Fairphone 4—the repairable, sustainable smartphone—is coming to the US
Fairphone teams up with the developer of the /e/ Android fork to enable US sales.
Also interesting that it ships with /e/OS!
/e/OS is a de-googled version Android. Most Google services are replaced with Nextcloud integration, but somehow all apps are still available through a software store that bridges to the Play Store while letting you browse for free apps anonymously. Google Play Services are replaced with the wonderful microG.
I used it on my Fairphone 3 for around half a year, and for the most part it was a very pleasant experience. And whoever doesn't like it can of course (re)install stock Android. :)
How does e/OS/ compare with Lineage?
It's lineageOS + µG + their assortment of default apps, including i.e. their app store thingy.
The last time I used Lineage it was known as CyanogenMod, so I'm not really in a position to perfectly compare the two. But I'll give it a shot.
Lineage includes many more Google components. As an end user this means that you'll for example be able to use the Google location service, using WiFi and bluetooth to identify where your phone is even when you don't have GPS reception. /e/OS depends on a mostly discontinued Mozilla location service, which would have been amazing had it only worked better. So location data for example inside buildings can be a bit spotty.
/e/OS also has a bunch of extra features to protect your privacy if you should wish, such as messing with your location data so that the apps on your phone will have no idea where in the world you're located.
/e/ also comes with a bunch of FOSS alternatives to the default Google apps by default, while i think Lineage might leave it to the users to fill the phone with apps. You can of course uninstall apps from /e/ and install the Google ones should you wish.
As a footnote: Both its developers, @Murena, and #eOS itself ( @emydata ) are present on the Fediverse. :)
the most sustainable smartphone is the one that you already have
Funny coincidence: Fairphone has a blog post titled exactly that. And they say the same thing on their shop page. You're going to replace your phone eventually, but Fairphone is the only phone company I know trying to stretch that out.
yay!!!
This is true. When the original Fairphone came out I didn't get it because I had a working Samsung Galaxy. My next phone was purchased as an emergency when my current phone fell into water, so I had to walk into a phone shop and buy an immediate replacement. But that was the day that I decided to buy the Fairphone 3... Because the phone that fell into water was sealed and glued together, and there was no way to remove the battery or dry it out. It buzzed and beeped to death in my hand taking all of my data with it (internal memory only).
I've been rocking the FP3 since then. Upgraded the camera, replaced the battery twice, and once replaced the lower assembly because the usb3 port got damaged and couldn't hold the cable.
My wife has the same phone now. So I could upgrade to the FP4 and use my FP3 for parts, in case she ever breaks a screen or needs a battery. But why bother? This works just fine.
This is pretty exciting. I wish it would have happened sooner though. It was at the top of my list when I was looking at phones last year, but it was still unavailable when I decided to go with the Pixel 7.
That's a step in the right direction, hopefully in the future phones will be more like computers, where you can buy parts and build your own. At least that'd be my dream.
Years ago google was looking at doing a modular phone. It was basically a frame with modules on the back that contained the battery, storage, cameras, and even the processor. The screen was even replaceable in a similar way. I really want someone to do another project ara.
I think that was called project aria or ara... something like that. A fully modular phone seems so great! I hope that concept is used someday like the Framework uses on their laptops for ports.
Great news. The more sustainable options the better. Hopefully it will do well
I love Fairphone's mission, but no headphone jack equals no purchase from me.
Does anyone know why they don’t have a headphone jack?
The fact that even they don’t include one actually makes me respect the existing phone manufacturers a lot more. I always assumed that Apple did it to sell airpods, and then the others did it just to copy Apple or sell their own dongles/headphones.
But if even an organization like this chose not to include one, then maybe not including it really does make the phone a lot smaller or cheaper or waterproof or whatever.
That being said, I can’t believe cars don’t have aux ports anymore. Surely the cost and size isn’t significant on that scale.
