4 ms·

> stuck with pinephone or fairphone? What's wrong with these options?

by soperj 3y ago

Kirby64 3y ago
Compared to a pixel, they're budget phone specs missing some fundamental quality of life stuff that other phones have offered, usually for years. The fairphone 5 seems a bit closer to flagship specs, but it still clearly misses the mark and also seems priced at flagship levels. Pinephone is just a junk budget phone, although at least it's priced much lower.
- craftkiller 3y ago
  > The fairphone 5 [...] still clearly misses the mark How so? Comparing [1] and [2] shows the geekbench scores between the fairphone 5 and the pixel 7 are pretty similar. > missing some fundamental quality of life stuff that other phones have offered, usually for years I'd argue that statement is backwards: the non-mainstream phones have been offering quality of life stuff that the mainstream phones have abandoned years ago, namely user-expandable storage via microsd cards and user-replaceable battery. [1] https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/1891321 https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/1891321 [2] https://browser.geekbench.com/android_devices/google-pixel-7 https://browser.geekbench.com/android_devices/google-pixel-7
  - Kirby64 3y ago
    For Fairphone, you're comparing against a Pixel 7 - which is a last year phone. Compare against the Galaxy S23, which has a Geekbench score that is ~50% higher than the FP5. Compared to iPhones it's even worse. As per how they compare, reviews of the FP5 seem to say it has the following deficiencies: * Poor display - bad brightness, which hurts outdoor usability * Bad battery life, even considering the wimpy processor * Underwhelming performance, which will make it feel sluggish faster * Mediocre speaker performance * Mediocre cameras You're paying a whole lot, in my view, for something that has an easily replaceable battery... which is something you might do maybe once in the life of the device? If you're keeping a phone longer than 5-6 years, I suspect performance of the chipset is going to become a big issue. Additionally, with the bad battery life/performance already, it'll incentivize you to want to upgrade even sooner.
- soperj 3y ago
  > fundamental quality of life stuff As someone who used a Galaxy S3 for over a decade and has now "upgraded" to a friend's old S9, I can't understand this at all. What kind of quality of life stuff am I missing out on? I'm missing having a removable battery, but at least it has a sd card.
  - Kirby64 3y ago
    See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37615789 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37615789 In summary though, it's a phone that has 1-3 year old performance metrics at nearly-flagship pricing. I'd take a removable battery all things being equal, but it seems abundantly clear that FP5 would be making compromises in device performance compared to current flagships. That tradeoff just isn't worth it to me. Maybe it is to you.
criddell 3y ago
The cameras are way behind.
- vardump 3y ago
  I guess. But at least the cameras are not going to AI hallucinate non-existent details.
distract8901 3y ago
They're way, way too cheap and low-spec to even consider as a daily driver. I'd love to pay like $500 for a pinephone with hardware from 3-4 years ago.
- Zak 3y ago
  As someone still daily driving a Pixel 4A, I'm curious as to what people need from their phones that hardware from 3 years ago can't provide. Newer phones have better cameras, but otherwise it seems like they just do the same things a little bit faster. The value argument is valid of course, but much like PCs, major phone manufacturers get a lot of their profit from bundling crapware so it's inevitable for one that doesn't to cost more.
  - hef19898 3y ago
    I replaced my Pixel 2 XL only after I cracked the display twice and CalyxOS ended support. That, and a too good to refuse offer for Pixel 7 from my carrier. Still have the old one around as back up, as it works perfectly fine, as it did before.
  - seb1204 3y ago
    Aside from the camera which I use less and less I'm still happy with my OnePlus 7T from 2019 which I bought second hand. I did upgrade from a OnePlus 3T which I bought new in 2016.
- VyseofArcadia 3y ago
  The PinePhone, yes, but the FairPhone is keeping up. My FairPhone 4 is a great daily driver. Are you confusing the FairPhone with something else?
stonogo 3y ago
The pinephone is just not a contender. It still can't reliably wake up from sleep on an incoming call. The SMS subsystem gets 'stuck' and you stop getting messages. Nothing wrong with the fairphone, though, I've been happy with it.

