this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2023
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Fairphone 5 - release date and US support?? (www.fairphone.com)
submitted 1 year ago by Polymath@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
35 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Ever since I learned about the Fairphone, I keep trying to figure out when they'll release the Fairphone 5.

Further, I keep wondering whether it'll be usable easily and realistically by Verizon, since there's some complications with Fairphone being based in the Netherlands, but I believe generally supported across Europe since so much of their website is in English.

Just about anything I find over on Reddit seems to be outdated, speculating and guessing, or otherwise unreliable.

Anybody know many details about when it might come out, and whether it'll be supported here in the US??

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[–] jet@hackertalks.com 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Headphone jack, if the fair phone 5 still doesn't have a headphone jack, fairphone demonstrates that their user hostile company. Removing the headphone jack while introducing earbuds was removing customer choice to force people to buy earbuds.

I don't care how repairable the phone is, if it's designed to remove optionality from me. I'd rather have a phone that gives me more options and is less repairable, then a phone that's very repairable but not user friendly.

Hell, they're all about replaceable, user serviceable modules. Make the headphone jack an optional module!

[–] Polymath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

(Not trying to be combative/pedantic/"devil's advocate")
What kind of phone do you personally use, and/or prefer, that's more user-friendly, as opposed to user-hostile?

I'm not necessarily opposed to anything specifically, and trying to find less-corporate alternatives that are, ideally, more eco-friendly or whatnot, but obviously "no ethical consumption under capitalism" and all. Fairphone is just the least corporate and eco-fucked thing I've found thus far that's reasonable with current technology and interoperability.

Thoughts? Suggestions??

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Pixel 5a - has a headphone jack.

I want to believe in the fair phone mission, they're talking my kind of crazy. But removing the headphone jack and at the exact moment pushing their own Bluetooth earbuds felt extremely disingenuous to their mission.

Removing choices from users, to put them into your sales funnel for some other device, might be a good business decision, but it is user hostile. It increases e-waste, because people cannot use their previous equipment.

Somewhat off topic, I still use my headphone jack. I plug in my headphones into the phone when I'm on conference calls, or if I'm in a loud environment and I need to isolate the sound better. Headphones just work, I can carry a wired headphone in my backpack, and if I need to take a conference call I can always do it. And the audio quality never gets interrupted. It's simple. Simple works.

Let's also talk about security, the more services you have available to the outside world, the larger your risk surfaces. For a secure phone that runs graphene, you would turn Bluetooth off if you don't need to use it. So removing the option of a headphone jack forces people to use Bluetooth when they're using headphones, out in public maybe, which means the phone has more attack surfaces available. Which is antithetical to the mission of a security hardened device.

I honestly would have respected fairphone more if they simply said nobody else is offering a headphone jack, and we intend to support our business through the sale of Bluetooth earbuds, so removing the headphone jack makes our ecosystem more sustainable. I would not have liked it but I would have respected it. But the mealy mouthed water rating excuses a lie. And if you're lying to me I don't think you're being fair to me.

[–] Polymath@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Good looking out. And thanks for explaining all that! There's lots of stuff with the security and platform that's still currently beyond my depth of understanding (it doesn't help that tech and cybersecurity are screaming ahead so fast that it's one of those Red Queen "it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place" fields where I can't seem to catch up or stay anywhere close to current)

Mine is currently a Pixel 4a, and, ironically enough to your feelings about the headphone jack, which my Pixel 4a does have, one of my personal/primary gripes related to capitalist consumerism and spending, is that it doesn't have a removable microSD card slot, and I personally prefer to keep and backup my photos and files and everything on the local microSD card that I can switch out to whatever, rather than being forced to pay for Google's additional cloud storage.

So it sounds as if we have similar reasons behind the

Removing choices from users, to put them into ... sales
distaste.