Disclaimer: both for cars and my phone, I’m generally happy with Bluetooth. But I want the option to use a headphone jack without needing to buy or remember a dongle. It’s insidious because the kinds of things that you would need a headphone jack for are uncommon enough that you won’t get into the habit of bringing a dongle for them (e.g. road trips, full day of phone interviews)
The CEO claimed it's because the USB C port can withstand more than the 3.5mm so it's more sustainable to use that. I honestly don't buy that argument because now you're putting all of that load from 2 ports into 1. Also, if they were truly Fairphone, I should be able to buy a replacement headphone jack if it does break.
I think he eventually admitted it was a mistake, but it turned from a definite purchase to a zero for me.
I have a Fairphone 3 for several years now and if it dies I will probably get another Fairphone. The camera could be better but I'm alright with it. The audio is broken when recording concerts. But I actually like my phone and it's pretty robust too.
Like many of you, this was a much desired phone for me. Now I'm just left wondering how soon their next phone releases. Been too long. If I'm focused on eco friendly I may as well also stick with what I've got until then.
Yeah, the most eco-friendly thing anyone can do is keep using the phone they have.
Dangit Fairphone where were you 6 months ago when I was looking for a new phone.
I have a Fairphone 4 and I'm very happy with it. Strong recommend.
Has anyone compared this to a PinePhone?
I bought a PinePhone and it works great as a mini laptop to do light programming. But as a phone I don’t think I could trust it, and the interface seemed to need some work. It was cool (though awkward to control) running full desktop apps like VLC though.
Perhaps I should have tried a different OS though. I couldn’t tell how much of it was software vs hardware limitations.
Ohhh, I go between Europe and the US a lot and own one of these. Hopefully this means US companies will offer more support for the fairphone 4!
I'm due for an upgrade from my pixel 3, which I love but the battery life is getting very low. I'm very interested in this, but wouldn't want to spend the money/resources on something that doesn't work well for me. Getting something upgradeable, then discovering the quality is bad and it doesn't last isn't very sustainable.
If anyone has any personal experience with this phone I'd love to hear it!
I've had one for a while now and overall I'm happy with it. The screen and camera are as good as some other devices and it doesn't support all of some bands that US providers use so service coverage may vary. I should also add that the touch sensitivity is a little off. I'm not sure if thats software or hardware to blame though.
I'm on a T-Mobile reseller and excluding situations like being inside a data center or being outside of town camping or whatever my service has been acceptable. Its also less an issue for me as in almost always in WiFi range.
I don't think the phone is upgradable. It is repairable though. The fact that it has an easily removable battery is enough to justify the device for me as glued in dead batteries have historically been my biggest issue with device longevity.
I never considered that the model of phone would affect the coverage, that shows how much I know! Definitely something to consider, I drive through low coverage areas a lot and do not want to get stranded with no way to communicate.
And good point with the upgradeable vs repairable. It would be so cool if it was upgradeable! Making every new part backwards compatible would be a huge pain for the designers though. But like you said the battery is the real problem with most phones. I'd be very happy with a more standard phone that just had a replaceable battery!
Have you ever had an issue that you had to get support for? Whether it's asking fairphone for help or just searching online for answers, did you have any trouble?
I am very clumsy and tend to drop my phone a lot. I worry that the disassemble-able design could make the phone less drop resistant, have you experienced that? (Or maybe you just have basic levels of hand-eye coordination and are able to hold on to a phone without issues lol)
Fairphone was literally my top choice before I bought my current smartphone, until I found out I couldn't get it. So this is great, hopefully they still sell it whenever I update my phone (which won't happen for a few years). Several other people have already commented something along these lines, but I'm just happy about it.
Can we use it for daily use ?
Yes, it's a perfectly usable device.
Sorry I was thinking of Pinephone. Any update on that ? Fairphone is just another android but better than major android players.
wooo /e/ the worst name for a great os. I use their Murena as my phone and I would love to have it on a fairphone
I'd like one of these but I'm not sold on De-Googled
Same. In my experience as well, almost all alternatives to Google Maps either:
Waze is the closest of these but man it's annoying with that third bullet point. It's also not FOSS.
