de-Googled Fairphone 4 coming to US is rare goods tech news for the privacy conscious.
de-Googled Fairphone 4 coming to US is rare goods tech news for the privacy conscious.
The Fairphone 4 has made its debut in the US, with prices starting at $630. The smartphone retains the exceptional repairability and sustainability as its European counterpart,...
Nice to see a mainstream option de-Googled in the US.
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Sustainable
No headphone jack
They actually seem like quality phones when my girlfriend's friend got one, but seriously? No headphone Jack and force you to use wireless buds that will have to be thrown away when the tiny battery degrades?
USB-c to headphone jack converters are an option. Not ideal because you can't use it and charge the phone simultaneously, but certainly better than those wireless buds.
They make usb c headphones and (as much as I also hate adapter hell) usbc to 3.5 adapters. Although, the lack of wireless charging means you'd be choosing between charging and listening.
Also see their official response on the audio jack removal.
TL;DR:
- Modularity and its influence on the phone’s size and weight
- Market and legislative trends (headphone jack is getting less popular)
- Longevity (less ports = less vulnerable to dust, water and general wear?)
Headphone jack getting less popular? I'm pretty sure companies don't want to include it so removed it from the models and the consumers had to buy that. Consumers aren't choosing not to have them, they're choosing phones that don't have them because Apple and other big companies aren't giving them a choice.
If you go by what the loudest ones are saying about the headphone jack removal, then yes, it does give the appearance that it's a very unpopular change. However if you were to just ask random people on the street if they use(d) their headphone jack and what they think of this change, you'll probably find there's not a lot of vocal people out there that would not buy a phone just because it was missing it. That's why Fairphone did their market research, right? Of course it's still up for debate whether that was the right choice. And personally I would also prefer if the headphone jack was still default on phones.
I try to avoid everything with an extra battery on environmental grounds. Wires for headphone, keyboard and mouse.
I absolutely don't care what they everyday jack says. Most have beenconditionsed by their brands. Apple customers will not just accept their decisions, but passionately advocate for them. Samsung will copy Apple and their users will justify it based on that.
This transition was supply led, not demand led.
"This transition was supply led, not demand led."
This is the most truthful statement in this entire thread.
I have an FP3 and I facepalmed real hard when I saw the announcement. That last reason, vulnerability to dust and protection from water, I find especially dumb. If that's their reasoning, they might as well remove the USB-C port, too. Fuck it, just make it a featureless plastic brick.
Fellow FP3 user, cannot see myself getting a new phone at all in the near future. When this eventually falls out of support I'll probably go all-in on a custom rom, instead of just rooting.
The FP3 was the closest thing to my previous S5 too, and even then I was giving up some creature comforts like the IR, waterproofing and OLED screen. That thing was ahead of it's time by a long shot IMO
might as well remove the USB-C port
Well don't say it too loud, if there is any big improvements on "wireless" charging... I could see the mainline of phones doing it...
And it would be sold as "less cable waste" while the lower efficiency of wireless charging more than makes up that "cable waste" in environmental impact.
I think the real reason is that they buy off-the-shelf parts and don't have money to design and manufacture a custom motherboard. And off-the-shelf parts more often than not, tend to follow market trends.