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I was/am definitely considering fairphone as a full european alternative, however it seems they are also plagued by support issues and delays and pixels are still the best way to go, unfortunately.
Imean my fp4 has ubuntu touch on it, still sad to see
I realize that I'm an asshole for telling them what to do but here's what they need to do: They should drop all development of their own Android and put significant resources to making their next phone work with GrapheneOS.
That would make their already very expensive phone even more expensive, if it were even possible at all.
That problem with that is the Graphene devs
Probably better to make something for the general population. If nothing else maybe work with Calyx OS or /e/os
No, the hardware of Fairphones lacks certain security features.
Agreed. Graphene is a fantastic product, but the devs are absolutely insufferable.
I'd heard about it as a secure, pro privacy ROM but never used it since it's not available on my current device. But after seeing their attitude on some forums, it honestly put me right off ever wanting to try Graphene OS.
I'm glad it's not just me
Even ignoring that I tried graphene but even as a tech person it was off putting. Calyx in contrast has a nice blend of usability and security imo.
I wanted to like graphene and it's far superior in security but just so much less usable IMO. I'd rather move to a Linux phone at that point.
What do you mean by "much less usable"? It's pretty much AOSP in terms of the UX, for better or worse.
Graphene doesn't support MicroG which is a deal breaker for me
Well apparently their "approach" is to run sandboxed Google play. Now whether that is better than microg with its more anonymous nature but higher permission level, idk.
But that locks you into Google play and using an account of some sort rather than just using Aurora. From what I remember anyhow, especially when trying to use seedvault since graphene has no backup solution of its own even years after saying seedvault isn't great.
That'd make them even more of a niche option than right now, since some apps (most notably banking) will just refuse to work.
By working with the real hardware vendor, they could apply for the certification, thus making the apps requiring the useless stamp from google work again.
Well, except for those apps that specifically tries to blacklist graphene. Looking at you, Revolut!
Banking apps generally speaking work, it's the NFC payments via google pay that don't and probably never will.
Most of them work fine. Typically don't have to even enable compatibility mode.
Although Google's new Play Integrity API is breaking more apps every day.
On the contrary; many people want GrapheneOS but don't want a Google phone.
What most people don't seem to understand is that every Android phone is a Google phone unless you go through the degooglification.
I would (and did) just use Apple phones if it weren't for GrapheneOS.
Define most people
Lemmy isn't exactly a great representation of the general populous
I said many
Many do, and many want something else. Personally the uncertainty around banking apps working is what keeps me away from GrapheneOS.
Well, mine work. I haven't found a single app that doesn't.
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Have been waiting 50 days so far for a response to my ticket about a basically unusable Fairphone 4. Save to say I will never be buying from them again and actively recommend against doing so.
I would call one week slow already, but almost 2 months with no response yet? How did they even end up in this situation? I can't believe there's a sudden spike in support requests.
You have the patience of a saint.
That ticket is never going to get responded to. Make another one, and if they don't answer within 3 days, start blowing up their phones.
I wanted to get an fp5, but all I have heard is fuck up after fuck up from fairphone.
Headphone jack removal, selling shit earbuds with "repairability" that they pull from the market (and support) a year after launch, CEO being an asshole publicly, android auto not working well, months long bad bugs, severe update delays, antennas being pretty bad overall, and now literally nonexistent support.
I almost feel like in 5-10 years it will come out that this whole time they literally have just been lying about their sustainability practices and paying factory workers fair wages just to sell for a higher price.
Have you tried using the support chat?
At least for me this helped to cut response time for the warranty replacement of a part way down.
It only being open 6 hours a week, and only during working hours makes things a little difficult.
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This is pretty sad to hear. Fairphone was next on my list of phones to try when my current phone gets too old. With the US boycott, I might have to go back to Samsung, but I hate the bloat.
why would you choose samsung, of all?
If you are looking for a device smaller than 155mm from at least 2023, you can choose between
- Google (subpar hardware)
- Xiaomi (don't allow third-party launchers)
- Motorola Edge 50 Neo (subpar chipset)
- Sony (overpriced)
- Samsung
https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2023&nHeightMax=155&nRamMin=6000&idOS=2
Edit: Xiaomi allows third-party lauchers but blocks gestures navigation.
xiaomi doesn't allow third party launchers anymore?? what a shitty change. since when is that?
also, I would rather have "subpar" hardware and a decent OS than trendy hardware and all the bloat and datamining of the world. but that honestly excludes most phones.
To be precise, Xiaomi OS allows you to change launchers, but you can't use navigation gestures with them, you have to use the 3-buttons. It's a deal breaker for quite a few people, and it's a shame, because besides that the phones are great on paper.
The decision between the hardware and the OS is personal. I got a S23 recently because I wanted a smaller phone, it's great so far.
I considered Pixels for a while, but on top of the subpar hardware the fact that you can't remove the Google search bar from the Pixel launcher is still crazy to me.
I've had a Motorola 30 Fusion for a while, it's a great device. If the Edge 50 Neo had a better chipset, that would have been my go-to.
you can't remove the Google search bar from the Pixel launcher is still crazy to me.
yeah that's crazy, but it's relatively easy to fix compared to deep rooted bloat and whatnot in the system. the pixels even have good support for some alt ROMs, that can't be told about most samsungs, so you are basically forced to use their software
I unbloated the S23 quite quickly, it's not as bad as I thought it would be.
Pixels have indeed good support for alt ROMS (the grapheneOS support almost made me get one), but the battery issue seem to happen quite often:
https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/1jorwd3/battery_megathread_april_2025/mnybfar/
After about 13 years of experience with a lot of Android phones, I'm never buying anything other than Google Pixels again. Every other manufacturer just fucks up the software so badly I can't deal with it.
And no this is not an ad, I hate the state of Android atm, but it is what it is.
To each their own. My main issues with Google is the subpar chipset and the short battery life. Also the fact that you can't remove the Google search bar from the Pixel launcher.
https://www.androidpolice.com/google-pixel-9-needs-great-battery-life/
https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/1jorwd3/battery_megathread_april_2025/mnybfar/
You can change the Google Search bar to another search engine, at least in Europe. You can't remove it entirely, but I just tried it and I can set it to DuckDuckGo
To each their own, but not being able to just remove it just seems weird to me.
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this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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