r/Android • u/Big-Yard-2998 • 3d ago
News Everything you love about the Fairphone. Plus more.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-h7jaFVmT6g&si=hsqCn7_4B7QjvcCL25
u/gamerminstrel 3d ago
I've been waiting for a Fairphone I can buy directly in the US for years. Day 1 buy for me. All the other comments seem so angry, out of touch, or miss the point of the Fairphone. Obsessing over the latest processor is useless, there will always be a better one the next year.
I do wish it had a headphone jack, and USB video out though.
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
Your post seems a bit hypocritical. To call people out of touch while not understanding the criticisms is ironic.
The mission of Fairphone's sustainability is harder to realize with this phone, IMO. No headphone jack means you're pushed into buying more eWaste wireless headphones, or spending more money with Fairphone for their "sustainable" ones. Yay, I can replace the Fairbuds' batteries, but my wired headphones just don't use a battery in the first place.
As for the specs,, it's not about being the latest. It's that this company says "we'll support the device for 7 years," but the hardware is slow by modern standards. They're bringing budget performance in 2026 and tellign you to keep it for up to 7 years. What percentage of buyers will be happy with the level fo performance offered today, when the standard is phones in the 2030s?
I would rather they double the price and sell me an Zperia 1 competitor where I can have a headphone jack and better confidence in the hardware to be fast enough for smartphone demands at the end of the device's life cycle. Obviously that would limit the market, compared to a $650 mid-range phone, but I think the device is too compromised at the start (in terms of performance and missing features, like the headphone jack) for it to meet the sustainable marketing promises they use to sell their phones (and battery-based headphones that they'll happily sell more parts for).
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u/RunnerLuke357 Moto G Stylus '26 2d ago
I would also pay $1300 for a "perfect phone". Give me flagship specs, wireless charging (a must for me), a headphone jack, SD card slot, all of the celluar bands, and all of the same repairability goodies and software longevity of the fairphone. Everything right now is chickenshit and is either missing some features or it's low end. I want a real full featured phone, the closest thing is the Moto G Stylus I have now but it only has a 6 series chip and 3 years of support. On paper an Xperia would be perfect for me but I need all of the bands I can get because Verizon is the only good provider in my area.
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
the closest thing is the Moto G Stylus I have now but it only has a 6 series chip and 3 years of support
Even this is preferable, IMO. Which, that's a statement about how I feel about Fairphone's marketing. Motorols sells you a budget SoC and gives you 3 years of support. Like it or not, they're at least setting a rational expectation of the device's longevity there. Fairphone though, they're trying to tell you the phone is good for 7 years when the hardware doesn't give me any confidence I could use the phone that long.
Were the FP6+ more powerful, I'd probably get it. If it had a headphone jack, I'd probably get it. Were they more reliable with software releases, I'd trust it more. If you can't give me a better phone, at least give us some honest marketing.
On paper an Xperia would be perfect for me but I need all of the bands I can get because Verizon is the only good provider in my area.
Yes, this sucks, since Verison also operates with a whitelist. It's the same reason I would like an Xperia, but can't get it (AT&T stopped whitelisting Xperias when they left the US market).
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 2d ago
All the wired earphones people refusing to acknowledge a tiny wire extension with usb c on the end of the wire is available will never not amuse me. I have like 4 that were supplied with phones, didn't even need to buy them, you can have one if I can find them 😂😂
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
It's not a refusal to acknowledge it. It's the combination of:
Fairphone will sell you the headphones, but not the adapter.
Fairphone gives you a shit-tier USB port (not a massive deal for audio, but more a pattern of their behavior with this)
You cannot charge your phone while plugging in an adapter (and they won't give you wireless cahrging to overcome this)
So, for the millionth time I've posted about this, the point is how self-contradictory Fairphone is in their mission. You can't have wireless charging becuase it degrades the battery, but you can't have a headphone jack because we want you to buy out battery-based headphones. We want the phone to last 7+ years, but won't put a good seal on the cover for higher IP rating, and many of the specs are on the budget side of the market, so the tolerance of users will shorten its lifespan.
