Fairphone has created a smartphone that owners can repair themselves - This sustainable smartphone aims to reduce global electronic waste::In a bid to reduce global electronic waste, Fairphone has created a smartphone that owners can repair themselves. What makes its technology so sustainable?
When I couldn’t repair my Nokia and replace the 5 € USB-Port because there happened to be a small crack in the screen (of course you have to remove the glued on screen to accese the innards), I caved and bought a Fairphone 3.
Worst decision ever. The stupid thing refuses to break to let me even use the better repairability.
you got me
Can confirm, nothing broke yet :(
I was so ready to go hard on this comment, you got me there pal.
Ironically Nokia* now make highly repairable phones** again
* Specifically, the company that bought the Nokia Phones brand
** Only their G series
I had the same thing with the FP2. I even got a cheap spare one from ebay to use for spares. Both are still fine. One is now an alarm clock and the other one is a gps for my bike
Fairphone existed for years now, and the title makes it seem like as if they made a new phone just now that is repairable.
Yeah, the Fairphone 2 is 7 years old and you can still buy all the important replacement parts directly from their store.
Does it still get OS updates?
Yeah, they’re touting this as if it isn’t old news. Yes, the phones are cool and yes, America can’t have them. What else.
Kind of. It doesn’t run Android with the Play Store so it’s a pretty different experience.
I have the Aurora store on my /e/os so I can get apps that are on Play Store too. Haven’t noticed any difference in experience except that well, no Play Store is installed.
But isnt /e/OS an android system too? Always wondered what stops a person from not just installing lineageOS on these phones? Basically did what i did with mine lol
You can easily do that indeed. You can even install the Play Store with microg if you really want to.
Yeah, I was considering getting one and installing CalyxOS but I don’t like that they removed the headphone jack. It’s even more sad in their own words
“we want to reduce e-waste by forcing everyone to throw out their wired headphones and buy a new set of wireless ones every couple of years when the battery goes dead”
Id need to look it up, but i think it had to do with it costing them too much to add it since their phones are made with components that are abundand and wanted by phone makers so it can be as cheap as possible for the consumer.
However, with headphone jacks dissapearing in phones they cant garantee that, nor provide the years of support they stand for. I’d like my headphone jack too, and use my laptop’s extensively at work, but i can understand their choice
It’s bs. They’re making excuses. Sony has a headphone jack and microsd slot in their newest phone. Samsungs made galaxy phones thin and waterproof with a headphone jack. They’re copying Apple to make money and they know it. I would pay their $800 if they show they care about this issue. They can still sell their bluetooth devices which will still work even if it has a headphone jack. If they truly want to save the environment, why make people throw out perfectly good earbuds.
I do sometimes feel like what we really want is something a little bit more like how Framework are doing things. Yes it’s easily repairable, but it’s also easily upgradable.
Upgradability isn’t really a design consideration for fairphone. So everyone is stuck with the kind of mediocre camera that they decided to put on it. It would be nice if the option was there to have something a bit better.
Actually, they do.
The Fairphone 3 was upgradable to the Fairphone 3+ by buying spare parts like the camera and installing them yourself.
The thing is that phones don’t really need upgrades.
phones don’t really need upgrades
Huh??? I went through 4 phones during the lifespan of my last PC
Yeah and you didn’t really need any of them.
A smartphone from 9 years ago is still enough hardware to handle everything a smartphone needs to do.
This is not true because you need to upgrade your software and patch it to keep it secure, and old hardware does not like newer os versions. Your phone will run more slowly if the os is newer (i believe that’s planned obsolescence in action, though)
I appreciate that the hardware is still good enough functionally, but only if you want a less secure phone.
You can install current day Linux Mint on PCs from the Core 2 era, ~15 years old, and it runs like brand new. OS bloat is not inevitable, it is a result of greed.
That’s the fault of the manufacturers. Google does their best to mitigate this but the unfortunate reality is that when Qualcomm drops support you’re going to stop getting updates.
