Fairphone 5 sets a new standard with 8-10 years of Android support and a 5-year warranty

Fairphone is not trying to compete on bleeding edge specifications. It can be more likened to a mid-range phone, with long support, ethically sourced components, and easily repairable (screwed not glued) modules. For example, you could swap out the main 50MP camera for $75.50 (if that can be upgraded say after a few years, that would be really great!).

It has all the essentials though like Wi-Fi 6E, NFC, sub-6 GHz 5G support, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, dual 50-megapixel cameras, a 90Hz OLED display, a side fingerprint reader, and a normal-sounding modem, DSP, ISP, and AI engine.

The IP55 rating for dust and water resistance does not worry me too much, as I’ve never had need of more than this in over two decades of carrying mobile phones. I have, though, had major pains trying to replace the glued in battery of my Nexus 6P phone. I do anyway fully insure my phone against all-risks.

What is really interesting though, and we’ve heard this before from Fairphone, is that modern consumer phone OS support is often limited by Qualcomm (or other SoC vendor), as Qualcomm must continually adapt Android updates to work with their chips. Fairphone has got partly around this limitation by employing an industrial grade Qualcomm chip instead of the usual consumer version, which has shorter support by Qualcomm.

Although the camera is not going to be as good as my Galaxy S23 Ultra, I’d be quite interested to see if my banking apps would work with this phone. The reason is my banking apps (well one of them at least) has very stringent security requirements which I remember excluded the use of my rooted Pixel 2 XL phone (even the Magisk cloaking could not hide the root status from the banking app). I think the bank also mandates the use of its official app from the Google Play Store too (and this is used for photo verification as well as website 2FA logins for me). The Fairphone does come with its own Fairphone OS, but it does seem you can get that with, or without, the Google Apps. If you can get by without the Google Apps, then this won’t be any problem, but if you have to have the official app from the app store then you may want to be sure this will all work fine.

See https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/fairphone-5-sets-a-new-standard-with-8-10-years-of-android-support/
#Blog, #Fairphone, #repairability, #technology

Man open-sources the self-repairable AirPods Pro case that Apple won’t make

Consumer tech has faced scrutiny over the years around “planned obsolescence”: making devices so difficult to repair that shoppers have to buy new products and toss devices sooner than they’d like. Now, one do-it-yourself-er is on a mission to prove that it doesn’t have to be this way. And he’s starting with the (original) Apple AirPods Pro.

Today, the technologist revealed his latest concoction: an AirPods Pro case with a user-replaceable battery, USB-C port, and open source designs.

Now if only this could be done for the actual AirPods!

See https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/man-open-sources-the-self-repairable-airpods-pro-case-that-apple-wont-make/
#Blog, #AirPods, #opensource, #repairability, #technology

Logitech partners with iFixit for self-repairs

Official spare parts, batteries, and repair guides for select Logitech hardware will be available through iFixit starting ‘this summer.’ I imagine that is the Northern Hemisphere Summer.

This is good news though, as Logitech is widely used (and often voted as number one in popularity in South Africa), and especially by Linux users for its good cross-OS compatibility.

See https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/17/23726681/logitech-ifixit-self-repair-program-announcement-mx-master-anywhere
#Blog, #iFixit, #logitech, #repairability, #technology

Dave2D has thoughts on the Framework modular laptop - https://youtu.be/jmgBwMHpP1w

FIRST: I love the Framework repairability/disassemble-ability/modularity concept. I agree with Dave on that. Now with that out of the way, to Dave's question about my thoughts, what could Framework do to maybe better their chance in the market:

Maybe Framework can design a cheaper device, heck use the same chassis if they like, and fit in an Atom/Pentium-M processor, 4GBs of DDR4 RAM, a 256GB eMMC, have two expansion ports instead of four, and then sell it at Netbook prices...

Maybe not even a Pentium-M motherboard; how about a Raspberry Pi, or something Arduino-based.

Scrounge up some contracts with elementary or junior-high schools... Just to get the volume pricing for the modular parts... And maybe even prepare an upgrade path for the "netbook" packages, where you can upgrade the internals into a "real", "competent/usable" laptop...

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More details on the Framework laptop: https://frame.work/

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#RightToRepair #PlannedObsolescence #Repairability #Modularity #ConsumerElectronics #Laptop #Konsumtivisme / #fz_webVideos

#iFixit #CEO names and shames tech giants for right to #repair obstruction

Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/ifixit-ceo-names-and-shames-tech-giants-for-right-to-repair-obstruction

"California #Apple stops providing service after seven years, so this was at seven years and Apple have warehouses full of spare parts, and rather than selling that out in the marketplace -- so someone like me who eagerly would've bought them -- they were paying the recycler to destroy them," Wiens said.

...

Weins also pointed to an example involving a #Microsoft #Surface laptop.

"[iFixit] rated it on our #repairability score, we normally rate products from one to 10; the Surface laptop got a zero. It had a glued-in battery … we had to actually cut our way into the product and destroyed it in the process of trying to get inside," he said.

#economy #politics #fail #news #environment #finance #money #capitalism

iFixit CEO names and shames tech giants for right to repair obstruction | ZDNet

iFixit chief Kyle Wiens claims Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft are monopolising the supply chain and designing products to prevent users from being able to easily repair them.