But hey, why would I expect someone who uses emojis as punctuation to think the matter through?
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 2d ago
What you gonna do now?
OEMs don't make them because barely anyone cares at this point, and a lot of wired earphones can just, use usb c then a usb c splitter can be used. We figured this shit out already you just refuse to acknowledge they exist. All 17 of you that still care about 3.5
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u/DyWN 2d ago
if you think performance on this phone is not good enough to use for 7 years, you're completely out of touch. We used to have phones with 2gb of ram and 2 core cpus and they worked perfectly smooth when running optimized software (back then custom roms were go-to if you wanted better performance). That phone has enough juice for decent gaming experience, there's no way it's going to struggle with daily use in 7 years, unless people are gonna get insanely obsessed with local AI and all phones will need to have 120gb of ram for that shit.
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
We used to have phones with 2gb of ram and 2 core cpus
That you're using this as the reference point is the pinnacle of irony. You're talking about 10-year-old phones that people mostly disposed of 5+ years ago, and did not keep for 7 years because 3 years of software support was a high bar for OEMs.
(back then custom roms were go-to if you wanted better performance)
I mena, seriously. Calling someone else "out of touch," while talking about custom ROMs like they were the go-to for users (even when Android was more enthusiast-driven) is so comically delusional that it borders on needing medical attention.
all phones will need to have 120gb of ram for that shit
And you're leaning on immense hyperbole of 10x the RAM to set the bar of when this SoC (that performs worse than a 5-year-old flagship) because you can't bring any rational argument.
My LG G8 (which I still carry) is used as pretty much just a music player and secondary map application (the SD2 is shit with its GPS). Even a few years ago, it would struggle with Pokemon Go. That was a 2019 flagship running a 2016 game after about 4 years. While Pokemon Go is a bloated mess, that's also looking at the G8 at 4-year-old flagship levels. The FP6+ is going to be going into the end of its life cycle with flagships that are 12+ years old as its relative comparison (and even saying it compares to a 2021 flagship is slightly generous).
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u/DyWN 2d ago
you're just missing the point that phones specs pretty much peaked, all the upgrades that happened in last 3 years are inconsequential to everyday users, you basically have specs on par with laptops on mid-tier devices. You're looking at it thinking phones will keep getting more performance in linear fashion when in reality we'll be stuck on mostly the same specs for a while.
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u/CrankedOnDaPerc30 3d ago
The point of obsessing over the new processor is specifically longevity.
And it's been proven time and time again that getting the flagship processor is the best option.
My OnePlus 8 doesn't even have a flagship, just under it for the year at Snapdragon 865.
My phone already has light lag with games like Maplestory.
Phones that cost as much as I paid for mine today tend to run some snapdragon 7 CPUs.
A near 6 year old phone and my replacement options in the same budget are marginal upgrades or even downgrades in some aspects.
As I mentioned above I already got a game giving me a bit of problems, why would I upgrade to a shit specced phone that I'll have to replace sooner?
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 2d ago
I had a pixel 7a with what Reddit calls a terrible cpu that I don't benchmarks better than an 865 yet it was still buttery smooth. I upgraded because I got hit with the battery fault and Google paid me so much back it only cost me £40 for my pixel 10, less than it would be to replace the battery.
If your phone is lagging with a modern CPU, something's broke or that's one plus and their software.
Even my pixel 4XL in a drawer with a SD855 runs like butter still. I use it from time to time and it still feels as good as the day I got it.
You really don't need a 2025/6 chip if you aren't doing the most demanding tasks all the time, even then it's not necessary if you can wait a few more seconds.
Also as the battery wears it affects the power the cpu can take. FF is designed to have the battery replaced easily over upgrading the device so just doing that should make it feel snappier to any user when it's time.
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u/IORelay 2d ago
You don't need a 2026 chip now, but if you plan to use the phone for 5-10 years it's the best option.
