I think that rather than ask for expensive engineering miracles from a moderately funded company still looking for financial success, why not be more pragmatic with the fifth design, in line with what customers are already used to paying for, but playing to the advantage that only Fairphone can offer: modularity.
1/
I have read on these forums that there are some looking for both a smaller and larger sized phones outside of the current dimensions. What is technically stopping the Fairphone team from releasing different sized enclosures that can cater for these customers needs, with a single logic board design ?
I wonder just how much of an engineering challenge it would be to maintain the same internals for different display output sizes ?
Naturally, the placement of specifically positioned internals would require several sized components to reach adequately, but if possible, surely there would be profit in it ?
2/
This also dovetails into the issue of the microphones being soldered directly onto the logic board. Surely these could be modular themselves, as I would like to physically remove the offending element(s) for security reasons. You have an ex-NSA (Snowden) whistleblower telling you to do this, what more proof do you need ?
Some opine for a “kill-switch”, which is fair enough, but being modular the answer is obvious to me.
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I still would like to see Fairphone develop its enclosures, the fairphonephone could be so much more:
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Uninterrupted rear enclosure : which brand on the market sells a security conscious smartphone with no rear cameras ? None, yet there are companies looking for such security, and the cost cuts that come with it. It would also better ensure the IPxx rating of the smartphone.
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Rugged option : let us no mess around, it’s going to be thicker and have to be fastened with Torx screws, but there is a wide market from weekend campers to those on constructions sites.
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Tool-free easy access : springs and latches work well enough keep a Glock 19 pistol together, you could even use neodymium magnets which slide apart far easier than being pulled apart.
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List item
Wireless charging : allow those whom need it to be energy inefficient, with further sales from a magnetically aligned charging puck, and possibly even a second offering that allows for reverse-charing !
4/
As Results45 suggested, forming a hardware standards consortium would go a long way to scaling your challenge(s) across different platforms by sharing resources and suppliers.
That’s the last of my sensible suggestions, how about some more tech heavy requests then:
*The Fairphone team seem to have settled upon the tri-camera design, up from two on the third generation phone. But those cameras could surely be switched out for further customisation, just like on Raspberry Pi with a camera designed specifically for the dark, maybe a camera with no IR filter, one in the heat spectrum…
With so much space taken up by three cameras, by removing two, a periscope option could be installed serious for optical zoom… you’re a modular company after all !