Honestly quite the downgrade in some departments imo. You cant swap the battery without a screwdriver anymore (was great for hiking with a secondary battery) and no USB3 which also means no DP over USBC.
I was reading that actually this change helped make the phone thinner and lighter, and they used a softer battery instead of the old one with a hard shell, so it was definitely a compromise.
cant swap the battery without a screwdriver anymore
The horror. Imagine using any other phone where you can’t take the battery out at all (at least until 2027 when all phones will be forced to have removable batteries).
I think Fairphone has bigger contentions to deal with than having to use a screwdriver.
I lost a motorola battery off a cliff I wasn’t even standing particularly near once while attempting a battery swap… I suppose I succeeded at swapping the battery at least.
Old phones were like this! It was super easy to replace screens, batteries, etc. on smartphones 10 years ago. Then everything became glued, sealed, and enshittified.
Such a cool phone. We need more like this.
… With a 3.5mm audio jack.
It’s what every phone should have to be like.
Honestly quite the downgrade in some departments imo. You cant swap the battery without a screwdriver anymore (was great for hiking with a secondary battery) and no USB3 which also means no DP over USBC.
Actually to me that’s an improvement as my back plate, and thus my battery, has come loose causing the phone to sometimes turn off when it falls.
Stop dropping your phone then lol But yeah there is always a tradeoff i guess.
I was reading that actually this change helped make the phone thinner and lighter, and they used a softer battery instead of the old one with a hard shell, so it was definitely a compromise.
The horror. Imagine using any other phone where you can’t take the battery out at all (at least until 2027 when all phones will be forced to have removable batteries).
I think Fairphone has bigger contentions to deal with than having to use a screwdriver.
Comparing to most other smartphones, I agree with you.
But compared to previous Fairphones, this is a downgrade.
But yeah, there are other issues, like the USB downgrade, which is not great.
I lost a motorola battery off a cliff I wasn’t even standing particularly near once while attempting a battery swap… I suppose I succeeded at swapping the battery at least.
Old phones were like this! It was super easy to replace screens, batteries, etc. on smartphones 10 years ago. Then everything became glued, sealed, and enshittified.