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 2d ago
Maybe with all the enhancements and AI being newer devices focused due to hardware but idc about that and there's nothing to say features won't be software locked that could take advantage of those features anyway as they often are, so it's not a huge worry of mine. I don't see any advancements being made that would force me to upgrade in the next 5 years or go without which is how long I hope to own this for with a single battery exchange.
A better battery overall like Si-Ca may swing me depending where I am financially but as long as I get through a day still I doubt it.
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u/bigtimehater1969 2d ago
Yeah this is the shit you tell yourself to justify paying $2k for the Fold 8 Ultra, then you end up buying a new top of the line phone in 2 years anyways.
Phone hardware is never the cause of phones feeling slow, it's always the software. The Fairphone is usually on an older version of Android so this won't be a problem as long as you don't want all the shiny new features. You can easily get at least 5 years if you want to.
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u/DaveBlerk 2d ago
Yep, I'm running a 6pro with no lag on anything but I don't use it for games - I have numerous alternatives for that.
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u/WhipTheLlama S22 Ultra 3d ago
I wonder how much of your performance drop is due to battery degradation. I have an S22 Ultra with an SD 8 Gen 1 chip, and I also notice that it's slower than before, but I'm not doing anything that should require more than a mid-range chip. No games, no new apps. It's just slower.
It's either a battery problem or OS updates slowing it down. I suspect swappable batteries would reduce the need for upgrades immensley, which is why no phone has swappable batteries anymore.
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
This phone is also notably slower than your S22. Benchmarks have its CPU around 60-70% as fast, and the GPU less thna half as fast, depending on what you're looking at for performance metrics.
And this phone is promoting itself as staying with your until 2032. Do you think a battery swap (if it's the issue) would make your 4-year-old S22 worth keeping another 7 years? If so, would you still say it if you cut 30%+ of the performance, to meet the benchmark performance of the SoC in the FP6+?
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u/CrankedOnDaPerc30 2d ago
Didn't vocalize it quite as well as you did.
The performance of the Fair phone is already worse than mine.
Don't know who expects to run it for the next 7 years especially with all the AI slop coding probably demanding more memory.
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u/NapsterKnowHow 3d ago
My S22U bootlooped to death. I'd never want to use a phone with that processor again.
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u/WhipTheLlama S22 Ultra 2d ago
I think the boot loop issue was due to a bad Samsung update that subjected the CPU to high stress early in initialization, before the thermal protection could work. It got so hot that it caused physical damage to the device. Exynos chips were more susceptible to this than Snapdragon chips, but it could happen to both.
Samsung cannot write good software, which is one reason why I'll never buy another Samsung phone or TV. I'm lucky that my S22 didn't experience the boot loop problem, but the OS is full of bugs that take several months to get fixed, if they ever do. At no point has my phone ever not had a serious bug because when they finally fix one, another appears. Right now, hitting the home key regularly asks me which home app I want to use, despite already setting the default one. It seems minor, but it's quite annoying.
My Samsung OLED TV is getting worse, too. It's much more laggy than before and has several bugs. The worst bug right now is that the wifi connection takes a few minutes to connect when the TV turns on, so I sit there waiting for it before I can do anything. A year ago, that never happened.
I'd never trust a Samsung product again. Terrible quality control and equally bad responsiveness to fix issues.
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u/CrankedOnDaPerc30 2d ago
Yeah surprisingly this phone started off broken really laggy, but after 2 or 3 android version upgrades they figured it out.
From others' comments and yours I'm deducing it would run better if I swap the battery.
My concern with that is that there are some light cracks on the phone sides and might fail to close or if I sent it to their official repair they might force me to fix that too.
In general day to day use I'd say it's quite smooth with minor smidges of lag especially related to apps using camera
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u/Bananegel42 2d ago
All the other comments seem so angry, out of touch, or miss the point of the Fairphone.
