While they were happy with what the fairphone 4 brought to the table, they seem to like what was changed for the fairphone 5.
What are you guys’ opinions on this? A welcome change? would you get one if your phone died within the next year?
If my FP4 dies in the next year, I will fix it. Because iFixit gave it 10/10.
Too bad about the software security updates and lack of security features. Might be a good spare phone though
Crap meant security updates I’ll edit it in but their phones overall. The company is notorious for not providing full security updates for the promised length which can end up jeopardizing the customer. Then specifically for the fp5 there’s the lack of a secure element and iirc verified boot but I could be mistaken
What do you mean by lack of security features? Fairphone promises 5 Android version upgrades and security updates for at least 8 years.
Running android puts rather a low ceiling on security and privacy
Edit: ok look y’all, I’m stoked that there are some privacy and security-focused routes for nerds to take, but aggregate security for the average user who goes to a store and buys what the salesperson recommends is an important metric.
You don’t have to use Google services on the fairphone. And if you use it without those, Android is waaaaaaaaay more private than iOS.
iPhones are barely much better than Android phones for privacy or security.
Iirc the chipset, QCM6490, will lose support after 2028 meaning the device will get at least 5 years of security updates and not the promised 8. Pretty sure that’s why grapheneOS doesn’t/won’t support it since the company doesn’t keep to their promises
Buying this phone as a “spare phone” you very well may never actually need seems to contradict the point of it
That is a 700+ dollar “spare phone”. Must be nice. It seems like an ok phone but it’s so expensive that the sustainability angle seems like pretense. My last phone (Moto G4 XT1625, Android 7) was $170 and was technologically obsolescent and physically decrepit by the time I replaced it after about 6 years. I’d like to see how many fairphones are still in use after that long.
I would love to get one.
Too bad they don’t sell them in the US. I would buy one immediately.
I generally try to check every few years to see if they sell to the US yet. Last I checked they would finally ship FP4 to the US, but it will only work on T-Mobile :/ gonna check back in a few more years.
they’re selling the 4 with degoogled OS in the US, so perhaps they’ll do the same with the 5 at some point.
Amazing.
I’m sick of buying a new phone every three years because the battery is dead or the processor is slow, nothing can be replaced without it being wildly expensive and now it’s a paperweight.
To be fair, I don’t think the Fairphone will help much with outdated processors. You can’t upgrade the processor inside, and it comes with a relatively slow processor from day one.
This phone is not for people that need performance; it’s a very basic phone for people that value an ethical supply chain and repairability.
For me, the problem was that they don’t support the right bands for US carriers.
I’m able to use Mint Mobile here in the States on my Fairphone 4. I believe 5 would also be compatible.
I appreciate you mentioning that, thats how I’m considering using the 5 if it ends up as my phone replacement, but I have a hard time interpreting the info around wireless frequency bandwidths supported 🙃 I like pretty user interfaces, networking hurts my brain
I’ve being following Fairphone since 2013, waiting for them to sell to Taiwan. After a years of waiting, in 2019 I just said fk it and bought one from official store, ship it with international packaging forwarding service. Couldn’t be happier with my Fairphone ever since.
Awesome phone as a concept, which is something that android fortunately still has a lot of.
Happy to report that my Fairphone 3 is also very much an awesome phone as a phone.
That’s great, but I mean to say that the people who would most benefit from a fairphone are those that would never spend more than 200 euro in a phone.