Two years after the Fairphone 4 and following the release of some audio products like the Fairbuds XL, the Dutch company is back with a new repairable phone: the Fairphone 5. It looks and feels a lot like the Fairphone 4, but it adds choice upgrades across the board, making it the most modular and also most modern-looking repairable phone from the company yet.
The design is largely unchanged compared to the Fairphone 4, but the improvements that the company did make go a long way: The teardrop notch and the LCD screen is finally gone, with an ordinary punch-hole selfie and an OLED taking its place. Otherwise, you’re looking at an aluminum frame, a triangular camera array, and a removable back cover. Here, the company brought back its signature translucent back cover next to two black and blue variants. The dimensions and weight has been reduced ever-so-slightly compared to the predecessor.
no headphone jack
Everybody seems to care about headphone jacks, nobody seems to care about Fairphone’s former stance to focus on keeping their existing models usable long term rather than produce a new phone every year and incentivise a race to the latest model like every other brand does…
tbh it Fairphone 5 had one, i wouldn’t hesitate
Buy a 3 then, show em low tech is in demand
6.46" is too large a screen. My pixel 6a is barely small enough. Also, bring back the headphone jack.
I was pained to move to iOS when my kids decided they wanted iPhones and I needed one to manage their parental controls, but boy do I love the form factor of the 12 mini I got.
Everything out there seems so huge now.
I’d love to have more options for smaller, manageable phones, especially as my workplace have given out work iPhones now, I could realistically go back to Android again come upgrade time as I can manage their accounts with that.
Probably harder to make stuff repairable and modular when it’s smaller
I know lots like small phones, but I don’t. I personally would like a 6.7" 19.5:9 screen. This is actually a little smaller than I’d like.
It really does surprise me how so many people (at least on Reddit and Lemmy) care so deeply about a headphone jack.
Most of the issue stems from annoying dongles that wired headphone users typically don’t want to carry.
The situation with fairphone is especially infuriating however, as omitting the headphone jack goes against the whole point of fairphone IMO.
Bluetooth headphones, as convenient as they are, have integrated lithium batteries, which are harmful for the environment. They also have a very short, finite lifespan. Despite these issues, fairphone removed the headphone jack on the fairphone 4 and 5, while simultaneously releasing true wireless Bluetooth earphones that are not repairable. Their whole brand is based on creating ethically sourced, repairable products, so offering an inherently unrepairable item for sale is rather disappointing. I am aware that they offer over ear headphones that are repairable, but I think they shouldn’t sell true wireless earphones until they come up with a real repairable design.
In contrast, there are wired headphones from the mid 1980s that are still functional and still sound amazing, even if they aren’t as convenient to use. There are also modern wired headphones and IEMs (In-Ear Monitors) that have removable, standardized cables. This is great since the cable is what breaks on wired headphones 99% of the time.
At least their Fairphone XLs are repairable.
There are also modern wired headphones and IEMs (In-Ear Monitors) that have removable, standardized cables. This is great since the cable is what breaks on wired headphones 99% of the time.
You can also replace the cable with different kinds of wireless adapters to make them either true wireless or (even better) semi wireless. I haven’t done it myself, but it’s pretty neat.
I feel the same way about the OLED screen.
The are too many static elements on a phone screen. Notification bar, keyboard, etc. I just expect burnin to be a huge problem within a couple years.
My impression is that burn-in isn’t nearly as much of an issue on newer panels as it once was. At least, I’ve been using the same OLED phone for 4 years and have no sign of burn-in yet.
I’ve had a little noticeable burn-in on my 5 year old OLED phone, but you usually don’t pick it up, unless you’re looking closely, or have a video that highlights the relevant parts of the screen.
I posted 2 months ago that I have no burn in. Well, I do have some from the top info bar - clock, battery level, notifications. Seems like I had never noticed?
I’ve had the s20 ultra since launch and I have zero burn in. I also use this phone constantly. But I also have the screen timeout set to 30 seconds. And again I’m on it constantly.
My phone has an oled screen and is a little over 4 years old. I leave the display on for hours sometimes and have had no burn in problems so far.
- No internal battery means it’s not a product with a built-in obsolence period (which is fairly short, 3-5 years)
- Most of the better audio gear are all wired
- I mean, it’s simple economics: Not paying for all the extra stuff to make it wireless means you get better value for audio quality
- Many people here are enthusiasts in tech and hardware, we likely have more than a few devices. Switching between devices with BT is a fucking PITA.
Speaking as an audiophile, you can buy a USB C dongle for like $10 that even has a good DAC. Only issue is if you’re regularly charging and listening to wired buds simultaneously
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The Apple one sounds great tbh, altho I know Moondrop makes one that should have a lil more power and should be a bit more durable long-term (my apple ones have held up well so far tho)
Wired also doesn’t drop out if there are too many people in an area. Like if you’re listening to music whilst waiting for the train.
And they’re cheaper, since you don’t need batteries, radio, and audio processing hardware on top of that.
For point 4. Newer devices are very clever and will auto switch when music is playing and of course both devices are turned on.
Partially. My MacBook will steal the bluetooth connection no matter if something is playing or not. I have to disable bluetooth on the Mac to connect smartphone to my headphones.