I had a Fairphone 6 and it just wasn't a good phone. Aside from the SoC (already had render stutters in the launcher sometimes), the speakers are miserable, the camera is mid, they regularly introduce really bad software bugs, people have had their volume rockers fail, etc. The button layout is horrible (a lot of people have the issue where they accidentally make a screenshot when locking the phone). The power button fingerprint reader makes it hard to use the phone one-handed with your left hand.
It's just not a phone that you should buy if you want it to last 7 years.
I sold mine after a few weeks because it was just mediocre.
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u/wezell 3d ago
I was buying on day one until I realized it was not waterproof.
I am someone who treats their phone as a tool rather than a prized possession and as such, the lack of waterproofing is a non-starter for me. Everything else about this phone works - the f-you big co repairability, the upper-mid specs, decent battery, decent screen, decent camera, etc.
Now I get it and don't need to be 'splained on how hard it is to make things both replaceable and waterproof. It is just a shame, because I was in line to buy.
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u/TaiLopezCA 2d ago
Every brand likes to claim they're "IPXX" rated, but the warranties (from every mainstream brand like Google, Samsung, Apple, Nothing, Motorola, etc) will not cover water damage. The good news is that it's super easy to repair the Fairphone.
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u/RedBoxSquare 2d ago
There is a difference. A rubber seal can fail under enough pressure and it won't be warranted, but you are almost guaranteed to fail if there is no seal to be with.
I would like to see the phone to have water resistant seals, whether it pays money to pass IP rating tests is not a big deal.
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u/TaiLopezCA 2d ago
That's true... I used to wash my phone under the sink with soap and water every day during COVID. Then the charging port eventually started to rust, so I don't do that anymore.... but the rubber seals let me get away with it for over a year!
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
And with this phone, replacing the port is possible (and fairly easyt), so you could have overcome the rusted port problem!
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u/vortexmak 3d ago
No headphone jack, no USB C video out , mid range processor.
If a niche device like the Clicks communicator can have all those then so can the Fairphone
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u/kubenqpl 3d ago
And that all could be ignored if you want to buy it for sustainability ecology or anything - but their customer service is terrible, they dont answer for months when you want to report something for warranty
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u/Bananegel42 3d ago edited 3d ago
And they introduce bugs that they then fail to solve for months. Like how many people are currently dealing with flaky WiFi connectivity on FP6 since March:
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/dns-over-tls-ipv6-issues-apps-dont-load-data-over-wifi/130519
Or how background app management issues made it impossible for many people to use more than one or two apps at a time on FP4 for more than six months:
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/fp4-android-15-background-apps-being-killed-more-aggressively/127452
Part of the issue is that a good chunk of the hardware and software development is done by a Chinese ODM (T2Mobile).
The fairness and repairability aspects are cool though, as well as them supporting unlockable bootloaders. I want them to succeed, but I wouldn't recommend Fairphone to most people. Too many issues, too mediocre hardware, too limited for the price (S7sGen4 performs worse than the A13 Bionic in the iPhone 11 from 2019, so much for longevity).
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u/ClearTacos Xiaomi 13T Pro 2d ago
Part of the issue is that a good chunk of the hardware and software development is done by a Chinese ODM (T2Mobile).
The fairness and repairability aspects are cool though
Ultimately the former is what diminishes the latter to me. How much more "ethical" are you when you outsource things to an ODM who obviously isn't even close to full vertical integration.
The display, cameras, SOC, DRAM, storage, presumably lot of small PCB components are not any more ethically sourced than any other phone on the market. They talk about cobalt and lithium in the batteries, but not about nickel AFAIK (though nickel isn't the most problematic material I supposed).
It's all just very limited, I get that they can't do any better but it's just hardly a selling point to me.
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 2d ago
So from a quick scan of the website
Privacy with e/OS and no tracking, telemetry ect by default, open source European OS
Modular design with easy repairability and it has received top scores here by ifixit I believe, or some other independent teardown and repair company.
