cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43965516
It is worth noting that both the hardware and software of Fairphone is heavily dependent on a Chinese company T2Mobile.
For those looking to avoid both US and Chinese companies, then the Jolla phone is the way to go.
same, but installing a different launcher is sadly mandatory as the default is ass
Installing a new launcher? Just install it from the app store and then activate as your default launcher in androids app settings. It’s just that simple.
I am very relatable regarding this change. i never know the settings page i need to go in order to change the launcher. I go to the settings and in the search bar, i input ‘default’. In the result there should appear a Default home app. click that. If you have another launcher installed it should appear on the list.
I didn’t know you could use different launchers until a few weeks ago. I’m so much happier with Lawnchair.
What are the benefits of installing a new launcher? Is it just aesthetics?
for me, yes. bliss launcher is imo pretty awful. lawnchair feels more like the samsung one which ive used forever
That and features. I use Smart Launcher because it has a transparent themes like Liquid Glass which blends with the wallpaper. Has good search function. also Auto organizes your apps in categories.
How do you become comfortable with the amount of permissions the launchers need? I’m struggling with that. The default is not bad though.
I am using GrapheneOS, not Fairphone yet with e os. i went to the permissions after i read your comment and lawnchair actually doesn’t have any permissions on my phone. I suspect eOS wouldn’t need any either.
Nice. How does it work compared to Android? Do all apps work (bank, government, shops and so on)?
I have eOS on the fairphone 5, and I have had zero problems with banking apps and the like.
That doesn’t mean you won’t have problems though, I don’t use many of those kinds of apps other than a bank authentication app, and a few others for public transit tickets, etc. I also live in europe, milage may vary elsewhere.
Keep in mind that eOS IS android, just with google telemetry removed. You can add a google account if you want/need to, at which point any android app should work as expected. That of course defeats the purpose somewhat, but even then eOS will still help you stay as private as possible by informing you about app trackers and using alternative services for location, etc.
Fairphone 6
My bank app will install, but I can’t login unless I also install Google Play Services. The website works fine without.
No issues with other apps. I do prioritise installing from F-Droid whenever possible.
Not /e/OS user, but it is Android - just degoogled. Uses microG as a replacement for Google services if I’m not mistaken.
As for apps, I recommend checking out an app called Plexus on Fdroid - it’s an app where people report how apps work on alternative ROMs with either microG or fully degoogled. It’s pretty neat.
Surely without Google services it’s AOSP. Android is trademarked by Google.
/e/ (also known as /e/ OS and /e/OS, formerly Eelo) is a fork of LineageOS, an Android-based mobile operating system,
Thanks for the info and I am going to order a Fairphone this week.
Got mine with Android and now wish I’d gone for /e/os instead - looks to be a mega faff to change it now
the Jolla phone is the way to go
Are there any downsides to this? There has to be, right.
Edit: https://commerce.jolla.com/products/jolla-phone-sept-26
I mean the downsides are it’s Linux. That’s not without it’s upsides but the downsides are huge.
Would a phone have that many downsides? I would think that a computer would have much more. Maybe the phone companies don’t play nice? I 100% don’t know what the downsides would be.
From my research, the phone part of the “phone” doesn’t work very well. Which is a pretty big caveat.
I have one. It has no issues with calling, video, ect…
It works in the states as well. And all apps too. I guess my only complaint is parts are getting hard to come by for fairphone 4. Which is why i bought the phone, to be repairable.
Oh wait sorry for some reason the interface didnt load the first comment. I dodnt see the context. Woops!
Where did you get that from? I have been using one for the past 6 months without any calling issues.
It was a common complaint I caacross when researching a few different Linux devices.
I guess if you’re not having issues I must be wrong, because everyone’s experiences should mirror yours exactly.
You still did not answer my question. Pinephone has those issues with all Linux OSes, so do ports for many phones. Officially supported phones do not to my knowledge.
