Fairphone 4 review: ethical repairable phone gets big upgrade | Hacker News Reader

Fairphone 4 review: ethical repairable phone gets big upgrade

theguardian.com

48 pointsnigerian198123 comments

Any idea if these will come to the US? Between this and frame.works notebooks, I’m pulling for repairability as a selling point.

It appears the previous model wasn’t available in the US which may also apply to the latest model

I don't think their volume justifies the expansion yet. They are an incredibly small company (around 90 people) that is doing a lot more than build a phone.

I'm writing this from a FP3 and I'm a bit thorn because I want a FP4 but this phone still works perfectly. I might get a new battery in the next months as this on e doesn't last a day outdoors anymore. It's also a seriously sturdy phone, already fell so many times on the floor.

Like someone said elsewhere (you?) the most sustainable phone is the one you already have. But that’s clearly not how business works. There’s something to be said for buying their hardware revisions to support the cause-unless they’re taking donations and you’re so inclined. The FP3 could itself become good marketing if you sell/donate it to someone who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity and could contribute in another way, for instance.

Agree, and I appreciate their push for standards of living for their miners. Wish it was headed to the US. Wonder why it’s not.

I second this question. If they sold in the US, I'd have one.

They seem to just be focusing on the EU but I recall my friend saying the device works on Verizon networks here. You can use one of those parcel shipping services to act as a middleman and get the phone to you.

The most sustainable phone is the phone you have right now. So if that one isn’t dying anytime soon maybe it’s best to wait and see if Fairphone expands it’s operations by the time you finally need a new one (which is what I’m doing).

Why wouldn't you put a jack on this ?

They aren't selling earbuds !

Keeping the cost down presumably

It goes against repairability, and sustainability which they're trying to promote.

I was very optimistic about this phone, but it looks like I'm going to have to go if the Google 5a

The headphone jack is a strange hill to die on when you get the chance to replace pretty much every important part. A well made dongle does not make a massive difference when you use headphones with a proper cable (I.e. not the flimsy thin headphone cables that rip or break within a few months of regular use).

It's not strange at all -- using headphones while charging is a daily situation for some

Is it so hard to use an adapter to USB-C?

These days wireless earbuds are probably more popular than wired for mobile use.

Adapters, like dongles on laptops, are an inconvenience. Bluetooth does not work well in general, provides only low quality audio, and even worse performance on calls trying to stream input and output. A significant amount of people (maybe a majority in the market for non-Android, non-iPhones) still use wired headphones because of these disadvantages to wireless.

Seems like a serious miss with the 4. Hopefully they'll bring the jack back on the 5, unless it's too expensive, hard to waterproof, courageous, or whatever the new excuse is for ditching it.

The Fairphone 4 is only IP54 so waterproofing is likely not an issue, I've never used the audio jack on my phone so I really don't mind.

The price of easy repairability is a lack of water resistance. This phone is only IP54 water resistant - basically it can only survive a little rain. If it falls into the toilet or a sink full of water, it's toast.

While its nice to have water resistance in 15+ years of mobile use I've never felt a need to use one in a pool, nor did I manage to drop it in a toilet or similar. I also doubt that many android or apple flagships would really survive a drop in the pool, no matter how certified.

Recent iPhone vintages are in fact as waterproof as claimed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv1kofMtpFs

Maybe it hasn't happened to you yet, but people accidentally drop their phones in water all the time. It's just a Google search away, if you care to look.

They do survive a drop in a pool. iOS will also warn you there's moisture inside the charging port and will refuse to charge until completely dry.

This phone has IP54. The previous had nothing. I like to think they are working on it. Watch makers have been making serviceable waterproof devices for decades. Only reason we don't have serviceable waterproof phones is because manufacturers prefer to cut corners and shave an extra milimiter of phone height than care about users.

I think the market has spoken that it cares more about waterproofing and low profile design than end-user serviceability.

This phone looks about as repairable as most Samsung phones. Nothing really too special here.

While that might be true, Samsung phones are not in the same realm when it comes to sustainable source materials. Which is kind of the idea behind Fairphone.

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