
Fairphone 3 Launch [video] - tannhaeuser
https://www.fairphone.com/en/special-event/
======
giomasce
I own a Fairphone 2 and was very proud to buy it and support the company that
is behind it. Honestly I have to say that specs are not (and were not at the
time) impressive, and that the phone has had quite a few hardware issues
(which I mostly attribute to the fact that the Fairphone company is still
rather young, and building a high quality smartphone likely requires a lot of
experience). As an object, the value/cost ratio is not stellar, but if you
factor in the added value given by the work for a better and fairer world, my
personal balance is strongly positive. Given that Fairphone 2 was already a
great improvement over the first edition, I really hope that 3 is finally a
great smartphone, with a great social value. All the best to people developing
it! :-)

~~~
Vinnl
Although I'm generally very satisfied with my FP2 (especially being able to
run Fairphone Open, i.e. plain AOSP with their support, is surprisingly neat),
I agree that it has some hardware issues.

Those mostly seem to be the result of the "gimmicky" way modularity was
implemented for it though, i.e. without screws. I'm very hopeful that FP3 will
be much better in this regard. See also
[https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/27/can-fairphone-3-scale-
ethi...](https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/27/can-fairphone-3-scale-ethical-
consumer-electronics/)

Specs are not impressive indeed, but have been perfectly fine for me. Better
battery life and a finger print scanner seem like marked improvements, but
otherwise given that FP2 has suited my needs just fine, I figure I'd hardly
even notice the other improvements with an FP3.

But then, I'm not buying it - with the FP2 still working, that would pretty
much be against the concept.

~~~
ppseafield
If you skip to about 21:00 in the presentation, the presenter says they added
screws.

~~~
Vinnl
Yes, that's why I'm hopeful that the FP3 will be better.

------
Brakenshire
I wonder whether this device will be on the mainline kernel. The obsolescence
for Fairphone 2 wasn't hardware, it was software. This seems to be the major
issue keeping smartphones running for a long time today, the only equivalent
hardware issue on timescale and importance is replacement of the battery.
Being able to repair the rest of the hardware is a good next step, but is
futile if your security and software updates rely on the chip manufacturer,
and get abandoned within 2 years.

~~~
Majestic121
Software may be a bit delayed, but if you care mostly about security and less
about having the absolute latest Android version (with some nice to have
functionnalities I suppose, but I don't miss them so far), it's very good.

My fairphone 2 is running Android 7, started at 5 I think, and the latest
security update was this month [1]. And those security updates are pretty
regular.

[1] [https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-
us/articles/208342503-Fa...](https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-
us/articles/208342503-Fairphone-OS-for-Fairphone-2-Release-Notes)

~~~
solarkraft
> My fairphone 2 is running Android 7

You will soon be 3 major releases behind.

~~~
rchaud
Honestly, major releases of Android meant something between the early Android
2.0 - 5.0 period. Most of the features since then have been largely cosmetic.
Ask the average user if they're using their phone differently in the last 5
years (Android 5.0 release was in 2014) and I'd wager little to none of that
would be related to OS-level changes.

~~~
mk89
That's quite subjective.

You can get a list here:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history)

Android 8, in particular, was a massive upgrade. Plus all the optimizations to
save battery, to make apps faster, etc.

~~~
thekyle
I guess it really depends on whether you pay attention to the change logs. My
phone has Android 9 on it right now and I can't really remember any meaningful
new features since Android 6.

------
louhike
If you just want to see the specs, go to
[https://shop.fairphone.com/en/?ref=header&amp;](https://shop.fairphone.com/en/?ref=header&amp;)

------
mosselman
I don't and won't use Android, but the phone itself looks great and I really
appreciate the modularity of the build. Very cool and admirable.

~~~
Majestic121
Fairphone actually provides very good support for alternative OSes, including
Fairphone Open, an Android version stripped from Google software
([https://code.fairphone.com/projects/fp-
osos/](https://code.fairphone.com/projects/fp-osos/)), and Ubuntu Touch.

------
tmikaeld
What's the point of having modular hardware, if the software-side only get a
lifetime of (at least) 1 major version?

