There are no shortage of phones that are left in the cold by the manufacturer who won’t provide any updates, and you can’t even install your own OS on it because they won’t let you unlock the bootloader.
As long as you can unlock the bootloader, and there are resources for third parties to make their own ROMs for it, I’m not that worried.
The only issue I have with the Fairphone 4 in that regard is the fact that you can’t use the 48MP camera to its full potential on most third party ROMs. I think only /e/ has gotten binaries to make it work properly.
I think you project a feeling of control because you have something physical. If you fear getting cut off the network then having a physical SIM won’t help you. This is always a possibility. eSIM is efficiënt, flexible and doesn’t need extra parts and thus more sustainable.
In my experience, you cannot move easily the eSIM to another phone as the physical SIM (if you have that tool at hand to remove it). For the eSIM, you need to call your operator and get a new QR code, at least with O2. But when are you going to need this? Almost never.
That is the standard reverse psychology used by telcom companies to tether their customers to their call centers for the purpose of increasing the switching costs to another carrier.
Preventing customers from switching SIMs without calling their call centers first, being put on hold, and having to often wait for a day or two before the e-sim converts, EACH TIME you wish to change an E-SIM is an effective deterent to switching providers.
To be clear: Physical SIM cards permit you to change carriers at-will. That is independence.
I carry multiple physical SIM cards from multiple telcom companies which I can switch in both physical SIM sockets at-will, thus always having the two phone numbers I want active.
I suggest, if an e-SIM is wanted, that FF5 keep the two physical SIM slots, and add an e-SIM which takes little space on a circuit board. That would make FF5 one of the only mainstream phone with three sims.
The FP4 already has (only) one physical SIM slot and one eSIM so there’s nothing to keep here and that’s probably not going to change in the future. Only eSIM seems way more likely…
I have multiple eSIM (and a physical one) and just activate the one I need at the moment, doesn’t seem all that different to me
You can easily toggle them on and off…
OFF topic but I remember people saying the same with hard cash, and most have adopted credit/debit cards and some are even using electronically generated ‘finances’
Back to gold - I don’t think so
One each of physical SIM card and a SIM-u-later sounds fine, but then I have an FP3
I don’t have that much experience with eSIMs, but the times I was considering them, they could be downloaded from their website. Which was also a concern in the security community at one time. Because if your account would be hacked, someone could hijack your phone number. This is sort of fixed now with two factor authentication, with most providers.
At least with my provider you would have to intercept me registering the eSIM in my phone, that QR-Code is single use only and a new one has to be generated if the eSIM is deleted on the phone.
@David_Fernandez_Pina Sigh The good old topic.
No. A Dongle is a not a full replacement for an integrated DAC for multiple reasons.
No. A Headphone Jack and Waterproofing are not incongruous.
Yes. A Headphone Jack adds expense and slight complexity… especially when retaining Waterproofing.
I’d still like one but i won’t be overly bummed if there’s none. A Phone is generally not required to be a hifi device.
That being said: If they are modularizing everything anyway… it would be super sweet to have a module for a headphone jack that could be exchanged for a really good dac… cause then it IS a hifi device and bluetooth is no longer adequate.
Dongles are annoying. It’s something I’ve really only appreciates when using it. They get lost. You have to look for them… Stuff like that.
There’s also technical stuff about small dongles like interference and charging while hearing which are issues.
Now for BT. Bt is instable. It’s designed to be lossy and still be fine. That’s ok for most audio needs but it leads to audible issues on high quality hardware. It’s also got lag if that matters in the application.
You can kinda work around that with high quality devices and transfer protocols but it’s an issue. Main issue is that you’ll not für that into an earbud for quite a while.
I see no reason for it other than wanting to have Fairphone 5 use an e-SIM to forcibly tether their customers to phone companies in a manner that requires either a second phone for a phone call to the phone company, or a computer connection to the phone-company’s website, with the attendant delays which can range from minutes to days.
That is not counting “technical difficulties” with the “customer’s phone” which is “not sold or supported” by the phone company.
Phone companies can use such problems to move their customers away from Fairphone 5 to the phones that the phone company sells and supports.
Having dual physical SIM slots avoids the issue altogether. Add an additional e-SIM for three phone number capability.
People with 3+ SIMs that travel frequently are unlikely to buy a phone with a single physical SIM slot.
Fairphone 5 is a niche product that fills a need precisely because it does NOT mimic the mainstream phones, that are supported and sold by the phone companies.
It isn’t possible to download an eSIM over WiFi? Or order an eSIM online/buy it in a supermarket where you basically just buy an QR code to scan? Just like you would buy a physical SIM? I think there are solutions for the things you mention here. If they don’t exist yet then maybe talk to your carrier for options.
eSIM means less hardware, which means less can break/tear down and less resources needed to build it. It’s more sustainable. Of course the software needs to be solid. But I don’t think you’ll notice any difference with a regular SIM. But please voice these concerns towards carriers. I don’t think FP has control over the issues you mention.
But I don’t think you’ll notice any difference with a regular SIM.
I have to veto !
There’s a really BIG difference: just try to put an eSIM into another phone to check, if the poor connection is caused by the phone or by the carrier …
I’m very much a wired headset-user but am willing to consider a dongle — for one reason only: I use a dedicated wired headset (which predates my FP3), which means the dongle could, in principle, stay attached to headset (I could probably even tape the dongle to the headset’s cable?). There’s no routine reason, in my case, to remove / loose the dongle (despite the headset not being always connected). I am concerned about sound quality, which apparently can be an issue, and of course a USB dongle does interfere with charging, etc., but it may be workable, if / when there is a reason to replace my FP3 (which is still going strong, despite being purchased shortly after it was announced).
EDIT: Remove the brain fart “the dongle must be able to power the headset”, which unless I’m more confused, is nonsense.
