Been looking at the Fairphone 6 and damn, support until 2033? That’s actually insane.
The whole replaceable parts thing is pretty sick too. Battery goes bad? Just swap it instead of dropping $800 on a new phone or getting the battery replaced for $100
Probably gonna throw /e/OS on it too because why not.
What’s everyone else using? Anyone actually have experience with Fairphone or am I just getting hyped over nothing?
That’s actually EU regulation.
7 years support after the end of product sales and at least 5 years of updates after end of sale of spare parts (Which means, mathematically the company intends selling the phone for one year and spare parts for 3 years from now on.)
So they basically “brag” with conforming to the rules of their home market.
Don’t get me wrong: Having long support cycles is awesome. But that is not something the WANT to do but they HAVE to do.
In my 26 years of using mobile phones I never ever felt the urge to swap the battery. Repairability of smartphones is such a non-issue in reality, it amazes me that people are so crazy about it.
Speaking of which. The official shop doesn’t have a battery for the Fairfone 6. The battery for the Fairfone 5 would cost me 100 Euros (~116 USD)
I use a Pixel 7 Pro which has something audibly loose inside. Since everything works I don’t see any issues with whatever part has become loose. I think I will stick with it for now.
I stripped down Android to the bare minimum, use an app that blocks all data traffic except for the apps I want, and use an alternate launcher. That’s the most de-googling possible except replacing the installed Android version with something else.
It’s funny how the official Google phones are best for de-googling and causing the least amount of vendor lock-in.
I’m sorry, but I take issue with that statement. Here’s how many steps you need to take to remove a battery from popular phones:
And I have to stress, this is the number of steps to just GET to the battery. I didn’t count the steps for battery replacement and reassembly. And all of these require some sort of specialty tools like having a gel pack to melt the glue inside the phone, or specialty screwdrivers for proprietary screws, etc. Not to mention the time and patience you need to expend.
Contrast this to the Fairphone 4:
No tools needed. 2 minutes. So no, I absolutely refuse to believe that phone repairability is a non-issue.
And that’s just battery swaps. Getting to the screen to replaced on most phones is an even bigger nightmare.
In my 2 decades of using smartphones I had to replace the screen once (out ow my own stupidity of thinking I could balance everything from one room to another, which I could not, and my phone kissed the tiled floor).
The replacement, including a new screen, cost me €80 and took two days. It was carried out at an official partner store of my phone manufacturer. That’s perfectly fine, considering how convenient it is to have someone else do the work for me.
I think they probably dont repair their phones. Tbh my phones usually stopped working with software before anything breaks behind, with the exception of the screen.
My experience as well. Fortunately, I was able to remedy this by flashing a fresh install of LineageOS. Though, I do understand that not every phone is able to do this and even if it is, the process can look intimidating for newbies.
Yeah I’ve looked into that but never had a phone that seemed supported
Indeed. Batteries are consumables, not something that should be babied from 20% to 80% because it’s too difficult to replace.
You don’t need to baby your batteries anymore. The is what the battery management system is for. Just plug it in whenever you feel like – for how long you want to.
Think what he means is that with a fairphone you don’t have to care about how you treat your battery, because you can replace it within 5 minutes for around 40 bucks
Honestly, I never really cared how I treat my batteries. Neither in my phones, or in my other mobile devices. Just plug in or put it on the wireless charging pod and forget about it. It was always other parts that failed before I noticed something related to the battery.
It’s not 2006 anymore. Batteries and battery management systems have matured – regardless of what “popular tech” magazines and video creators habitually proclaim.
Worry less – and enjoy your device more :)
Yes, that’s awesome. Easily replaceable parts should be the default – but within reason. If I lose compactness, functionality, or performance just because I have the option to change a part, then it’s a no-go for me.
Especially with batteries. Maybe it’s just my bubble and the outside world regularly changes their phone’s batteries, but in my world I never needed to change the battery. Nor any other part.
If one wants to support the Fairphone philosophy or regularly changes parts of their mobile: go for it! But in my world the Fairphone just is a lower mid-tier device with a high-end price tag.
I used to switch out my device when it started charging weird or issues with the battery, I had S21 which the charging port stopped working, I bought a new device because of it.
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Yeah that’s what I’m on about
Yes, you’re right, wrong product :) Its 40 Euros.
Pixel 8 user here. My phone also makes noises as if something is loose when I shake it. But I searched for what could cause that and the answer seems to be that the camera shutter is moving inside, which is not a problem. Maybe it is a similar situation with your phone.
Damn you! Just shook my 8 Pro. Something rattling in there too. I never noticed it before!
So it likely is by design(?) I have my phone since release and just noticed it a few months ago.
My pixel 7 pro had the same, I thought it was because of the optical camera stabilisation
@Dirk
A new battery for fp5 would cost me 55£
@twikz
@Dirk @twikz Fairphone already offered long support before it became a legal requirements. And I think it’s valid that they advertise something they’re offering you even it’s its mandated by the EU.
Also how do you come to the price of 100€ for the battery? It’s just 40€ on the official shop.
@Dirk @twikz @ueeu fair enough. So far, battery replacement was the only repair I had ever done. May I ask you for the alternative launcher you are using?
Contrary to normally using free open source software only, I’m using Smart Launcher – which is pretty much non-free closed source software. But I can tolerate it because how good it is.
@Dirk What app are you using for ‘app that blocks all data traffic except for the apps I want’?
I’m using NetGuard in whitelist mode: all traffic is blocked, including all traffic from system applications, only apps I allow can access the Internet (I can even control if the apps are allowed to use WiFi only, Mobile only, or both).
NetGuard install itself as VPN to provide the functionality. The VPN is local-only, so apps that want to connect to the Internet, use the VPN, and then NetGuard does it’s actions, and then the regular internet connection is used for outgoing trafic via the local VPN. With this, no root access is needed.
You can also check out RethinkDNS