There are efforts to get these phones supported within Linux. When that happens they can just run forever.
My Galaxy S2 actually had more updates than it could handle. While the last useful update had already slowed down the phone somewhat, the last available update was actually completely uninstallable - the portion of Google play services that was required to be installed on the system memory was larger than the entire system memory.
I more than doubled the useful life of that phone by switching to LineageOS / microG.
Chip support is definitely an issue with these devices, but it’s Google that’s running the treadmill.
Galaxy s2 was easily my favourite phone.
old hardware does not like newer os versions
You got that ass-backwards.
that’s planned obsolescence
There ya go.
Yours is a bit of a redundant comment, then right?
In the context of what i was replying to, it made more sense to say the hardware had a problem with the software.
It’s technically true either way, though
But yes, it would have made more sense to say the software doesn’t play ball with the old hardware.
But since it’s intended to be like that, it doesn’t really matter how i say it. The point still gets across.
I wish that was true but it feels like the opposite to me. Running videos in a browser on my phone seems to be worse than when I first started using it - I suspect due to them becoming more demanding.
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Maybe if you don’t communicate with people regularly lmfao.
My current phone is about 3 years old and is getting slower with age, the camera is mid when compared to newer models, the under screen fingerprint sensor is ass, etc
My first phone? A slow mess, not running a modern operating system, overheated if you looked at it funny, camera looked like there was Vaseline on the lens, battery was shit, usb micro-b, etc
My phone is 5 years old, I’ve replaced the battery twice, and it runs just fine. I was planning on keeping it for a long time yet, but I’m going out of the country and US border patrol can take a copy of your phone when entering or leaving the country, so I’m gonna buy a new phone right before I go so it doesn’t have much data on it in case they decide to take a copy.
The frugal in me says Back up and then Factory Reset. Honestly the only reason I replace them is because they get too damaged. I wish I was nicer to my phones but I’m just not the type of person to baby them.
I have like 200gb in photos and videos on this thing and I don’t pay for cloud backup, though I thought about that also. My old backup phone is getting really old though, so I’ll probably just cycle my current phone into its role And give the old one to my little brother as a WiFi only device.
the camera is mid when compared to newer models
This is a weird take. New phones having newer features doesn’t mean yours got worse than it was when you bought it.
A factory reset and battery swap will restore most old devices to their original state. If they were good enough three years ago there’s no reason it’s not now.
Right, except the original comment was that phones don’t need upgrades. I’m saying that my circle of people, myself included, all appreciate getting new phones for newer features. So the notion that upgrades are unnecessary is a little delulu
For battery swaps, I’m not arguing against that. This is all under the main comments about frameworks strategy of designing upgrades into their product – so i don’t have to buy a whole new phone to get a new camera and battery :p
Appreciating an upgrade isn’t the same thing as needing one. I’m glad(?) that you recognize you and your friends are submitting to social pressure and consumerism but if you’ll forgive me I think it’s still a very weird take when not buying something you don’t need is still an option.
I’m still rocking my pixel 3 from ages ago, still don’t feel like i need a replacement, plus i prefer my 3 over the later iterations and from other brands
The main upgrade they need is the processor because the companies making those are not supporting newer Android-Versions and at some point that becomes a security-issue.
Problem is that replacing the processor to a newer generation usually means the whole mainboard is obsolete, too and then is very quickly doesn’t become easy to upgrade anymore
just switching between different types of cameras, screens etc. wouldn’t be as big of a problem but that’s also not part of the main-problem either
It’s a great thing, and I hope the industry (with motivation by EU) will follow a trend towards repairability and sustainability. However I think the most sustainable way is buying used devices.
Unfortunately you need something with long firmware and software support. Qualcomm is your enemy, they stop updating the firmware of their chips after about two years and that’s why android phones often stop getting updates less than 2 years after you buy them.
