• TypFaffke@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    18 hours ago

    lol, that article is brutal

    “Yeah, it’s probably not gonna be anything interesting and we hope we don’t have to show up in person, because of traffic.”

    • TheFrirish@jlai.lu
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      Should but to be honest and I will get flak for this but USB-C headphones are really good. I really want a bigger battery even if it’s swappable and a good update sched.

        • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          8
          ·
          edit-2
          1 day ago

          Seems pointless to add a feature that barely anyone would use, that’s the reality.

          • Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            17
            ·
            24 hours ago

            …barely anyone would use…

            Your honour, this is conjecture! If we’re gonna play this game then I’ll point out that the “barely anyone” who would use such a feature might very much overlap the “barely anyone” who is the target market for a fairphone.

            • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              24 hours ago

              The point is that it can be very costly for a small company like FP to break the mold too much from the industry standards when designing the phone and ordering the parts and assembly. If FP had a bigger volume, they could do it.

              • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                8
                ·
                edit-2
                20 hours ago

                I’m sorry but this is a pure BS cop-out.

                1. Most low-end cheap phones still have a headphone jack, they wouldn’t do this if it was a cost burden.

                2. A headphone jack plus a driver chip is literally pennies at their production scale. Making the hole in the housing and putting in a gasket after the fact would be more expensive than the headphone jack itself

                3. They have custom bodies anyway due to their repairability. Changing the body mold to include the hole for the headphone jack is trivial as they already have to make holes for the antennas

                4. “The standard” of the phone industry literally 5 years ago was that every phone had a headphone jack. Only after Samsung followed apple in 2019 with the note 10 did companies think for the coming years “I can make slightly more profit and sell my wireless earbuds if I remove it”

                Guess what year Samsung put out their first wireless earbuds? 2019, the same year they removed the headphone jack

                Guess what year Apple removed the headphone jack? The exact same time that they released their wireless earbuds.

                Guess what fairphone put out the year they removed the headphone jack? Wireless earbuds.

                It is, was, and always has been a money-grubbing ploy to sell wireless earbuds for greater profit. That is just the truth and there is no way to spin it that removes history that the only actual motivation behind it is to sell more wireless accessories.

                • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  16 hours ago

                  Most low end phones use completely off the shelf parts. FP is trying to take control of design and materials as much as possible. If you want to do both, that becomes harder and costlier. That’s how China manufacturing works.

              • Squizzy@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                17 hours ago

                New entrants need to break the mould…or else they are a worse version of market leaders.

          • Oniononon@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            18 hours ago

            I just use a dap since phone 3.5mm jacks are built like shit and break when you listen to music while phone is in your jean pockets.

            That way i always have phone or music battery.

            That way i can actually store more than just music on my phone.

      • timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 day ago

        It kills me that they know they won’t have big market share anyway but then go and give people one less reason to go with them. Same with shiftphone.

        That and morons arguing against a jack as if they couldn’t keep using their Bluetooth stuff all the same.

        • zqps@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          16 hours ago

          Yeah. The big reason for flagship phones to eliminate the jack, IP-waterproofing, does not apply to this anyway.

        • Griffus@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          22 hours ago

          The problem with being such a small producer, is that going too far away from industry standard would make the products a lot more pricy.

      • kcweller@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        27
        ·
        2 days ago

        Because Bluetooth headphones just add to the endless pile of non-repairable e-waste once the batteries die in an average of 2-3 years, while my headphones from 2006 still work.

          • amorpheus@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            11
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            1 day ago

            So that’s why they removed the jack.

            It was never about the technology when others did it, I was wondering why Fairphone went that way.

        • tomi000@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          2 days ago

          Ive had my 20€ BT headphones for 8 years now and theyre still working. On the other hand, I ran through around 10 cable headphones in the years before that. The cables broke really fast because I used them daily, even though I stored them in small cases. Seems everyone judges based on their personal experience.

