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Fairphone 5 - The Ars Technica Review
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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With no headphone jack thats gonna be a no for me dawg. How can they promote sustainability and then design a product that is going to be unusable in 5 years max. That's just the reality of all wireless headphones. The battery will fail to hold charge and they will become useless. Not the truth for wired headphones. Goodwired headphones will last as long as you're able to take care of them usually
Edit: if anyone could give me one good real reason to remove the headphone jack? It's not about the alternatives it's why remove it in the first place? And the space saving aspect of it has long been debunked.
I switched to using wireless headphones a good decade ago and I've never had a set die die to the battery going.
I've had plenty of wired headphones die bectthr cable became frayed or loose though.
I am still surprised at the lack of a headphone jack in the Fairphone, but I don't agree that wireless devices are somehow more prone to becoming e-waste.
How are they not going to become e-waste? At some point the battery will die. And more people will just throw those out then they will recycle them. The Bluetooth codec on the set will get outdated. I have old wireless Bluetooth speakers that are completely "useless" now because of the battery and old Bluetooth codec which doesn't work with modern phones. But damn if I still can't plug into their headphones Jack and use them while they're powered from the wall. If you look up the average lifespan of wireless earbuds you get answers anywhere from 1 to 5 years lol. I have a pair of headphones from the 90's that work great. I have another pair older than me.
Just because regular headphones don't have as much electronics in them doesn't mean they don't contribute to e-waste as well. That's what I am driving at, cheap headphones will die quickly and most people don't bother repairing them. The same will happen to cheap wireless headphones. However, good quality ones will last and an often misses benefit of wireless headphones is that there's a lot less wear on them.
The comments about the battery eventually dying may well be correct, but honestly the batteries last plenty long. It's not like they stop working, they just lose capacity over time. All I'm saying is that the battery "dying" is not the big contributor to e-waste that it's purported to be.
The answer to this problem is better wireless headphones
Because what lithium ion battery last forever? They're well degraded after a few years.
So stop using electronics? We’re talking about a phone with its own batteries. I understand your point but Fairphone can’t solve every sustainability and e-waste problem with a single device. Not buying this phone, assuming you buy a different, less sustainable phone, is a net negative.
The phone has a removable battery. Not one that you need to break the device apart and unsolder everything to get to it, like almost all headphones.
Again, this is an argument for better headphones.
Well tell that to Fairphone, they're only selling shitty e-waste ones instead of providing a headphone jack.
But do let me know who is making in-ear earphones with a removable battery. Not massive over the head cows. Portable earphones.
For those buy a dongle. This is not a reason to force a headphone jack on every phone. If it were a modular option, sure who cares. But “every phone needs a jack so some people don’t have to use alternatives” isn’t a good point
Right, so when we're saying that it was wrong of the company that sells their products on the promise of sustainability and compatibility, to remove their headphones jack and sell shitty ewaste earbuds instead, we're totally saying that every phone in the world needs a headphone jack.
Also funny how quickly we went from "you can get headphones with AAA batteries" to "use a dongle".
If only there was some simple solution that has worked for decades, has zero downsides and costs almost nothing to implement. If only!
You moved the goal posts. The original complaint was about wireless headphones. Now it’s about wired ear buds. If you dig hard enough you can be mad about anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s important.
Ok sir, only what you say is important is actually important. Got it. Bye.
They could create less e-waste by including a headphone jack and not removing it cause they wanna sell their own wireless headphones. Its a simple money move. And I don't wanna support a company like that even if in theory their message is just.
It’s also in keeping with the entire industry. “I don’t want to use a USB-C dongle” isn’t a principled stance
I've made plenty of other good points for why the headphone jack should be still included.
You’ve certainly made plenty of points about it
So use a AAA or something like my old pair did. We just need better Bluetooth headphones.
So buy a DAC with mini jack adapter and call it a day then?
Oh joy something else i need in my pocket.
You created the need, not the manufacturer, not me, not your mamma YOU DID. And you can still get phones with a headphone jack your just pissy every phone doesn't come with one.
Get the fuck over yourself.
The manufacturer absolutely created the need to have a dongle by removing the headphone jack. Give me one good reason and a good reason to remove it?
I don't know how you use your headphones, but in my case I switched to wireless because every single pair of wired headphones I had would break. Usually the cable, earbuds because they were in my pocket, and the overhead ones I'd drive over with my office chair.
Switched to wireless a couple years ago, no issues since then.
It's cuz you don't put them in a protective case every time like you do with wireless earbuds. If you took the same care to wrap them up and properly protect them every single time before you put them away which takes like three more seconds than wireless earbuds they would last just as long.
It's not the same care though. Wireless earbuds come with a box. For regular ones, I'd have to make a suitable box, and also carefully roll the cables every time.
A lot of wired earbuds especially if you're willing to spend the kind of money you would spend on wireless earbuds come with very nice carrying cases. For cheapos there's really cheap like silicone wraps that are super easy to use. It's a little piece of silicone with a few little cutouts that makes wrapping the headphones really easy and keeps them relatively protected and tangle free. I put headphones on it every day for years and they've kept just as well as the ones with the fancy carry cases. In any case you can get much better sounding wired headphones plus the cheap carrying case for cheaper than any just as good wireless headset out there . And even if you're not looking for a deal out of wired headphones. There is always a better fidelity over the microphone and sound quality than most wireless earbuds in my experience. Especially if you're spending the same kind of money you are on wireless earbuds. And the only inconvenience comes at the lack of a headphone port. Putting them away is not this hassle people make it to be. There is a convenience of seconds with wireless earbuds.
