de-Googled Fairphone 4 coming to US is rare good tech news for the privacy conscious.
Sustainable Fairphone 4 set to arrive to the US, starting at $630
Nice to see a mainstream option de-Googled in the US.
Sustainable
No headphone jack
They actually seem like quality phones when my girlfriend's friend got one, but seriously? No headphone Jack and force you to use wireless buds that will have to be thrown away when the tiny battery degrades?
USB-c to headphone jack converters are an option. Not ideal because you can't use it and charge the phone simultaneously, but certainly better than those wireless buds.
Also see their official response on the audio jack removal.
TL;DR:
Headphone jack getting less popular? I'm pretty sure companies don't want to include it so removed it from the models and the consumers had to buy that. Consumers aren't choosing not to have them, they're choosing phones that don't have them because Apple and other big companies aren't giving them a choice.
I have an FP3 and I facepalmed real hard when I saw the announcement. That last reason, vulnerability to dust and protection from water, I find especially dumb. If that's their reasoning, they might as well remove the USB-C port, too. Fuck it, just make it a featureless plastic brick.
They make usb c headphones and (as much as I also hate adapter hell) usbc to 3.5 adapters. Although, the lack of wireless charging means you'd be choosing between charging and listening.
I think the real reason is that they buy off-the-shelf parts and don't have money to design and manufacture a custom motherboard. And off-the-shelf parts more often than not, tend to follow market trends.
Sadly it's old (2021) and underpowered. That's not a huge deal breaker because it has pros like being repairable and pretty private. The real problem is that they are regularly late on os and security updates (multiple weeks to months). For example they only officially added support for Android 12 this February and there is still no official support for Android 13.
Unless you specifically want the repairability a Pixel with GrapheneOS is simply much more secure and private.
You can put Calyx on the FP4 (which is what I did).
Buy a Pixel phone and flash CalyxOS or GrapheneOS.
CalyxOS is also available for the Fairphone and you don't have to give money to Google.
Here's to hoping that GrapheneOS will expand their support to devices like the fairphone.
Only if the Fairphone hardware is built with hardware standards complience and no proprietary setup.
Anything similar for Galaxy phones? I like the smaller size.
For flashing Galaxy you have to check each individual ROM if it supports Samsung. The security ones do not.
As a GrapheneOS user I approve this message. (altho I'd rather support Fairphones than Pixels, so I am happy we have them as an option :)
Until de-Googled phones are sold at local stores, I will only tell people to buy a Pixel and flash it for better hardware security and every kind of custom ROM runs on Pixel.
As I liked the "fair" part of Fairphone I gave them a shot and bought the FP4. I cannot recommend them.
The camera app sucks, but by grabbing a GCAM APK from xda-developers and using that instead you can get acceptable photo quality.
Since Android 12 FP4 has a screen brightness bug that makes the phone rather unusable outside on a sunny day. This is the deal breaker as the problem hasn't been solved yet.
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/random-screen-dimming-while-brightness-slider-stays-at-100-after-a12-update/93195
The camera app sucks, but by grabbing a GCAM APK from xda-developers and using that instead you can get acceptable photo quality
I don't think any FP user uses the stock camera app 😅 personally I use both Opencamera and Nikita Gcam. Gcam's night vision is crazy!
you underestimate normies sticking to defaults
I took a look at GrapheneOS when I purchased my current phone. Loved it for what it offered but the lack of Android Auto & tap-pay support ultimately turned me away - they're both not supported for good reason but I use them almost daily.
Does anyone know what the situation is with this product? I assume it also won't support Android auto for the same reasons
Just because you use it daily, does it really mean it's critical? A bank card can just as easily be tapped, and it's so more satisfying knowing your private data isn't leaking as much.
I used to use Reddit daily ;).
For those considering getting this phone for sustainability reasons, just a reminder that the most sustainable option is to keep the phone you have until there's something actually wrong with it
I mean, as long as I chose to return/donate/hand-down/upcycle my current phone (whatever prevents it from going to a landfill) shouldnt it be fine?
If you have a plan for your current phone, then yea it's not much different. I think you're touching on the larger point at hand, because individuals have a miniscule fraction of a percent when it comes to things like e-waste. The overproduction of electronics is a much larger portion of e-waste
Thx you !
And this apply to everything you want to replace for sustainability reason.
The most sustainable stuff, is the stuff you don't buy :)