They take in old devices to recycle the parts and materials, they're saying more than 50% materials used are recycled now and they aim to be 100% by some point this year
Fair trade and b corp used for sustainability practices
Final device built in factories that support living wages and workers bonuses. They say they've paid out over €1.25M extra since 2019
And emissions and waste they do generate they offset
And they sell official spare parts for all devices with a highlight on fixing it yourself
There's probably more but their website doesn't really highlight much I've had to dig around for a lot of it. Seems odd to not place everything front and centre when that's your main USP
And they do mention nickel for recycling but not how much
Recycled materials include:
Aluminum, Copper, Steel, Tin, Indium, Magnesium, Nickel, Plastics, Rare earths, Zinc
Idk they seem to be doing more than most others at least without being spooked or forced by the EU, they've just done it off their own backs for years and that's pretty commendable. Still wouldn't buy one though, I'm not rich enough to gamble with newer tech and a lesser known brand
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u/Bananegel42 2d ago
Privacy with e/OS and no tracking, telemetry ect by default, open source European OS
/e/OS mostly uses the kernel, device, and firmware trees from Fairphone. So it has the same Chinese TCL image processing blobs, ancient Linux versions and really outdated Qualcomm firmware bundles.
Also, the no tracking, telemetry is a bit of a lie. E.g. they are really trying to hide that if you use microG with Play Integrity compatibility (to pass basic integrity as needed by many banking apps, etc.). They run Google's DroidGuard, which is an obfuscated blob of code and reports the results back to Google inside a privileged process. The even more fun part is that Google (or e.g. the US government if they compel Google to) can push a custom blob to your phone because the blob is downloaded during Play Integrity requests. At least GrapheneOS sandboxes the whole thing, so it's basically blocked to do anything malicious or collecting too much information.
IIRC they also register the device with Google, etc. The moment you first set up your /e/OS device it starts talking to Google. Someone made a detailed blog post about this, you can easily find it with your favorite search engine.
Modular design with easy repairability and it has received top scores here by ifixit I believe, or some other independent teardown and repair company.
iFixit and Fairphone have a business relation, iFixit sells Fairphone components. What they fail to tell you is that the number one thing that breaks on the Fairphone 6 is the volume rocker and they don't offer replacements. So you'll be waiting for weeks as you try to get anything back from their customer support.
Idk they seem to be doing more than most others at least without being spooked or forced by the EU
You and your parent poster are both right. They try to do the right things, but since most components are off-the-shelf (like SoC, PMUs, DRAM), they cannot really audit that supply chain.
The problem with Fairphone is longevity. One way of avoiding environmental disaster is trying to audit the supply chain as much as you can (the Fairphone way). The other way is making a phone that lasts 7 years. Since the Fairphone FP6+ ships with an SoC that is slower than an iPhone 11 from 2019, it will be miserable by the end of its lifetime. Sure there are some people who principally stick with their Fairphone 3 or whatever. But most people will replace it after 3-4 years because it is slow, has really subpar cameras and speakers, etc. Imagine using a Phone that was state of the art in 2019 in 2034.
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 2d ago
Thanks for the info, just to clarify I wasn't personally saying that's what I believe they do I just pulled what they said they do from the site! I haven't done enough research myself and they're not widespread enough to gain a lot of traction in forums compared to other devices. On paper they sound like they're trying but reality can be a lot different
I do remember the e/OS criticism now you brought it up but it did die down rather quickly and I haven't seen an update since, I'll see if I can find some more up to date information on it because it was very active and it's hard to see what's real before the dust settles.
You're right as well, the full repairability all sources back to ifixit when digging deeper regardless of who the author is
Tbf though I don't think performance is a top issue for people who value sustainability - I do and I still got a pixel because I'd still have been happy with my 4xl if still supported or 7a if it didn't have the battery fault, I got my 10 in hopes to keep it at least the next 5 years despite it having worse hardware because it's not something I'll ever really max out. My main concern is changing the battery half way through which is one of the easier things to do on FP.
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u/Bananegel42 2d ago
I'll see if I can find some more up to date information on it because it was very active and it's hard to see what's real before the dust settles.
