this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025
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The Fairphone 5 price has been dropped to €499. The phone is designed to be the most advanced environmentally friendly smartphone. (shop.fairphone.com)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by dwazou@jlai.lu to c/technology@lemmy.world
362 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I don't like smartphones. I use a dumbphone.

But this is a wonderful initiative.

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[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 56 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I wish they could implement the parts of the Pixel phones that allow GrapheneOS to be used.

[–] Tangent5280@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (2 children)

What parts are these? I've always wondered what this was about, why the pixel was the only phone that could support GrapheneOS

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The last I looked was that the Pixel was the only phone that allowed you to load a custom rom and relock the bootloader. Other phones kept the bootloader unlocked once it was modded.

So, graphene could be put on those phones if the devs wanted to do it, but it would be less secure since the bootloader would remain unlocked.

Also, supporting a small line a phones is probably infinitely easier than a range, of devices, but it would be nice to have another option. Especially now that the Fairphone pice is reasonable.

[–] baduhai@sopuli.xyz 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The last I looked was that the Pixel was the only phone that allowed you to load a custom rom and relock the bootloader. Other phones kept the bootloader unlocked once it was modded.

That is not the case. SHIFTmq, Motorola and Fairphone allow the bootloader to be relocked with a custom rom. There are many requirements the Fairphone lacks for GrapheneOS, but relocking the bootloader is not one of them.

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 days ago

Thanks! I guess what I read before was either old or just wrong.

[–] Prism@feddit.org 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The Fairphone can be locked after flashing a custom rom. /e/-OS is officially supported. You can even buy it from them with /e/ preinstalled. iode-OS also works. I don't know about Graphene OS, but tbh, I don't see the benefit of Graphene OS for the average user. /e/ has built in privacy features, is google-free and runs MicroG as alternative to Google Play Services. Most apps run fine. You can even use your apps that you purchased from the PlayStore.

I've been using Fairphone 5 with /e/-OS for over a year and love it.

[–] Luffy879@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 week ago (3 children)

/e/ has built in privacy features

/e/ uses a for profit 3rd party for unencrypted backups. That alone should be a big red flag.

is google-free and runs MicroG

So it runs google. MicroG just limits what data is sent to google.

You can even use your apps that you purchased from the PlayStore.

You can do the same with aurora store. That's available on just about every phone.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

You can do the same with aurora store. That's available on just about every phone.

not if the app attempts to verify its license through the play store. you need microg for that, or patch it

[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Well even graphene os still runs a version of Android. So there is still some goggle code in that. But ripping oit google play, amd various goggle services means goggle doesn't track you with those. Yeah if you still ise gmail and log into toutube every day they will.

[–] Luffy879@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 week ago

there is still some goggle code in that.

But that code is open source, and it has been verified that it dosent track you.

[–] Prism@feddit.org -3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It a perfectly usable Android for the average user. Everything works out of the boy. If it is not for you, fine. Buy a Pixel.

[–] Luffy879@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

for the average user.

So we are talking about an average user, who

  • fully understands the appeal of a degoogled Phone
  • Willingly spends extra money for a fairphone
  • is able to migrate away from google services to /e/'s services
  • Is willing and able to troubleshoot any problems that MicroG has
  • is willing to fix not working banking apps
  • but somehow can't use a simple web installer from Calyx

Tell me, is this average user in the room with us right now?

Everything works out of the boy.

So does (and does not) with Calix or Graphene

Buy a Pixel.

I think you don't get what I'm talking about.

-It takes a base level of understanding why you would buy a Fairphone (or any degoogled phone)

  • it takes a base level of understanding phones to be able to use a degoogled one
  • If you already have that knowledge, you might as well just take an extra 5 minutes and use the web installer for calyx since it is literally the same AND has less vendor lockin than /e/

Edit: You want an average user friendly ROM? Just use Lineage for gods sake.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 days ago

Exactly. Even if I wanted /e/, I would re-flash when I got it, because the reason I want /e/ is because I don't trust the OEM.

It's the same way with desktops, I see zero value in buying a laptop w/ Linux pre-installed because I'm just going to reinstall when I get it anyway.

[–] sudneo@lemm.ee 1 points 6 days ago

In 4 years I have never (and will never) used any service from /e/. There is no vendor lock whatsoever. That's fully optional.

Points 3, 4 and 5 in your list are moot IMHO.

Also

It takes a base level of understanding why you would buy a Fairphone

It doesn't really. "Phone is repairable and X can help me", "they pay the makers fair wages" are not really complex value propositions that require some (technical) understanding.

The point of /e/ and similar distributions is that you can buy a phone with it (average user will never reflash) and just have a phone that doesn't use Google (it does, for the amount that doesn't require you to do extra technical stuff and have a sane user experience at the same time).

That said, calyx seems a great alternative and so are iode. I think the advantages of one over the other (for my brief search) are quite small.

[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

e-OS is said to have the worst security of pretty much all Android distributions. Dunno if this is a fact, but apparently the upgrade schedules are not great.

[–] Prism@feddit.org 2 points 1 week ago

They are usually a month behind

[–] MicKet@swiss.social 11 points 1 week ago

@vga @Tangent5280

https://www.kuketz-blog.de/weshalb-grapheneos-aktuell-nur-google-pixel-geraete-unterstuetzt/

(From an Interview - The relevant parts are in English)

Security seems not easy.

[–] Luffy879@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I mean, you could use CalyxOS

It dosent have such things as 2 factor pin auth for fingerprint, but its the closest to Graphene

[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Not quite the same. The big thing with GrapheneOS is it can run the actual Google services, but sandboxed. Organic Maps is better than Google Maps in everyway, but it's routes are so much worse because it has no traffic into to go on. It's an anticompetitive network effect, but it's hard to fight without law makers.

Edit: Ok, it is good, but the main thing I like about is the maps can be setup to be as good as ones you'd manually navigate by. A bit like UK's Ordnance Survey maps.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Organic Maps is better than Google Maps in everyway

It's really not, here are a few more:

  • no reviews for businesses - that's a huge reason people use Maps
  • you have to manually download maps you want to see, and repeat w/ every update
  • lots of missing info, especially where I live, and especially businesses
  • no satellite images or street view - OSM has it though

That said, I use Organic Maps almost exclusively, and I put in the time to add missing info where I can. I've probably added hundreds of places for my area. Basically, when I go somewhere new, if it's not in OSM, I take a few pictures and add the place when I get home, and I'll put in the effort to enter hours, phone number, etc from their website. It's a pain, but hopefully someone down the line appreciates that.

All of that info exists in GM though, so the only reason for me to use OM is stubbornness. OM is fantastic, but it's hardly "better than Google Maps in every way," in fact it's probably worse in most ways. However, I prefer it and will keep using it because I refuse to use Google services.

[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 2 points 5 days ago

Ok, I accept all that, but the maps just are better to me. I grew up with the UK Ordnance Survey maps, and that's kind of what I want from my maps.

I'll amend.