These comments remind me about how when you try to do something great, the vast majority of the feedback will be from people who were never going to buy into your idea in the first place. The fact that they’re on version 5 tells me there’s demand for an ethically sourced, user-repairable phone with a long support life. Go start your own phone company if you don’t like it.
This post has devolved into shit and filled with a bunch of whiners complaining about the same dumb shit that isn't a goal of this phone. Might as well whine the new iPhone doesn't cost under $400 for as reasonable of a complaint anything on this post is.
Based on what? Cost? The whole premise is sustainability and ensuring the people who build it aren't working sweatshop workers like with every other major phone. I say this knowing full well I'm using one of those phones but Fairphone has only recently become available in my country.
So it depends on if you want a bad deal by parting with some extra dollars or it's a bad deal for the workers that are getting exploited so you save a few dollars.
I don’t see the big deal about headphone jacks. If you really want wired headphones, stick a dongle on the end of the cable and leave it there. It’s almost exactly the same, except you can’t charge and listen at the same time - not really something I would worry about.
All this accomplishes is an unnecessary inconvenience. I shouldn’t have to lug additional cables, and far more importantly the choice between Wired/Wireless should be up to me, not the manufacturer
Jesus Christ, they do? Add it to the list then, i ain’t buying a computer without USB A ports. Also, taking choices away from the user is the shittest excuse for progress i have ever seen or heard of
Oh God, the DAC guy… If it has enough power to make the cans go boom, then its fine… thats why we invest in cans.
Wireless is not always the answer, and people are sick of fucking dongles.
As someone who works in a real world enviorment utilizing years of very expensive legacy hardware, this whole, “get it down to a single USB c and buy a hub/dock” shtick is getting old. These ports just can’t disappear without causing major chaos. It’s a nice thought, but its not realistic.
Nothing is perfect and a phone cannot make happy every one (is there a jack or not …). But I’m happy that they try to make a good phone with all the hidden things in mind (from where come from the rough material, who is making the pieces and in which conditions …). That’s more important for me then the final product.
Yeah when I need to get a new phone I’m 100% getting a FairPhone. My last phone lived for multiple years past the security updates. All my phones over the years have died to some trivial problem that wasn’t worth fixing (e.g. bad charging port). But a fixable phone with eight years of security updates? Sign me the fuck up. The only reason my current phone isn’t a FairPhone is because they didn’t sell in the US when I needed a new one.
Wonder how it will be in 5 years. Personally think you’d be better of buying high end now and keeping it longer. Also I never had any component fail on my Samsung devices (except screen but that was self inflicted and the repair prices of samsung are more than fair). Same with iPhones, they are way more durable than fairphones.
I don’t know of any high end Android phone manufacturer that promises security updates for >5 years. If you want to keep your phone that long or even longer, there are few choices unless you want to be vulnerable.
Also, I have no idea what exactly “more durable” is supposed to mean, but I’m very much certain that Apple’s and Samsung’s batteries degrade the same and their screens also crack when dropped. A replacement part and the repair will be significantly cheaper with FairPhone, especially for people who don’t want or dare to do it themselves because of anti-repair measures by the manufacturers.
For reference, a replacement screen for FP5 costs 100€ and comes with straightforward instructions from the manufacturer. An Apple screen replacement will cost you 340€ and there are no official ways to get replacement parts or do the repair yourself. You have to pay half a FP5’s worth just for an iPhone screen repair.
Sceurity updates shmecurity updates. How many stories of someone bank account being robbed through old android vunerbality have you heard about. Im not saying they are worthelss beacuse Obviusly its better to be secured than not but they really shouldnt be a factor when choosing whetewer to buy a new phone or keep using old one. Especialy if you are like a year behind or something similar.
Samsung and Google promise 5 years of updates. Google is said to provide more with the pixel 8.
Samsung charges 140 to 175 € for a repair on the s23. While almost twice as much as the fairphone, I still think its fair. I have to agree that what apple charges is way to much but that’s how it is.
As for durable I meant no random hardware fails. They are incredibly long lasting. My galaxy s4 and s6 still work to this day.
@redditReallySucks imo, as long as Google Play Services gets updated on your device, you shouldn't have many issues. E.g. check how backwards compatible are apps on Android
Have you ever heard the terms “security update”, “firmware” and “OS”? Then you should know why a “roadmap” or rather a support plan is necessary. Many other manufacturers aren’t even providing concrete plans and simply stop providing security updates after just a few years.
The Fairphone 4 did eventually make it to the US, so I’m hopeful that we’ll eventually get the 5 too. According to GSMArena it already supports the necessary LTE/5G bands for my US network.