~~~
Fnoord
You get 5 year guaranteed support for the FP3. The FP2 launched with 5.1, and
it is now on Android 7. We got Android 9 working via LineageOS but that is
weekly snapshots which can (and will) break. The problem here, btw, is
Qualcomm.

~~~
tmikaeld
So, that's why they can't leave guarantees then, they simply don't know how
long Qualcomm will support the chipset.

I wonder how this compares to other chipset makers

------
mcv
_" If you don’t need it, we don’t include it! There’s no charger, cable or
earphones, so you can use the ones you have and help cut down on e-waste."_

 _" Included: mini-screwdriver"_

~~~
RandomBacon
A USB cable might have been nice, but I never use the earbuds that come with
devices. This is okay be me. They didn't even need to include the screwdriver.
Actually, I do like having extra mini-screwdrivers, so that is okay by me.

------
elagost
I've wanted one of these for years, but live in the US. Would importing it
work, or would my provider not support it?

~~~
Vinnl
Likely finicky, they're explicitly not supporting it, and posts here seem
nervous about it: [https://forum.fairphone.com/t/general-
fairphone-3-discussion...](https://forum.fairphone.com/t/general-
fairphone-3-discussion/52311)

~~~
elagost
Official support page: [https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-
us/articles/360032577632...](https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-
us/articles/360032577632-Connectivity-of-the-FP3-outside-of-Europe)

Well that's not too bad. I could live with 3G personally, given what I use my
phone for, but I doubt many others could.

~~~
thekyle
I would wait a little while to see if they update that page more. It seems
like a lot of the text there is just cloned from the Fairphone 2 page.

[https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-
us/articles/360032577632...](https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-
us/articles/360032577632-Connectivity-of-the-FP3-outside-of-Europe)

[https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-
us/articles/115001535686...](https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-
us/articles/115001535686-Will-the-Fairphone-2-work-outside-of-Europe-)

------
rpmisms
I like those bezels. I'm not sure why others hate them so much; it's nice to
see a phone with room to hold it.

------
Confusion
Spare display for $90 that I can install myself? _Starts throwing money their
way_

~~~
ChicagoBoy11
To be fair, used to also be easily achievable with older iPhone models, like
the 6S

~~~
kgwxd
Is that no longer a thing? I've only repaired up to 6. My wife now has an 8,
does she need a case this time?

~~~
Synaesthesia
They're still easy to repair, if you are somewhat skilled. You can't always
source high quality 3rd party displays, and parts (especially batteries) and
Apple is trying to clamp down further on the 3rd party parts market (what's
called the "pirate parts" market)

~~~
Fnoord
> They're still easy to repair, if you are somewhat skilled.

Which is a contradictio in terminis. If only a select few are able to repair
the smartphone, then it is apparently difficult to repair the smartphone.

~~~
Synaesthesia
It's all relative. It's not a very difficult repair like say, replacing a
screen on a Galaxy S8, iPad or Macbook Pro. You need some skills/experience
and the correct tools and then it will take 15-20 minutes. An experienced
phone technician will have no issues whatsoever. A relatively inexperienced,
brave individual like me can do it alone in 30-60 min. But again, not like
this Fairphone.

------
flyinghamster
As much as I'd love to support this, it lacks some of the LTE bands that I'd
need.

Worse, too many of the newer phones have jumped on the no replaceable
battery/no headphone jack/no MicroSD slot/all glass bandwagon. Sigh.

~~~
est31
Could you explain? Are you in a country that has different LTE bands than
europe?

~~~
nbabitskiy
Its band support is not good wherever you live. It doesn't have two Russian
bands, one German, one Romanian, a few US etc.

------
kmfrk
I strongly considered getting a Fairphone, but the reviews for the last one
made it feel like an early prototype. And then there was the lack of Android
updates.

