The Fairphone 5 is not worth it

[K4sum1]

The Fairphone 5 is a new, repairable smartphone designed to be modular, designed to last, with software support for at least five versions or more, and maintenance updates for eight or up to ten years. However is it really worth using for the next 5-10 years? I think not.

Just to note before I begin. If you are in the US, you won't be getting the Fairphone 5. Even if you import one at ~$800, at best it might work with T-Mobile, however likely not since there's been no official release. If you absolutely want a Fairphone 5, even after reading this, your best bet is waiting for Murena to maybe release a de-googled variant for the US. That would also help with the software bloat point I mention later since Google Play Services are quite bloated.

Edit: Assuming I can figure out the VoLTE implementation and you have a non-whitelisted SIM or provider, T-Mobile and AT&T should be able to gotten to work. There's at least some sort of plan to have T-Mobile as it has every band, including the T-Mobile US only band 71. AT&T however is missing 17 and 30, but maybe 17 could be enabled since it's a 700MHz band like 12. I assume to get it working, just get phone in US, and force generic IR92 compatible modem profile. If not available, then Deutsche Telekom modem profile should exist and should get T-Mobile working. Not sure what else to try for ATT though.

Starting off, what do you get with the Fairphone 5? You get a QCM6490 CPU, which is basically a renamed Snapdragon 778G, an over two year old CPU, for flagship prices. You get 8GB RAM, which is pretty standard. You get 256GB of storage with MicroSD expandability, a sadly rare feature. Another sadly rare feature this phone has is a removable battery, which is even more rare than a MicroSD slot. They don't keep this up though with the headphone jack, this phone doesn't have one. On the back, you see three holes in the camera bump. Does that mean three cameras? No, you get two 50MP cameras, one wide, one ultrawide, and a "depth sensor". The camera specs seem decent, but they can only do 4k30. The iPhone X from 2017 does 4k60 with a 12MP camera, and if iPhones don't count, the Xperia 1 II from 2020 does 4k120 with a 12MP camera. The front camera is also a wide 50MP with the same video recording capabilities. The screen seems decent, 90hz OLED with great PPI, but for the price it's not that good. Also it's USB 3.0, or 3.2 Gen 1, which is fine, but for a new phone of its price, it really should be better. Also the phone is wired charging only, if you'd prefer to wireless charge to put less strain on the USB port, you can't.

For a 700 Euro (~$800) phone, the basic specs leave much to be desired. The QCM6490/778G is on par with the Snapdragon 855, from 2018. They're pairing this with OS feature updates for at least up to five versions, and potentially up to 8 or 10 years. They want to put Android 18 or potentially a later version on this phone that is on par with 2018 hardware. This phone will get slow with later Android bloat. There have been no major Android API jumps since Android Lollipop, a nine year old OS that is still usable, at least for me. Any 855 phone, even if it was left stuck on Android 9 or 10, will still be usable when this phone gets Android 18, and said 855 phone will feel faster with the older, less bloated Android version. If they had given this phone a CPU worthy of its price, like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, or maybe even the 7 Plus Gen 2, I'd understand more, but they didn't. You could probably run Android 18 on an 855 phone if you really wanted to as well, custom ROMs exist. People have ported Android 13 to the Galaxy S2, which is longer support than the Fairphone offers.

Maybe you could make a point about waste, but you downgrading your experience will make near zero difference for a phone you're going to use for the same amount of time anyways. If you throw it out, it makes even less of a difference. The most wasteful part is buying a new phone, and it can be mostly negated by buying used or refurbished. I myself use an Xperia XZ1 Compact from 2017 that I bought used in 2020. It's still pretty fast and smooth and it does everything I need it to, on Android 8 (RR O). Building on top of the software point from the last paragraph, going to Android 10 (Bliss 12.12) it can start to lag, and later versions just aren't worth it. I replaced the battery in it myself. I would keep using it for more years to come, but I will be forced to upgrade because of my carrier in late 2024. My carrier is forcing me to upgrade my six (seven by late 2024) year old phone. That is the type of thing that could happen if you try to use a Fairphone 5 for ten years. You might just be forced to upgrade anyways by your carrier.

Edit: The situation was a bit complex, but I was able to keep my current phone. Only after I bought two potential replacements though, but I guess they make fun build targets and test phones. I also found my XZ1C with a proper EAS kernel on my custom compile of RR Q is pretty damn smooth.

Outside of ease of repair and modularity, there isn't really much about this phone that is special. Outside of that, it's just a mediocre at best mid range phone from 2021 for flagship prices in 2023. You could buy a refurbished Galaxy S20 5G at $200, have a faster CPU, better feature set, and still have $600 left over for repairs or a newer used/refurbished phone if it breaks or you want to upgrade. Or if you forgo 5G, S10e's are going for $100 each refurbished, and you get a headphone jack too. Buying a used or refurbished device instead of a new one, even a Fairphone, would be better for the environment too. If you really want a new phone though, you can get a better feature set, headphone jack, and an 8 Gen 2 with the Xperia 1 V or 5 V. Sure they cost more, but they are miles better in comparison. If you forgo the MicroSD slot (and Verizon support in the US), you have the Zenfone 10, which still has an 8 Gen 2 and a headphone jack. There are so many other better options than the Fairphone 5 if you want a competent phone with a good feature set that you can use for many years.