Looks like it has all the necessary bands for Australian networks, too, so this seems like a licensing/distribution issue more than a technical issue. I really hope they release globally at some point. I will consider importing one if I can find it at a good price.
god same here, i dont even care if it’s $1000 at this point. it adds up anyway because it would have otherwise been several phones for the same or more cost as the fairphone and definitely, it seems incredibly hard to get anything here because of our tight laws and shipping costs
I might get flack for this but I despise them for their greenwashing. removing the headphone jack to sell their own Bluetooth headphones was mmmmmmh move at best.
I agree removing the headphone jack is annoying, but I’m sure the Bluetooth works with any device that supports the format, not just theirs. Apple tries to push Apple stuff and they know their stupid user base will buy the Apple version if they have it, but I doubt the same is true here. If they had a wired and wireless headphone, would you suspect them to be trying to force you to buy their headphones still with the 5mm jack?
I despise people repeating comments. How is making the device cheaper, more sustainable, and more reliable greenwashing? I would love anybody who just loves complaining about the headphones jack to explain that. No one else has. I doubt anybody complaining really cares about the environment either. What phone do you currently have?
The usual argument is “FP5 bad because no headphone jack, I choose Nokia or Samsung”… I guess if you’re not even trying to have a fair and sustainable supply chain, that’s totally fine.
Fair and sustainable supply chains shouldn’t mean I have to throw out perfectly good electronics at home, such as wired headphones, because this company wants to save a trivial amount of money. Keeping the headphone jack means a greater level of sustainability because I don’t have to replace other fully functional electronics to use with this phone.
Here we go again… Adapters exist, nobody is forcing you to literally throw away your headphones. If the small inconvenience of using an adapter is so overwhelming for you that you’ll throw the whole sustainability argument right out the window and go for a company that doesn’t give two shits about it, then go for it. But don’t claim that sustainability matters to you, because it obviously doesn’t.
Yeah I bought a phone without a headphone jack. So I bought a little adapter and keep it in my case. Then my headphones started to fail and I got a pair that could do both Bluetooth and aux. Now I have headphones that can be used with a dead battery or can be used without a wire. Win-win.
Would I prefer a headphone jack? Yes. But the adapter lives on the end of the removable aux cable, so the functional difference is minimal. Especially since I also have wireless charging, so I can avoid the very minor “can’t charge and use AUX at the same time” problem.
I’m afraid your experience and opinion is just too nuanced for some people here. It really seems like you’re doubting our lord and saviour the headphone jack, so let the downvotes commence!
Here we go again… I know adapters exist. I have one. If I didn’t, my wired headphones and my wired aux port in my car would be unusable. If the large ecological footprint of an entire new product line that’s completely unnecessary being spun up to use a whole bunch of excess materials that didn’t need to be used to just keep the existing headphone jacks doesn’t bother you, maybe you’re the one throwing the whole sustainability argument out the window because you clearly don’t give two shits about it.
So you have an adapter and are fine using it - where’s the problem? In your last comment you said you’d have to throw away your headphones, which seems really disingenuous now.
You now have the choice of a) buying a sustainably sourced and fairly produced phone without a headphone jack or b) buying a phone of questionable sustainability and fairness with a headphone jack. The choice is really obvious if you ask me, considering the adapter is a sunk cost to the environment and you.
Do the adapters grow on trees? How does creating an entirely new and wholly unnecessary product line match up with any sort of sustainability standards? Seems pretty disingenuous to me. Try looking at the big picture and not just the actions of a single company in isolation.
Since you’re repeating yourself, I will do the same: You already own an adapter, so why are you complaining? Surely a sustainably and fairly sourced phone must be an obvious choice since you care so much about the environment, right?
Try looking at the big picture and not just the actions of a single company in isolation.
Good point, because it’s not FairPhone that started this whole debacle. They didn’t “[create] an entirely new and wholly unnecessary product line”, you’ve got Apple to thank for that.
I see this conversation is going nowhere fast. I’m gonna end it here, if you choose to be obtuse then I can’t help you.
Plenty of electronics have been able to get IP ratings while still having headphone jacks. It’s a trivial part to include as it is practically an ancient bit of tech and doesn’t introduce some kind of massive complexity to the device. Repair is a simple swap of the module. Nothing you’re saying has anything to do with supporting your claim of its removal leading to greater sustainability or reliability. Its materials are no different from the rest of the phone, meaning it’s just as sustainable as the rest of the parts, and it’s not a part that’s prone to failure, meaning it’s just as reliable as the rest.
For more cost. And again, their question was how does it affect reliability. I provided other reasons. This is like fucking whackamole. Folks just responding to the random comment that was responding to one specific thing and then pretending like it's the entire fucking argument. This whole thread is filled with idiots. Jacks have been left out of most flagship phones for a couple years now. This honestly smells like a fake grassroots attack on the Fairphone because they pay people fucking living wages instead of goddamn slave wages. The headphone jack was never a selling point of the phone. And it's not like you need to buy their headphones.