You asked 1 question, which I very clearly did answer. I’m not sure what you’re looking for here.
Well, are you? I can’t remember the last conversation I had over phone.
Yes. Especially with work, although not necessarily with my personal phone, it does happen.
Also, it’s a 650 Euro, £562, device….i don’t want to buy it and some parts don’t work.
I’m on the phone all day. Believe it or not some people are different from you 🤯
Goes both ways, I’d be happy if more calls would simply fail midway.
“What a shame, better write an e-mail.”
I’m with you - I’d pay extra for a phone that doesn’t take calls just so I can force everyone to just send it as a text.
Just delete all your phone apps and then you won’t get anymore phone calls. Bing bang boom.
It also isn’t as performant for the price, or so I’ve heard. They’re working on it, but it isn’t up to par with big name companies.
What does that mean to you? I hear people say this all the time about various devices but I haven’t come across anything my phone couldn’t run in over a decade. I haven’t had a flagship or top tier phone in that whole time either. Are you talking about actual functionality issues or just theoretical stuff and benchmarks?
Of course it does. Google is increasingly locking down the platform. In 6 months you won’t even be able to sideload software anymore without Google’s permission.
Are there any downsides to this? There has to be, right.
SailfishOS userland is proprietary software. AOSP is more open than SailfishOS. The Android compatibility layer of SailfishOS is based on AOSP, so the stack to get the most important 3rd party apps working relies as much on AOSP as any Android ROM.
Upside of SailfishOS: There is a decent chance that the upcoming Linux ARM version of Steam + Proton will run directly on that device.
I think I bought one, but I’m not sure. I might have been very drunk back then.
On the first one there were limitations on the android emulation stack. Not sure how they managed afterwards on later OS releases or how it will go with newer ones.
Avoiding Chinese companies is a factor for me, BUT if the choice is between a Chinese company that wouldn’t comply with a five-eyes data request vs one that would, then I would definitely prefer my data be stolen by a foreign country that doesn’t see me as a sovereign risk
Its getting kind of silly to be afraid of China when big tech is American… There really isnt any logical reason at this point. Just emotional, because people are afraid of China.
The entire west is getting absolutely wrecked by American big tech so its funny to read those articles about how scary China is. I guess we prefer the devil we know, but I dont think China has anything even remotely as capable as American spy agencies and big tech.
You should avoid both. I avoid the us tech because its on a trajectory towards what china currently implements. China has a ton of offensive security capability and they use it constantly.
Chinese company who has to comply with the CCP is a problem for me, and my work.
We have come a long way, to be finally more concerned about our government spying on us than about a foreign nation.
Let’s hope the growth means the software improves. I’ve never owned such a buggy phone. I would never be able to recommend anyone I know actually buy one and it’s pretty difficult to keep using it myself. I’m really hoping the upcoming Android 16 release fixes a lot of bugs but if past Fairphones are anything to go by I’m not expecting much.
I’ve been using a FP6 for over a month and I have no idea what you could be referring to
Interesting, I would have guessed that being left handed would make the placement better. I’ve heard people don’t like the button placement but it doesn’t bother me. I have an iPhone for work as well and as far as I can tell the buttons are in the same place so 🤷
Sometimes after using the camera, the taken photos will just disappear.
Often my screen will freeze up and the ohone becomes entirely unresponsive until I turn the screen off and on again.
Sometimes the screen won’t even turn on at all and will then suddenly unlock and register every single swipe and tap I made on the off screen registers at once.
Then sometimes when idle the phone will just randomly crash and reboot.
A genuinely awful experience I have to say.
I think you should send it in for warranty, if you still have it.
I don’t think it’s worth it. A lot of these issues are well known on the Fairphone forums so they’re clearly not specific to my phone. The second I find a suitable replacement I think I’m done. I like the idea of a Fairphone but they’re on their sixth device now and still can’t manage stable software.
I keep reading comments like this though. Are people just expecting too much?
