Submitted 2 weeks ago by Sunshine@lemmy.ca to technology@beehaw.org
https://www.ifixit.com/News/111613/fairphone-6-teardown-proof-phones-dont-have-to-be-disposable
As an FP4 owner, what is the point of getting an upgrade? I don’t use my smartphone beyond calls and texts and a Lemmy app and listening to music.
What can you do on a new phone that you can’t do on an old phone?
Honest question, I’m not being facetious.
I think Fairphone would say that they want you to keep using the FP4 forever, replacing individual parts as they fail. Their goal is the reduce waste in the smartphone industry, that’s why they make it so easy to maintain your device. Maybe eventually the main processor on your FP4 will be too slow to keep up with even those light apps. At that point, you come back to Fairphone and buy whatever the latest one is.
And as Sunshine said, continually releasing new generations of phones keeps them enticing to the vast majority of smartphone consumers that don’t already use a Fairphone. I’m literally looking at this new one and considering if that will be my next smartphone when my Pixel 7’s battery starts to turn. Seems like a pretty good deal to me, tbh. Might finally rip me from Google’s grasp.
FP4 will be too slow to keep up with even those light apps
That’s true however android is not very well optimized for older hardware. It would be cool to see fairphone become large enough that they can order better deals with cpu manufacturers in bulk to have better chips while largely contributing to an efficient linux mobile distro.
When considering new customers or those who, for example, have irreparably damaged their Fairphone, it’s important to recognize that selling a three-year-old device as new may not be appealing to them. Additionally, many people today rely on their phones as their primary computer and therefore require the performance necessary to handle a variety of tasks.
It’s great for people running at the end of their phone’s lifespan such as those with pixel 5as and iphone 8s.
I am not dissing the phone, if I was in the market it would be a no-brainer, I am just interested in what a new phone could give me and when should I plan to switch.
I just replaced the battery on my pixel 7 and I’m asking myself the same. I use my phone for fewer tasks than you. Calls and messages only.
Nobody should feel a strong need to upgrade after only two generations. Same deal with most tech like GPUs and CPUs.
I use my phone a lot and my Pixel 7 is fine. The primary factors driving my last couple upgrades were battery degradation and software support. Neither should be a big problem with a Fairphone.
I’m also trying to decide whether to stick with the Pixel/GrapheneOS ecosystem or go for Fairphone.
How hard/expensive was it to replace your battery? I looked on iFixIt and it seemed a lot harder than my orevious phones.
Android 16 is coming out with desktop mode soon. At that point I’ll have to pony up for a new one because my current device doesn’t support display port alt mode. And my laptop is on its last legs.
Can you lock the bootloader on Fairphone?
One of the reasons given as to why GrapheneOS is not available for the Fairphone is because the end user cannot lock the bootloader.
I might be confusing things, but I’m running calyx on a fair phone 4. Pretty sure that I locked the bootloader after install
Lock or unlock?
It works on CalyxOS and FP5
I'm glad there will be a us release :)
Murena is really cool!
this will likely be my next phone. I have a pixel 6a...
How long until Fairphone and Framework merge?
They do really go well together. It would be cool to see a partnership between them but still remain as separate companies.
The biggest issue that I read was that these phones weren’t getting security updates fast enough.
If they could figure that portion out and sell them to more countries, I would love to have a phone like this.
I am very interested in Fairphone, when my current phone inevitably breaks it’ll definitely be my on my short list. Also considering the pine phone pro.
It’s really cool to see the phone space opening back up with meaningfully differentiated options. Like foldables are starting to have a good selection, red magic has one with a fan for active cooling, and we’ve got phones with repairability and maintenance in mind.
I’m also curious to see if RISC-V processors start making any serious inroads in to phones. I know Qualcomm was talking about it a while ago, and there is some amount of support for android on it.
There is legitimately interesting things going on again, and it’s so annoying to have all the oxygen sucked out of the room by the current hype cycle.
chloyster@beehaw.org 2 weeks ago
Approaching the point where I need a new phone. Curious what would be better. A fairphone 6 with calyx or /e/ os. Or a new pixel with graphene. I’ve heard graphene is the best but the fairphone is very tempting
cole@lemdro.id 2 weeks ago
You shouldn’t expect the next generate of Pixel phones to have GrapheneOS support out of the box. Google has stopped publishing device tree data, so custom ROMs for Pixels may not be a thing come the Pixel 10.
We’re all hoping this is reversed.
slauraure@beehaw.org 2 weeks ago
Not in the market to change phones now, but always considering options in case I urgently need to replace it due to catastrophic failure (and fear of making an uninformed choice due to urgency).
With that said, I have an iphone 11 right now with lockdown, stolen device protection, cloud encryption, and FIDO keys enrolled and it feels very secure whilst still letting me use banking apps normally etc. How does /e/OS compare to something like that and how vulnerable is it to being plugged in and downloaded or wormed by malicious actors, zero-click SMS attacks etc?
pasdechance@jlai.lu 2 weeks ago
I don’t have any of these devices, but Android devices do have lockdown and stolen phone protection if you use a Google account. Same, there is anti-phishing FIDO, etc…
The alternative ROMs for Android devices are based on Android, but there are users that do no want any Google in their phone and that takes away a few functions (like find my phone stuff [correct me if I’m wrong here]).
GrapheneOS is the strict option and locks the bootloader. e/OS can relock the bootloader on official builds. An unlocked bootloader is a security risk.
Different ROMs have different issues when it comes to banking apps or biometrics.
I don’t use an alternative ROM, but I use an Android phone without a Google account. The most concerning missing function is find my phone, but there is an app for that.
If someone has your phone and it isn’t locked, they can potentially connect it to a computer and extract info. A locked Android device, like a locked iPhone, increases friction for whoever is trying to access the device. Relying solely on what I’ve read, iPhones are far more annoying to gain access to.
01011@monero.town 2 weeks ago
As far as smartphones go the pixels aren’t so bad if you ignore the endemic battery issues that have affected every pixel device from the 4a up.
Mihies@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Yep, I have a pixel 6a and will never buy a Pixel again because of this battery clusterfuck
BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Better for what ?
For repairability ? The fairphone win easily
For privacy ? Graphene OS has a small edge, but e/os or calyx are still way better than stock android.
For not giving your money to evil corporation ? Fairphone is better.
chloyster@beehaw.org 2 weeks ago
Basically I would prefer not to buy a pixel, but if graphene is that much better than the other OS’s I would consider it