Ifixit gives fairphone 5 a 10/10 on repairability and maintanence

DacoTaco@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 1257 points –
Fairphone 5: Keeping it 10/10? | iFixit News
ifixit.com

While they were happy with what the fairphone 4 brought to the table, they seem to like what was changed for the fairphone 5.
What are you guys' opinions on this? A welcome change? would you get one if your phone died within the next year?

398

You are viewing a single comment

Too bad they don't sell them in the US. I would buy one immediately.

they're selling the 4 with degoogled OS in the US, so perhaps they'll do the same with the 5 at some point.

Amazing.

I'm sick of buying a new phone every three years because the battery is dead or the processor is slow, nothing can be replaced without it being wildly expensive and now it's a paperweight.

To be fair, I don't think the Fairphone will help much with outdated processors. You can't upgrade the processor inside, and it comes with a relatively slow processor from day one.

This phone is not for people that need performance; it's a very basic phone for people that value an ethical supply chain and repairability.

Relative slow my arse imo.Its all about use cases and the (potential shitty) apps you run. Been using the fp4 just perfectly fine for months, and before that the one plus x on android 11 just fine.

I would like to know what apps you use that would need the speed of anything besides the "best"?

( and for anyone wondering, one of the reasons you cant switch processor is because of the imei thats burned in. Changing that basically means that the whole id of the phone changes, including links to your mobile provider. It isnt allowed in some places )

Games

Like...?

Lately I've been playing Need For Speed Underground 2 on the AetherSX2 emulator. A Fairphone absolutely cannot do that.

Look bud, I'm not trying to attack Fairphone, you don't need to be defensive. I'm just setting expectations that this is not a phone for people that need a high performance processor. The chipset is low-end, objectively. I'm sure it's fine for people who don't care about that stuff.

Seriously. What mobile games are worth time or money? Aren't they all just pay to win now?

I can emulate PS2 and GameCube games on my S23. It's pretty great. My S21 struggled with that, so any Fairphone would definitely not be able to do that, as it has significantly less processing power.

If that's the sum total of your reasons for needing a more expensive, less free, less repairable phone, then I have nothing left except to laugh at you.

No, I just don't have the time to explain the hundred obvious ways that a fast processor might benefit somebody, so I chose a single, INCREDIBLY obvious item near the top of the list for most people, and was hoping that I wouldn't get follow-up idiotic responses like this. But alas!

I used an 11 year old phone for about 6 months while I waited to get a new phone. I never had any problems with processor speeds despite having about 60% the processing power of a then-current phone.

I think people vastly overestimate the need for a bigger better processor.

I never said that everybody needed a fast phone, or even that MOST people need a fast phone. I would agree that most people don't. I was replying to somebody that said their old phone was slow, and informing them that the Fairphone is probably not a solution to that specific issue because of its budget processor. It's not a performance phone; it's an ethical phone that does basic things perfectly fine.

I don't know who you're arguing with, and I don't think you do either.

I'm arguing with you, genius, because I think you're wrong.

There are not a "hundred obvious ways that a fast processor might benefit somebody", as you stated. There aren't really any good reasons. Games are a stupid reason. Everything necessary works fine with an older processor. It's not the 2000s anymore where software bogs down any computer older than three years.

Now, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum, What might be right for you, may not be right for some. -different strokes

Great news, really hope the 5 is next.

That and supporting grapheneos would do it for me

The Fairphone 4 supports /e/.

It seems graphene is limiting itself to Pixel devices. The developer is also mostly a one man show, so I don't think he has the capacity to support many devices. He's probably just busy keeping up with Pixel devices as-is.

What I would like to know is, how do /e/ and GrapheneOS compare.

Can't really find info on that.

They limit themselves to Pixel devices because they have by far and away the best hardware security. Same reason for Calyx.

It's mostly definitely not a one man operation and the guy you're likely referring to has left the project.

Thanks, today I learned.

How do Calyx and Graphene compare?

I see Calyx does support Fairphone.

I would like that as well. In fact I'd like to switch to Calyx, but from eOS.

Calyx Os supports the FP4 and announced support for the FP5

That just to be said.

I have e os on FP4 and I would describe my experience as follows: Do you want to switch from IOS to Android without loosing the style of the launcher and gain some privacy? Go for it

If you want an Android that does a lot for you and give you tools like a vpn, a tracker blocker ect... Go for it

If you want to customize your experience (e.g. have an "normal" Android launcher, switch accent colors ...) ? You get a very rocky experience to say the best.

And at least for the FP4, some stock apps like the Cam were just not working, but to be fair it seemed like that was a suppychain problem...

I consider changing to calyx Os, expecting to get a more customizable Android.

Is e os able to use all the camera lenses? That's one problem I have with custom roms, they're often unable to hook into the camera API in order to use anything other than the main back and front camera

Had to check real quick: Yes in the current Version of the stock cam it does recognise all cameras and even takes snappy pictures. That was the problem before but it seems to be patched.

Anyways due to this problem i switched to gcam

Such a shame that this kind of issue is a thing in the first place. I'd love to use a Fairphone and slap DivestOS on it, but potentially losing two lenses I paid for isn't great at all

I think that should work, due to DivestOS being a fork of LinageOS just like eOS, and in fact the camera of eOS is just the cam of LinageOS (thats what i meant with supplychain problem). So i assume that DivestOS might just have the same camera app as eOS

But you could probably confirm that by looking into the repos

Now that you say it, I've never thought about the default cam, I've always been using OpenCamera

Yeaa but the open tool being sold for profit they are not my go to apps anymore...

But I still need to switch my calendar to the newly made fork

Do you mean simplemobiletools? OpenCamera is not part of that, I believe theirs is called Simple Camera

Ohh you are right, I mixed that up...

So I just installed the default lineage cam again, and would you look at that, it can use both lenses on my OnePlus 5T. Would love to have more manual controls though.

Thank you so much for reminding me this app exists

4 more...
4 more...
4 more...
4 more...
4 more...
4 more...
4 more...
4 more...
4 more...
4 more...

Check out iode.tech as well. Like /e/OS, also a lineage OS variant but with build in firewall which you can customize (or turn off). Fast security updates and great default informed FOSS apps (unlike /e/OS).

4 more...
4 more...

For me, the problem was that they don't support the right bands for US carriers.

I'm able to use Mint Mobile here in the States on my Fairphone 4. I believe 5 would also be compatible.

I appreciate you mentioning that, thats how I'm considering using the 5 if it ends up as my phone replacement, but I have a hard time interpreting the info around wireless frequency bandwidths supported 🙃 I like pretty user interfaces, networking hurts my brain

The FP4 (sold by Murena in the US) has a decent spread of bands, and works pretty well. Feel free to PM me if you want more detail.

I've being following Fairphone since 2013, waiting for them to sell to Taiwan. After a years of waiting, in 2019 I just said fk it and bought one from official store, ship it with international packaging forwarding service. Couldn't be happier with my Fairphone ever since.

I generally try to check every few years to see if they sell to the US yet. Last I checked they would finally ship FP4 to the US, but it will only work on T-Mobile :/ gonna check back in a few more years.

Well if you're on ATT or any of it's mvno's good luck ever using any devices that isn't on their approved list. I can't even use my carrier unlocked Oneplus 7T. Really the only choice for device freedom in the "land of the free" is T-Mobile.

4 more...