The Fairphone 5 is here, and it's the sleekest repairable phone yet
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Fairphone’s latest phone offers upgrades in all the right areas

Two years after the Fairphone 4 and following the release of some audio products like the Fairbuds XL, the Dutch company is back with a new repairable phone: the Fairphone 5. It looks and feels a lot like the Fairphone 4, but it adds choice upgrades across the board, making it the most modular and also most modern-looking repairable phone from the company yet.

The design is largely unchanged compared to the Fairphone 4, but the improvements that the company did make go a long way: The teardrop notch and the LCD screen is finally gone, with an ordinary punch-hole selfie and an OLED taking its place. Otherwise, you’re looking at an aluminum frame, a triangular camera array, and a removable back cover. Here, the company brought back its signature translucent back cover next to two black and blue variants. The dimensions and weight has been reduced ever-so-slightly compared to the predecessor.

  • HidingCat@kbin.social
    402·
    10 months ago
    1. No internal battery means it’s not a product with a built-in obsolence period (which is fairly short, 3-5 years)
    2. Most of the better audio gear are all wired
    3. I mean, it’s simple economics: Not paying for all the extra stuff to make it wireless means you get better value for audio quality
    4. Many people here are enthusiasts in tech and hardware, we likely have more than a few devices. Switching between devices with BT is a fucking PITA.
    • N-E-N@lemmy.caEnglish
      134·
      10 months ago

      Speaking as an audiophile, you can buy a USB C dongle for like $10 that even has a good DAC. Only issue is if you’re regularly charging and listening to wired buds simultaneously

      • meta_synth@yiffit.netEnglish
        92·
        10 months ago

        Dongles are pointless e-waste. They constantly break, get lost, or are forgotten when you need them the most. They are not a solution.

        • N-E-N@lemmy.caEnglish
          33·
          10 months ago

          You can easily leave them attached to your headphones 24/7, which helps avoid losing them

          I’ve had headphone jacks on phones break and thats a lot harder and more expensive to fix than buying a tiny dongle (that creates negligible amounts of waste)

          I’d argue they’re actually a very good solution 🤷 (aside from arguably on iOS with their dumb proprietary port, but thats easily fixed with USB C)

        • N-E-N@lemmy.caEnglish
          2·
          10 months ago

          The Apple one sounds great tbh, altho I know Moondrop makes one that should have a lil more power and should be a bit more durable long-term (my apple ones have held up well so far tho)

    • T156@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      10 months ago

      Wired also doesn’t drop out if there are too many people in an area. Like if you’re listening to music whilst waiting for the train.

      And they’re cheaper, since you don’t need batteries, radio, and audio processing hardware on top of that.

    • 970372@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      12·
      10 months ago

      For point 4. Newer devices are very clever and will auto switch when music is playing and of course both devices are turned on.

      • severien@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        10 months ago

        Partially. My MacBook will steal the bluetooth connection no matter if something is playing or not. I have to disable bluetooth on the Mac to connect smartphone to my headphones.