That’s true. I use LineageOS to get at least OS updates, but firmware is definitely problematic. I just wished mobile hardware would be more generic like in Desktop PCs, that would solve a lot of problems.
Let’s go back to thicc boi phones like the 80s and we could have some pretty sick homebrew options
Or hell, why not a modern bucket phone? Build it out in a box with a Bluetooth headset and 3.5mm passthrough
We need a phone equivalent of the 80’s BIOS wars.
But it’s not in anyone’s best interest to spend the resources to develop a standardized hardware interface. Though at this point you’d think it would be straightforward to use UEFI.
Used devices still break and end in landfills, though, used might be better than new for carbon output today, but repairable is gonna win out in that regard long term
Hopefully in the future repairable and used can go hand in hand! Those are not mutually exclusive attributes.
Own a 4 had to replace the screen, and it was refreshingly easy with the modular system. My only issue is parts availability at times.
I’ve replaced a few screens that were glued in place (Samsung being one), just had to warm them with a hair dryer and used a playing card to cut through the adhesive. Easy-peasy.
Fairphone 5 Please come to the US ☹️
You’re not allowed nice things until you get rid of the guns, remember?
If you have friends in the EU, maybe you could pay them what it would cost in terms of buying and shipping the phone over here. Or, if you can find one, maybe there’s someone online who does imports that might be willing to help import one.
But yeah, I really hope they expand their business here even though they’ll be absolutely 100% legally bullied out of business and forced to leave the US market because cApItAlIsM.
My wife and I got new phones earlier this year, because her battery wasn’t holding a charge anymore. The FP5 looked awesome and had everything we wanted, but they won’t release it in the US. So we were stuck with the usual suspects. I understand why FP can’t bring all of their stuff here, but it still sucks.
I’m the US… Literally a new phone every one or two years.
If you’re thrifty like me, it’s every four years. And watch as that phone suffers from bad battery life, then incredible slowdown, then apps not updating/working, or worst… your phone provider refuses to support your device any longer. You Feel forced to upgrade your perfectly workable mobile device.
We pay a subscription fee for both the service AND the hardware.
My current phone is 5 years old. Could use a battery (which I can buy for $10). It runs faster than any phone in my circle (running a fork of Lineage, currently Android 13, and it will get the update to 14 any day now).
No reason phones can’t last a long time.
Oh, and I paid $100 for this phone, so I have 3 them, one for testing and one as a hot spare, and still spent less than buying new.
I’m still rocking my Galaxy S8. Gonna use it till the battery is toast.
I’ll get occasional hangups and stuff but it’s definitely useable still.
Same here. However the lack of security update + battery life ans slowness is pushing me toward a new phone.
A shame, it’s still in good condition. And that small form factor is becoming more and more rare…
I feel like I still want a phone that is repairable but also upgradeable. Slowly being able to swap in a better screen, better camera, and a new mainboard when it’s time to upgrade.
The Google Ara was supposed to be exactly this. I think it has since been abandoned. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ara#:~:text=Google%20planned%20to%20launch%20a,planned%20consumer%20launch%20in%202017.
I think the Pinephone/Pinephone Pro has this functionality.
It’s still very much a developer’s device, though. It isn’t ready for widespread use.
Yes I’m very disappointed the the FP4 looks almost the same as the FP4 but isn’t backwards compatible in the slightest… I was looking forward to upgrade my screen.
is this an ad?
I see it more like a hacker news style “show HN”
Sadly, their software QA sucks and thus the phone is buggy as hell.
Whitch is really frustrating because otherwise it’s a pretty good (if oversized and overly expensive) phone.
Indeed. I own the 3 and it’s ups and downs. In the end it is still good enough plus the aspect of more fairness in the whole process.
Do report these on the FP forum when you encounter them, the staff seem pretty proactive at getting these fixed, although it takes them a while… (at least they were for the FP3 - even community requests for a very low screen brightness were honored, and now they’re supporting two versions of android for the FP3 due to Google’s fingerprint sensor requirement nonsense on Android 13)
Sure, done that. But the issues I have have been open for months (e.g. the really unresponsive screen since they “fixed” the ghost touch issue by reducing the screen sensitivity for all phones, even the ones not affected by ghost touches, making other phones ignore touches all the time).