I don’t think it’s expecting a phone to not crash constantly and actually save the photos I’m taking.
You can install iode on a Fairphone. I was using iode for years without issues. I would be surprised if it had many bugs specific to Fairphone.
That’s awesome to hear! I’m currently running iode on a OnePlus11 and the built-in firewall and metwork monitoring is awesome! I don’t even use the paid version. Maybe I’ll give fairphone a try next.
I might have to give it a try. I used CalyxOS on my old Pixel 7 and loved it so I’m hoping that will be an option once they’re back up and running.
Slab phone is solved tech already and this is the time where we can vote for more ethical solutions without really losing anything. The newest fairphone is basically just a standard android flagship.
Wasn’t the issue here that they would have liked to partner with GrapheneOS, but GrapheneOS didn’t want to, because of some security requirements that they had?
GrapheneOS had security requirements and they offered to help Fairphone implement them, but Fairphone refused. Apparently they are not interested in their users security and privacy. So I won’t be touching Fairphones with a 10ft stick.
Motorola was interested and should be launching a phone with GrapheneOS preinstalled at the end of 2026 or in 2027.
Sorry, I meant for the Fairphone refusing their help part. I haven’t read that and find it interesting. Thanks anyway! I’m optimistic about Moto.
I got a Google pixel 10 just so I can have GrapheneOS as soon as possible. I am glad that Google’s plans to lock down Android are blowing up in their faces.
Graphene has beef with every device maker that doesn’t include a secure element throttle (which is every device maker except Google and Apple, and presumably Moto as of the first partnership device).
I mean, if you want to call it a beef, go ahead. But it’s not like it is an unreasonable request, since it is necessary to make sure short pins used by most people are at least a bit secure.
Personally, I’d love a phone I can experiment with pure Linux OSs or Sailfish on.
I just bought a FP6 with /e/os installed by Murena in the US and it’s been great so far except that RCS isn’t supported by /e/os so group texts don’t work. Which is honestly a huge issue that is causing enough social friction that I’ll probably revert to an iPhone soon.
They partner with Murena for selling to the US right now (though its only usable on Tmobile).
They are trying to enter the US market on their own (perhaps with the Fairphone 7), but the US carriers make things way more complicated than other markets. They already sell their headphones in the US through Amazon as of late last year.
This is exactly what we need: profound economic warfare, and lawfare against the sources exploiting us. We need to organize and support the groups that fight the forces leading to us getting exploited.
Our problems are fundamentally human sourced, and we need to take action to stop being vulnerable to exploitation and coercion.
All other problems CAN be resolved with time and work.
They have a “fair labor” agreement with China so that it is as ethically sourced as possible. People can’t just get anything somewhere else. They are at least trying.
They also set up an initiative around the fair extraction of cobalt.
For the specs alone it is an expensive phone, but well worth it to me.
I do somewhat miss the HD haptics from my previous Samsung.
This is why new laws are being passed to verify ID on a hardware level. They know the enshittification has progressed to the point that people are starting to break away. They want to put a halt to that by any means necessary.
I’d be curious, it seems obvious the world is coordinating it in some way.
I don’t think it requires or implies coordination. What looks like coordination might simply be an overall increase in authoritarian governments globally which all share many of the same incentives to limit privacy and increase population tracking.
Have any of you checked out the reviews on their site? The one’s in Dutch?
Hilarious. Almost none of the reviews are about the phone itself, but the promotions surrounding it, whether its available in certain stores, and my favorite, the font on the case.
I guess the phone is so awesome they have to think of other stuff to complain about :/
I haven’t had one very long, but I found it surprisingly easy to ditch all the Google shit. The phone itself feels like a mild step back, but not an unwelcome one. I’ve also never been one for all the advanced nonsense tech flagship phone manufacturers tend to stick in there.
That said, the stock UI is trash and I eventually landed on using Kvaesitso instead. There are other FOSS launchers out there though, if you don’t like that one.