          Overears where you can switch the cable might be more sustainable, thats right. Also there are 3.5mm to USB-C adapters for like 1€ so you can still use them without the actual jack, just not while charging.

          • Hansae@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            14
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            2 days ago

            Buy decent cabled headphones, audio quality is much better than most Bluetooth headphones and they’re built like a tank.

            • brb@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              2 days ago

              Many years ago I went through multiple wired headphones with price ranging from 20€ to 100€ and they all broke within months. Then I bought nice pair of bluetooth headphones and have been using them for about 7 years now. Never going back.

      • TonyOstrich@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 days ago

        To give users a choice. It doesn’t cost much and it doesn’t take up any room. I have a FP5 and have taken it apart. There is plenty of space where one could be integrated.

        • tomi000@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          14
          ·
          1 day ago
          1. You do have a choice, you can get a USB-C adapter for like 1€ if you really need the jack. A phone really doesnt need more than one port imo.
          2. It costs materials, which the Fairphone is trying to save. Only a fraction of users would even use it, so why produce the waste.
          3. Theres not “plenty of space”, you still need the connection to the sound board etc. If there was plenty of space in the FPs case they would have made it thinner, the chunkiness is a major reason for people to not buy it.
          4. If they include a jack, they need to make it repairable and offer the parts, and it also costs time for designing and stuff. Id rather have them focus on the main features personally.
          • TonyOstrich@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            11
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 day ago

            None of those arguments are very good. Why should they have three sperate cameras? Why should they have a USB-C charging port? Wireless can work as well. Why have a 90Hz display? A 60Hz one would work just as well.

            Not only that, there is plenty of space. My BlackBerry Z10 running the BB10 OS (that I could side load Android apps on) had a headphone jack. It was physically smaller, running an SoC built on a much larger manufacturing node with a similar style of swappable battery and enclosure had a headphone jack. I even had to replace it and it cost me less than five dollars at the time.

            It costs me less to integrate a headphone jack on a circuit board design than a fingerprint reader.

            Also if we are talking about sustainability, Bluetooth earphones have batteries. Most of which can’t be replaced. Weird headphones are literally cheaper and can last longer.

            Having worked in this industry, I can’t see any good reason to leave the jack out.

            • Stzyxh@feddit.org
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              7
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 day ago

              most of this arguments make sense to me, but as the other guy said

              If there was plenty of space in the FPs case they would have made it thinner

              Also the Argument with wireless charging: Fairphone decided to **not ** support wireless charging because it’s not very energy effective. Furthermore, I think a Phone with no USB-C Charging port would not work because it would violate EU laws.

            • TheFrirish@jlai.lu
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 day ago

              I agree I really don’t like all these different cameras just one or two at most is perfectly fine. Even though I am not interested in a Headphone jack, they could save space by removing one of the cameras and putting a headphone jack instead.

              One good camera is enough.

            • tomi000@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              1 day ago
              1. Not having competitive cameras gets you off the market immediately
              2. Fairphone specifically does NOT want wireless charging because it is inefficient and terrible for the battery
              3. If its so easy for you to design a much thinner phone with completely replacable parts and a jack, you should apply for a job at Fairphone because I think they would pay you a lot for that knowledge
              4. Fairphone themselves offer sustainable bluetooth headphones
              5. Like I said, its just extra material and research cost for a feature most users dont need and those that need it can get an adapter with minimal effort and cost. I dont see a reason to include it.
      • neons@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        18 hours ago

        Just to add to what the others said:

        Security features also means hardware such as google’s titan chip

      • e8d79@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        1 day ago

        Yes, my Fairphone 4 was supposed to get monthly security updates until summer 2024 but in my experience they where always late, sometimes by more than a month. They now also missed the Q1 2025 deadline for the promised upgrade to Android 14.

        • Ungraded@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          17 hours ago

          ?? I have the FP4 and I am on android15. I use calyxOS though.