> stuck with pinephone or fairphone? What's wrong with these options?

by soperj 3y ago

> stuck with pinephone or fairphone? What's wrong with these options?

Compared to a pixel, they're budget phone specs missing some fundamental quality of life stuff that other phones have offered, usually for years. The fairphone 5 seems a bit closer to flagship specs, but it still clearly misses the mark and also seems priced at flagship levels. Pinephone is just a junk budget phone, although at least it's priced much lower.

craftkiller 3y ago
> The fairphone 5 [...] still clearly misses the mark How so? Comparing [1] and [2] shows the geekbench scores between the fairphone 5 and the pixel 7 are pretty similar. > missing some fundamental quality of life stuff that other phones have offered, usually for years I'd argue that statement is backwards: the non-mainstream phones have been offering quality of life stuff that the mainstream phones have abandoned years ago, namely user-expandable storage via microsd cards and user-replaceable battery. [1] https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/1891321 https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/1891321 [2] https://browser.geekbench.com/android_devices/google-pixel-7 https://browser.geekbench.com/android_devices/google-pixel-7
- Kirby64 3y ago
  For Fairphone, you're comparing against a Pixel 7 - which is a last year phone. Compare against the Galaxy S23, which has a Geekbench score that is ~50% higher than the FP5. Compared to iPhones it's even worse. As per how they compare, reviews of the FP5 seem to say it has the following deficiencies: * Poor display - bad brightness, which hurts outdoor usability * Bad battery life, even considering the wimpy processor * Underwhelming performance, which will make it feel sluggish faster * Mediocre speaker performance * Mediocre cameras You're paying a whole lot, in my view, for something that has an easily replaceable battery... which is something you might do maybe once in the life of the device? If you're keeping a phone longer than 5-6 years, I suspect performance of the chipset is going to become a big issue. Additionally, with the bad battery life/performance already, it'll incentivize you to want to upgrade even sooner.
soperj 3y ago
> fundamental quality of life stuff As someone who used a Galaxy S3 for over a decade and has now "upgraded" to a friend's old S9, I can't understand this at all. What kind of quality of life stuff am I missing out on? I'm missing having a removable battery, but at least it has a sd card.
- Kirby64 3y ago
  See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37615789 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37615789 In summary though, it's a phone that has 1-3 year old performance metrics at nearly-flagship pricing. I'd take a removable battery all things being equal, but it seems abundantly clear that FP5 would be making compromises in device performance compared to current flagships. That tradeoff just isn't worth it to me. Maybe it is to you.

criddell 3y ago

The cameras are way behind.

vardump 3y ago
I guess. But at least the cameras are not going to AI hallucinate non-existent details.

distract8901 3y ago

They're way, way too cheap and low-spec to even consider as a daily driver. I'd love to pay like $500 for a pinephone with hardware from 3-4 years ago.

Zak 3y ago
As someone still daily driving a Pixel 4A, I'm curious as to what people need from their phones that hardware from 3 years ago can't provide. Newer phones have better cameras, but otherwise it seems like they just do the same things a little bit faster. The value argument is valid of course, but much like PCs, major phone manufacturers get a lot of their profit from bundling crapware so it's inevitable for one that doesn't to cost more.
- hef19898 3y ago
  I replaced my Pixel 2 XL only after I cracked the display twice and CalyxOS ended support. That, and a too good to refuse offer for Pixel 7 from my carrier. Still have the old one around as back up, as it works perfectly fine, as it did before.
- seb1204 3y ago
  Aside from the camera which I use less and less I'm still happy with my OnePlus 7T from 2019 which I bought second hand. I did upgrade from a OnePlus 3T which I bought new in 2016.
VyseofArcadia 3y ago
The PinePhone, yes, but the FairPhone is keeping up. My FairPhone 4 is a great daily driver. Are you confusing the FairPhone with something else?

stonogo 3y ago

The pinephone is just not a contender. It still can't reliably wake up from sleep on an incoming call. The SMS subsystem gets 'stuck' and you stop getting messages. Nothing wrong with the fairphone, though, I've been happy with it.