I wish I could just pick and choose a company and device that's not massive, that does have a microSD slot (and ideally a second one for a dual SIM), not un-fixable and un-updatable, and reasonably eco-friendly. And I can't help but see flagship models now of major companies soaring upwards of $2,000 USD, which is just fucked. Ugh, le sigh

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah the trend is more compute power more price more screen real estate, less features. Clearly the phones are not competing on user choice, they're competing on a few big metrics. So we look to a small market entrant, to come to our privacy and option niche, to satisfy us. Fair phone felt like that company.

I see a future not too far off, where people don't own laptops, desktops, even tablets. It's all going to be some portable phone like device. The computing power is there. It's all going to be defined by the interfaces. I hope that future includes lots of optionality. And not locked down

[–] Polymath@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I often also wonder about when we'll shift towards some combination of like Google Glass types of vision wearables, communicating seamlessly with some form of headphones (or ear pods, since those seem to be so goddamn popular, even tho I see somebody lose one of their two every dang day it seems...) and communicating seamlessly with the FitBit-style watches that so many people sell their souls to

But I'm still also personally really a fan of big screens, hence why I really love seeing the foldable technologies like Samsung's Z Flip and/or Z Fold

...and then there's the part of me that keeps wondering how long it'll be until there's secure (encrypted?) ways for someone to just like 2FA-verify that they're the owner of a car and use like the Near-Field Communication/NFC or Bluetooth or something of their phone/wearables to unlock and drive their car, or, far more importantly and bringing cybersecurity into question, being able to like "AirDrop" like a 2-hour limited usership to a friend or family member that needs to pick something up or borrow it.
Like, I envision some way to use tech to share driveability of a car digitally to friends or family, but I'm sure that all the layers to make it so it's not like the Kia hotwiring problem are gonna take several years, and be a cat-and-mouse continued struggle.

IDK man, I'm just rambling

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So the interface to the computer is your first point. I see a future where wearable glasses, dockable phones: so you can use a big monitor when you're at home, some sort of projection, e-ink displays, are going to become much more usable.

Identity, either through a phone or some other mechanism. Phones can't really guarantee identity, they can take factors that are hard to duplicate, to indicate identity but they can't guarantee it. So fingerprint is a good example, the phone knows your fingerprint, you apply your finger to the fingerprint reader, and you validate to the phone you're probably the person registered.

Access Management, once you have established identity then you want to delegate access in your example for a few hours to a car, or some other mechanism. Given that most computers are network nowadays, if you're reasonably happy with the identity provided by a phone, access management of a car is trivial. We could probably set something up today that does what you want.

Heck Toro the Airbnb for cars does something like it already. Your phone unlocks the car and etc etc etc

[–] Polymath@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

I think I had seen something about Toro a while ago, but couldn't figure out what the heck they are/were, but I didn't bother looking into it since I actively try to minimize my consuming. I totally wouldn't have guessed "AirBnB for cars," but assumed finance, since that seems to be like half the dang companies that advertise somehow

[–] original_reader@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Totally with you. Won't buy it without a headphone jack. I need a jack way too much to give it up.

There's an entire discussion on that going here.

[–] PanaX@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not trying to downplay your point about removing functionally, I completely agree. But I bought a 3.5 to usb-c adapter and it works just as well.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not in love with the idea of either carrying an extra dongle, or buying yet another set of wired headphones with the USBC device and a DAC built in. But I could get over it. If, and only if, the phone had two USB ports one on the top one on the bottom.

[–] notapantsday@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago

No need for a DAC, USB-C can transmit analog audio signal, it's part of the standard.

[–] trainline@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I'm with you brother

[–] AstralPath@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm seriously considering a Fairphone for my next device. If only GrapheneOS could run on it... It would be a no brainer at that point.

[–] Devjavu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago

I would, but sadly the security hardware just isn't there. Calyx works though!

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I can't find the link, but there was some discussion from the graphene developers about needing some data that they couldn't get from fairphone. I searched the GitHub issues but I couldn't find it. Maybe it's in the forum.