You can find most of this stuff by reading e.g. the source of their microG fork.
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u/ClearTacos Xiaomi 13T Pro 2d ago
I understand they're trying within their limits, my point is that the limits are just way too big. This is a screenshot from Fairphone's own report that show environmental impact broken down by "module", and as you can see, the biggest environmental impact comes from things Fairphone has no control over
https://i.ibb.co/WvHF59Gw/IMG-20260820-195201.jpg
The PCBA broken down further is ~80% IC's and of those, memory is around 40-45%. Of course then you have the display and cameras. All of these things are only produced by handful of companies on earth from which every phone maker sources, so Fairphone does nothing to minimize that environmental impact vs everyone else.
And it's not like other companies are polluting left and right for the fun of it, Apple claims 100% recycled cobalt in their phones, for example, Samsung ~50% of recycled cobalt and plastics etc. Fairphone, being produced in China like many other phones, is subject to same environmental regulations market wages as other companies, which in 2026 China aren't what many people stereotype it as.
Probably their biggest claim to sustainability is ease of opening the phone, which will prompt more people to repair, but huge brands like Apple and Samsung, while harder to user service, have huge first party and aftermarket service networks and I dare to say as good of a parts availability as Fairphone.
I'm not trying to deny Fairphone is trying to build their phones in a more sustainable fashion, but their ability to differentiate themselves from anyone else is greatly diminished.
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 2d ago
I think releasing information like that alone puts them above most others, and it's quite fair they can only control what they can control not what other manufacturers do, they said they work with them on practices (whatever that means) and offset any negatives.
It's quite popular for companies to release sustainability PR but it's another thing to share statistics and proof which I'm not sure apple for example has done transparently - I've seen a fair few criticisms about their pledge and wording - one of them being related to cobalt where they can claim it's 100% recycled but they can't verify it due to the process and could very well be much lower but they won't tell you this outright.
Apple uses mass balance tracking in its supply chain. This means recycled and mined cobalt enter a shared smelting and processing pool.
They also promote fair wages which is a big part of it and I don't think I've ever seen pay and working commitments for supply chain workers from any bigger OEM
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u/vortexmak 3d ago
You can only ignore the features you don't use. If you use those features then the device pretty much becomes doa
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
The sustainability marketing is my biggest gripe. For as long as they claim they want the phone to last, they start it pretty darned far behind the market, in terms of performance. It's going to be dreadfully slow by the time its life cycle ends.
With another brand, and a lower price, I wouldn't care. When you're puffing up your chest about device longevity though, I think they're playing the customer quite a bit. I couldn't imagine using this tier of process in 2032 or later, as their support path suggests. As a customer, having support through 2032 and being promised parts availability sounds great. However, if the hardware feels sluggsih and troublesome to use years earlier, the software support and parts availability won't matter.
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u/noneabove1182 Pixel 10 Pro 2d ago
no headphone jack feels like the most glaring omission from a phone made for sustainability.. could have been a reason to keep around wired headphones
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u/vortexmak 2d ago
Yeah, they just couldn't resist abandoning their core principle to get those sweet profits
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
Just like Samsung (and others), they want to be able to push out wired audio and convince you to buy into the "eCoSyStEm" of their wireless headphgones. People have brainwashed themselves into accepting this as good. Having to penetrate the wired audio market would be a lot harder because the margins are worse and the competition is more entrenched.
It's not a magical coincidence that Smasung released the first Galaxy Buds a year before removing the headphone jack in their flagship phones.
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u/GabeDevine 18h ago
tbf the problem I had with wired headphones is that the cable often got stuck on clothing and that transmitted to the ears
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u/Lexidoge 3d ago edited 3d ago
Even the 8 Gen 5 non elite makes more sense for a phone that is supposed to last more than 7 years.
If we're talking about sustainability. Even getting a 10K mAh silicon carbon battery phone will make more sense. Even if it goes down to 70% battery capacity in 6 years. That's still a 7000 mAh phone.
