Android

Think of new phone models as refreshes for people in the market at the time, rather than something you need to get. If you have a good phone from the last 5 years or so, you are not missing out on anything.

Can always sell. It's an upgrade to somebody.

Also, imo, it's a huge miss when marketing for less e waste

Sony Xperia devices have audio jacks + good support for custom ROMs usually. They don't have the Fairphone bits of repairability and modularity though.

Fairphone is not about the latest tech. They tend to go for well-supported hardware to ensure longterm support.

They're also not meant to be flagship phones. These specs are pretty common in midrange phones still (and also completely fine for the majority of people).

WiFi 6… okay. The radios are expensive, I get it.

USB 2.0 though? Not even 3?

That is just unacceptable. It is such a tremendous pain on base iPhones too, and why? To save a nickel?

How often and how much are you transferring to your phone via USB?

But we're just so free!

Why graphene specifically? Using Calyx on my FF4 currently.

The lack of a headphone jack was already a factor, but the usb 2.0 was the reason I ended up deciding to get a different phone.

Now if only we could get the headphone jack 😭

By pure chance, they released a wireless earbud product after removing the headphone jack. Just coincidence, really.

And then, they've come up with the silliest excuses for not having an audio jack. Truly silly excuses. They said it would take up too much space. Then they said it would reduce durability. Then they said it somehow reduced user choice and their freedom to use their phones as they want. And then they just said using their own dongle is better.

I really like the idea behind the fairbuds, and I was really considering buying a fairphone. But this whole audio jack debacle has made it clear that despite very wide pushback (that they themselves admit), they don't care about what users want and will prioritize profits.

It's kinda sad seeing such a cool sounding company have a meltdown over not wanting to add a simple audio jack. And it definitely has soured their image for me. I'm no longer considering their phones.

If you want a device with good custom ROM support + headphone jack, the Sony Xperia devices seem quite good. The Xperia 10 VII is a budget to midrangeish plastic fantastic 6.3" device (like the Fairphone) with the jack, microSD card slot, and support for LineageOS as well. You also have the Xperia 1 series, which also have good LineageOS support, but those devices are larger and more expensive (you do get better chip, cameras, etc. though), as well as the Xperia 5 line (more expensive, but not larger)

It does kind of suck that the Fairphone had the jack removed though, following the trend of other big companies doing the same. I think the only one still putting the headphone jack in all their devices is Sony's Xperia brand, and Motorola if you discount their Razr foldable.

Pretty sure the Bootloader in unlockable (at least they were in the past?) and support(ed) mainline Linux kernel for an actual Linux mobile OS.

Idk, to me that sounds way better than staying on a google device.