And headphone jacks are absolutely prone to failure. That's just objectively fucking false ignorant of electronics. It's an additional component. Maintainability and reliability inherently goes down if you add components. It's not magically a part of the fucking PCB. It's soldered on and then anytime a headphone plug is put in, it will put stress on the solder joints anytime it moves. Did you just fucking guess and hope you're right about "it's just as reliable"?
This thread is shit. I'm done here. Can I just block an entire post to stop seeing asinine replies from jackasses who probably don't even have a headphone jack on their current phone?
Lol, what a tantrum. I responded directly to the points you raised and this epic rant is your reply.
For more cost? Headphone jacks are not even remotely expensive. Yes, they’ve been left out of a number of other phones for several years now. I and many others complained about it then and we’re still complaining about it now. This isn’t a Fairphone specific complaint, but it does suck to see yet another company go this route. And I promise you, headphone jacks have no bearing on the shit pay practices of the entire smartphone industry.
I didn’t say headphone jacks don’t ever fail. Maybe reread what I wrote before you go on a rant. Look up failure rates of headphone jacks vs other components and you’ll see that they’re not more prone to failure than other components. And why would the headphone jack in a Fairphone be soldered on? To make it repairable, shouldn’t it be a separate module you can swap out if it does fail? By your own logic, they should take USB ports out of phones for the very same reasons they removed headphone jacks. And who knows, maybe that’s where the market will go. As for me, my next phone will be a Sony Xperia, since they still make high end phones with SD card slots, headphone jacks, and have bezels for the front facing camera so you don’t interrupt the screen. These are all features important to me, so that’s where my money will go when it comes time to replace my 4 year old phone.
Also, great use of ad hominems and “you’re all shills!” when you’re confronted with things you can’t refute. This thread isn’t shit, but your poor grasp of logic, name calling, and goalpost shifting sure is. And yes, you can mute an entire post. The exact process will depend on if you’re using the website or the specific app, but I’m sure if you go to the support community of whatever you’re using and ask them in the same charming way you’re speaking here, you’ll get the help you need to mute this whole post.
It’s honestly kinda hilarious that the person defending the anti-consumer choice to remove features is accusing those upset about their removal of shilling.
The way i understand it, they ditch the jack so they can sell ppl their earbuds while claiming it’s about the environment. No idea if that’s true, but i don’t really care about this angle. Also, regarding the IP rating, you could add a rubber flap over it, pretty sure some CAT phones had that. Still, my biggest gripe is the jack situation, though a secondary sim slot and a smaller screen would be nice.
Personally, the best phone for me, that i know of, would be a Galaxy XCover 5 - small, durable, removable battery, jack, dedicated microsd slot and dualsim. Shame it doesn’t support any variant of degoogled android.
I don’t agree with the OP that removing the jack is a mortal sin. However having worked in related induatries, I don’t think removing it really saves much if any money and it is entirely possible to make a phone or any other electronic device water resistant even with a headphone jack. Hell you can get wired ear buds that can be submerged in water.
I know it wasn’t mentioned specifically, but even fairly cheap watches will be water proof to like 30 meters and still have a user replacable battery.
If I’m gonna focus on the headphone jack then I could simply say that it’s already a cheap and reliable part that provides better quality sound that Bluetooth most of the time. Wired headphones are also way cheaper to buy and in my experience easier to fix. the Bluetooth earphones when their battery starts dying down or gets damaged will be thrown away and create more waste.
Wether this company IMHO is greenwashing OR the competition on the mobile segment is just too great and I want to believe the latter.
I think that the phone is also way too expensive, yes the phone is repairable but the components are still quite expensive to replace (although very easy to do so).
Fairphone has made too many faux pas with this one.
As for my phone, I am not a reference in that matter I upgraded to a zenfone 10 that I intend to keep for 4 years (until no more security updates). the phone cannot get it’s bootloader unlocked but I’m not going to dive into that at this point. A small phone with a decent headphone jack with latest specs and big amount of storage.
I am in Asia and I had a degoogled phone but it’s extremely hard and inconvenient most of the time (even with microg). so anyway just to say I won’t be tinkering with the phone just using open source apps as much as possible.
If you use your phone like 99% of people do, it will be completely fine. If you don’t do gaming or 4K video editing on your phone, there’s no problem. The CPU will even be fine for Instagram face filters for the foreseeable future
It felt this way for me for my last Samsung S10. Their android become an unusable mess, bloated to the brink,so I switched it to Lineage. It felt like a different phone.
That phone alone determined me to go for Pixels which allow relocking bootloader with custom roms.
I ordered the FP5 after using my OnePlus 3T for nearly 7 years, so I imagine it’ll be OK on that front, given I’m switching only due to issues with the USB port and power button.
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