this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025
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The Fairphone 5 price has been dropped to €499. The phone is designed to be the most advanced environmentally friendly smartphone. (shop.fairphone.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by dwazou@jlai.lu to c/technology@lemmy.world
361 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I don't like smartphones. I use a dumbphone.

But this is a wonderful initiative.

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[–] Prism@feddit.org -3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It a perfectly usable Android for the average user. Everything works out of the boy. If it is not for you, fine. Buy a Pixel.

[–] Luffy879@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

for the average user.

So we are talking about an average user, who

  • fully understands the appeal of a degoogled Phone
  • Willingly spends extra money for a fairphone
  • is able to migrate away from google services to /e/'s services
  • Is willing and able to troubleshoot any problems that MicroG has
  • is willing to fix not working banking apps
  • but somehow can't use a simple web installer from Calyx

Tell me, is this average user in the room with us right now?

Everything works out of the boy.

So does (and does not) with Calix or Graphene

Buy a Pixel.

I think you don't get what I'm talking about.

-It takes a base level of understanding why you would buy a Fairphone (or any degoogled phone)

  • it takes a base level of understanding phones to be able to use a degoogled one
  • If you already have that knowledge, you might as well just take an extra 5 minutes and use the web installer for calyx since it is literally the same AND has less vendor lockin than /e/

Edit: You want an average user friendly ROM? Just use Lineage for gods sake.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

Exactly. Even if I wanted /e/, I would re-flash when I got it, because the reason I want /e/ is because I don't trust the OEM.

It's the same way with desktops, I see zero value in buying a laptop w/ Linux pre-installed because I'm just going to reinstall when I get it anyway.

[–] sudneo@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago

In 4 years I have never (and will never) used any service from /e/. There is no vendor lock whatsoever. That's fully optional.

Points 3, 4 and 5 in your list are moot IMHO.

Also

It takes a base level of understanding why you would buy a Fairphone

It doesn't really. "Phone is repairable and X can help me", "they pay the makers fair wages" are not really complex value propositions that require some (technical) understanding.

The point of /e/ and similar distributions is that you can buy a phone with it (average user will never reflash) and just have a phone that doesn't use Google (it does, for the amount that doesn't require you to do extra technical stuff and have a sane user experience at the same time).

That said, calyx seems a great alternative and so are iode. I think the advantages of one over the other (for my brief search) are quite small.

[–] Prism@feddit.org 0 points 1 day ago

I support all people around me when it comes to tech. I help them with their laptops and phones. If I get the chance to install Linux or de-googled Android, I do it, knowing that everything will work as they expect.

There is no baseknowlege required. People will buy what is readily available to them. A brand new Fairphone with e-OS preinstalled is readily available to them. And if the user experience is basically the same, they don't even need care that their phone is more private.

/e/-OS is based on Lineage, with some stuff pre-installed to make it easier for users. I don't get your problem. It is basically a distro. You are saying "why use Ubuntu when they can use Arch". Doesn't make sense at all.

lemmy is toxic as fuck. Same shit like every other site.