Some Fairphone 6 ideas

Discuss The Industry
274

you can already get the fairphone 5 without the Google apps. (MicroG is included for those few apps)

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275

That is not the same though. Something not-google, won’t pass safetynet requirements or whatever it is called these days.

276

It is play integrity and yes, you are tight. E/os only pass basic check. Luckily the only Google app that needs device integrity level (right now) is google wallet.

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No Gapps no Google cerification. Just disable those you dont want.

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Some ideas from the sidelines:

I get the impression that the fp5 does most of what anyone needs from a mobile phone and it defos seems to be what fp was trying to create. So well done for the success.

Here is what I think could be good for any future phone.

  • battery
    From the fp2 and what I have seen of the fp3 it seems the biggest gripe many people have was battery drain. I guess an improved battery (whatever that means) is good. Another great idea is having an external charging doc so that we can charge spare batteries for the fp. With the fp2 the battery drain was annoying but more annoying was that I needed leave my phone on charge to charge the spare battery.

  • Retirement purposes
    Before the phone truly reaches the end-of-life, it is usually still good to use for some tasks but painful for others (like too slow ). It would be great if fp had like a repurpose kit to help us put our retired phones to good use. Like you could pop your internals into a new case with a bigger e-ink screen and use it as an reader. Even just a replacement screen that is e-ink could work. Or, maybe custom apps/guides to help average Joe find a use for the phone.

  • Official support for desktop-like use
    This is becoming less and less niche. I really think that for some people it is completely feasible to use a phone as a computer. At one point in 2017 my computer died and I worked from my fp2 to access a remote desktop/high performance computing centre via termux and ssh. Since I mostly need a text editor and terminal for my work to send commands to the remote, it worked really well. THE problem was the phone was really not built for this. It overheated easily, the screen was tiny etc.
    I would love to see a fp with some official support for some desktop like use.

  • Less plastic
    There are bio plastic made from plant waste, like corn husk. I think that could be a nice alternative/option for the backcover. I would be willing to pay a bit extra for such a cover.

  • A flip cover
    I could get one off aliexpress but I would be happy to pay a bit extra for an official fairphone book-like phone cover.

I don’t own a fp right now but I had a fp2. I needed a replacement phone when I was in the states so I had to get off the fp bus. Ill probably only need a replacement in a few years time.

I am a big fan of the fp mission.

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279

not being manufactured in china would be a big one for me


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280

The only thing I would like to see for sure is bigger internal storage, ideally fourfold. Anything else improved is a plus. If it was optionally but reliably expandable instead, that would do. The one bind I have had with phones generally, not so much for me but for others who would have me help maintain their phones, is internal storage running out. I am getting problems (as at least somewhat expected) with the only possible method otherwise known.

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281

I hope the FP6 has hardware kill-switches.

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I’m not sure (new) bio plastic is better than recycled plastic used for the current backcover.
Can’t say if it’s really a good one, but this this study might be a helpful reading.

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283

To be honest, I checked spec of FP5 and it’s pretty decent for my needs. I personally don’t need more RAM, more powerful CPU, better camera and so one, but there is a few other details holding me back from selecting FP5 as potential next phone after totally breaking my current one - FP5 is quite big. I’m afraid that 5’’ (IMO perfect size for mobile device) is not possible without compromising battery life, but slightly smaller than 6’’ or something near that size, should be possible, at least there are still some devices in global market slightly smaller than FP5, and much smaller but less popular outside China or Japan that works very well.

Second problem is an availability of some replacement parts. I know that failure of a mother board is much less possible than breaking a screen or charging port, but lack of spare buttons or main frame is odd.

Wireless charging will be a nice upgrade (Unihertz Jelly Max is great reference, small, replaceable battery and it still has wireless charging). I known that it’s much less energy efficient, but it’s a great backup charging option. Even after main port failure, phone can be still charged and used without waiting for replacement parts. It’s not a deal breaker for me, because battery can be charged using external charger or regulated DC power supply, but it’s still more convenient for most of the users to use cheap third-party wireless charging pad than purchasing harder to find and more expensive dedicated battery charger or universal/hobbyist charger or DC power supply (this one is also harder to use safely).