Wired Earbuds or Headphones? Most wired earbuds are crap, so it makes sense to use Bluetooth. Wired Headphones should not break. I don't want to argue with your experiences, but I have never seen headphones break. I used a pair for seven years, and only stopped using it wasn't worth it to buy new pads (the headphones cost $20, pads $10).
I've had plenty of cables on wired headphones die, and if the headphones don't have removable cables, that's it for them (unless you can solder on new cables, but you could also argue that you can replace the battery of wireless headphones). I've had the cable of my Sennheisers break like 3 times so far and I've only had the headphones for a couple of years, luckily they can be replaced easily
I've gone through many pairs of headphones too, I've worked from home for years and had a long-distance relationship in a time before smartphones (and before cheap wireless headphones) so Skype+headphones was the solution. Both driving over them with an office chair and accidentally pulling them were real dangers and caused real damage.
Now I just don't use them anymore, since I have meetings on a company laptop, and the relationship is much closer.
Just leave one of these on your headphones and you'll never know the difference.
I don't want to. And I don't want to carry one around with me everywhere. I use several different types of wired headphones. Plus the convenience of being able to plug into basically any sound system is unmatched. Still plenty of cars that just use aux cords. Plenty of speaker systems that are easier to connect to with a headphone cord and sound better.
And my final point is there is no practical reason to remove it it is just as easy to waterproof and it does not take up that much space.
Yeah. I actually went from usb c only phone to one with a headphone jack again, and I've decided I'm not even considering devices without a headphone jack. The dongles suck from either a usability perspective or a software one, and they just add another point of failure rather than just using a very simple aux jack. I get why a lot of manufacturers stopped supporting them (it costs some money, and the dongle make them some), but it's still very, very dumb.
This is a case though where your other sound systems you guys are also trying to plug into are outdated. Because your phone is not among your outdated productsl, doesn't mean it's a manufacturers' fault. They are simply catering to the market.
Newer head units (stand alone audio sources) have Bluetooth and other connectivity features plus a jack anyways.
So because you're using outdated shit it's the phones fault? Let me ask you, so you think more devices in the future will have jacks or less? Answer: less. The sooner you change your equipment the less heartache you'll have.
Bluetooth gets outdated. A headphone jack does not. Bluetooth is constantly updating its codec so are phones. I have wireless speakers from 5 years ago that refuse to work because the Bluetooth version is too old.
I use a Bluetooth dac or just Bluetooth headphones most of the time. But occasionally, I have issues with battery life or Bluetooth and just want to use a headphone jack (a technology that is simple in part because it has been around for over a century in various iterations), and not having one is incredibly frustrating from a usability standpoint. I'm not projecting my issue with "using outdated shit, " I'm stating that I actually tried to move on, and when I went back (temporarily at first) the increase in usability was frankly notable.
Yeah man and they said that with the horse and buggy as well which had been around for thousands of years, and DVD and laser disk, and mp3's and jet flight.
Yeah, there's still a niche if you're wanting to "win" your argument. But you may as well shout at the wall.
Manufacturers don't care about your niche use cases especially since arguably better alternatives have come about.
It's not. There's no reason why headphone jacks would be outdated. They carry an analog signal to drive the headphones. With a dongle, you're just converting that signal from USB-C. USB-C headphones carry the exact same signal and bluetooth is garbage for audio quality. 3.55mm TRS is the de facto standard for headphones in the consumer market. It really doesn't get any simpler or cheaper.
I'm with you. Guess what sometimes I have a call and my Bluetooth buds are charging or not in the same room. Guess what I have connected to my computer? A headset. Guess what isn't easily plugged into my phone! This headset! I've had dongles die on me too man.
I hate that all phones have removed them. Screw Apple for this trend. I wish Apple had the balls and removed them from the laptops too. Would have loved to see that backlash.
Based on the responses people are too ignorant for that to ever happen.
I rather enjoy all the people telling you that your use case is invalid because of inferior compromised solutions available.
There are a bunch of people who express a strong preference for a feature, don't invalidate peoples requirements.
Doesn't matter if that feature is something you use personally or not.
What this does indicate is there is demand in the market for a GrapheneOS/CalyxOS phone with a headphone jack. This is why I'm running a Pixel 5a still!
I too still have pixel 5a. Glad somebody gets that every "solution" has been vastly inferior to just a headphone jack
I use bluetooth headset when i'm at home to watch videos, but if i take a call, i plug in my wired headphones to get reliability and clarity. When i go out into the city I only have a pair of wired headphones in my man purse.
I'm multimodal and I like it!
Nothing is worse then being on a group chat and somebody is fighting their bluetooth with extra delays or scratchy audio... I dont want to be that guy
USB DACs are quite small now. I don't mind having to plug mine into my phone to use wired headphones.
I refuse to buy a phone without a headphone jack but in my experience wired earbuds last about 9 months while my cheap JBL 110bt bluetooth buds are still going strong after more than 5 years of almost daily use. The battery still lasts about 7 hours.
Yeah, if you use earbuds, Bluetooth is so much better. I don't know why wired earbuds are so garbage, but I had two die in three years. My headphones still work after seven, but the pads are worn off, so I stopped using them