USB 2? What a stupid choice that appears to be. Did they have any reasoning behind that?
carrylex@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Compared to the Fairphone 5 it has some improvements but also a few downsides: gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=13955&idPhone2…
My pros and cons: Pro:
- It’s a bit smaller (~4mm) and lighter (~20g)
- Slightly better camera (future tests will tell how much better)
- 120 Hz display
- More RAM and storage (although I feel that the previous 6GB/128GB option was also sufficient for most users)
- WiFi 6E Tri-Band (however you will likely never need this speed)
- Bluetooth 5.4
- Slightly larger battery
Con:
- Backpanel now requires a screwdriver
- Display has less resolution/PPI
- Performance of processor will likely be nearly identical to predecessor (however it’s more efficient and modern)
- Downgrade to USB 2
- 600€
My conclusion: Overall the improvements are ok, however just releasing the Fairphone 5 with a newer SoC might have been the better/more cost effective choice. Sacrificing display resolution for 120 Hz feels also quite wrong. 600€ is very pricy for a phone like this. Cutting some premium features away like the 120 Hz display or a bit of RAM and storage (that you can extend anyway with an SD card) might have saved enough to get the launch price down to somewhere near 500€ which would make it accessible for a wider audience.
JigglySackles@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Quadhammer@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Use for all your old usb 2 ables lol
JigglySackles@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Lol nooooo, I’ve been trying to get rid of all mine! Of course since I’m an IT guy that really just means they go to the box of bygone cabling standards, but still. I want them out of my active cable stash lol
localhost443@discuss.tchncs.de 22 hours ago
The transfer speed over USB on mine probably doesn’t even pass USB 2 speeds anyway and I’ve had flagship phones in the past that were even slower over a cable. I guess it that’s still the case then there’s probably a good engineering argument to reduce complexity.
carrylex@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
I just checked my phone and the up/down speed for files is roughly 40MB/s despite having a USB 3 connection.
USB 2 has a max. transfer rate (under optimal conditions) of 60MB/s, so I think when the phone storage improves a bit or the cable is a bit longer it will likely become a bottleneck.
Also note that there are other applications than transfering files which might need more bandwidth.
To be fair it really doesn’t make much of a difference but USB 3 is now the standard for a century and has been around since 2008 so I somewhere expect a 600€ phone to alsl have it.
JigglySackles@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Or there wasn’t good enough engineering to begin with to achieve usb 3 speeds. Seems like they should have got it right before using it as a reason to cripple the thing further.
carrylex@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Why does The Fairphone (Gen. 6) use USB-2?
In order to make the device more affordable, we explored how we could best balance our spec choices with the least possible impact on user experience. Going from USB-3 to USB-2 was one of them.
JigglySackles@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Thanks for the link. I can’t necessarily agree that it’s low impact, transferring files at 2.0 speeds is brutal.
kungen@feddit.nu 1 day ago
The extra RAM and storage probably increased the price much more than the screen upgrade.
carrylex@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
I also found out a few other things that have changed:
- They now use Torx T5 screws
- The backcover and battery are now fixed with these screws
- The battery uses a dedicated connector
- Parts of the backcover now require a pick
- SIM/SD now sit at the bottom in a dedicated slot and don’t require the removal of the backcover.
- The volume buttons got replaced by the “moments” button and are now on the left
IMHO this is kind of a downgrade in repairability as you now need custom tools (not everyone has a T5 screwdriver at home). Moving the volume buttons to the other side is also kind of weird and unexpected as most (non Apple) phones have them on the right…
Redex68@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Regarding resolution, I’ve been using my S21 Ultra at FHD quality (2400x1080) since I got it and it has a significantly large screen. I don’t see a point in higher resolutions but I definitely appreciate higher refresh rates. Makes it feel smoother and more responsive.
localhost443@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
If the 10hz reading implementation is good I may consider upgrading my fp4. A better camera would be nice too but if they get the power saving if that screen right then I’m interested…
Otherwise my fp4 has everything thing I need a phone to be
Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
What the fuck?