Fairphone 5 - The Ars Technica Review
Fairphone 5 - The Ars Technica Review
The Fairphone 5 will keep on trucking until at least 2031.
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Hate to be that person but no headphone jack for a sustainable phone?
There are headphones that use the USB port. Headphone jacks are kinda dead tech at this point.
I’ve gone through 3 of these on my iphone, they’re flimsy as hell
All headphones you plug in are.
I’ve never had a 3.5mm connector break on me. Those little lightning jacks though? You drop your phone once and it’s over. I can’t imagine USB C is any better
USBC is so much better though, never had one break on me ever.
Audio quality loss and latency are built into Bluetooth. Its only advantage is not having a wire.
I'm not talking about Bluetooth at all tho
Oh, you mean USB headphones? TBH, way overly complex compared to analog with (albeit negligible) audio quality loss, which still works with legacy tech going back decades. It's like arguing a bicycle is obsolete because motorcycles exist.
If bicycles and motorcycles competed for the exact same role, with an opportunity cost allowing only one, how would bicycles not be obsolete?
What a dumb analogy.
I didn't choose the analogy.
You did, because you're assuming that you can only choose one or the other. Even though it's been demonstrated that the headphone jack does not require much space, can even be added to phones that don't have it (check out Strange Parts on yt) and does not have any drawbacks.
That opportunity cost is not a thing.
If you can add it to a phone that doesn't have it already, I'm not sure what the problem is, in your view.
Dude. The only difference between a normal headphone with a 3.5mm jack and a "usb" headphone is that the latter needs to have its own dac/amp. Guess what? YOUR PHONE ALREADY HAS THAT. Usb headphones are more complex, more expensive and not guaranteed to work indefinitely.
Removing the jack makes 0 sense.
In my experience, 0 headphones are guaranteed to work indefinitely, and I've been using headphones jacks since like '87
The only problem I have ever had with headphones are pad/eartip degradation and cable issues. It's rare for the driver to fail.
That's in stark contrast to battery powered headphones, given thart batteries will 100% fail given a few years and they're (in most cases) not user replaceable.
At the bottom of your phone (probably? Idk like iPhones and shit), you have a USB-C (or some letter) port. There are headphones that plug in there.
They are no more battery powered than your phone.
Kind of shocked this isn't well known, as this is a tech forum.
Ok, then you're talking only about usb headphones.
If you have a dongle and it breaks, good luck fixing the cable. God forbid the dac is integrated to the headphone itself. Also, if the dac fails you're also sol. So yeah, I wouldn't call having a more expensive set up that's also more likely to fail and doesn't have any added benefits a good alternative.
This is all also true about traditional headphones jacks, which have failed quite often for me over the decades
My favorite headphones of all time failed in this way, and requires I have the jack in exactly the right spot/depth
I know it's a crutch, but there's always a USB-C to 3.5mm converter. There are some versions sold that still keep the charging port.
Then give me 2 usb c ports on the phone.i can compromise with that
Exactly. I don't care if it's 3.5mm or usb-c, it's the quantity of ports that matters.
My phone came with usb-c earphones.
Is that not an acceptable compromise?
Works fine for me.
No, because I own earphones and cables and don't want to create more waste if I can help it. Plus, I may want to connect the audio out to an existing stereo system, and plug it in to charge at the same time.
I appreciate that more cables equals more waste and inconvenience. But your situation is more than likely not an issue for the majority. The options are out there. The arguments from some in here that a usbc to Aux is easy to lose is subjective. I've never lost mine, and it's been just fine whenever I've needed it.
If you want something to connect your phone to a stereo whilst retaining the ability to charge then there are adapters that have an auc outpit and usbc input that can work as well as systems, like one called wiim, that you connect to your wifi and aux into your stereo/speakers that can play music from most wifi enabled devices losslessly. Both of these options would be fairly futureproof as they would work with any new phone, stereo/speakers, or other device, regardless of which you upgrade.
I know that it's another thing to add on and costs kore money, but frankly, being angry about the lack of aux outputs on phones isn't going to change anything.
You can either complain and achieve nothing or adapt and make any phone you choose to buy work for you and your specific needs.
If the audio output on this phone is the only concern you have, then i think it's a small price to pay to support the many aspects of this phone that prevent explotation of workers and sustainability of materials etc.
That's only one concern I have for this phone. The biggest concern is value to cost ratio. I'm willing to pay a premium for replaceable parts and longer support, but not if the design is substandard and the components are not there.