Not much to add. Saw it in another technology forum and thought it also belonged here for the solarpunks
I’m a big fan of upgradable hardware, but lately I’ve found that the bigger problem with Android phones is the lack of software support. I had my last phone for 5 years and finally upgraded not because there were any major hardware problems, but because the android version was so far out of date that I was starting to feel the pain of missing out on some major improvements, plus some apps actually were starting to break. I picked my current phone specifically because Samsung was promising to support four major version upgrades which is, unfortunately, industry leading among Android OEMs despite lagging hugely behind Apple’s software support for their older models.
Fairphone seems to have a mixed track record on this. According to their website the Fairphone 2 got 5 major updates (great!). But the Fairphone 3 got only one update (bad). And the fairphone 4 has received one update so far with a second one promised. After that they say that they’ll try to provide two more updates, but they’re not making any promises because the processor will be out of support with Qualcomm by then.
This is, unfortunately, a very understandable position to take. The fact that Android OEMs rely on third parties like Qualcomm to design and support their processors is definitely the major problem here. Big guys like Samsung and Google can throw their weight around and squeeze a year or two of extra support out. But for small players like fairphone it’s not surprising that they find themselves in this position.
The fact is that any sane company would prefer to make money selling new chips, rather than spending it to support old ones. This problem will persist until consumers start demanding longer software support on their devices and making it a major part of their buying decision.
I’ve posted about this elsewhere on this instance, but LineageOS has made a good start on supporting Android phones beyond their official support
I actually flashed lineage onto an old (5th gen?) Amazon Fire tablet I had gathering dust recently. I’ve been very satisfied with the result, but I’m personally not at the point where I’d trust it as my daily driver OS. My smartphone holds sensitive bank data, I rely on it to call for help in emergencies, I use it as an alarm clock to ensure I get to work on time, etc. There’s just too much at stake for me to trust pulling a build off some thread on XDA-developers and hoping for the best.
quick edit: Maybe there’s collaborative a way forward though, where the LineageOS community and Fairphone work together to extend support through Fairphone approved Lineage releases. I’d totally be down for that.
For what it is worth, at least for Fairphone 3 the support in, e.g., LineageOS is excellent and I recently updated to LineageOS 20 (based on Android 13).
That said, I would hope that Fairphone does make at least one more major update of their official Android version for Fairphone 3.
to add another layer, this US version is shipping with the /e/OS fork of Android which is going to be on its own upgrade cycle …
Fairphone - listen up! (I know they’re definitely here and I’m not just shouting into the wind.)
Go find a Samsung Galaxy S5. Upgrade the internals, move the button to the side, and you’re done. Waterproof, wireless charging, swappable batteries, SD card, headphone jack. It’s the last good phone I’ve used.
No major “supported for 1 generation by the manufacturer then forgotten” hardware gimmicks (if this were a just universe, the guy that suggested the Bixby button would be reassigned to manually unclogging toilets with his hands), no notch (oh Apple, you think we didn’t look at the ‘functional notch’ and start betting on how long before that’s gone?), a satin feeling back and shiny bevel made of plastic (it flexes, doesn’t bend, and who gives a shit when it’s in a case), thin but not so much so that you have to worry about sanding 0.00001 mm off the battery to fit it (0.5mm thicker and 4 more hours of screen on time? Puhlease. My college laptop weight 10 pounds and I took it everywhere. Load up those energon cubes).
You wanna play around with the dimensions and cameras and add a retractable feline flossing utensil? Fine. The phone everyone wants already 99% exists. It’s maddening!
Only thing keeping me from being interested in this phone is the lack of 3.5 mm headphone jack.
After my last phone upgrade where I chose a phone with a headphone jack, I found that I just did not use it that often. But when I did use it, it was absolutely critical. Being stuck with on a flight with bluetooth headphones without charge is awful, but aint no problem when you got a headphone jack (and the wire to connect your dead headphones). I could see myself getting a phone without it, but there would have to be a really good reason for it, and so far there has not been one.
I just can’t stand the inconsistency of Bluetooth. The quality is worse. Every single mic on a Bluetooth headphones sounds worse than just a cable mic. Only reason to remove it is for company profits. Plus my set of wired headphones will work for years maybe decades the same can’t be said about Bluetooth headphones.
Have you used any lately? I have several types of Bluetooth headphones and they’re chugging along great, sounding good and connected well all day. Maybe the tech and connections have gotten better.
