A new milestone in fairer electronics: Introducing Fairphone 3+

It is not the first time Fairphone improves the camera module so I don’t understand your point.

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As far as I’m aware there aren’t any camera modules for the FP3 yet? What I’m talking about is that people were expecting more direct benefit like a better processor, as if this was not enough, when in fact this are good news for everybody.

EDIT: So there is a camera module already, however my point still stands valid: good news for everyone who’d like to upgrade phones instead of replace them entirely.

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Now, here I am, one of the folks answering, that they have no clue.
(I hate those folks e.g. on amazon, when someone is asking a question regarding some product.)

Still:
@formerFP.Com.Manager might be in knowing.
In my opinion, they sure will have stocked (old) speaker modules for the FP3 and will still be selling them at least until the FP3+ is available.
Shortly after the 3+ has hit the market, they will be most likely start selling the new module and use the old module for refurbishing or repairing FP3 later on.
Selling both moduls parallel would - to me - not really be sensible. I don’t expect the difference in cost/price to be relevant (the specs differ in 2 db in loudness). So, who in their right mind would buy an old module to safe 5 Euro?
Not sure, if it will be visible in the shop, if they sell the new module.
Just to play it safe, here’s the picture of the module that is sold right now. This picture is the same that is to be found in the web archive for April (2020/04/12):
Maybe this picture will change, when the new module is available.
:wink:
Edit:
This picture is absolutely worthless as an indicator, since each and every module pictured in the spare-parts shop has the same ID# “SA191 - 1626B6”. So, nothing to be learned by this.
And I doubt, that the modules will be distinguishable from the outside.

Once someone here can lay hands on the first FP3+, we could compare the modules looks.

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The source of my confusion was quite simply, their products page: https://shop.fairphone.com/

They list the two Fairphone 3 models one after the other, as if they’re separate phones, but the bullet points next to them suggest that the only difference between them, in terms of specs, are the cameras. (Ok great, they’re sourcing the plastic differently but because the design hasn’t changed that suggests that it’s not actually a new phone.)

Totally correct and totally in accordance with the Fairphone philosophy!
In fact, that exactly is the point seperating Fairphone from the rest of the pack (including Shift); instead of presenting a new phone every other year, they present the same phone with valuable improvements.
And using 40% instead of 9% (i.e. 344% more) recycled materials is great!
Most companies would have taken this development as an occasion to offer it in a new phone, without changing the current one. The Fairphone way is way better, as it applies a better, more sustainable solution to the current model.
And the Fairphone 3 (just my guess) is just the current stock, they are selling off and not a second production line.

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Oh God that is a lot of percent

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BertG just knows how to pamper the mathematical connoisseurs among us with such a percentage … :heart_eyes:

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I completely agree with you, fairphone’s philosophy and sustainability are great things - but you’re missing my point.
My point is when you market a new product it’s of utmost importance that you communicate clearly and quickly what it is you’re selling, and why it is better than alternatives. Otherwise, you’re arbitrarily limiting your potential customers to those who take the time to figure it out.
This has not been Fairphone’s strategy. The way traditional manufacturers market their products has (unfortunately) taught us that new phones look different and have lots of new features, which isn’t the case with Fairphone. So if you market the Fairphone 3+ the same way that traditional manufacturers market new phones, you’ve (at no fault of your own) arrived at an obstacle to consumers understanding - and hence being willing to buy - your product: they’re saying this is a new phone, but it doesn’t “look” like a new phone. To someone who hasn’t heard of fairphone’s ideals, this is confusing.

The title of this TechCrunch article:


does a great job of succinctly communicating one of Fairphone’s precious few competitive advantanges: if you buy a phone from us, you won’t have to shell out hundreds for a new phone to keep having the latest flagship in your hands. My point is - shouldn’t Fairphone be making these kinds of points themselves? Why is a tech blog doing a better job at explaining their products than they are?
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Facebook Q & A with the same people (Gouwens, Lempers, Huang, Ballester) as on launch day today 11:30-12:15 CET: https://www.facebook.com/Fairphone/videos/608953656469981/ (video recording available now)

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Did I get that right or wrong: Has Wayne said that the renewed speaker module required changes on the core module?

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ok, Wayne responded to my question. The core module is changed and some of the speaker and camera improvements can only be enjoyed with an FP3+ core module.

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So there are two different core modules? The plus and the non-plus? I’m a bit disappointed.

The way I understood Wayne’s response you don’t need the new core module to get all the camera improvements. He said (very slightly edited, emphasis added):

A lot of the camera improvements will be available on the FP 3, but not all. For example, we talked about zero shutter lag. That will be available on existing FP3’s provided that you upgrade your FP3 to Android 10. The audio improvement that will make video recording better, that will also be available on your FP3. And also for the intelligent scene detection, that is also something that will be available on your FP3. Of course you still get better performance on your 3+ or the new camera modules simply because it’s a better sensor.

So while you couldn’t plug the new speaker module into an FP3 and get all the benefits, because the amplifier in the FP3’s core module isn’t powerful enough, this is not true for the camera modules. The way I understand Wayne is that even with the old camera modules you will get zero shutter lag, intelligent scene detection and better sound for videos. And if you plug the new camera modules into an FP3, there shouldn’t be any difference to an FP3+ regarding camera performance.

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I really hope and will assume now that you are right here :angel: I admit I phrased it deliberately vague up there because I was unsure about the cameras.

I guess by now I have listened to the part including Wayne’s answer to me (from ca. 27:46) far too often, so to double check, someone else is definitely now more qualified than me because by now, I for my part really might run the risk of hearing what I already have in mind and not what Wayne says :smiley: There’s also a previous answer by Wayne to someone else’s question about this, you might want to include that, too.

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Only time will tell… :grin:

I’ve listened to the earlier response as well and it doesn’t go into any detail regarding the camera modules. From all I’ve read and heard, I’m pretty sure that an FP3 with the new camera modules will be the same as the FP3+ camera-wise, and Android 10 will bring improvements to sound recording quality in videos (and probably in general). It “sounds” (haha) like the FP3+ will take the sound improvements further through better microphones, and of course the new speaker module and amplifier on the core module.

Regarding the camera modules, I can’t imagine what changes to the core module could possibly affect their performance. It’s the same SoC, and it’s highly unlikely that the new module could work better with, say, a higher voltage or something else that could have been modified.

But of course, this is all speculation.

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like the 20% increase of bonus wage per phone produced

That’s extremely interesting, I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere (maybe my fault, haven’t been following closely).

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Yeah, the new bonus is $1.85. My 20% come from comparing it with $1.50 which is the number I remembered from https://www.fairphone.com/en/2019/08/27/progress-with-arima/

According to the topic alex has linked there had been an earlier step that already increased to $1.68 which I had missed. So it’s “just” a 12% increase.

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Haha I’d go nuts if I got a 12% raise :wink:

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