Ten years is an extremely long time in tech and we might not even be using phones as we currently know them by then.
this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
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To me it doesn't look like that long a time for another revolutionary piece of tech to make its way, but what do you think would be the next big thing?
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Still using my 6 yo Pixel 2 XL with a custom rom. Not planning to change and I easily see how I can get to 10 years. For instance, the repairability allowed me to change a cracked screen, as it would be possible with the Fairphone.
Downscale your needs and you can easily do 10 years in my opinion!
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I believe that the price is reasonable overall: it has good specs and now that FP is an established brand you know it won't go out of business and support will last. /e/OS has become good enough lately to be reliable to daily drive (it requires some initial adjustment, but nothing to be worried about).
Also, they are phones that withhold their value in the secondary market: a used FP3+ on ebay costs more than 400€ and it had a launch price of 439€, so you can easily sell them for a good price if you ever change your mind about owning one.
The only thing that makes me hesitant to buy one is the fact that now the EU is pushing a lot of consumer friendly laws, like mandatory USB-C, replaceable batteries, extended software support and so on... So in two or three years the smartphone market might offer more high-end products that are long lasting and have a more accessible price tag. It only depends on how much time can you wait.
Edit: added links to sources
Had the fair phone 4 since launch running e/os, then there was an update that was rinsing the battery so I went back to stock android. Performance just wasn't good on stock so i got fed up and got an s3 ultra. No more privacy but never had a better phone. Now the fair phone is just collecting dust; I like the idea of it but just needs a bit more juice
I'm happy with mine.
In theory,yes.
I won't buy it as my whole charging environment is wireless these days and the FP5 has no wireless charging.
Rolling back of course would be possible but annoying, especially for phone I would use for 5 years possibly.
It won't be as good as native hardware support, but you can buy a device to add wireless charging. It plugs into the phone USB-C and has a short flexible cable leading into a thin (1 mm maybe) wireless charger receiver that can fit inside a phone case
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10 years ago the Samsung Galaxz S4 released, let's compare its specs with the current phone
Samsung Galaxzy S4 <> Galaxy S23
Display size: 5" <> 6.1"
Resolutuion: Full HD <> 120hz 2k AMOLED
CPU: 4x1.6 GHz Cortex-A15 & 4x1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 <> 1x3.36 GHz Cortex-X3 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3x2.0 GHz Cortex-A510
RAM: 2GB <> 8GB
Storage: 16-64GB <;> 128-512GB
The question is, do you want to run 10 year old hardware even if its software is supported?
That's not the question. There is no singular reason to buy the Fairphone 5 and a purchase is not necessarily a commitment to a full 8 - 10 years of use. Focusing solely on one aspect of the device, like its modular components or the long-term software support, is missing the bigger picture.
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The newer hardware tends to usually have a longer lifespan. A 10-year old computer today is a 3rd or 4th gen Core i7, still decently powerful. A 10-year old computer 10 years ago was a Pentium 4, pretty much useless.
Same will apply to phones. I had an S5 that I bought in 2014 which by 2019 actually was getting too old, hobbled by it's paltry 2GB of RAM. Bought an S8 in 2019 which already was 2 years old and it's already outlived the S5 by almost 2 years. It's starting to show signs of age but will probably last at least another couple years. I'm expecting the S22/S23 Ultra to last into the 2030s.
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I was made aware that at most its 5 years of security updates due to the QCM6490 and then software for the remainder. 5 years is still pretty good but at that price point I would wait to see what google has to offer and then use grapheneos if its an option.
Fairphone is still keeping the FP3 alive and the hardware support for that phone has long since ended. They promise to work around the lacking support for the drivers of the FP5 and I believe that they will.
They will issue updates. But they can't work around base firmware security issues. That's the problem. The SOC drivers are connected to everything, they have total control of the phone, if there's a security issue there it's game over. No amount of operating system patching is going to help you
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I am thinking it is. I cannot find one decent phone with a great ultrawide camera AND a SD card slot, both in one phone. And I mean flagship grade, when I mean great. I maintain manually on paper a list of good ultrawide phones, and the list across the whole price range barely has 20ish phones, most of which happen to be $1500 flagships.
I can forego the 3.5 jack (unfortunate) and compromise with a dongle, but the expandable storage and ultrawide are impossible to compromise. There is only Honor 90 and Nothing Phone 2, that fit the ultrawide criteria with a decent price, but they do not give SD card slot either.
People shitting on it are finding arbitrary reasons, I think. The 3.5 jack exclusion may be "ethically" not in line, but sure as hell tell me one phone that fits the above criteria.
And before someone pops in to tell me Pixel has good camera, no, the camera hardware is simply superior on FP5, and loading GCam on it will be a non-issue. FP5 with GCam is probably the best midrange ultrawide on the market alongside Honor 90.
Edit: most of the ultrawide phones on the market today have the exact same 8 megapixel 1/4.0" UW sensor as that on my Huawei P30 Lite from 4 years ago. And let me tell you, if I do not click in RAW, that ultrawide is a potato. I need upgrade, not a forsake sidegrade. Ultrawide camera is the biggest differentiator among smartphones across the whole price range.