Repurposing kit is awesome idea, but to be honest price is probably the most important part of that and and to be fair, current phones with modern and fast USB-C port is already easy to repurpose. I’m not sure if FP5 works without attached battery and screen, but if it works then attaching one of many existing active USB hubs provides almost all that is needed to use it for something else. Maybe some very simple and passive break boards is a good compromise for DIY enthusiasts, at least it’s always easier to use adapter with pogopins and breakboard than soldering many tiny wires.

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284

Bonjour,
La seule chose qui m’empĂȘche d’avoir un fairphone est qu’il n’y a pas de prise Jack 3,5.
Un adaptateur usb Jack ne m’intĂ©resse pas, c’est trop fragile.
Les casques et Ă©couteurs sans fil sont une catastrophe pour la planĂšte, je suis surpris qu’une entreprise se dise Ă©thique et supprime la prise Jack.
L’IA ne m’intĂ©resse pas.

DeepL translation:

Hello,

The only thing stopping me from getting a fairphone is that there’s no 3.5 jack.

I’m not interested in a usb jack adapter, it’s too fragile.

Wireless headphones are a disaster for the planet, I’m surprised that a company would claim to be ethical and do away with the jack plug.

I’m not interested in AI.

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285

In English topics please stay in English

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286

It will be difficult now to have a smartphone with jack 3.5. All the brands go to wireless so unless you have an adapter


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287

Better support would be the highest on my wishlist.

Hardware-wise I am happy with the current fairphone 5, i would just wish for less power consumption.
So a fairphone 6 with less power consumption and a little bit more processing power to keep up with newer android versions would be fine.

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288

Same here. I’ve just hit 3 years of FP4. I was thinking if an FP6 comes this year I might consider trading in for the new phone, but if there’s no support I’ll stick to what I have and then look elsewhere if it dies, as I couldn’t afford to wait weeks or months for a reply with no phone, and it’s not ethical to buy another phone just to cover the time I would have to wait on Fairphone to give me an answer.

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289

LCD screen as an option
10bit one, hence no dithering
Make it 200€, no problem
100% sure at least 3000-5000 of those will be sold. Can make a research and even a poll. But thousands of people are joining pwm and dithering strain communities in wechat, reddit, 4pda and telegram now.

Of course, technically it’s possible with root and some kernel skills to boost the pwm of an OLED to something like 5000. As people did with pixel 8 pro. But it’s still a rooted custom kernel device. And it’ll affect the picture quality and overall lifespan. Hence hardly doable. 1% Chance.

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The long support for chipsets and devices that comes to more and more devices might make it possible to use a more efficient , non-iot chipset next time.
I currently don’t see the need for higher cpu power unless the next camera module is so much better that you’d need that.

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Edit: Make it MicrosdEX. If Nintendo is going to kick the industry’s ass and finally make fast microSD cards common place, then settle on Express cards as a standard. Does a phone need such speeds on a removable storage media? Pfffff no. But it’s cool!

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293

Hey Fairphone Community,

apparently there are some recent advancements in battery technology, particularly the adoption of high-silicon anode materials, have enabled significant capacity improvements without increasing physical size. Manufacturers like Xiaomi and Honor now offer smartphones with 10–22% higher energy density compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries, achieving up to 7,000 mAh capacities in standard form factors
Since the Fairphone 5 battery life is rather limited and the Fairphone battery has the advantage of being exchangeable, this could be the chance to give Fairphone 5 users a decent upgrade for their existing phone. I am, of course aware, that this also has to be economically feasible for the Fairphone company. The easiest way to achieve this, would be to make upcoming, I assume already in development Fairphone 6 have a backward-compatible battery. That could help to extend Fairphone 5 device lifespan and would align with Fairphone’s sustainability mission.

What do you think?

Markum

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294

Thanks for a post
I think it’s an excellent idea.

But I do not know how easy it is to create a new phone around already existing battery. I know Shiftphone managed but I kinda perceive it as a challenge. Loads of people want different things from a FP6 - stronger processor, smaller phone, better specs, I think it might be tough, but still would love the idea.

Yet, even if there is a new battery only for FP5, it could still imho make sense. There is a growing community of FP5 owners who would need to replace their battery, next year and every year after that.

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