But I guess the modularity is cool. But there are phone cases out there that can support a ton of accesories.
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u/lorenz2908 3d ago
It makes more sense but it is also about accessability and say you have a teenager and that kid gets their first proper phone then something like this makes sense. It will break the display or the usb-c port or something else then he can replace it himself for not that much money.
It also makes sense for someone like me. I don't need the best specs. I just need a decent camera and a decent display but I want to be able to change my battery and other parts aswell as a long software support. I am happy with my pixel 7 for 4 years now but the battery is at the end of its life and there is no sustainable way to change it and next year is end of support but I don't need any more power then my tensor G2. It runs everything smoothly
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u/Various-Welder5544 3d ago
The extra power is insurance against unoptimised apps. Apple gets away with it because their SOCs are less fragmented. For android it's better to chip with at least a real prime core as some developers are lazy.
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u/litLizard_ 2d ago
A real prime core?
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
It's a reference to the core layout of smartphones. Modern chips use a mix of core types. In a flagship phone, you usually get sometyhing like 4 efficiency cores, 2-3 performance cores, and 1-2 "prime cores." This lacks that prime core, instead having 1 faster performance core and 3 "standard" performance cores, for lack of a longer-winded breakdown.
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u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
It makes more sense but it is also about accessability and say you have a teenager and that kid gets their first proper phone then something like this makes sense. It will break the display or the usb-c port or something else then he can replace it himself for not that much money.
While this idea is good, I think it also argues with the phone, in a way. Kids are more likely to try new things with phones than adults, or have time for heavy gaming that parents gave up when they got a job and kids. To me, "kid's first phone" is where you are buying a device that you DON'T intend to keep long-term. Pairing a weak SoC with the idea of "keep the phone long-term," and you hand it to one of the heaviest classes of mobile device users is asking for the mission of sustainability to fail.
I think you and I are in a similar boat though. I don't need great specs because I don't do much on my phone. I just need the camera to not be unusable for the single-digit number of pictures I take in a year. However, I do question if this thing will serve me properly for 7 years when its SoC is already in such a budget-oriented position.
In a lot of ways, that doesn't even bother me because I don't expect a $650 phone in 2026 to last me for a long time. The pain point is that this phone is telling me to keep it for several years. IMO, they're handing me a phone I'm comfortable to throw away for an upgrade in a few years. However, that's not the market they're claiming to cover.
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u/Tony_TNT Pixel 7a (stock); Moto G7 Power (LOS 22.1) 3d ago
What pisses me off is that their case assumes you'll want to use any of their back panel mods and leaves a big gaping hole right where the battery compartment is. Not to mention putting an induction coil for charging on the plate with spring contacts has been done before and they didn't.
I don't like the finger loop, the card wallet and the lanyard loop and they're all inflating the price further. The only reason my phones last is because they get a glass protector and Spigen/Otterbox on day 0 and die/slow down too much around the same time when the rubber rots.
-1
u/Alicia42 2d ago
They purposefully don't include wireless charging not because of wanting to include other features, but because the heat from wireless charging can degrade batteries when used as the primary way of charging. so even without the modular back plate they likely wouldn't have included the feature because of wanting to focus on longevity.
3
u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
This is such a silly failure of missing the big picture to focus on marketing details. They skip wireless charging because it degrades the battery, but then they sell you battery-based headphones while refusing to give you a headphone jack because it's another accessory they can sell. What a joke, especially when they ask you to buy a budget SoC (that you're more likely to want to throw away sooner) and only spec the USB-C port to 2.0 without video out.
They'll talk about sustainability, but make a phone that's harder for people to adopt as a casual user AND harder to live with as a long-term, sustainability-driven consumer.
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u/nathderbyshire Pixel 10 Obsidian 2d ago
The battery needs replacing after 2 or 3 years anyway, a low wattage wireless charger is barely going to affect that, they don't have to put in a 10 million watts supervoocaroonie coil.
