There’s been a lot of buzz here about the Fairphone here lately, especially with it coming to the US.
On paper, it seems rather nice. Ethically sourced, privacy friendly stock ROM.
But the skeptic in me does say, “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism.”
What are the drawbacks of Fairphone that seem to be shunned away, or less discussed both by the company and community at large? Why shouldn’t I just buy a Pixel 7a and put GrapheneOS on it instead?
Lots of reviews and users come to the same conclusion:
A simple USB-C to 3.5" connector does the trick. No need for wireless headphones.
I found it’s very annoying and I had two cables break on me because it sticks out more from the phone - and phones being larger with each release means we can’t keep them in our pockets as we used to. Also, replacing a USB-C->jack cable is more expensive than replacing an audio cable.
The adapters are $1 on Aliexpress. Generally agree though, I’d prefer to have a headphone jack directly and be done with it.
Those $1 from Aliexpress are shit! I bought two of them and one was dead on arrival. The second died in less than two weeks. I gave up on this and now I’m using my old Sandisk Sansa Clip Zip to listen to music. It’s so small I don’t even fell it in my pocket.
True, and if you’re a music nerd or audiophile you can grab a USB-C DAC while you’re at it.
Although you can’t both charge the phone/use pripherals, like a keyboard/mouse and use headphones in that case, unless you’re using one of the few phones with 2+ USB-C ports, and wireless charging can be cumbersome.
Wut? Mind. Blown. Fr.
They’re also more expensive, even if fairphone does offer their own headphones.
A cheap set of decent wired earphones is $10. $30 if you want something nice, like an IEM.
Bluetooth headphones don’t tend to be quite as cheap, and are usually a good deal more.
I mean you’re comparing it to phones that are not sustainably sourced or “fair” so that is to be expected. These things are more expensive, that’s why others don’t use them.