Technologies for Fairphone 5

WiFi 6, 7, a barometer and UWB are technologies to be considered for a future Fairphone 5. Anything else?

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A headphone jack would be a great addition

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Hi Kili Welcome to the forum.

I like your sense of humour :slight_smile:

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I think this is already solved with an extra cable on current Fairphone 4.

I would ask for a better IP rating, if possible. It seems that a headphone jack goes against that.

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Given that many people have to retire their otherwise still perfectly working FP2 because of a broken bottom module without replacement, I am not particularly hyped by the idea of constantly leaving a cable plugged in the USB C while I am running with the phone in my pocket. TBH, the lack of an audio jack is a dealbreaker for me. As long as I can buy any other phone with such a jack, I wonā€™t buy a FP4. So FP5 bringing it back would be a huge deal to me. I donā€™t own any bluetooth enabled headphones but several wired ones that I plan on keep using for at least another decade or two. So buying new headphones plus an adapter cable kind of undoes all the good Iā€™d be doing by picking a FP again.

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Well, for me the FP2 is becoming too slow, sluggish, at least with Android, in my case. Running or biking with wired headphones is not as comfortable as with Bluetooth ones. I only use wired headphones at home, resting.

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The display should finaly be some kind of OLED. The possibility of saving the complex task of a notification LED by just simply display some dots in the color of likeliness without the need of a background illumination is just adorable.
In addition to that are OLEDs much more thin, which gives the modularity or the battery more room.

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Given the fact that I havenā€™t used a 3.5mm jack for a phone in many years, it is more fair that they have taken the modular approach by leaving it optional. If wired headphones were really important to people then they would just buy the 10 euro headphone and get on with itā€¦ this sounds more like protesting to me.

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Maybe I am not understanding your post: They (fairphone) have not made the the 3.5 jack option on the FP4 and this anyway about the FP5 so do you mean you hope they will make it a modular option for the FP5 that would be cool, though I doubt that will happen.

Sorry this bit I really donā€™t get ??

Wired headphones are all i use and so are very important and I bought the Fairphone ones. If I get an FP4 I will find a solution but clearly wonā€™t cheapā€¦
So Iā€™m at a loss as to what you are referring.

If the FP5 has a jack why would anyone want a cheap headphoen and why would anyone be protesting. If there is no jack, the same why would anyone want a cheap heaphone and why would you think there are people protesting about the FP5 when it doesnā€™t exist.

If it about the FP4 then why is it a) not clear than is what you are referring to and b) this topic is not about the FP4 anyway.

But if it were I still donā€™t get why ā€˜theseā€™ people should a) buy a cheap headset when there is no jack and b) who are these people that are protesting.

Apologies for the confrontation :lying_face:

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Itā€™s modular in the sense that you can choose whether you want to use the headphones wired with a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter, which in essence is a modular accessory.

If wired headphones were really important to people then they would just buy the 10 euro headphone *adapter. ā† forgot that last word. Think of it as adding 10 EUR to the price of the phone IF you want to use wired headphones. Yes this is about the FP4 and any iteration after it.

The protesting part is maybe an exaggeration, call it complaining instead. This topic is of course about the FP4, since the ā€œtechnologies for Fairphone 5ā€ are related to what was in the FP4. Naturally I use it as a point of reference for future models. Or is there a rule against the FP4 being mentioned here?

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Headphones as a service are an interesting complement to Fairphone. Maybe Fairphone itself as a service could be a good idea: Circular economy solutions for e-waste: headphones as a service

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Perhaps two USB-C ports would be useful, but I suppose we should just use two in one cable (one charge, one data).

I would really appreciate an OLED screen with 120 Hz or more. I use a S20 for work daily, and the screen is terrific.

I would also like kill switches (physical/hardware; NOT software) for various radios and cameras.

And I would love it if SFOS became officially available.

And I would like an option for a hardware keyboard (at the cost of bulkiness), or perhaps a foldable screen is the best of both worlds.

Futhermore, the CPU and GPU need to be on par for 5 years of usage, we gotta see how it pans out for FP3 (2 years old) and FP4 (newborn).

But apart from the screen Iā€™d be happy with FP4. Its just that I believe my FP3 is still sufficient (I donā€™t need 5G for now, as its useless in my country). I also donā€™t care about the lack of FM/DAB, and WiFi 6 isnā€™t important for me either but of all the mentioned stuff here in the end which I donā€™t need its the most interesting one for me.

So to summarize:

  • OLED 120 Hz
  • Physical/hardware kill switches
  • SFOS with Android emulation official port (costs money)
  • On par CPU/GPU with mid-end of release date
  • HW keyboard or foldable
  • WiFi 6
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As already requested:

and then

As the phone has swappable batteries, it would be interesting to have a charging device for the backup batteries, like it happens with some photo cameras, otherwise you can just charge the batteries with the phone, but if you are using itā€¦

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I canā€™t imagine using the phone all day so why not just swap batteries maybe in the evening to charge one or both.

Someone always posts this adapter when mention of the headphone jack is made. No this is not a solution, no more than is removing the camera and expecting you to use a usb camera. For some people (me included) the jack is an integral part of the phone. I want to pick up my phone and go, not pick up my phone, search for the adapter and go, nor buy multiple adapters for everywhere I plug in my phone. Like @mschilli87 this is a deal breaker for me. Iā€™m on my 5th FP and I very much doubt there will be a sixth.

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what do you need in regard to a physical keyboard? I have a multi connect BT keyboard and mouse that I can switch between home machine, work machine and FP, the mouse seems to need re-paired each time but the keyboard works great. Prior to that I could plug in a usb keyboard with a USB OTG plug, well specifically plug in a wireless keyboard and mouse dongle into the OTG plug.

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Its funny above you mention you donā€™t find USB OTG practical. I got a BT keyboard too. I donā€™t trust BT for input device, but also its just more modular physical stuff w/you. A slide out keyboard you always have with your device. And any time you need to input more than two sentences, you use it. I donā€™t expect it to get included in a FP5. I expect the market going to foldable instead, where the second screen can function as input device. Whether the public accepts the compromise, weā€™ll have to see. If Apple were to introduce it (as a ā€˜miniā€™) I am sure it would sell like candy.

Me? I didnā€™t say USB OTG was impractical, it seems to work great for me. I miss physical built in keyboards too; all my devices had them, or had a jacket with a physical keyboard, then Swype arrived and I broke my addiction to it, now google keyboard has similar functionality.

Physically more robust. Kind of rugged phone but still compromise with usability.
Fairphone 2 is definitively too fragile for a phone one should use for at least 5 years (no experience with FP3 and 4)

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