This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Woh ! 1700 partners trackers to accept before viewing this page ? Seriously ?
Here is the official press release.
It didn’t take that long to find, I wish people would link primary sources more often.
I know, it’s just not enough! They are really tightening their belts to give you that content. /s
I daily the OG fairbuds, and while I love the repairability, I can honestly say they're some of the worst earbuds I've ever used.
They have connection problems
they fail to charge when placed in the case half the time
The. touch controls are finicky and often miss taps, but somehow they can be activated by a single strand of hair landing on the case.
The app just doesn't work, I have never been able to get it to connect to the earbuds.
I've reported all of these issues to Fairphone, and I've recieved little in the way of helpful responses. Hopefully they have managed to make their second gen product more usable, because I do genuinely think a repairable earbuds is a phenomenal idea. And yeah, despite all the issues I still use them everyday.
That's really disappointing to hear (pun not intended). I've been looking for a pair of these earphones that are actually worth the money, because I got sick of paying for airpods only for them to fail within 2 years like clockwork.
Just throwing these things away is horrendous and I was hoping that fairbuds would be good.
As its a first gen product from a pretty green hardware company, it wasn't super surprising to me they had serious issues. The real test will be to see if the second generation fixes those issues without adding a bunch more.
I got the Earfun Air Pro 4 about a year or so ago on sale (I think about 45 dollars) and have never looked back. The app works without having to create an account or sign in, they sound great (for sub-100 dollars earbuds, but I've never paid more than that so have nothing to compare to), the noise cancelling is brilliant too.
The only issue I'm having over the last couple of months is that the battery on the earphones (but not on the case) seem to be draining a bit faster now. I'm guessing that's to be expected, as I use them all the time, but thought it was worth mentioning.
Good of you to share your experience, any idea if this is general consensus or more your specific unit?
Not ideal, but hopefully you just selflessly funded their beta and V2 is stable
Don't forget that the Bluetooth is outdated to the point that it doesn't sync with video properly so can only really be used for listening to music. Insane. Source(also a daily driver)
I haven't had that issue fortunately, I use mine to watch video all the time and have had no synchronization issues. Maybe later batches updated the BT modem?
I bought the original fairbuds at launch. I'm not gonna pretend they are good sound quality for music - bass especially is terrible - but they are fine for podcasts and the like.
I've had to have one bud - right iirc - replaced under warranty, no hassle beyond the obvious annoyance of it breaking.
When they break again, I'll likely replace them with whatever version of fairbuds exist then. Ultimately I care more about how fairphone source their materials, the reparebility, and setting a precident, than if a pair of buds I use for maybe 3 hours a week are a bit crap.
Not a glowing review, but yknow.
The new Fairbuds sounds like (pun intended) it's going to have a better audio quality.
Just give me a fucking headphone jack. I'd buy one of these phones in a heartbeat for a headphone jack dude.
Lmao same 🥲
I literally had it in my shopping cart ready to buy when I discovered they removed the headphone jack.
I went with Motorola instead
I too just bought a Motorola. My pixel 8 developed a line in the screen. I missed the headphone jack so much I decided I care more about that than I do the privacy of grapheneos. I did put /e/os on it though.
What Motorola did you buy? I went with a moto 5g 2024.
From their website:
Why newer Fairphone models do not have an audio jack
Removing the traditional 3.5mm audio jack gives us space inside the phone to make key hardware improvements. Without this opening, we can fit a larger battery, design a slimmer smartphone, and preserve room for repairable spare parts. Removing the port also helps seal the phone against water and dust, allowing modern models to reach IP ratings like IP55 on Fairphone 4 and IP68 on Fairphone 5. Moving audio to the USB-C port and Bluetooth connections lets us build a more durable phone that lasts as long as possible.
I still call Bullshit though. So annoying. And the PP NTS that the make are not even really true. Its not like you can't do this things with a headphone jack.
It’s not bullshit. I deal with the repair and engineering side of 1/8” phone jacks and they’re fucking stupid ass miniaturized versions of designs from 70 years ago that have to maintain mechanical backwards compatibility with several profiles and conductor arrangements, literally cannot be reliably implemented in a high IP way, cost a bunch, are worse to clean than even usbc and provide a very high leverage thing to torque on your board as well as necessitate additional pcb space for the dac and its power conditioning, shielding and other stuff.
And people who like 1/8” will just buy a dongle anyway.
Damn. The original fairbuds came with my fairphone and I was a big fan from the start. Zero issues with hardware or software, or sound quality. Sure glad I opened this thread to understand how lousy they actually are.
Guess there was a reason why they habded the old ones out
Seeing all the moderately negative reviews for the 1st gen earbuds they made, I just want to add, if you are in the market for over ear headphones, the fairbuds xl (I think that is what they are called), are pretty good in my opinion.
They also released a 2nd gen model of these like last year, I had mine since February or so, I really like them. I am no audiophile but they sound good to me.
The 1st gen model had some issues with stability of some plastic parts for some customers, I haven't had any issues with these 2nd gen ones and I use them almost every day.
How hard is it for them to include a DAC and aux port in their phones? They're tiny! I tried using Bluetooth headphones with the OnePlus 5 but the poor sound quality and constant need to recharge and replace due to their batteries dying every few months was exhausting. That experience was enough to drive me back to the exceptional reliability of plug and play traditional headphones with a Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro.
I don't care how easy it is to replace the batteries in Fairphone's new headphones. Their ethos should compel them to include a jack for those who don't want to waste rare earth metals.
Techbros have mastered their hardware enshittification skills with the headphone jack fiasco.
It already has a dac, so the only thing missing is the 3.5mm jack. Otherwise, where do you think the signal for the speaker comes from?
I agree that phones should just come with an aux port, but I've also never experienced the issues with wireless earbuds that I see other people talk about.
In fact I think my original airpod pros lasted longer than any pair of wired earbuds I've owned. I had them for years and they were still working fine when I lost one. Currently I use wired earbuds to help keep track of them.
Agreed 100%. I'd buy a Fairphone instantly if it had a headphone jack.
When I just bought a Fairphone a few weeks ago, I just barely missed the free fairbuds deal. I inquired about it and they gave me a $100 discount code for each phone. I held off buying them because I had a feeling there were about to drop new earbuds. Glad I did.
I’m so fucking sick of AirPod designs. It’s fucking stupid. I lose them frequently and they’re never comfortable, and they’re expensive as hell.
[Edited grammar]
Ah so they're making money because you're replacing them because that's how they designed them, to get lost. I just never used them. At this point, I'd rather enjoy honking headphones over those troublesome nuggets.
Has anyone used these or the previous model who can comment on their lifespan? Since there isn’t a typical operating system to become unmaintained I’d hope they could last many times longer than a smartphone.
I have the old model that I bought because I am quite happy with my Fairphone 5 and also because I am a proud beta soyboy.
And oh boy, are they shit. I'm on the third pair, after returning 2 shortly after I got them because the right earbud stopped working in 2 slightly different ways.
My current pair recently started making a faint clicking noise in... You guessed it: The right earbud. After less than a year of light use. And people complain of poor sound quality when I use the mic on calls.
It's great that you can replace the batteries and all and I have no issues recommending Fairphone, but I can't recommend their earbuds.
I will likely look to Samsung when I grow tired of the clicking noises.
The new Sennheiser Momentums claim to have user-replaceable batteries fwiw.
I appreciate the reality check.
I'd say check on the new model once it drops and see if reviews are better after a year or so.
if only they there was a wire between them where you could put usable buttons and extra battery
