That sounds vaguely familiar. IIRC there has been at least one project that had the idea to build a laptop chassis without actual cpu, mainboard and storage, just screen, keyboard and probably connection ports, where you would insert your smartphone to bring the laptop “alive”.
Don’t remember the name unfortunately. All I can find now is close but not exactly that (or maybe it’s them but they found their vision can’t become reality and had to go for something more feasible): https://nexdock.com/
But then, I guess for the one large/one small display scenario it might just be easier to produce two different devices that are otherwise identical filling the extra space with a larger battery plus some spacers.
I’d hate to see unnecessary restrictions in terms of technology in the bigger version due to the harsher space requirements of the smaller edition though.
I do understand the wish for a smaller phone (I have it myself), but I think it’s unreasonable to expect it of Fairphone. They/we want to change the industry, and that will not be helped by creating a marginally adopted little brother of an already marginally adopted bigger brother. It will only drive cost up without any true benefit except for those of us who get a smaller phone in our little grubby hands.
It’s not going to happen, I’m afraid - and I can live with it, though I hope the phones don’t keep growing bigger and bigger.
Not only OLED screens are able to burn in. That can happen to IPS also. Both only on excessive usage on non moved screen content. That is very unlikely.
I still use an old Plasma TV from 2006 at home for gaming (switch times and contrast is way better than LED TVs). Even on games with HUD, like shooters, there is no burn in so far.
OLED screens are developed to be used on mobile devices at least for ten years now. I am confident the FP5 screen will last quite well.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Center screen should degrade quite uniformly, but the buttons on the bottom and some of the symbols at the top have burned into more than one of my devices and were visible as differently colored shapes when watching a video for example.
Same goes for my parents’ TV and the logos of channels they watch frequently.
My Laptop on the other hand also has an OLED screen and is doing fine so far. So I’m not saying it can’t work out.
Maybe those nice 90s screensavers will find some use again soon.
A modular folding phone would be pretty neat. The main issue (for me) with folding phones is that the foldable screen is so fragile, and can’t be protected by (reasonably thick) glass to protect it. Though making a phone with such a failure-prone and expensive screen would surely defeat the point of Fairphone.
More realistically, I’d like a screen without any sort of hole for the selfie camera. OLED screen technology is getting to a point where it can be hidden behind, with a lower resolution portion to let light through when needed.
Offering component upgrades would also be nice, though I know that’s never been a large interest for FP. Maybe some users could tackle the less involved ones like making a bigger battery (probably one that would integrate a custom back cover) or custom module replacements (replace the speaker with aux, drill not included). I like how Framework has modules that are designed for that sort of thing, though that obviously doesn’t work when size is much more important.
I’d love a 3rd and even a 4th camera for zoom X3 and X10 like the Samsung Galaxy Ultra series. (EDIT : with a good software support of the photo treatment !)
A foldable screen would be interesting but seing how a niche the foldable market is, it’s sure it will never be for the FP6, even if it were modularly possible. Especially knowing they’ll probably start working for the FP6 soon, if they’re not already doing it, seing how long it takes to engineer a new phone
Some years ago, Razor had an interesting concept called Project Linda (https://www.razer.com/concepts/project-linda). It was basically a laptop shell in which you could slip in your smartphone and use it as a processor and touchpad. IMHO, considering the strength of modern processors and the processing needs of an average user, this would be a great way to reduce electronic waste, and it would be very convenient if implemented properly.
One of the main complaints I’ve read online about the project was the fact that it couldn’t guarantee compatibility with future razor phones and processing advances. Considering the fairphone philosophy, this doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Do you guys think a laptop powered by a fairphone would actually have enough interested buyers to make it viable, or am I too enthusiastic
Samsung phones have a feature called DeX where they can output a “full” desktop when connected to an external display. You suggestion sounds similar to that.
Id love a modular foldable either two screens with a small gap, which would probably be easier to make modular and repairable or the snazzy folding glass screens. I know that’s probably a massive ask but the the galaxy fold just looks so cool
Someone who has been using hardware for as long as I have.
But a lot of ignorant people in this forum try to talk me out of it.
Unfortunately, the discussion is in German: nutzung-alter-smartphones-use-of-old-phones
I received my FP5 yesterday, it’s a lovely device, a nice improvement on the FP4 I use for testing.
One thought I did have is that it would be nice to have the option of wireless charging. Older hands will perhaps remember the Samsung Galaxy S5, the last in the line to have a removeable plastic back. This had an optional replacement back that provided Qi wireless charging, via a pair of contacts on the body of the phone. It was marginally thicker than the standard back, so making it optional was a good move.
Thanks for your quick response, and that does make sense.
I suppose that having an easily-replaceable USB port does remove most of my objections to wired charging, now that I think about it. I just need to rearrange the car a bit to make it work.