          Can recommend it.

      • SayCyberOnceMore@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 day ago

        Not that I’m aware of

        And considering they get Security updates for years, I’m not sure what they’re referring to

  • poddus@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    I haven’t had a great experience with my fairphone 4. app/phone crashes, ghost touching, now they announced that they’re skipping support for Android 14, technical support has also been rather unresponsive. to top it off, they are usually very late with their security patches and apparently their verified boot implementation is horrible, they use the aosp test keys (which are publicly available) to cryptographically sign their firmware, which completely negates the point of the thing. I guess that’s on par with the software support in general…

    so yeah, can’t recommend the company as is unfortunately 😕

    • Patch@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 day ago

      Agreed; I don’t hate my FP4, but it’s definitely the least polished phone I’ve ever owned, and it wasn’t cheap for it. The ghosting was a nightmare, but they fixed it (eventually) with a software update…which begs the question why it shipped with a bug like that in the first place.

      The company has been around far too long to get away with putting out buggy devices.

      And that’s before we get to the failure to update FP4 (let alone FP3+) to Android 14, despite being well within their support period. In theory FP4 will be going straight to Android 15, but FP3+ is effectively grounded at Android 13; which considering their stated goal of reducing e-waste, is really not a good look.

  • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    This is the time for Fairphone.

    I recently was looking at upgrades for my s22 and everything so incremental to the point where it feels like smartphones have peaked couple years ago. It’s a great opportunity for Fairphone to catch up now that the moat is mostly gone.

    • LegoBrickOnFire@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      2 days ago

      I bought the 4 a few months before they announced the 5. I felt betrayed because I expected them to announce a fairphone 4+, like they did with the 3… I was expecting them to make phones of theseus that you can upgrade for years but that’s clearly not what they are going for :(

      I hope that there are components from the 6 that can be used to upgrade the 5

    • GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      It’s the classic trap.
      Wait long enough to be sure that a product is actually good, and poof, the next model comes out.

    • Anomalocaris@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      2 days ago

      thanks for your sacrifice.

      but that isn’t a problem with faifone, your phone will last a long time

    • Tamlyn@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      ·
      2 days ago

      Fairphone has a quite long software support. Your phone won’t be worse with something new. But sometimes they slow with new major updates

    • tomi000@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 days ago

      Same, but it will be some time until it gets released. The 5 is supported until 2033 I think.

  • Redex@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    My phone is nearing end of support next year and I’ve been considering the Fairphone for a while now. I really wanna like it but I’ve seen a lot of people having issues with their software. Hopefully they’ll get better at it, well see.

    • glaber@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      18 hours ago

      With any product it’ll be a lot more common to see negative reviews than positive ones, because things working the way they’re expected to is the status quo. I’ve been using my FP3 for a year, first with DivestOS and now with /e/OS without issues. Customer service was slow at first, when I needed to unlock my bootloader but didn’t have access to the code. They did solve my problem in the end though, and they’ve publicly pledged to improve too.

    • Lazhward@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      20 hours ago

      It’s stock Android, I’ve never had any issues. Some people are saying they are late on updates, but I’ve never had issues because of that.

      Here’s hoping they’ll continue support for the FP4 until 2028, or I’ll probably have to get the FP7.

    • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 day ago

      FP3 then FP4 user here. It’s a solid OK phone. Camera has always been just OK and has always been the thing the bothered me the most.

      I did get ghost touches now and then. The software updates are fine for me. I don’t care about living in the edge of udates.

    • SayCyberOnceMore@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 day ago

      FP3 user here… 0 issues.

      Well, to be 100% honest, I replaced most of the original apps, so maybe they were the problem?

      There was an Android update which did something to the camera? (I think), but it’s all fine now

    • Stzyxh@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      “That’s according to information we received through retailers”. Also this member of the Fairphone community got Information for an event on June 25 (Source)