A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
I really wish it had a 3.5mm audio jack. I don't see what companies stand to earn, other than money, when they remove the headphone jack.
I can see why Apple and Samsung removed it because the they can market their own wireless headphones.
Removing the jack only removes capability, it is not like older phones didn't have the capability to connect to Bluetooth headphones
The first company that produces a phone with
will break the market
And a transparent back cover
designed for you
Sure as hell not.
Also:
At this point, they're just following the trend.
It's not bigger, it's even a bit thinner than fairphone 4. Screen is slightly bigger though
Why wouldn't they? Their goal is to create a fair phone. Not a niche phone for a few geeks.
This is a pretty great phone, I just wouldn't spend this much on a phone. Even if it lasts let's say 6 years, I can buy 3-4 mid range androids at this price & as the years go by they could be far better than this one near the end.
Also while Iphones are really hard to repair, they do last very long & there are people out there who can replace my iphone battery for like $40 and it too would last 5-6 years. (a recent enough refurbished SE for example)
Even if it lasts let's say 6 years, I can buy 3-4 mid range androids at this price
Something tells me you missed the point of the Fairphone...
I think a very small percentage of users would justify a purchase on repair-ability & sustainability alone (privacy is not it!), if it does not save them at least a little money in the long run and as things are it does not. If it was just a bit cheaper they could sell 10x as many units & normal people like me would be happy. I think this is reasonable to ask for, yes the phone is more expensive to make, but software support is not nearly as expensive as you think. Android is very easy to update and port these days, sure it's like 4 engineer salaries to keep some degree of testing running alongside development, but if they sold more devices, then the relative cost would go way down.
Then again, if they can maintain profitability by targeting that niche market it's good for them, I just wish someone took 'right to repair' & 'right to own' to the masses.
The problem is, paying fair wages, sourcing fair materials und make sure the phone ist repairable and lasts longer will always be more expensive than let's say Xiaomi. If the phone lasts for example six years instead of the usual two they will only sell a third of the phones other manufactures will sell, even if they reach the same customer base.
I was exited for this phone, but as I said in another thread: I am a bit disappoited about the CPU and the substantial price hike, but most of all aqout the size increase. Is there any market research at all indicating that customers want 6"+ displays?
Is there any market research at all indicating that customers want 6"+ displays?
Unfortunately, yes. People who buy smaller phones are the people who buy a new phone less often, and small phones tend to sell worse than the big models (see S10e, iPhone 12(?) Mini) so don't get renewed. Would be nice if they did.
For the FP4 they said one of the reasons they remove the aux input was that more people asked them to reduce the size of their phone than to keep the input.
The CPU choice is great, why are you disappointed with it? It's the reason they can offer a minimum of 8 years of support on this model.
I would also like to know what the problem is with the CPU. My current phone has this CPU and it works fine.
Edit:
Geekbench FP4 Vs FP5 https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/2432096?baseline=2439889
You have a Qualcomm QCM 6490? Google told me, there is basically no phone out there that uses it, because it's an IoT SoC, not one made for phones.
Crosscall Core-Z5 https://www.crosscall.com/en_FR/core-z5-COZ5.MASTER.html
How did you end ab with that phone? I never heard of that company.
I live in France, I wanted a phone with buttons that wasn't just an ODM with a different logo on it. It is an interesting company. I've had some contact with them. They are legit going to pull out of China and move production back to France. They uphold their 5 year warranty promise as well.
And, they update their stuff. I'm on Android 13 and apparently older devices are still receiving updates too.
I'm getting some low-key Fairphone vibes there. Cool stuff!
It would be pretty low-key. I wouldn't want to pry this phone open and then glue it back together. Fairphones are supposed to be rather easy to repair.
Yeah, that's true. I meant the software support/warranty aspect.
With you on almost all points. Only the size didn't actually increase. The phone's dimensions are exactly the same. Only the weight went up a bit. The screen size was increased by using up more of the phone's front side.
The phone is still a massive brick.
Fairphone Fold when?
Fairphold
Interesting how they went for an IoT SoC (Qualcomm QCM 6490), instead for an SoC that's actually meant for usage in phones.
They probably did this to be able to get longer Android updates. As a side effect, that means it natively supports desktop Ubuntu and Windows 11 IoT Enterprise.
On the other hand, this is pretty much the only phone using this SoC. (There are three models by a totally unknown brand from India that use the same SoC.)
It's going to be interesting to see whether that's an advantage or a disadvantage.
If it a) comes to the US, and b) comes with stock Android out of the box, I might get it for my next phone. Currently leaning toward a Pixel with Graphene.
b) is already given and a) depends on whether you'll find someone to bring it to you.
b) is not already given. The only company that brought the FP4 to the US loads it with /e/.
Which you can remove easily. Or just organize someone buying itv in Europe.
Threads for Fairphone often fill up with "it's not going to work if they don't X." Lots of people don't seem to understand that their personal viewpoint can be quite different from other's.
There are people who are aware of the trade-offs of a Fairphone, but still choose to get one.
I've always been in favour of a phone with a shitty camera. I don't give a fuck about posting on social media, and these days a huge chunk of a phone's price is determined by how powerful of a camera they were able to cram into it.
I recognize that this apparently sounds insane to most people.
It's nice to have a decent camera, but honestly, 90% of the people (including myself) are so bad at taking pictures, that the difference between mid range and ultra premium is almost zero.
The only thing that's really really cool is night mode. My Pixel can take really great photos with extremely low light levels.