Hello,
I would like to give feedback on my user experience with the FairBuds application.
For the record, I bought this headset at the same time as a Fairphone 5 a few weeks after its release. I’m very happy with my purchases and I don’t question their qualities.
I regularly pair my headset with my phone and PC at the same time. I find this very practical, but I regret not having control over the choice of peripheral. It may seem like a detail, but having to cut the connection with a peripheral so that it can take over the headset isn’t very fluid.
When I have the 2 connected at the same time and both try to play a sound, the headset panics, hatching the sound until one of the 2 peripherals stops sending sound. To avoid this inconvenience while watching a video, I’ve got into the habit of disconnecting the headset from the phone. Unfortunately, the scratchy sound would return from time to time, only with my PC, and I couldn’t work out why.
Lately, I’ve been thinking that maybe updating the headset firmware would solve the problem. So I set to work.
1/ The application is a gate-keeper
I’m not a fan of being exclusively dependent on the phone for this kind of operation, and not having provided for a PC-based procedure gave me a bad start.
2/ Application only available on official stores.
With e/Os installed, FDroid suits me perfectly for 90% of my use. Not finding the application on this alternative store was my second disappointment.
3/ >70MB!!!
I don’t know what’s in there, but it seems huge, for a FAQ, a few images slides, an equalizer and a firmware.
4/ ALL authorizations are MANDATORY
I normally leave the minimum of authorizations to the applications. I try to find an alternative to those that seem too greedy. Blueutooth is obviously essential, but why localization ??? And why the fine location ??? And it’s impossible to do anything other than grant it (reminds me of flashlights that require phonebook access).
On this point, I hope to assume that it’s just an application misconfiguration (Bluetooth permissions | Connectivity | Android Developers).
5/ Update procedure
2 clicks and it’s done! Restart the headset and you’re done! Good job !
6/ Post-update
In the application I get the message that my headset has been updated, but the button to launch the procedure is still there! Worse still, clicking on it seems to restart the procedure, but it blocks at 99%. The headset continues to function normally.
In short, I was disappointed by the lack of care given to dataprivacy user experience.It gives me the impression that the design side has been taken care of, to the detriment of the technical details. I’m not questioning the ethics behind it: Exodus Privacy clearly states that there are no tracker or spyware. I don’t think there’s much missing to make the application seem truly trustworthy and at the same level of care that you take with the ethics of your equipment.
Thanks for reading.