I can only imagine Magic Maps falls into one of those three categories too.
If the fairphone had been available I wouldn't have gotten my teracube. I like my teracube and don't intend to ditch it, but it is my impression that the fairphone is definitively better
Very cool news! I'm looking forward to fairphone heading this way.
I support the idea, but I'm really skeptical. I bought the fairphone 2 when it came out and it just couldn't keep up anymore after 2 years. My understanding was that there would be upgradable modules but the only thing I got was a little bit better camera and case.
It would be great if there wouldn't be the need for more and more models but simply better modules to upgrade with the time.
dang it looks like it doesn't come with an expandable microsd slot
No it does. At least mine has one
Yeah same here. The micro SD slot is inside after you remove the battery.
I have a fariphone 4 since it was released and I'm very happy with it. It's does not have the most powerful or newest specs, if you only care about performance the price is pretty high, but you wouldn't buy one if that's your priority anyway and so far, it works great.
The concept is cool but I think it is more sustainable to have a high end "normal" android phone. The Fairphone ships with a lowend chip that is already older. It may be usable now but it won't be in a few years apps and OS will be more ressource-intensive. A high-end chip of a "normal" device (8gen1/2) is way more powerful and will surely be enough for the next 5 years. The SD750G will propably not.
Not to mention that the software updates will be more reliable on big brand phones.
Hard to say for sure, keep in mind that this is a degoogled by default android, meaning that depending on how much Google services chug (and oh boy, do they chug) the phone may hold up with no problem at all.
While it is a computer, my personal Lenovo T60 from (i think) 2007 is still my favorite machine to browse the internet on and read articles. Once I librebooted it and installed debian, it ran with no problems at all and is very functional till this day
I have the fairphone 3 and it's still doing fine. I don't game on it but map navigation and 1080p videos run well.
ooooooh right in the middle of my moving to open source software arc too, could be fun
I love my Fairphone 3. This is great news.
I'm getting vibes of early OnePlus or Nexus devices and what they were aiming for. Pretty cool!
This phone, with e/OS, is my dream phone right now. Just need to wait for my iPhone 12 to die…in like 5-10 years :D
I want to replace my iPhone 11 Pro bc the faceid scanner is broke. (Someone didn’t close the drybag properly and some water got into the phone through the earpiece)
But as annoying as no faceid is, I just can’t fully justify getting a new phone. I tried to get it fixed by apple ($550 for a replacement phone) and by iPad Rehab (said they can’t fix it)
So, idk….
Does anybody know if this works on Google Fi?
I have it and I'm pretty happy with it, but for some reason I have dropped this phone way more often than any phone I had before. Idk if this is a me issue, but maybe get a protective case from the start (unlike me)
Looks like my next phone is decided on.
CustomROMs fun and all but it is a bit of hussle.
Wow I really wanted this, but I got a pixel 6a
Hmm
Hopefully United Staters get the FP4 and we get the FP5
They are pretty cool but you are still stuck with Android so its a no for me.
Mmmh yes, that's the point of an Android phone.
A lot easier to buy a samsung and get rid of the bloatware. Much more powerful too. Fairphone seems like a gimmick to me.
Do you understand the selling point of this phone or not?
It's is almost always a lot easier to pay less for a superior product that is less ethical and environmentally friendly.
Let me know when it can run GrapheneOS. Until then, who cares?
who cares?
All the people who buys fp.
Ok, you got me there. I just ment I don't care.
Lots of people care about having access to that kind of phone hardware option. It does have a degoogled AOSP ROM so it's pretty fucking good even though it's not GrapheneOS.
GrapheneOS is maintained by a certain team of people, unaffiliated with Fairphone, and they might develop a branch for the Fairphone if they feel like doing it but they probably won't since they primarily focus on Pixel ROMs.