Just to be clear, this phone:
- is the only smartphone available that uses fairtrade gold
- has a 100% recycled plastic back cover
- uses ASI certified fair aluminium
- is by far the most repairable smartphone currently on the market
The mainstream electronics supply chain is tainted with literal blood and slavery. The importance of what this company tries to prove and achieve cannot be understated.
The fact that they remove the headphone jack might be annoying and feel like counter to their main goal. As an electronics engineer I can say that removing this jack makes the full phone circuit board more simple, decreases the space used and allows them to make the phone lighter or put a better battery in. As most people are now used to not having this port in phones anymore, this seems like an easy concession to make to keep the design load as low as possible. Remember that they are trying to compete with companies that are way bigger and have way more design resources.
I am all for criticizing companies so that they can improve, but these accusations of greenwashing and them completely disregarding their goal are simply untrue. The difference between them and literally any other smartphone manufacturer in terms of supply chain fairness, repairability and warranty is night and day.
Please don’t make us lose this great attempt at improving the smartphone industry by making perfect the enemy of already pretty fucking good.
One of the main factors in me choosing the phone that I now use and have had for the last several years was that it had a headphone jack, and I don’t remember the last time I used it. I thought bluetooth earbuds would be more of a hassle than wired earbuds, but I’ve found the opposite to be true. I don’t have to replace my wireless ones every few months because one or both buds stopped working and I don’t have to untangle them before I use them. I do lose one around the house every now and then but it’s way less of an issue than I expected it to be as someone with an ADHD brain. When this phone becomes unusable I will no longer care if my next phone has a headphone jack.
Everything I believed about this company is called into question since they removed the headphone jack.
It does so much good and all you can do is whine about the headphone jack that no other phone has either?
The whole point is that it’s not like other phones. The whole point is that it’s supposed to be sustainable.
Removing the capability of using wired headphones that have no batteries and have an indefinite life goes against everything the company claims to stand for.
Immediately turning around and introducing Bluetooth options is what every other manufacturer has done to drive profits.
Don’t be sanctimonious about your choice in cell phone, it’s weird. Also, I’m typing this from a phone that has a headphone jack and a microSD slot
Asus Zenfone, Samsung Xcover 6 Pro, Sony Xperia all have them and higher waterproof ratings. The Samsung even has a replaceable battery. And will likely get more updates over its lifespan knowing Fairphone’s track record.
Unfortunately, I agree. I bought the Fairphone 3+ expecting they would keep the form factor to allow for upgrades in the modules, but with the FP4 they went from a company that had a clear market position to plain greenwashing.
I’ll keep hoping they reverse course now that they changed the CEO or that frame.work decide to enter the space as well.
I would love if framework made a phone, they seem to be much more consistent with their mission. Makes me wish I needed a laptop.
I’m glad that I needed one recently and that it coincided with the release of their 13th gen Intel frameworks.
It’s been great so far.
Framework is making phones?
No, I said that I wish they did.
Check out this video https://invidious.tiekoetter.com/watch?v=EAogtqyN22M for some more context.
Already saw this and I’m not buying it
Afaik the focus is repairability and sustainability, not privacy.
It runs /e/OS, which is very much a privacy focussed OS.
Lol, no headphone or SD card slot. Hard no.
I really like my fairphone 4 and highly recommend it :)
