Not much to add. Saw it in another technology forum and thought it also belonged here for the solarpunks

  • Fairphone - listen up! (I know they’re definitely here and I’m not just shouting into the wind.)

    Go find a Samsung Galaxy S5. Upgrade the internals, move the button to the side, and you’re done. Waterproof, wireless charging, swappable batteries, SD card, headphone jack. It’s the last good phone I’ve used.

    No major “supported for 1 generation by the manufacturer then forgotten” hardware gimmicks (if this were a just universe, the guy that suggested the Bixby button would be reassigned to manually unclogging toilets with his hands), no notch (oh Apple, you think we didn’t look at the ‘functional notch’ and start betting on how long before that’s gone?), a satin feeling back and shiny bevel made of plastic (it flexes, doesn’t bend, and who gives a shit when it’s in a case), thin but not so much so that you have to worry about sanding 0.00001 mm off the battery to fit it (0.5mm thicker and 4 more hours of screen on time? Puhlease. My college laptop weight 10 pounds and I took it everywhere. Load up those energon cubes).

    You wanna play around with the dimensions and cameras and add a retractable feline flossing utensil? Fine. The phone everyone wants already 99% exists. It’s maddening!

  • One “little” thing makes it very frustrating for me: the volume button does not change the volume of the notifications/rings. It defaults to media sound and there is no way to change the default. Has been an open ticket for years, and that stupid thing alone makes me consider buying a different phone next time.

  • I’ll probably stick with my current one for now, but if they start opening up and bring their future phones to the US , I might consider switching over. Depends on the specs, but the idea of being able to just get a new battery once the old one starts dying is a major plus.

  • Think it’s really interesting (and more than a little funny) that while all the big corporate services are failing and shutting down user stuff that used to be free, things like open street maps are better than ever