It seems that Fairphone will finally end the Fairphone 3 (and 3+) support in August after 7 years.
I am still using my FP3+ daily - the only thing that has gone wrong with it was that I wore out the USB connector with cheap charging cables… so a new bottom connector (and a spare battery, just in case) and I’m all good again…
… which means, I might not be buying another phone for another couple of years yet, let’s see if it’ll make 10 years with LineageOS, etc!
I’m sure there’s other phones still chugging along…
The possibility to easily change the USB port definitely weight in the balance in favor of a fairphone when I picked a new phone.
Now two other members of my family have a fairphone 5 as well.
It was the replacable battery that originally convinced me to buy… I’d been using old Nokia’s previously and that “5 seconds to full charge” appeal of a 2nd battery was the tipping point for me.
What are You people doing with your phones? I don’t have the most recent phone and some active apps on and don’t run out until I am going to bed.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for repairability but don’t really see the need for swappable. Unless privacy reasons of course.
It does depend on my day… sometimes I’m travelling, using route navigation whilst listening to my music over bluetooth all miles away from the nearest phone mast.
Sometimes I don’t leave the house…
A replacable battery is also smaller, cheaper and easier than a powerbank too. So it’s all win:win.
Repairability.
That’s not what I understand under repairable. A non swappable battery can be changed by opening the phone in a reasonably manner. If that is not possible then I don’t call it reparable.
Taking the back of and putting in a new battery on the fly is something else to me.
No, a non-swappable battery is most often soldered and glued, and the case is also not easily openable. Popping off the cover and swap the battery with another is a demonstration of repairability.
Depends on your use case.
I only buy phones that have a non soldered connection and the case can be (with reasonable effort) opened.
Yes, phones with a bad repairability score are shit. But a phone without a shell that can be easily opened doesnt necessarily mean that it has a bad repairability score.
As I said in other comments: it’s a matter of preference. For me the pros of a closed phone outweigh the cons. For you it obviously is different.
I’d say having a swappable battery is way more reasonable, hence, more repairable.
Yes it’s convenient regarding fast switches.
It isn’t regarding dropping the phone (my shell always went flying)
Or waterproofing (extra ingress possibilities)
Or build optimization (extra structural components to hold the shell, hence more material and thickness)
But it’s a preference and it’s okay if You like it that way and the pros outweigh the cons. :)
I get your point.
I also get that non-removable tends to be the i’ll cling to this board with my life variant, involving weird shapes and lots of glue, so… perhaps a middle ground?
Yep, middle ground sounds good. And it has gotten better since the early Smartphone days. Honestly, tht pulltabs to remove the adhesive from under the battery are fantastic compared to the glue before that. I burned my house down. Or I should have with two batteries on fire.