Fairphone, from past to future

Discuss The Products
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Hello there! (sorry in advance for this looooong post hehe)

It’s been a long time since I visited the forum, how is everyone doing here? I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a long time, but didn’t know how to approach it. I would like to chat with you about the past, present and future of Fairphone, just out of plain curiosity.

I started my journey with the Fairphone 3, I was watching videos and reading posts about the Fairphone 2, but couldn’t afford it at the time. The Fairphone 3 wasn’t perfect, but it got the job done.

As a tech enthusiast, or however it is called nowadays, I got the Fairphone 4 as soon as I could. I wanted to have a backup smartphone and so that became the FP3 for me. And oooh boy is it good, the difference between this to devices is tremendous, and I am very grateful for this kind of device to exist.

Now, the FP5 has come out and… surprise surprise, I got it… yeah I know, the idea is to keep the phone for as long as possible, but as I said I love tech and I can’t leave that OLED screen behind. I cannot wait to receive it.

The point is, that Fairphone is progressing in a way I really like. Yes, their products are expensive and some would argue that devices like the TWS earbuds they launched aren’t repairable enough. It is perfectly undestandable, but Fairphone is a company, and as such it has to make money to keep doing what they do. I live these very much open to discussion.

Talking about the future, I have no idea what a FP6 would look like as for me the FP5 is almost as good as it can be (besides not having a headphone jack) but I am not concerned about it. What I would really like to open a discussion about, is products like the TWS earbuds mentioned before, the Fairbuds XL and some products I would love to see in the near future for Fairphone to have a “complete ecosystem” of products such as a Fairpad or a Fairwatch/Fairband (no laptop needed IMO).

I know it is a bit too much for a single post, but I will add my thoughts about possible future new devices:

  • Fairphone 6: I would add a telephoto sensor, and I would love to see a separate vibration and main speaker modules surounding the USB (covered like the top module on the FP5), and if at some point they sell the core modules 10/10.

  • Fairtab: in general terms, a bigger Fairphone, I use these devices for note taking, reading, sketching and so on, like a mobile office.

  • Fairwatch /Fairband: a good companion for the smartphone, if they make this at any point, it would be great for them to have a removable battery and/or screen, apart from the strap. Wear OS please, and some sensors for basic health tracking (visit the doctor if you have health issues, this devices aren’t medical ones).

  • TWS Fairbuds 2.0: removable case battery, separate speaker and battery/microphone modules for the earbuds (I have seen that the lid is prone to be damaged on the surface).

  • Fairbuds XL 2.0: as good as they are, better drivers for a clean and balanced sound maybe.

If you read this post to this point, well, thank you for your time. I hope to see you below chating about all of this.

Cheers! :grin:

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So you got every single Fairphone model since the FP2 in order to replace your previous (working) one? Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of a repairable phone? What did you do with your old ones?

As for ideas regarding future products:

About the Fairphone 6 specifically there’s a whole thread discussing potential features already:

As for the TWS Fairbuds, I’m currently looking for a way to replace the batteries in those…

…which leads me to the main issue I see with the TWS Fairbuds:
Unfortunately with due to the nature of how TWS earbuds work, they have very small batteries in conjunction with an extraordinarily high number of charge cycles due to re-charging every time you insert them into the case. Also they’re usually stored at 100% charge. All of this leads to a very quick degradation of the earbuds’ batteries. So if there are any future TWS Fairbuds at all, I would definitely want them to have replacable batteries in the earpieces (even more so than the one in the case). And if that isn’t possible in a ‘modular’ manner, I’d at least like to see Fairphone sell the lithium ion cells they used, so that tech-savy people can solder them in once the old ones have degraded too far. (Of course the best advice in terms of sustainability would still be to stick with different kinds of headphones.)