The only decent alternative to my iPhone still seems to be a Nokia dumbphone.

~~~
meu5
> The only decent alternative to my iPhone still seems to be a Nokia
> dumbphone.

Why? Some of the models featuring Android One are pretty great. As for the
environment, I don't think there is much of a difference between most Android
phones vs iPhone.

~~~
Brakenshire
iPhones do have a really solid software update programme, they are supported
for 4 or 5 years, which is way more than almost all Android phones. Many
Android phones are supported only for 18 months. Also, because of the resale
value of the phones changing the battery or making minor repairs is much more
likely. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if iPhone has been better than
Fairphone up to now, for these reasons, although Fairphone is working with
excellent long term ambitions which we should all support.

------
lubblig
Not sure if I'm missing something but I'm unable to have the phone shipped to
Sweden. According to this support article however they do ship to Sweden:
[https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-
us/articles/202005103-Wh...](https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-
us/articles/202005103-Where-do-you-sell-and-ship-Fairphone-products-to-)

------
5etho
Great news! I hope fairphone will last to the day me and my company will be
able to afford them to me and all my future staff :)

------
eptcyka
This needs GrapheneOS support - does it provide the hardware security features
that GrapheneOS requires?

------
Tepix
I hope there will be a supported version of Android without Google services
for this phone.

~~~
giomasce
Isn't LineageOS what you are looking for? You can take with or without Google
bloatware. It is available and regularly updated for FP2, where I use it.

~~~
dmm
LineageOS for the FP2 is no longer supported:
[https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/FP2](https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/FP2)

~~~
Fnoord
Yes, it is. I don't know why that page says that, but I am running it right
now (with microG), and I get weekly updates. Other people are running the non-
microG version just fine. One caveat: you're running on weekly snapshots, and
these might break. Currently the last known working version of the previous
snapshot. The current one (from ~28 August) is broken.

~~~
dmm
It may still have builds but it doesn't have a maintainer.

"If the maintainer is no longer working on it, and it's a 15.1 device (RMN4
is), then it will almost certainly be dropped from the build roster
eventually."

[0]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/auymfy/what_happ...](https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/auymfy/what_happens_when_a_device_is_no_longer/)

~~~
Fnoord
It has a maintainer: chrmhoffmann. The builds get updated every week.

~~~
dmm
That's weird. The wayback machine suggests that the page was updated to remove
his name... today. I'm not sure what's going on.

[https://web.archive.org/web/20190827190701/https://wiki.line...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190827190701/https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/FP2)

~~~
Fnoord
He just posted on the Fairphone forums that he was on a business trip and
vacation. New builds have been pushed for LineageOS and LOS + microG.

------
mcv
My Fairphone 2 recently broke down and I was disappointed there was no
Fairphone 3, or better yet, an upgraded core module for my Fairphone 2. This
launch comes just a bit too late for me, because I ended up getting a OnePlus
7.

------
puranjay
Just an aside: the header image on the FairPhone homepage is nearly 750kb.

Why do companies feel the need to add such bloated images to their homepages
even when the image adds nothing to the user experience?

~~~
Majestic121
I don't think it's about a need to add bloated images, it's actually reverse :
putting the full unoptimized version of an image is the default, and they
don't take the time to improve this because they don't feel the need to (or
they may have other things priorised)

~~~
puranjay
Regardless of whether they feel the need to or not, it makes for a bad user-
experience. Not everyone is using broadband. Running the image through a basic
compression tool reduces the size by nearly 350kb.

------
dxxvi
> $450 for a phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 632, huge top and bottom bezels?
> To me, a Chinese moto phone is more reasonable (as I don't have any
> important info on it).

~~~
Fnoord
For you it might be more reasonable. For the people who assembled that Chinese
moto phone, and the Earth? Definitely not.

------
diydsp
if there's a ruggedized, otterbox-like case, I'll do it! All of my phones have
been subjected to harsh physical treatment. I'm wearing out my otterbox :)

