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Fairphone 5 - The Ars Technica Review
Fairphone 5 - The Ars Technica Review
arstechnica.com
Fairphone 5 sets a new standard with 8-10 years of Android support
149 comments
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Hate to be that person but no headphone jack for a sustainable phone?
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Environmentally friendly and fairly sourced, except for the consumable blue tooth earbuds we will sell you as a consumable to push our profits while creating e-waste.
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Or the dongles you'll lose. It's the only reason I didn't buy the Fairphone 4 and will never get the next one. I don't understand how you can market sustainability and fixable stuff without the headphone jack.
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am i seriously the only one that uses usb-c headphones? why is everyone immediately jumping to bluetooth?
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There are headphones that use the USB port. Headphone jacks are kinda dead tech at this point.
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Hard disagree, you might not use them, but they are critical in many settings.
Credit card reader, comfortable headsets, hooking up to other systems, audio without batteries, etc. There are a good number of people who still use headphones! (Including most people in South Asia....)
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For dead tech they sure do sell a shit ton of dongles
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Audio quality loss and latency are built into Bluetooth. Its only advantage is not having a wire.
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With no headphone jack thats gonna be a no for me dawg. How can they promote sustainability and then design a product that is going to be unusable in 5 years max. That's just the reality of all wireless headphones. The battery will fail to hold charge and they will become useless. Not the truth for wired headphones. Goodwired headphones will last as long as you're able to take care of them usually
Edit: if anyone could give me one good real reason to remove the headphone jack? It's not about the alternatives it's why remove it in the first place? And the space saving aspect of it has long been debunked.
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I switched to using wireless headphones a good decade ago and I've never had a set die die to the battery going.
I've had plenty of wired headphones die bectthr cable became frayed or loose though.
I am still surprised at the lack of a headphone jack in the Fairphone, but I don't agree that wireless devices are somehow more prone to becoming e-waste.
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How are they not going to become e-waste? At some point the battery will die. And more people will just throw those out then they will recycle them. The Bluetooth codec on the set will get outdated. I have old wireless Bluetooth speakers that are completely "useless" now because of the battery and old Bluetooth codec which doesn't work with modern phones. But damn if I still can't plug into their headphones Jack and use them while they're powered from the wall. If you look up the average lifespan of wireless earbuds you get answers anywhere from 1 to 5 years lol. I have a pair of headphones from the 90's that work great. I have another pair older than me.
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The battery will fail to hold charge and they will become useless. Not the truth for wired headphones.
I don't know how you use your headphones, but in my case I switched to wireless because every single pair of wired headphones I had would break. Usually the cable, earbuds because they were in my pocket, and the overhead ones I'd drive over with my office chair.
Switched to wireless a couple years ago, no issues since then.
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It's cuz you don't put them in a protective case every time like you do with wireless earbuds. If you took the same care to wrap them up and properly protect them every single time before you put them away which takes like three more seconds than wireless earbuds they would last just as long.
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Really? My wired headphones have lasted 10+ years. My oldest bluetooth headset lasted 5.
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Wired Earbuds or Headphones? Most wired earbuds are crap, so it makes sense to use Bluetooth. Wired Headphones should not break. I don't want to argue with your experiences, but I have never seen headphones break. I used a pair for seven years, and only stopped using it wasn't worth it to buy new pads (the headphones cost $20, pads $10).
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My sony XM4s had to be replaced less than a year after I bought them because the fw killed the battery.
Even if the battery has a long lifespan, it's still impossible for it to match the longevity (and ease of repair) a cable has.
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Just leave one of these on your headphones and you'll never know the difference.
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I don't want to. And I don't want to carry one around with me everywhere. I use several different types of wired headphones. Plus the convenience of being able to plug into basically any sound system is unmatched. Still plenty of cars that just use aux cords. Plenty of speaker systems that are easier to connect to with a headphone cord and sound better.
And my final point is there is no practical reason to remove it it is just as easy to waterproof and it does not take up that much space.
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USB DACs are quite small now. I don't mind having to plug mine into my phone to use wired headphones.
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I refuse to buy a phone without a headphone jack but in my experience wired earbuds last about 9 months while my cheap JBL 110bt bluetooth buds are still going strong after more than 5 years of almost daily use. The battery still lasts about 7 hours.
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Stop buying crappy earbuds then. I have IEMs and headphones several decades old that still work just fine.
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Yeah, if you use earbuds, Bluetooth is so much better. I don't know why wired earbuds are so garbage, but I had two die in three years. My headphones still work after seven, but the pads are worn off, so I stopped using them
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Man I'm super interested in this hardware, if GrapheneOS supported FP it would be a no brainer for me.
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I believe the reason they don't is because:
- They have a small team. It is not worth it at this point to support more devices.
- The Pixel series is considerably more secure, and that is the area they specialize in.
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I'm honestly surprised GOS hasn't supported the FP yet. CalyxOS has for about a year or so now, and I imagine they'll support the FP 5 too.
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Graphene developers might support it, its their kind of crazy, as long as the hardware security updates keep getting released for long enough to make it worth while (2028 which yeah... why not).
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The security updates I'm guessing are probably good enough. But possibly a bigger issue is this phone not being avalible in the US, supposing the Graphene Devs are there too (no clue where they are, just guessing).
