no headphone jack
Android
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Everybody seems to care about headphone jacks, nobody seems to care about Fairphone's former stance to focus on keeping their existing models usable long term rather than produce a new phone every year and incentivise a race to the latest model like every other brand does...
6.46" is too large a screen. My pixel 6a is barely small enough. Also, bring back the headphone jack.
I was pained to move to iOS when my kids decided they wanted iPhones and I needed one to manage their parental controls, but boy do I love the form factor of the 12 mini I got.
Everything out there seems so huge now.
I’d love to have more options for smaller, manageable phones, especially as my workplace have given out work iPhones now, I could realistically go back to Android again come upgrade time as I can manage their accounts with that.
Probably harder to make stuff repairable and modular when it's smaller
It really does surprise me how so many people (at least on Reddit and Lemmy) care so deeply about a headphone jack.
- No internal battery means it's not a product with a built-in obsolence period (which is fairly short, 3-5 years)
- Most of the better audio gear are all wired
- I mean, it's simple economics: Not paying for all the extra stuff to make it wireless means you get better value for audio quality
- Many people here are enthusiasts in tech and hardware, we likely have more than a few devices. Switching between devices with BT is a fucking PITA.
Speaking as an audiophile, you can buy a USB C dongle for like $10 that even has a good DAC. Only issue is if you're regularly charging and listening to wired buds simultaneously
Most of the issue stems from annoying dongles that wired headphone users typically don't want to carry.
The situation with fairphone is especially infuriating however, as omitting the headphone jack goes against the whole point of fairphone IMO.
Bluetooth headphones, as convenient as they are, have integrated lithium batteries, which are harmful for the environment. They also have a very short, finite lifespan. Despite these issues, fairphone removed the headphone jack on the fairphone 4 and 5, while simultaneously releasing true wireless Bluetooth earphones that are not repairable. Their whole brand is based on creating ethically sourced, repairable products, so offering an inherently unrepairable item for sale is rather disappointing. I am aware that they offer over ear headphones that are repairable, but I think they shouldn't sell true wireless earphones until they come up with a real repairable design.
In contrast, there are wired headphones from the mid 1980s that are still functional and still sound amazing, even if they aren't as convenient to use. There are also modern wired headphones and IEMs (In-Ear Monitors) that have removable, standardized cables. This is great since the cable is what breaks on wired headphones 99% of the time.
I don't want to buy more shit I got to remember to charge when I already have a few nice 3.5mm headsets. I know its going to be dead every time I want to use it. I got to pair it every time I switch devices. It works on everything that has the right hole even if its older than your parents.
Its just extra work unless its your daily driver.
I use a headphone jack daily, it is a must for me. Not going to do a stupid Bluetooth adapter or dongle cable that can get lost or damaged
While I do care about the headphone jack, I am mostly bitter about the manufacturers deciding for me that I don't need it. I'd heavily trade off 10% reduction in thickness for a user-replaceable battery and a headphone jack, but it was decided for me that a thinner phone is a big improvement.
The only way I can play music from Spotify or youtube in my car is through a headphone jack, I value it very deeply because of that. It's much cheaper to buy a phone with a jack than it is to replace my car
Still the best way to transmit sound even quality-wise, except if you want surround, 2 channel won't suffice here
Not being able to listen to wired audio while charging is a dealbreaker. And not needing a dongle is convenient.
Qualcomm QCM6490
No good for free software OSes then :-(
Can you elaborate on why? Like, I'm not surprised, I just am not involved in this space enough to know why.
Proprietary drivers/firmware. Basically makes it impossible/very hard to develop custom ROMs/operating systems (the lack of openness makes it super hard to extend/modify/verify the software running on these chips).
The drivers are well separated via HAL so you can absolutely make custom ROMs/OSes without changing those. The Android OS has way more code above the HAL layer than below. You can't however arbitrarily update the Linux kernel, modify the drivers or fix security issues found, beyond the security support window provided by Qualcomm.
- Manufacturers (e.g., Qualcomm, Samsung) won't return your call unless you buy in huge quantities, hundreds of thousands or millions of units.
- Lack of documentation.
- Information restricted by NDA.
- Non-free binaries required for lots of hardware.
- Generally lording over the market and exploiting their position, to the degree of anti-competitiveness, and as a consequence artificially extending the rein of non-free software in the mobile domain.
- Astonishingly poor quality of engineering.
Low-end hardware and a pretty much closed CPU you can't do much with for 700 Euros? No, thank you.
It's a 778G equivalent, from what I can tell, how is that even low end?
Damn...
They're gonna keep getting bigger, aren't they?
The bigger they are, the easier they are to repair. So repairable phones in general are going to be on the bigger side.
The dimensions and weight has been reduced ever-so-slightly compared to the predecessor.
I think they meant the company, not the phone
I really hope it does well, the business model really needs to change.
Man I've never spent more than 300 bucks on any phone, fair or not. Isn't there something in the 150-300 category that's worth buying, more sustainable and de-googled/foss?
I don't do high end shit with my phone. I just browse the web, take notes and do 2FA stuff. I don't need a 700€ phone for this, even considering the higher cost because of sustainability.
A used Pixel can be had in that range.
Buy an FP3 or 4 if you don't need these features.
Oh, that's nice. I am gonna buy one.
Jk I will wait until my current phone is obsolete.
The major issue for me is availability, they don't sell the phone here, so if I buy through shipping services I can't buy replacement parts.
Is it available in the U.S. yet?
recently launched in the U.S.
Does anyone with a Fair phone have time to tell me how it compares to Pixel? I have loved all of my Google Pixel products to the point I have lived with them for 7 years since their launch.