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Comment by ben-schaaf | Hacker News Reader

FairPhone used to be a manufacturer still doing the right things. My FP3 has all of that, including an official guide for unlocking the bootloader. At least they've kept their promises regarding updates, because I won't be buying their newer phones.

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I find this comment really irritating, sorry. This is a thread about the upcoming fairphone, with people praising things done right.

Your comment feel needlessly provocative with no information other than your negative opinion. You've implied Fairphone have turned crap, whilst mentioning a bunch of good stuff they've done, and then how you won't be buying their phones anymore.

Seriously, what was the point of this comment, what were you trying to achieve or communicate? Is that fairphone are rubbish? If so, you haven't said how or why, other than cryptic hints that promises might not have been kept.

This feels like an engagement bait comment, and I can't help but engage to say that.

I guess if you're not familiar with fairphones products my comment's pretty meaningless, sorry. The parent comment implied that manufacturers stopped having all the listed features after 2016, but fairphone was still doing all that up until 2021. That's why I bought their phone. Then they removed the headphone jack in the 4, and now they're removing tool-less battery/sim replacement. That's why I won't be buying another one; I'll be keeping my FP3 until modern web bloat makes it entirely unusable (which I can only do because fairphone keeps their update promises).

That's fair, thanks for the explanation, I understand your comment a bit better now, apologies for the poor comprehension on my part.

I am a bit familiar, have been looking at the FP5 as a next phone, so will probably buy an FP6 assuming first batch of reviews aren't catastrophic.

Personally the appeal to me is the modular hardware support, but also the expected long term official software support (and inevitable community support when that ends). Also the principal that it's a company that is trying really hard to do things differently in a way that benefits everyone just seems sensible, innovative and something I want to support compared to other phone companies.

If your biggest issues with FP are removing the headphone jack, and requiring a small screwdriver to replace the batteries, then I'm genuinely interested to know who/what you're considering after as an improvement?

My original plan was to jump to a Linux phone (PinePhone Pro), but that hasn't really worked out software wise. FuriLab's FLX1 seems to hold some promise regarding Linux, but they're having trouble shipping. HMD has some offerings with the right features, but software support is lacking. So my current plan is to stick with my FP3 until it becomes unusable.

I love FairPhone's vision, and I think they do a pretty good job executing it. There's certainly room for improvement, but I've been really happy with my purchase. I also think removing the headphone jack was a direct betrayal of their ideals.

If you have a FP3, did it never fall down, throwing its battery out? I had that happen a few times to me in the past and I always wished for a tiny bit more "grip" on the battery. I would guess that I'm not the only one.

Nope, not once. It's been dropped plenty of times and had both the screen and battery replaced.

Mine neither.

I've bought the FP3+ camera, and I'm on my third battery pack, degoogled with murena /e/-OS. Works perfectly, except the screen is a little too large for me. I wish it was a Sony Xperia ZX1 compact size, but one can't have it all.

The original Fairphone was basically just a branded version of the generic common Android of the time (MT6589 reference design --- I have an unbranded one that looks very similar but with a better screen and cameras), so they were "doing the right things" like everyone else.

https://www.gizchina.com/2013/06/25/6-top-quad-core-mt6589-p...

There were tons of these little-known companies making very similar phones at the time. Unfortunately most of them disappeared within the next few years. Hence 2016 as the year I mentioned of when things started going downhill noticeably.

Well, it also had more sustainably-sourced materials (both in terms of environment and labour conditions), and they provided their own open Google-free OS. But you're right that they truly started making progress from version 2 onwards. I'm still happy to have had the FP1 to enable that, though.

It's probably going to be the end of the FP3 updates sometimes in 2026, so it will be time to change. For me, it will certainly be a by a FP6.

I was personally thinking about a Pixel phone (for GrapheneOS), but given the recent Google news, I'm not so sure where Graphene (and the Pixels) is going.

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