Another nitpick, the slide button that turns off access to the camera and microphone… It should be a physical break, not a software one. You can have it slid to the off position and then turn access back on without moving it again. Which means the mic and camera are still physically accessible to the rest of the phone. I want there to be a full on break in the circuit when I flip that switch. And one for speakers too, because a speaker is just a crappy microphone if you access it the right way.
But otherwise I’m pretty happy with it and don’t miss my Samsung at all. Exploring FOSS alternatives for my apps has been fun too. And I even managed to turn off most of microG’s permissions because I don’t need them.
I have had this for 4 months and love it. Previously had Samsung 25 Ultra. Hated it.
Anyone know if the coming Android restrictions will impact support?
Ok, I like that attitude, but could you go into more detail? AFAIK hardware wise the samsung will likely be better in every way I think?
It wasn’t a hardware preference, it was a privacy and control preference. Samsung is a data miner. I absolutely hate being locked out of my own shit. It doesn’t belong to you, but you’re renting their device and paying with data. I can see the calls home on my monitoring software, and now they have that MS linking SW that you can’t remove. I hate Samsung. Also, my S25 Ultra broke twice and I only got about 2 weeks use out of it total. Once, fell out of my pocket on carpet. Last, off coffee table and into floor. Those things are expensive and extremely fragile now.
Fairphone is honestly not a bad switch. It’s smaller than a flagship Samsung screen, but as ethically sourced as possible, modular so repairs are easy, open source software, privacy focused, has an ecosystem curated with care, and you can sideload all you want. I think I pay like $25 or $45 a month for unlimited everything with hotspot through the provider that supports it in the US. Also, there is no bloatware. It’s the absolute minimum needed for them to be a marketable solution in my opinion. My battery has never died in 4 months. Sometimes it uses less than 10% a day. Samsung was a nightmare constantly draining. I could go on and on.
Edit: Had S22 Ultra for 3 years before trying the dog shit S25. It took a beating, didn’t have MS link SW, but that is the device I used while developing better habits like deleting Facebook and beginning degoogling efforts. I never saw Samsung show fragility before 2025. Had several Samsungs before then too.
Well, i doubt there is much difference between the s22 and the s25 in terms of Samsung privacy
Also, you changed 3 phones in 4 years, not good on the environment.
The S22 busted, I got it fixed and still use it ocassionally for transactions. The S25 just stopped working after falling out of my pocket on the carpet, and it took hundreds of dollars to get the screen fixed. Even with a case and glass protector, it fell off a coffee table 3 days later and broke. Broke twice in about a week or two. I only bought it 6 months earlier because of tariffs in preparation for the S22 screen going out.
At this point I can fix the S25 and sell it, but have not done so yet. Now I have tools to fix phones and can try to make money from it when the economy gets worse, meaning that I’ll help repair so that people can decrease how often they buy. It’s a net good depending on what happens.
If it has a MicroSD slot, 3.5mm jack, a removable battery and costs no more than £300, I’m interested! <3
I’d rather it were made in Europe too, but I understand we can’t have everything, supply chains being what they are.
P.S Bonus points if it has an IR blaster, I use the one on my current phone quite a lot, surprisingly enough!
They can’t build them that cheaply. They don’t have the same scaling effects as the big brands, and they make an effort for sustainability which is a huge problem with cheap-ass phones.
What is the claim behind “runs Google?” The Fairphone also runs Android doesn’t it? How is it any less Google than a Samsung?
it’s only the open source part? normally, google injects proprietary code into phones, usually through “google play services”? idk I’m just kinda a hobbyist
I would just love a smaller one in general. Hate big phones. Give me a pixel 3 sized one at most.
Main reasons I stopped buying Fairphones:
Other than that - it’s a great company and a team of good people.
I miss my pixel 4a dearly. Found it in the old phone box the other day and couldn’t believe how little it was.
