Fairphone novelty (novelties?) to come on 30 September 2021

They’re hard to repair because designed to. I don’t think making a removable battery would be so hard: you just need to make an easy-to-open bud, for example with simple screws or even an entirely unscrewable bud case. And for the name @Deepsea, I’d go for Fairbuds :wink:

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Yes, but still wired earphones are more sustainable in my opinion and I still like the modular earphones which I got last year.

There have been some hints about new earphones before though:

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Here in The Netherlands there’s no way you can use the 3.5 GHz frequencies for now, as there’s problems with the licensing because of a SIGINT satellite station in north of The Netherlands.

As for a 120 Hz screen, you can usually set these to 60 Hz by default and only use 120 Hz when scrolling. This helps your battery survival, and also saves heat (important also in hot summers). The screen on my work phone (SGS20) is so much more pleasant to use when scrolling or when using a lot of dark (dark mode!) because of AMOLED. If you can, try to do a blind test with two monitors, one 60 Hz and one 120 Hz or 144 Hz. When I compared, I found I could easier scroll with a 144 Hz screen. But when compared to early LCD screens, or when I started to use X11, or tearing in gaming – surely the current FP3(+) iteration is good enough. However these are fairly low standards in 2021. In that regard, IMO Fairphone should take a look at what their (potential) customers don’t find good enough and improve there. Maybe they figured this is one of 'em.

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The FP3(+) is not using this frequency range anyway (band 22 or 42) so there no need for an upgrade for this reason.

Yes and no. The battery in wireless buds is an obvious point of failure. But so is the cable on wired ear buds. I don’t think I’ve ever discarded buds because the speaker was broken, it’s always been a cable breach that ruined them.
Wired headphones with a replaceable cable are probably the most sustainable option. But similarly wired phones are more sustainable than mobile phones, yet I don’t think anyone would take me seriously when I propose that FairPhone should create a wired model. I feel like this discussion should also be about use-cases. And on that topic, I’ve found that wired headphones are very impractical e.g. during sports or when driving. So I’m curious to find out what FP can do to spin wireless ear buds to a more sustainable product. Perhaps a replaceable battery, but presumably also using minerals from conflict-free, child labour-free mines, assembled in slave-free production facilities etc.

I found some more details, even the first pictures (…?)

source: https://www.toppreise.ch/produktsuche?q=Fairphone+4&cid=

EDIT:
Here are larger pictures:

F4FPHN-2DG-EU1

F4FPHN-2GR-EU1

F4FPHN-1DG-EU1

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Wow, that actually looks very up-to-date :slight_smile:

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It’s just interesting, that the shop “interdiscount” doesn’t list the Fairphone 4 on their homepage.
The links end up on a general homepage and only the FP3+ is listed.

So, no preorder here as well. :wink:

Maybe they already did the programming of the page and accidentally let it slip.
(btw. That kind of green is not my color. :wink: )

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I’m kinda amazed about how incompetent these webshop developers are that leaks like this happen for literally every phone model, no matter how big the company behind it is.

How hard is it to program
if (currentDate < releaseDate) { don't show website; }

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Looking top-notch! This might be a worthy replacement for my FP2.

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You tease :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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Perhaps their shop software can handle publishing dates, and the toppreise.ch API can’t, or there’s some incompatibility, or they just forgot about the automatic data feed to toppreise.ch.
Nice slip nonetheless.

Just imagine this phone coming at a later date still, and Fairphone announcing something unrelated with the imminent big announcement. My inner troll still hasn’t given up hope completely :slight_smile: .

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I’m thinking about that as well. Although I’m probably going to have to wait for another year anyway until there is a Lineage OS port

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I wonder if the external measurements actually differ that much from the FP3. The screen obviously takes up a visibly higher percentage of the front than in the FP3.

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There are 2 things that bother me though:
Firstly where did the transparent backcover go? This was one of the coolest things about Fairphones, I already missed it on the FP3+ :cry:

And secondly, why is the top bezel 1mm thinner than the bottom one. This really annoys the perfectionist in me to the point that I’m already thinking about not buying it solely because of that :see_no_evil:

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You forget the one who created the sale items in the warehouse system and forgot to set the flag for “not released, yet”…

I’m a bit bummed out by the notch… Never liked that concept. But of course, this is not official.

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OMG, even if they look more up to date, I find them very… ugly :sweat_smile:

  • The colors: OK it’s recycled plastic but you don’t need to pick the colors of recycle… bins! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:),
  • the disposal of the cameras and flash in that weird triangle shape (why on earth putting them this way and not aligned?),
  • the notch: OK, it’s more common, and this is a completely personal opinion… I’ve always hated notches, especially if you still have bezels… Not to mention there are now hole-punched screens, which, IMHO, look much better!

Anyway… what is that dark hole instead of the top right camera? Room for the next modular upgrade for the FP4+?

EDIT after the release: with the metal rim, it looks better, and I get used to the notch and triangle shape… But why on earth make the light sensor look like a third camera? It seems there won’t be enough room to fit one instead in FP4+… #falsehope

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HOTTTTT :fire:
Like it a lot - beside the bottom bezel it looks realy good.I assume it is for reparing / easy access reasons.
Like the notch. Looks more up tp date, than the old one did at their time.

Edit1: Love the green :slight_smile:

Edit2: Thanks to our best community members - the store owner :smiley:

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The photos show a date of Sep 9th on the screen, I guess this could have been the initial release date…

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