Or Android 13 frequently crashing, resetting or freezing if you dare to use 5G. That’s a blocker level bug that is open since Android 13 was released and support told me a week ago that they still have no clue why this happens.
And even though some of these bugs are super easy to fix (and I proposed some fixes that I got running on my phone using root, with no access to any source code) they still spend months not fixing them.
The very low screen brightness for example took from February to October to fix, even though it took me 15min and I sent my fix to support and posted it on the forums. No change happened until they updated to A13, which rewrote that part of AOSP.
And the ghost touch/screen sensitivity issue, which has a dead simple fix, is still open since launch. The issue there is that the screens have very different levels of sensitivity from the factory. So if they set one software sensitivity level, either some get ghost touches or others get an unresponsive screen. So the fix is to just add a toggle or a slider in the settings that users can use to adjust the screen sensitivity, just like e.g. Samsung has done for a long time. Instead, they just arbitrarily change that value to ruin the experience for someone else.
And yes, that proposed solution has been on the forums for years and it was also sent to support.
Own a fp4, dont have any issues. But i am running lineageOS on it :')
I’ve had a fairphone 4 running /e/OS (aftermarket) for a month now and im very happy with it. It consistently surprises me and exceeds my expectations in terms of flexibility and reliability (and of course privacy).
You should be aware that there are occasionally compatibility issues with common apps – particularly proprietary ones. The worst incident was when the NordVPN app stopped working for me a few days ago… though this may have been a problem with /e/OS or the custom launcher ive installed rather than with Fairphone. I ended up switching to Mullvad VPN and i like it a lot more.
Also I have not been able to purchase any paid apps via the App Lounge… i get a google error message stating that my device isnt registered with the Google Play Store or something like that. not sure if its just me or a widespread problem. I suspect it is an /e/OS issue that might not present itself if u are just using stock Android. If you have some absolutely must-have google play store paid apps that you can’t do without, I’d avoid /e/OS for now and some research to make sure this bug doesnt exist when using Android on FP4.
At this stage i cant recommend it for mom & dad or someone without any tech savvy whatsoever… but the privacy and flexibility make these minor setbacks absolutely worth it to me.
Overall i have no regrets and I can honestly say this is one of the most satisfying purchases I’ve ever made.
I tried /e/OS too, and had a great experience. The system has a polished feel and a lot of privacy-oriented settings by default, when compared to stock android.
I see a lot of criticism about that OS on reddit/lemmy, but never objectively stating what they mean, so I don’t know what to think about it.
Also I have not been able to purchase any paid apps
It’s the same on my Pixel 6a with CalyxOS and the Aurora Store (anonymous access to Play Store). We simply cannot get a paid Play Store app to work without logging into Google. I can get my bank app, local transit app, firefox, bitwarden, etc from there as well as what I’ve settled on for driving nav, HereWeGo.
That’s TomTom’s free nav app and it appears to get it’s traffic info from the commercial solutions TomTom provides to truckers (paid service for them). It’s good enough, but I do miss Google Maps sometimes. I like it better than Apple Maps.
Most everything else is handled through FDroid and the apps are decent to great, no show stoppers. I don’t use it for much that would leak privacy on the app side besides banking, browsing and navigation though. It’s not for everyone.
The only way I can think of to use paid apps is to pay the developer directly and then sideload. I don’t even know if any devs do that.
As long as /e/os hangs tough my next phone will probably be a FairPhone, I really dig the philosophy and repairability.
You can buy apps from the play store with your google account in a browser, then log into your google account in aurora to download them. If your google account is important to you, you should be aware of the risk that google might ban it though. I recommend using a separate account for aurora. And it’s also of course less private than using aurora anonymously.
log into your google account in aurora
Yeah, no deal. Google login does not touch this phone. It’s just how I like it.