While I do care about the headphone jack, I am mostly bitter about the manufacturers deciding for me that I don’t need it. I’d heavily trade off 10% reduction in thickness for a user-replaceable battery and a headphone jack, but it was decided for me that a thinner phone is a big improvement.
Flip phones are making a comeback.
Maybe thicc phones will come back next?
Well, you can have a DIY version that feels like the real thing, but with more features. All you need is a fairly modern phone of your choice, a strong glue and a brick. You may want to paint it in beige just for the heck of it afterwards.
I don’t want to buy more shit I got to remember to charge when I already have a few nice 3.5mm headsets. I know its going to be dead every time I want to use it. I got to pair it every time I switch devices. It works on everything that has the right hole even if its older than your parents.
Its just extra work unless its your daily driver.
Still the best way to transmit sound even quality-wise, except if you want surround, 2 channel won’t suffice here
The only way I can play music from Spotify or youtube in my car is through a headphone jack, I value it very deeply because of that. It’s much cheaper to buy a phone with a jack than it is to replace my car
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Not being able to listen to wired audio while charging is a dealbreaker. And not needing a dongle is convenient.
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Low-end hardware and a pretty much closed CPU you can’t do much with for 700 Euros? No, thank you.
It’s a 778G equivalent, from what I can tell, how is that even low end?
8 years of suffering on that octa-core
You make it sound like 8 years of guaranteed support is something bad, lol.
No, but this will be a living, stutters hell in 3 years time.
You know, people are out there using their phones on Snapdragon 400s; I know you’re exaggerating.
Don’t know, have my FP4 since release, no problems with performance.
Same here
Nah, these days hardware doesn’t go outdated that fast.
Damn…
They’re gonna keep getting bigger, aren’t they?
The bigger they are, the easier they are to repair. So repairable phones in general are going to be on the bigger side.
The dimensions and weight has been reduced ever-so-slightly compared to the predecessor.
I think they meant the company, not the phone
Phones back then are both smaller and more repairable
The bigger the hoop, the bigger the hoe… Or something like that.
I’ve heard that a few times.
I really hope it does well, the business model really needs to change.
Man I’ve never spent more than 300 bucks on any phone, fair or not. Isn’t there something in the 150-300 category that’s worth buying, more sustainable and de-googled/foss?
I don’t do high end shit with my phone. I just browse the web, take notes and do 2FA stuff. I don’t need a 700€ phone for this, even considering the higher cost because of sustainability.
A used Pixel can be had in that range.
More sustainable in the sense that you have a lesser carbon footprint, yes. Buy used.
Yeah but then you’ll have a worn out battery you can’t change easily (correct me in he latter if I’m wrong). I’ve seen some shops offering refurbished phones but the ones I saw had so high prices where you already may buy the new ones.
Yes, that is a point of concern, you’ll need to find a way to replace the battery… which is where the Fairphone’s design comes in again. Hopefully that will be the norm in the future.
I got a Pixel 3a for 50 bucks once (really good deal, a few circumstances around it) and an OEM unlockable 4a 5g for 100, so under the category you gave and in some sense more sustainable (its used), able to be degoogled,
Is it available in the U.S. yet?
recently launched in the U.S.
Does anyone with a Fair phone have time to tell me how it compares to Pixel? I have loved all of my Google Pixel products to the point I have lived with them for 7 years since their launch.
The released fairphone 4 in the us comes with a special os, not based on android iirc.i think it was to test the waters.
What i am curious about is wether they can be reflashed to run lineageOSdeleted by creator
Oh, that’s nice. I am gonna buy one.
Jk I will wait until my current phone is obsolete.
I wonder how much longer mine will be supported. Went from Android 8 to 10 by the grace of OnePlus, and then I switched to Lineage first, now DivestOS, which had me go from 12 to 13.
Still runs perfectly, so I hope they’ll keep it going. After all, my OnePlus 5T is actually part of the elusive list of golden devices for Divest. Didn’t even see that until two years later.
But is the camera good?
According to CNET not as good as pixel, but it is honestly fine (not great, but definitely fine) in my eyes.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/fairphone-5-review-the-phone-that-wants-to-save-the-world/
I’m surprised there are no night tests. The images look pretty good on what they tested.
Their promo video looks good. Though it is a promo video.
My guess is that it won’t have the bells and whistles of Samsung or Google Pixel devices. That doesn’t really seem to be the goal with the device though.
I’m excited for some real world tests. If we can get to at least an iPhone 13 quality of processing on the image, I’m in.
I get that. I’m not planning on switching from iPhone anytime soon really, but whenever I swap my Pixel 6 work phone I might go for a Fairphone instead.
GSMArena says it’s a Sony IMX800 with a 1/5.6" sensor, which is pretty respectable hardware, better than many premium compacts from years ago. With the right camera app or post processing you can get decent images from this.
1/1.56", big difference.
I could live without headphones jack, but its thick and cost almost 2x the price I can afford. Id consider keeping it if I get it for free because I like the Idea of repairability
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No and yes.
It’s in the article
How did they fit in so many ads?
I like it. If Google didn’t send me a new pixel 6a when my 5a broke, I’d have bought one right now. Hopefully these catch on and are still around in a few years when this one breaks. I’ll get one for sure…
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