Interestingly fair phone forum blocks my country, saying data is not available in my country. Doesn't sound very fair to me

-- update https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/820#issuecomment-978253711

Found the link, but graphene has deleted the issue. That might mean they're actually working on fairphone. But that's just me guessing. But yeah if you dig it up in the archive, you'll see they're talking about they couldn't get the right data from fairphone. But that was a couple years ago. Maybe things have changed

[–] nottheengineer@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It isn't a huge company and adhering to regulations on data collection costs money. If they don't operate in your country, not offering the website at all is the cheapest thing to do, so it almost surely isn't malice.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 7 points 1 year ago

Strongly disagree. A fair, free, open internet is the core principal of the internet. If they're worried about data collection standards they could simply not collect data and provide a read-only version of the website to regions they're not invested in.

Denying the data, memory holes discussions, forum posts, etc.. it's extremely internet unhealthy.

But I respect that some companies might feel that they should only provide content to the region they're currently providing. But it's a terrible precedent.

[–] Devjavu@lemmy.dbzer0.com -2 points 1 year ago

Silly you, they're not fair to people! They're fair to their shareholders.

[–] PlantPowerPhysicist@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hope it comes out soon - I'm still using my Fairphone 2 but it's really time for it to retire

[–] Polymath@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So how many years of service is that, that it has been going alright and not giving you issues??
And are you US-based, and with which provider?

It looks like it was released it like 2015... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairphone_2

[–] PlantPowerPhysicist@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 year ago

I've had it since 2016, so it's close to 7 years now. I replaced the screen and battery on it, but it has been pretty solid. Actually, uptime is something that's an advantage for self-repairable stuff: when the screen needed to be replaced, it still worked enough to use, which I did until the replacement arrived. Takes a minute to swap the screen and then it's running again.

I'm based in Germany so I only used it in the US when traveling. Maybe the 5 will be the one where they decide to cover the US officially? It seems like there's more attention to repairability than there was 7 years ago...

[–] TomViolence@lemmy.one 8 points 1 year ago

The last two Fairphones (three if we count the 3+) have been released in September. If they release the fifth one this year, we should know soon enough.

Also, the 3 and 4 have been released two years apart, and the 4 has been released two years ago…

[–] 0x96EA@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Never heard of them before but this looks like a really cool product!

[–] unsaid0415@szmer.info 4 points 1 year ago

FP5 specs leaked on geekbench this month. Same happened to FP4 in 2021, and it released at the end of October.

I'll leave the heuristics to you

Also waiting for the FP5 :) Hope my Xiaomi 8T with half dead battery lasts until the release

[–] NotAPenguin@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If there were any details out you would have found it.

I have a Fairphone 4 and really like it :)

[–] Polymath@gehirneimer.de 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

And you're US-based, @NotAPenguin ?? Which provider do you use for it? Verizon?

Any issues with US towers and connectivity or setting it up to "talk to" the US infrastructure?

[–] NotAPenguin@kbin.social -1 points 1 year ago

No sorry, not US based so I'm not sure.

[–] Polymath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I should also ask, how long have you had it (it appears that the release date was just shy of 2 years ago; 30 September 2021), and do you thus far anticipate it continuing usage several years into the future, or does it seem like after 2 years of usage you might be headed towards needing to get another/new phone?

Longevity is another of my main wishes/desires

[–] NotAPenguin@kbin.social -2 points 1 year ago

I've had it for about a year now, I'm not feeling any need to upgrade :)

[–] Lime66@lemmy.world -4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fair phones are scams, I have a pixel 4a 5g, the fair phone 4 is literally a downgrade from my phone and costs the same price as a pixel 7 or nothing phone (2)

[–] NotAPenguin@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Fairphone costs more because they give a shit about their impact and workers, of course it's not the best bang for your buck when they gotta spend more money paying their workers fairly instead of squeezing as much profit as they can.

That does not make it a scam in any way.

[–] Lime66@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can still buy a refurbished phone, it arguably has less environmental impact to any new phone, even a fairphone

[–] Polymath@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

For some bizarre reason, although I prefer and lean towards certified refurbished electronics in like every other arena and regularly suggest them to friends and family, I hadn't considered one here, for my next cell phone. Thank you for this so-simple suggestion! 🤦‍♀️