I really hate the design of this new phone, the main reason why I went for Fairphone in the first place was because it was one of the only manufacturer that didn’t fall for the meme of notched screens, this new Fairphone 4 is everything I was running away from when I bought a Fairphone 3, this new design really feels like a betrayal for me
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While I agree with you in a purely aesthetic point of view, they never committed not to do notched-screens!
However, thankfully, you don’t need to buy a new phone as long as your phone still works fine, and they committed to continue the support of FP3 (hard and software) for at least 3 years… Until FP5+ comes out, with a punched screen 
Furthermore, you could technically hide the notch in the options in Android 11, so don’t worry so much about it!
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The only thing I am a little worried about is that the display module might be offered for a higher price because of the integrated front camera…
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Pretty sure it is ?
@Antoine So the two cameras are aligned,
So the cameras are aligned…
I wonder who they consult on design and colour, someone colour blind and, and the green well it’s like 
but just a bit more stale.
Colours are a let down.
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I’m wondering if they’ll continue with the modules like before, or if they’ll come back to spare pieces like with FP1. Especially with the back cameras (I hope they’ll not put all of them in the same module, which would then feel like a bit of a betrayal).
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In terms of material sustainability, Fairphone might have their reasons. And maybe the factory workers like these colours more than you do…? 
At the end, design is quite subjective. But I don’t really get the dislike of the design.
It’s like most other phones and it’s finaly not a 2 year old design. Notches and punch holes are common and most people seem to like it.
And the color is gray and green. Why should gray be a problem at all? And the green looks dozen times better than the bright case colors of the FP 3/3+.
Why should’t a fair Phone be designed in a way all others are?
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Oh and read an blog post which is assuming (no sources or facts) that the fingerprint sensor could be on the side of the phone. Like the idea.
Haven’t seen something like this before but it seems possible.
And if you take a close look at the bottom right (from the back) side, there seems to be something.
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Why should it? I like bright colours and It may even cheer up the factory workers. Well I’ll be using a case so may as well go for gre***. Hmm! I wonder what any case my be like. Bright red would be my favourite as I work in the fields a lot.
Well, that would be a very odd place: which finger or part or the palm of the hand would be easily detected then?
I know they never committed not to make notch screens but still, Fairphone always incarnated for me a kind of sobriety, of anticonformism and of anticonsumerism, and this seems to me indissociable with the idea of not following mindlessly the trends of the industry, not implementing every idea that come to your mind with the only purpose of making the old design look more outdated, making products where every feature is meant to solve a real need, without artificially creating new ones. The design of the FP3 was sober, elegant, practical, intemporal but this new device just look like another toy made to appeal the gen Z
Not only is this notch is a nightmare for software developers (also goodbye to any potential alternative OS) but it serve absolutely no purpose, Apple invented it just to artificially increase the screen to body ratio (which nobody cared about) and make the new device look fancy while making the old devices look outdated
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Sadly, if they want to influence the industry, they need to sell more than a few thousands of devices. And outdated designs don’t help to do so, especially now these new designs are normal.
I agree with you notches are ugly, and I don’t ask Fairphone to follow the newest trends, but at least I understand they have to keep up with the industry so that they are not seen as a company which makes cheap and old looking phones for the price of high-end ones (and the lower number of phones they sell, the more expensive price they have). Even if they’re fair and easy to repair, if the outer design doesn’t keep up with the industry, they’ll die.
But I agree they should also keep focusing to convince what’s really important is the inner design: repairability, fairness, durability…
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This is the OnePlus 7 featuring a notch … and /e/ OS:
https://twitter.com/gael_duval/status/1324038544738963462
And maybe the fingerprint reader of the FP4 is integrated in the display, too, who knows?
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As I said, it’s very subjective. I think both opinions are found millions of times underneath the users.
Anyway - saw the cases for about 30€ in gray and green - I assume, they will look like the colors on the phone it self. But as they always looked a little more bright, I could imagine them be a little brighter.
@Antoine the pinkie 
The Pro side would be, you can use it, while in hand and while laying on the table. That was the con on finger sensors on the back. And those under the screen seem to have problems reading the finger from time to time. Anyway you are right, having it on the height of the buttons, would feel more intuitive and would be good to reach for the forefinger.
I’m thinking the power button.
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I was talking about the need for 5G. Tweakers.net just did some tests. They’re behind a paywal, but the gist of it is that 5G in The Netherlands is useless compared to 4G. We already got very good 4G as it is. You pay extra for 5G. The download speed is usually lower than 4G, and the upload speed usually higher. Latency is approx the same. On top of that, 3.5 GHz bands are nowhere to be seen for the next years (due to lawsuit about it). Ie. not worth upgrading, 4G is going to work perfectly fine. Most of Fairphone’s current customer base in without a doubt in Germany, and I don’t know how/if the above applies there.
3G though, is going to be downgraded to 2G soon (if not already) and 2G is also going to be phased out. Both can be easily MITMed, FWIW.
Preferably server-side instead of client-side 
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Nowadays, fingerprint readers are often on the power button or in the screen. Whether that is the case with a FP4 I don’t know. What you see on the bottom is probably the speaker. There’s also some smartphones which don’t have a fingerprint reader anymore; they use faceID. Which is annoying if you physically disable your camera (ie. back to PIN/password only).
With a camera island of 3 I suppose the camera is going to be massively improved.
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Still going for fingerprint sensor for the third ‘round’
On the side: I was thinking a recessed power button but a speaker it could be.
Could SOC 690 and 6 Gb of RAM be qualified as good quality performance?