Yeah, that one’s covered by the Framework guys. Also repairability is a little bit better than with mobile devices (although not great) with other laptops as well. Probably better to stick with mobile products for Fairphone, in order not to loose focus and end up with lower quality products due to the same resources being needed for too many things at once.
That argument goes for other product lines (such as tablets) as well though. Fairphone’s already struggling with issues mostly rooted in their comparatively small size as a company. I’m not exactly against them producing a repairable tablet, but I deem the mobile phone projects more important for now and don’t want those to suffer because of other product lines.

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@AndreasChris seems he have started from FP3, he have only read obout FP2.

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This is very interesting question, if @moraquem want I can give more love to his “old” FP3, at least for spare parts to my “heaven”.

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Hello!

As mentioned before, my first Fairphone was the FP3, as I was looking for the FP2 but couldn’t bought it back at the time. I will keep the FP3 as a backup (which I always have at hand) and the FP4 will be used by a friend of mine for some years more.

Being truly honest, I am not committed as much as I should to keep my smartphone for as long as possible, I rather find a middle ground between enjoying tech and having a bit less footprint.

As per the laptop, yeah, Framework seems to be doing a good job on the laptop space. Regarding the tablet, I cannot take out relevance to what you say, producing another full Android device might be counterproductive for the company, I would love to see it nonetheless.

Thank you for the replies!

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Shouldn’t Fairphone enable a second hand marketplace as Framework does? What do you recon?

PD: my reply is on the answer to @AndreasChris, but it is a really good way to keep “old” versions running.

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Besides third party platforms, we do have the Market category in this Forum. Do you think an additional dedicated platform by Fairphone would bring significant advantages? Which ones?

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Oh, I wasn’t aware of it, I’ll take a look! I recon that a dedicated marketplace would be a good option specially for basic users.

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I would like to see a (home)office version with dedicated microphone, maybe as addon. We have a lot over ear headsets with ANC in our company in use, like gaming headset. Could be a market for the Fairbuds XL.

Screenshot 2023-09-16 205811
Screenshot 2023-09-16 205811646×865 131 KB

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Discussed here in Detail

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An smartwatch that you can open and change battery fairly easy yourself as on old regular watches, either by screws or boett. These glued smartwatches are terrible in that way. And a unlockable and relockable bootloader to install your own privacy friendly OS such as AsteroidOS.

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Hi
Since the FP4, there is no more headphone jack. I don’t like the idea of buying extra dongles and so I started using my bluetooth sports in-ear headphones. I can observe some signs of wear and tear and I’m starting to look around for solutions, for the case that they break.
I like Fairphones environmentally sourcing and social production focus, but I’m quiet disappointed by the lack of repairability of the currently offered TWS earbuds in the shop.
So I wish, Fairphone would continue their mission to produce repairable devices and start selling repairable TWS earbuds. I would love to hear from you, what you think about that request and how high the demand across this community for this type of product would be.
Best regards

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Fairphone discontinued their TWS earbuds just a few weeks ago, but so far no clue whether they are working on repairable ones. They only introduced their full-size headphones this year, so I would not expect any internal “competition” for those in this year anymore. But let’s see, maybe some sign of hope next year?

I would certainly hope so. :slight_smile:

P.S.: I bought the TWS earbuds a while ago and I have enjoyed them a lot so far, even with both earbuds’ mesh having fallen out by now :wink:

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Hi,
I came across this really nice earbuds concept where you can replace the battery.
It would be nice to have something similare from fairphone company with the sustainability materials and good overall technical features and quality.
Check the pqearbuds company and website for some inspiration.
Cheers,
L.

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Yes! That is exactly what I am hoping they do! It would be great if they add to the store a cover for the TWS earbuds case.

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For me at least the TWS earbuds doesn’t compete with the Earbuds XL, they are products in different categories, but I get the point. I didn’t know they discontinued them tho, hope they will be back refreshed.

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You @Toggiburger @LukeGallo @moraquem might be interested in this tiny bit from Fairphone co-founder Miquel.