Yes there are still problems. I own a pair and they work fine a lot. But when they bug out its annoying af. And trust me they do not sound as good as a wired headset. They sound “good enough” not great. Bluetooth is a protocol that was never intended for what we are using it for. To the point that apple designed a specific chip to work with their airpods because Bluetooth is straight up lacking.
Also i get this question every time i make a comment about headphones. Great if they work for you. They have have problems and your personal experience doesn’t negate that.
Also there is not a single Bluetooth headset out there that will ever last longer than wired headphones. Cause batteries degrade and these batteries arent replaceable.
I was super interested in this phone, but that omission has made me lose all interest. What the fuck.
Happy Fairphone4 user here - I have one of those USB-C to headphone jack converters, which works reasonably well. However, since I got some bluetooth headphones I never had the urge to go back to wired headphones.
‘i like this truck but I need 4 wheel drive’
“I only have 2 wheel drive and I’ve never got stuck!”
That’s cool for you mate, they probably know what they need.
I won’t die on the headphone jack hill but I will with microSD.
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Great, but I can’t really consider any phone without a headphone jack.
well, the fairphone 5 is coming so, we’ll see if the US will get that too
Unpopular opinion for this probably, but the majority of people don’t care or want to repair their own phones. On this forum, yeah, probably, but majority of people would rather just go sign another contract and get a new one or have insurance on it.
A repairable phone doesn’t mean you have to repair it yourself. It also means you can get it repaired quickly and cheaply by a local tech compared to other phones, and especially compared to buying a whole new phone.
… I dunno. Screen replaceable with 8 screws? it’s always the easiest thing to damage. Same with the USB C port. That was the only reason I swapped out from my original pixel last year.
Also depending on how easy that battery is to remove… that’s an audience right there. Throw in an external charger, now you have swappable batteries. That’s been a feature many have missed.
You’re correct, of course, but these types of communities tend to be occupied by people outside of the mainstream who care more about these issues. Also, I think it’s important people have the freedom to repair the technology they own even if the majority of people will choose not to, having the ability is still important.
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Indeed. It also reduces the cost to do the repairs, which is good for everyone.
I agree with you but I think the reason these things aren’t more popular is because the majority of people don’t care. Companies want to make money so usually they’ll make products for the larger group of potential customers.
Just because the majority don’t, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t
All I’m saying is it takes money to make stuff. A small, niche product is harder to justify unless it’s a hobby.
For the companies, it’s usually a case of weighing how much adding the feature will cost vs. how much they’ll expand their market by adding it. For Fairphone, their whole schtick is that their phones are repairable and upgradeable, so in this case it’s that they’ve determined that there’s enough demand in the U.S. market to justify the cost of entry, as they’ve already added the features. In this case, the majority of people will probably not purchase a Fairphone, but that’s not their goal, they occupy a market niche.
I feel like the majority of the people care about price/performance more than anything. Paying more for a lower spec phone isn’t appealing. Replaceable batteries are nice but it doesn’t matter if the battery has 80% of the capacity in the first place.
The article doesn’t seem to explain the reason, so I’ll ask here: why wasn’t it already available in the US? I feel like this product has been available in Europe for years now
Radio frequency licensing issues. Fairphone didn’t feel they had enough market interest in America to go through the FCC approvals. Murena, however, believed there was enough interest and went through the process, hence why Fairphone still isn’t selling any phones in the US, but Murena is selling a Fairphone in the US
One “little” thing makes it very frustrating for me: the volume button does not change the volume of the notifications/rings. It defaults to media sound and there is no way to change the default. Has been an open ticket for years, and that stupid thing alone makes me consider buying a different phone next time.
I’ve had that one every single android phone since 2019 and it makes me very upset that they don’t set it up the sane and proper way (the way it was from 2009-2019)
What the hell? It also failed to wake me up when one of my priority contacts tried to contact me on an emergency because some defaults had changed.
I have resisted installing replicant on my phone because I feared some core functionalities would be missing, but now I don’t see why not anymore.
Yeah core functionalities are missing from modern android. Might as well install a more privacy focused or legacy support instance ROM and not give some tech company some money for a product you won’t like as much. Also keep some cadmium out of a landfill
Smartphone was the shiny tech 10 years ago but feels like since a few years no one cares anymore and Google could not care less about what happens to its phone OS. So weird.
The responses to their bug reports are basically “It works fine on a Google Pixel”
Conservatives will be calling this the “wokepbone” and will outlaw it in red states claiming it can only call pedophiles and immigrants.
Why?
I really like my Fairphone 4 :)
Me too. Happy Fairphone 4 user here reporting as well! 😀