Lineage OS can (optionally) link to Google services, so that would be a suitable OS for users needing Google
When are we going to get worldwide shipping Fairphone? Next year maybe?
I’m writing this on a Fairphone 5 right now, the hardware is great, the only slight issue is the USB C Port is a little looser than I would like, not enough for a problem, alas.
The main issue currently is the software, there’s a few well known bugs that cause annoyances that the Fairphone forum widely know about, one of which requires you to hold the power button down and force restart the phone. I am confident that the developers and customer support are aware of these bugs and are working to fix them.
Overall I’m happy with it, £700 isn’t too bad for a phone that I’m going to try to keep for the whole 8 to 10 years that have promised security patches. Sure its doesn’t have flagship specs, but no day to day tasks for me require that power.
I have to say that in terms of software the team is amazing. They seem to listen to the community, and work super hard to keep up with the updates.
USB C Port is a little looser than I would like
Maybe yours is one that barely passed QC. That’s one of the replaceable modules though right? Might be worth contacting CS about.
I mean I would if the cable kept becoming unplugged, its more it wiggles more than I’d like
While the headphone issue is problematic, it’s a single issue amidst a deluge of ethical and sustainable practices by the company. Including, but not limited to:
Fairphone carefully sources the components in every device, and the workers who put them together have safe and healthy working conditions. Where possible, Fairphone uses recycled materials (plastic, tin solder paste, steel, and nickel alloy), sources Fairtrade gold, and buys cobalt and silver credits to support the improvement of working conditions for miners.
The factories that make the Fairphone pay a living wage to workers. It also employs 100 percent renewable energy. Fairphone invests in projects to reduce CO2 emissions, and to balance bringing a new phone into the world, Fairphone recycles the equivalent amount of e-waste. It has a B Corp certification, which means its claims have been independently vetted, and Fairphone regularly releases impact reports.
(As reported by wired.com)
Absolutely they should get push back on the headphone situation. But calling it “greenwashibg marking bs” is textbook “letting perfect be the enemy of good”. Simply put, almost no other company even competes with Fairphone in the field of ethical phone manufacturing.
Are you going to back that up with something or stick to “my word is truth”? Because it doesn’t take much to go to their site and see that the earbuds are discontinued. Or that for a company full of it they sure go to great lengths about being transparent. They even have a page explaining why they removed the headphone jack.
I get that their own site could all be “just marketing” but that’s why I’m asking where’s the proof that they’re as shitty as you claim?
they certainly don’t care about their customers.
Yes, because if they did they would make sure to provide the security required by GrapheneOS.
I mean, how many people still use wired earbuds? I’d be surprised if it is 5% of users
I would still us wired earbuds if my phone still had a headphone jack… It hard to find a good phone that still has a jack and this sucks
Use a dongle or usb c earbuds
I had 2, lost both :(
“I mean, how many people in this town eat hamburgers anyway? Ever since the only hamburger shop for miles around burned down I would be surprised if it’s 5%”
Me, everyday. Bluetooth just doesn’t offer the same sound quality.
I have three pairs of wired earphones (plus more regular headphones) and a portable DAC amp. I know what you mean though, Bluetooth headphones really are the norm these days. The tech in them also make them hard to repair.
I use a usbc dac and a 3d printed brace to prevent it from bending. For how infrequently I use the earbuds it’s fine for me. Most of my phone based music listening is at work on an AliExpress Bluetooth device hooked up to the speakers pulled from my car before junking it. (Catalytic had been stolen and it had 400+ thou. km on it)
I do, however the headphone jack on my last phone was so bad I ended up just using the dongle anyway to get decent audio.
The headphone jack is worse off than just the USBc port.
While I’d like two USB ports (one in top and in on bottom), the headphone jack won’t be missed.
I can disagree with this a little. At least the bootloader isn’t locked. But overall, you’re right.