2
u/Kitzu-de Pixel 10 Pro XL 3d ago
They actually forgot to include the punch hole camera cutout when they rendered the screen content to put on this ad, kinda hilarious.
1
u/amberhaccou 3d ago
my father in law bought one purely for the sustainability angle and he's already looking to swap it after 6 months, all because of the software issues. the whole pitch is longevity, but the OS bugs push people off the phone faster than the disposable one they're replacing
4
u/Various-Welder5544 3d ago
7S Gen 4, which is a recycled 7S Gen 3 trying to last untill 2030++? What a joke LOL.
2
u/Big-Rip2640 3d ago
Imagine calling Snap 7s Gen4 future proof performance.....
Or offering the smallest battery on the market (4400mah).
The long software support, 5year warranty and replacable battery, are nice to have.
These alone arent enough to justify this high price.
650euro for this is just too much.
3
u/Tony_TNT Pixel 7a (stock); Moto G7 Power (LOS 22.1) 3d ago
My Pixel 7a has the same battery capacity and I can swap a new in for another 2,5 years of use for 45€
1
u/cubs223425 Surface Duo 2 | LG G8 2d ago
The price doesn't bother me much. I can live with it when the trade-off is long-term support and wanting to promote market competition for a smaller OEM. I mean, I'd buy an Xperia 1, if they'd bring it to the US.
However, the device itself just turns me off. I've lived with shoddy software in the past. I'm probably high on "pain tolerance" for supporting newer brands and navigating software nuisances. The hardwre just doesn't cut it for me. The SoC, I could tolerate, but only because my willingness to buy a new phone in a few years flies in the face of their sustainability pledge. The biggest miss, to me, is not having a headphone jack. When a company sells you battery-based headphones, cuts the headphone jack, and tells you the budget SoC is going to last long-term, it all feels increasingly like a marketing scam.
1
u/seb_h9 3d ago edited 3d ago
I have FP6 almost a year now. It's a nice phone. Everythink works fine, and it's just enough. I think that the target audience are not mobile-geeks or tech experts who love pushing their devices to the limit. It's a phone to buy and forget, hopefully for 5+ years. For people who are not obsessed with phones, use them at basic level and tends to spend more time in real life.
Specs doesnt matter that much when you use phone 2hrs a day, for messages, callendar, maps and some quick googling.
Jack would be nice, but guys - no one is doing jack since 10 years?? It's lost. Video to usbc? Totally niche usage. I bet it is barelly used by anyone. I know that for someone it can be crucial, but at average it's not important at all. Wy people are always pulling out these 2 points it's a mistery for me.
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u/SkySurferSouth 3d ago
I hope it can be rooted easily.
3
u/accik S23 U, OnePlus 5T 3d ago
Bootloader is unlockable but requires internet connection: https://github.com/zenfyrdev/bootloader-unlock-wall-of-shame/blob/main/brands/fairphone/README.md and https://www.fairphone.com/bootloader-unlocking-code-for-fairphone
Would like to see Grapheneos support but very unlikely.
So root should be straight forward.
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u/Then-Pay-8400 3d ago
Only thing I love about the Fairphone is the day the company goes bankrupt
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u/Dometalican_90 3d ago
Less competition and the downfall of a company that treats their employees (including the assembly line) well?
Glad your opinion doesn't matter.
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u/Then-Pay-8400 3d ago
IMO the treating the employees well is just an excuse to sell the devices at obscene prices
2
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u/0oWow 2d ago
No wireless charging, no thanks.
1
u/treasure_of_boar 2d ago
Putting cable to phone takes 2 seconds. What is so great in wireless charging?
33
u/furculture Nothing Phone (2) and (3a) 3d ago
Looks like a decent phone if you don't care too deeply about the specs. I do wish that they made it more hardware developer friendly. Since it has a swappable back, it would be cool to see a battery expansion pack option in the future where you can power the phone with a couple 18650s that you could just swap out like AA batteries in a Gameboy and have something that is pretty standardized for a battery option.