other components yes, but not the mainboard. The core is not just the CPU, flash but also some other things like microphone are on it. It would also be nice if people could order all the parts that make up a Fairphone 5 and assemble one entirely from scratch.
I’ve also read through their ethics / green reports in the past, and while it talks it up with “supply chain engagement” reports and so on, most of their components are still made to order by Chinese OEMs so how far does it go down the chain in reality.
One failing of Fairphone is you cannot buy the mainboard (the core component) from their store. All the other components yes, but not the mainboard. The core is not just the CPU, flash but also some other things like microphone are on it. It would also be nice if people could order all the parts that make up a Fairphone 5 and assemble one entirely from scratch.
good point. with the mainboard available they would be on Framework’s level and that would be amazing
then there is absolutely no excuse that Apple, Samsung, Oppo etc. cannot do the same.
There is an excuse: it costs them money. If you can easily and cheaply repair your phone, you won’t buy a new one.
greed isn’t an excuse. Oh, sorry I was late but I have a good excuse: I’m lazy
“Sorry I’m late, it’s because of who I am as a person” is my usual reason.
Yes my apologies. I gave a really good excuse though gestures to self in the general
Technical excuse I meant.
Oh I know. But there is no technical excuse and they know it.
Few comments here that id like feedback from somebody, if possible :
- fairphone does not sell mainboards seperately because things like the phone imei is linked to it, which in itself is often linked to the mobile provider. Changing this isnt always allowed, depending on the country/state/whatever
- afaik they do still order from china oems, but i think they choose parts that are certified to not be made with childlabor, unethical stuff etc etc. If it is like that, nobody knows. Thats the problem with the whole fight against unethical stuff
I want a fucking headphone jack, thanks. Also 3 full size USB ports, a physical keyboard and a inch-thick battery, because fuck you.
They got us in the first half.
Okay but I’m absolutely serious and I bet a lot of the upvotes on that ARE unironic. There is a market for chunky, powerful portable devices -few manufacturers seem to want to cater to that type of customer however, probably because of a worldwide capitalism hegemony that exists to make you as placated and dumb as possible rather than empower you as a individual or something
It’s definitely more than the market is not large enough or willing to pay enough to make it worth while. A phone with 3 USB ports, a physical keyboard and a huge ass battery?
That’s not a phone, that’s a laptop. The amount of people willing to pay for that is going to be miniscule.
Capitalism isn’t purposeful in that way. One company might be, but if there was really a huge demand for that kind of thing someone would make it.
You’re mistaken. Imperialism is capitalism, my friend. War is just easy profit to some. Regardless, tech companies LOVE to work with the state to design products; most motherboards do have backdoors used by the likes of the NSA. So I think there’s a fair case to be made for it being more of a don’t-piss-off-the-government decision rather than scarcity of parts or demand.
There are products like the pinephone or what have you and they aren’t very successful, because most people demand convenience and not seeming weird to their peer group, both understandable impulses even as they lead us astray.
The government isn’t stopping manufacturers from making phones with bigger batteries and headphone jacks.
@invaderDJ @Porous_gray_matter. SBCs and their recent popularity show there IS a demand, as well as the existence of the pinephone period. I’m not convinced either. The government, -especially the USA’s undeniably has a vested interest in keeping versatile, powerful technology out of reach for most.
Still no 3.5mm jack, still no dice for me.
I don’t like it (that’s why I keep a Galaxy S9) but that ship has sailed.
I’ve got a Galaxy S9!
Same, terrible shame too
Just get a dongle.