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2028 Baseband support ... so 5 ish years of full support. Which is pretty good, why not just say that?
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I had to scroll way too long (on fairphone.com's FP5 page) to find the data sheet. It feels like they're trying to distract from something. Maybe no easy LineageOS support - maybe shitty battery life. My FP1 is still in perfect working order, lasting 2 weeks in standby on the original battery, but obviously doesn't support LTE or get SW updates - but the FP2 is dead within 24-48 hours on standby :/ And battery drains within 20 minutes watching youtube
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Most manufacture dont seem to put datasheet in a very visible localtion on the website.
The major talking point right under the promotional video clearly states 5 year warrenty and software update until 2031, and explained that is 8 years of security update in the caption.
Also it is unlikely fairphone would want to sabotage lineageos or any custom OS support, they dont make money from software. Why would they want to spend the engineering hours to deny free community effort to attract more users?
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The FP2 battery dying quickly might be explained by Snapdragon's non ideal SOCs around that time period, it was also a problem on the Galaxy S5 that I put up with firsthand.
The SOCs had the performance, but they ran hot and drank the battery as if there was an electricity drought.
I don't think Android 9(?) is going to be particularly kind to that device either...
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Because they promised and continue to deliver more on Fairphones 2&3
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So the specs seem pretty good. Some are equivalent to the Pixel 7, some a little less, some a bit better like the selfie camera. But the pixel is quite a bit cheaper, nearly $200 retail. I wonder if they're considering making a cheaper version equivalent to the Pixel a series.
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I think due to the custom designs involved in making it modular / repairable, combined with the niche appeal, it’s expected that these devices will be produced in low volumes and therefore will always cost more than the equivalent Pixel, due to missing out on economies of scale.
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I wonder if they're considering making a cheaper version equivalent to the Pixel a series
I doubt it. Every different iteration of the phone means producing less pieces, which will inevitably drive the cost up. I doubt Fairphone can afford it.
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Sustainability has a price. You're indirectly paying that price for the Pixel too btw, it's just not on the bill.
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Will be interesting to see a comparison of the fp4 and the pf5!
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I am looking forward to them eventually release a modular smartphone, like the framework. Since most component in a phone last way more than 5 years, yet the chipset is unlikely to be snappy after that amount of time.
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Pearphone 5?
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almost; pairfone 5
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Wait, people are scared of industrial components? They’re usually the most reliable
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Iirc, a lot of them also have efficiency as a secondary priority, since whatever the chip is running will always be plugged in.
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Now if only I could buy it.
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Specs aren't too bad, doesn't sound like a bad mig range phone and I might actually consider this if it wasn't that they don't sell it here 😔
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Seems really awesome and promising however I'm not really trying to have an outdated computer (read: phone) at 600 euro. Not even available in north America right now.
I like what they're trying to do, however 10 years is an eternity in the tech world and if this company doesn't sell enough phones - likely enough of this phone, then whose to say this company will even be around in 10 years, much less have a dev team competent enough to take over support where Qualcomm left off?
This is one of those huge promises that manufacturers make, with little to no evidence of being able to back it up.
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Lol, they were funded 10 years ago snd when fairephone one came out people were already saying what you're saying.
There are customers for this kind of phones and the idea to not throw away perfectly working electronics.
But customers accepted to not be able to replace their batteries or being sold phone full of glue.
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Outdated hardware isn't really as important on a phone than it is as a PC. Unless you are gaming on your phone, phone hardware is plenty powerful enough these days for the grand majority of tasks.
The software updates are the biggest concern and they intend to do 10 years of updates. That is more than long enough for this device before it becomes obsolete.
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Its only 2028 for hardware security updates anyway, so don't think about the 10 years. You could always run any old phone with lineageos on it and get "software updates" from lineage for the same experience.
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Anyone with an older model know if there’s been a way to add wireless (qi) charging?
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There are such pads that plug in via the usb and can be hidden under a case, if you had no other option. I've used it for my android mp3 player.
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Ah, another post on a great new addition to the Fairphone lineup, another post where the top comments are complaining about because there is no headphone jack, they won't consider it.
Y'all seriously have your priorities messed up if that's what keeps you from supporting Fairphone. If having a device with a headphone jack is that important to you, invest in a dedicated audio player. You can get some with high quality DAC's and more. But seriously, y'all need to cope about the Fairphone not having a single feature you want being a total deal breaker. That's honestly petty...
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How about, fuck no.
People have a right to demand a very simple feature that costs almost nothing and is incredibly useful. If that's a major requirement, then who the hell are you to say they can't depend it?
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For a phone who's ethos is sustainability buying a 2nd device just for music is antithetical. When my FP3 eventually goes out of support I'll have to look elsewhere.
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Sounda great, but like all previous Fairphones there's no reason for the vast majority of the people on Earth to be interested in this because it's only available in Europe.
Even if I do import it here in AU; I don't get a real warranty, I pay huge important taxes (or a markup to a reseller), and I have to go through just as much trouble for any replacement parts I may need.
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You realize you are on a social media platform primarily funded by the European Union right?
Jokes aside, it's not like the same argument ever comes up if the new is about US internal laws about net neutrality or their ISPs having to tell customers what they bill.
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149 comments