At this point the only thing stopping me from getting a Fairphone through Murena is the fact that they only support the T-Mobile network. All the MVNO options on T-Mobile seem bad. They all have ridiculously low data caps, even on the “unlimited” plans.
No headphone jack, no sale. I have three hard criteria:
headphone socket usb-c charging expandable storage
I’ll stick with my Sony. Two-out-of-three isn’t good enough.
Same. I can’t imagine having to remember to charge my headphones.
There’s always the option to get a headphone jack adapter for USB-C. I haven’t used one personally yet, but I’ve heard it to be a viable alternative.
I know USB-C is more robust than MicroUSB, but that doesn’t feel like it’s good for the connector. I’d much rather have a bit thicker (Apple said they’re getting rid off the jack to make their phones thinner.) or a bit less waterproof phone (not having a massive hole in the phone helps to waterproof it), than to loose the headphone jack.
Earbuds are worse, it’s always one that’s dead because it didn’t sit properly in the charging case.
That sounds terrible! I am already not very good at managing the charge of my phone.
Genuine question: How do you manage not to lose one of the earbuds?
Powerbeats Pro have hooks over the ears and only get used when a wire would be intrusive such as workouts. I don’t much like them but they are hard to lose. They’re notorious for not charging properly and worked much better on Apple than Android, but at least I still both left and right buds.
The fact that they don’t include a headphone jack that’s been an audio standard for decades makes their claims of sustainability seem like marketing bs. And the argument that it’s to make the phones thinner is bs too, since most phones now are bricks compared to previous generations. It was all a ruse to sell crappy bluetooth headphones with recharcghable batteries that are going to wind up in a landfill.
So you just invalidate their whole effort to make a phone in 2023 that actually held together by screws, and not glue because it lacks one audio-port?
Yes, because it doesn’t just “lack” it. They deliberately chose not to include such a simple thing so they can sell more shitty wireless headphones. I already have good wired ones, so no thank you. And I find this extremely anti-consumer and anti-sustainability.
I never quite understood the headphone jack thing. It’s a nifty thing to have but an adapter is a one time purchase. It seems like nowadays lack of headphone jack is just a minor inconvenience.
Or just get some wireless headphones and be done with it.
Worth it just so you don’t knock the wired ones off your head when you move about, or yank the cables out of them and have to buy new ones.
I can see the point of wired if you’ve got some nice audiophile kit, but a phone is not that.
Except that wireless headphones have more complexity, points of failure, and usually shorter life. Just avoiding batteries alone should give a longer life and do less environmental harm.
I agree with the sentiment but at least they sell wireless headphones with similar reparaibility as their phones.
Yes how convenient. They opt out of a port worth cents but luckily they sell hundred dollars headphones with batteries in them. I already have wired pairs and don’t need any more.
Still no headphone jack and FM tuner though.
Dammit, what’s it gonna take for the Fairphone to be brought to the US? The only options are buying it from the Murena shop with their /e/ OS installed or to get the European model from somewhere like eBay or Newegg.
Does the european version work in the US with their slightly different frequencies? Personally, I’m a little leery of the entire Murena thing. I get the privacy angle, but I’m more interested in the hardware.
From what I’ve seen as long as you’re not using a CDMA network like Verizon it reasonably works. There might be some minor issues when it comes to network performance on 5G/LTE but lots of folks claim that it’s been working just fine for them.
Very cool. Great reviews as well from what I’ve seen. Definitely on my top contender list. Currently, after flashing a custom ROM, I’m happy with my OnePlus 6T - and upgrading without a clear need certainly goes against Fairphone’s values.
Im using a stock 6T and the wifi disconnect issues and screen locking when reception is bad is really getting on my nerves. Any tips for which ROM i should try that could fix these issues?
I am using LineageOS with zero problems.
I still love my fairphone 3+. Had it for several years and have yet to need to do any repair or replacement. Pleasantly surprised and impressed! I also love that I can easily put a different OS on the phone (currently using e/os).
I’m loving my Fairphone 3! Upgraded the camera modules to the 3+ camera, and changed the charging port once after water damage. Also used /e/ for a while, but back to stock now.
The improved camera of the Fairphone 5 looks tempting (also OLED), but can’t justify upgrading when my Fairphone 3 ia still perfectly fine. I guess it’ll have to wait until 5G becomes an absolute necessity and I’m left with no choice. :)
I heard you’ll be waiting a while. I remember seeing videos and stuff that 5G capabilities are overpromised.
