4 ms·
Looks like durability is exactly the reason, though not necessarily of the headphones, but of the phone itself: > A notable downside compared to previous Fairp
by Vinnl 5y ago
Looks like durability is exactly the reason, though not necessarily of the headphones, but of the phone itself:
> A notable downside compared to previous Fairphones is that the Fairphone 4 no longer includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, a choice that feels at odds with the company’s otherwise customer-first approach. Fairphone tells me it made this decision in order to be able to offer an official IP rating for dust and water resistance, which was missing from the company’s previous phones. It’s only IP54, which means it’s protected from light splashes rather than full submersion, but that’s impressive in light of its removable rear cover and modular design.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/30/22700014/fairphone-4-release-date-news-features-warranty-price-sustainable https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/30/22700014/fairphone-4-rele...
- HelixEndeavor 5y agoSo a headphone jack is an ingress point, but the charging jack isn't?
- Godel_unicode 5y agoIt's not that they can't seal an ingress point so much as that every one they do adds cost and complexity.
- HelixEndeavor 5y agoThe phone is already wildly overpriced as is for its specs. By default your market is already restricted to niche enthusiasts. Sacrifices like this make zero sense once you're already at this stage. "The most fair-trade and repairable phone you can't plug headphones into" isn't the nicest selling point.
- BenjiWiebe 5y agoInteresting because my Samsung Galaxy S5 has a rating of IP67, and it has a 3.5mm jack.
- ch4s3 5y agoCan you easily disassemble the Samsung Galaxy S5?
- capitainenemo 5y agoI have a Samsung XCover Pro - it has a removable back, physical buttons, an impressive replaceable battery, a headphone jack... and an IP68 rating. It's probably not as repairable as the the fairphone, but clearly it's possible to be waterproof with a removable back/battery and a jack.
- ch4s3 5y agoI'd imagine a little glue helps ;)
- nikau 5y agoIt was very easy to take apart as it just used same size Philips screws. Replacing cracked glass was hard as you had to soften glue and required a uv curing glue to attach the replacement, but would assume the fairphone treats the digitizer screen and front glass as a single replacement assembly also.
- Vinnl 5y agoI think that's why the quote ends with > that’s impressive in light of its removable rear cover and modular design.
- meragrin_ 5y agoFairphone says it had to nix the jack to get IP54. If another phone can include the jack and get a much better rating, it goes to show that Fairphone is not telling the whole story. The 3.5mm jack was nixed for reasons other than IP rating.
- Vinnl 5y agoI feel like I'm just restating my parent comment, but Fairphone has the rating while being user-repairable. Not being glued shut is what makes it more challenging to get that rating, as I understand it. (In the live stream they also mentioned that a headphone jack would make the phone bigger still. And also that they had a lot of back-and-forth on it - I don't know why you would attribute this to malice rather than a balancing of constraints.)
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoHad this problem woth headphones, but not earbuds. I now only buy headphones with replaceable cables to avoid this problem