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Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

(www.androidcentral.com)
401 points Bluestein | 1 comments | 23 Jun 25 15:29 UTC | HN request time: 0.249s | source
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userbinator ◴[24 Jun 25 00:43 UTC] No.44361743[source]▶
When unscrewed, users are likely to be greeted with an option to remove the battery as well as it isn’t attached to the device with the help of glue but rather with additional screws.

What a horrible state of things that "not gluing the battery in place but screwing it in" is considered an improvement. IMHO smartphones have been on a horrible decline ever since ~2016. Before then, most Androids had [1] easily replaceable battery, no tools required at all; [2] microSD slot; [3] headphone jack; [4] (many) dual SIM; [5] (many cheaper models) easily rooted or unlocked by default. Now all we get are faster CPUs, more (non-expandable) storage, and far too many cameras.

There was also this memorable ad from Samsung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hIoyb9L5g0

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ben-schaaf ◴[24 Jun 25 03:47 UTC] No.44362689[source]▶
FairPhone used to be a manufacturer still doing the right things. My FP3 has all of that, including an official guide for unlocking the bootloader. At least they've kept their promises regarding updates, because I won't be buying their newer phones.
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userbinator ◴[24 Jun 25 04:12 UTC] No.44362799[source]▶
The original Fairphone was basically just a branded version of the generic common Android of the time (MT6589 reference design --- I have an unbranded one that looks very similar but with a better screen and cameras), so they were "doing the right things" like everyone else.

https://www.gizchina.com/2013/06/25/6-top-quad-core-mt6589-p...

There were tons of these little-known companies making very similar phones at the time. Unfortunately most of them disappeared within the next few years. Hence 2016 as the year I mentioned of when things started going downhill noticeably.

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1. Vinnl ◴[24 Jun 25 09:38 UTC] No.44364357[source]▶
Well, it also had more sustainably-sourced materials (both in terms of environment and labour conditions), and they provided their own open Google-free OS. But you're right that they truly started making progress from version 2 onwards. I'm still happy to have had the FP1 to enable that, though.