I’m due for an upgrade from my pixel 3, which I love but the battery life is getting very low. I’m very interested in this, but wouldn’t want to spend the money/resources on something that doesn’t work well for me. Getting something upgradeable, then discovering the quality is bad and it doesn’t last isn’t very sustainable.
If anyone has any personal experience with this phone I’d love to hear it!
I’ve had one for a while now and overall I’m happy with it. The screen and camera are as good as some other devices and it doesn’t support all of some bands that US providers use so service coverage may vary. I should also add that the touch sensitivity is a little off. I’m not sure if thats software or hardware to blame though.
I’m on a T-Mobile reseller and excluding situations like being inside a data center or being outside of town camping or whatever my service has been acceptable. Its also less an issue for me as in almost always in WiFi range.
I don’t think the phone is upgradable. It is repairable though. The fact that it has an easily removable battery is enough to justify the device for me as glued in dead batteries have historically been my biggest issue with device longevity.
I never considered that the model of phone would affect the coverage, that shows how much I know! Definitely something to consider, I drive through low coverage areas a lot and do not want to get stranded with no way to communicate.
And good point with the upgradeable vs repairable. It would be so cool if it was upgradeable! Making every new part backwards compatible would be a huge pain for the designers though. But like you said the battery is the real problem with most phones. I’d be very happy with a more standard phone that just had a replaceable battery!
Have you ever had an issue that you had to get support for? Whether it’s asking fairphone for help or just searching online for answers, did you have any trouble?
I am very clumsy and tend to drop my phone a lot. I worry that the disassemble-able design could make the phone less drop resistant, have you experienced that? (Or maybe you just have basic levels of hand-eye coordination and are able to hold on to a phone without issues lol)
Have you ever had an issue that you had to get support for? Whether it’s asking fairphone for help or just searching online for answers, did you have any trouble?
Hmmm. I don’t think so. I had some weird issues with audio on phone calls at one point but I think that was not due to the phone and more so due to LineageOS, a third party OS.
I worry that the disassemble-able design could make the phone less drop resistant, have you experienced that?
Well I don’t drop my phone but I also don’t feel like its construction lends it to being overall weaker. I also keep it in a case and with a screen protector on though.
Yes it’s not as durable, also it’s not water resistant at all.
I’d consider getting a good case with it.
The screen is Gorilla 4 so it should be fine with a protector.
A lot easier to buy a samsung and get rid of the bloatware. Much more powerful too. Fairphone seems like a gimmick to me.
It’s is almost always a lot easier to pay less for a superior product that is less ethical and environmentally friendly.
Do you understand the selling point of this phone or not?
deleted by creator
It has a microSD slot, no headphone jack though.
No headphone jack is a deal breaker honestly.
Eh it used to be for me, but genuinely Bluetooth is way more convenient and relatively low power too.
Yeah, headphone jack not optional.
Let me know when it can run GrapheneOS. Until then, who cares?
who cares?
All the people who buys fp.
Ok, you got me there. I just ment I don’t care.
Lots of people care about having access to that kind of phone hardware option. It does have a degoogled AOSP ROM so it’s pretty fucking good even though it’s not GrapheneOS.
GrapheneOS is maintained by a certain team of people, unaffiliated with Fairphone, and they might develop a branch for the Fairphone if they feel like doing it but they probably won’t since they primarily focus on Pixel ROMs.
Mine already runs CalyOS so there’s that.
I mean, good for you. I kinda need my sandboxed google play services, despite wishing I did not.
They are pretty cool but you are still stuck with Android so its a no for me.
Mmmh yes, that’s the point of an Android phone.
Very cool news! I’m looking forward to fairphone heading this way.
Fairphone was literally my top choice before I bought my current smartphone, until I found out I couldn’t get it. So this is great, hopefully they still sell it whenever I update my phone (which won’t happen for a few years). Several other people have already commented something along these lines, but I’m just happy about it.
I support the idea, but I’m really skeptical. I bought the fairphone 2 when it came out and it just couldn’t keep up anymore after 2 years. My understanding was that there would be upgradable modules but the only thing I got was a little bit better camera and case.
It would be great if there wouldn’t be the need for more and more models but simply better modules to upgrade with the time.
Has anyone compared this to a PinePhone?
I bought a PinePhone and it works great as a mini laptop to do light programming. But as a phone I don’t think I could trust it, and the interface seemed to need some work. It was cool (though awkward to control) running full desktop apps like VLC though.
Perhaps I should have tried a different OS though. I couldn’t tell how much of it was software vs hardware limitations.
This would be a middle ground between a PinePhone and a big standard Android phone
It’s still running Android, but it doesn’t have Google Play Services
The fairphone has google services preinstalled.
The one that’s going to be available in the US is the de-googled version.
deleted by creator
I love my Fairphone 3. This is great news.
This is pretty exciting. I wish it would have happened sooner though. It was at the top of my list when I was looking at phones last year, but it was still unavailable when I decided to go with the Pixel 7.
If the fairphone had been available I wouldn’t have gotten my teracube. I like my teracube and don’t intend to ditch it, but it is my impression that the fairphone is definitively better
ooooooh right in the middle of my moving to open source software arc too, could be fun
Like many of you, this was a much desired phone for me. Now I’m just left wondering how soon their next phone releases. Been too long. If I’m focused on eco friendly I may as well also stick with what I’ve got until then.
Yeah, the most eco-friendly thing anyone can do is keep using the phone they have.
Also interesting that it ships with /e/OS!
/e/OS is a de-googled version Android. Most Google services are replaced with Nextcloud integration, but somehow all apps are still available through a software store that bridges to the Play Store while letting you browse for free apps anonymously. Google Play Services are replaced with the wonderful microG.
I used it on my Fairphone 3 for around half a year, and for the most part it was a very pleasant experience. And whoever doesn’t like it can of course (re)install stock Android. :)
How does e/OS/ compare with Lineage?
The last time I used Lineage it was known as CyanogenMod, so I’m not really in a position to perfectly compare the two. But I’ll give it a shot.
Lineage includes many more Google components. As an end user this means that you’ll for example be able to use the Google location service, using WiFi and bluetooth to identify where your phone is even when you don’t have GPS reception. /e/OS depends on a mostly discontinued Mozilla location service, which would have been amazing had it only worked better. So location data for example inside buildings can be a bit spotty.
/e/OS also has a bunch of extra features to protect your privacy if you should wish, such as messing with your location data so that the apps on your phone will have no idea where in the world you’re located.
/e/ also comes with a bunch of FOSS alternatives to the default Google apps by default, while i think Lineage might leave it to the users to fill the phone with apps. You can of course uninstall apps from /e/ and install the Google ones should you wish.
As a footnote: Both its developers, @Murena, and #eOS itself ( @e_mydata ) are present on the Fediverse. :)
Lineage includes many more Google components. As an end user this means that you’ll for example be able to use the Google location service, using WiFi and bluetooth to identify where your phone is even when you don’t have GPS reception.
This is false.
The only thing Google LOS has besides the AOSP is using Google’s connectivity check to my knowledge.
LOS comes with no Google apps or play services, you must install those yourself if you want them.
It’s lineageOS + µG + their assortment of default apps, including i.e. their app store thingy.