Hey there! My take on this, based on how you plan to use your phone and keep it for a while (8 years), the Fairphone 5 with 128GB/6GB will work fine at first. However, I think waiting for the 256GB/8GB version could be a smarter move. It’ll help ensure that your phone stays fast and has enough storage as time goes on, which is perfect for your long-term plans. If you can, I’d suggest holding out for that upgraded model! Dunno that's what I'd do.
this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2025
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DeGoogle Yourself
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Honestly, the phone(8gb 256gb) uses up 4-5 gig of ram idle. I think you should go for the 8 gig. Especially in a few android updates you might not want to have any less.
Please don't buy a 6 gigabyte ram phone in 2025 you gonna regret it. Specially something like a fairphone that you can keep a long time
I can't fathom spending that kind of money for something that can be easily - as you've found out - broken. or lost. stolen. die on its own. not to mention - get a pretty mediocre device for the hefty price.
seeing as how you have to change the OS on it anyway, maybe look into used ex-flaghip devices. go to lineageOS devices page, filter for RAM and LOS version (22 i.e. A15 at the moment) and check if you can get a used devices locally for like a tenth of the price.
I can see your point about the price, but I dont need to change the OS on it. They sell the Fairphone 5 both with googled android, as well as a version with /e/os.
I'm aware of that, but there's a significant portion of FP users ditching the provided eOS and going with something that's way more privacy respecting; I'm sure you can find comparisons with graphene, calyx, lineage, aosp, etc. online.
so what I meant was, if you're one of those, then there are zero reasons for choosing FP, other than supporting their mission.
edit: similar topic from a while ago https://lemmy.ml/post/23014970
Ohh i see what you meant now.
I do like their kission and how repairable their phone is, so if im going to get a new one i want it to be that one. As for the OS, if down the road i do decide to move away from /e/os i can look into repacing it down the road
GSIs also exist. They come degoogled OOTI.
I have not yet installed /e/ on my FP5, but when I installed it on my FP3 it was quite easy. So I guess an option is to buy the 256GB version and just install /e/ yourself?
I really need to get around to doing it soon. Super happy with my FP5, but stock Android is increasingly a pain in the neck.
What is the price difference as it would clearly be a factor too?
I’m also really interested in /e/os and Fairphone, but since my company is giving me an iPhone that I can also use for my private life, I’m not gonna get a second phone as it would be non ecological and a hassle.
The Fairphone 5 has a micro-SD card slot -that 128GB is expandable. The limitations of such devices are more down to the availability of mobile apps in general than down to the hardware, ie, by owning an android or IOS phone, you're already suffering a disadvantage vs full PCs that Fairphone is no worse about than any of the "premier" phone manufacturers.
The lagging performance over time you're worried about would be more down to OEM OS update bloat, an issue I don't foresee with Fairphone.
That said, if it were much cheaper to fix my phone than to replace it, I'm going that route unless the new option is a significant upgrade, by which I mean new features, not performance stats. A better, more privacy-respecting OS is such a feature to me, so it would come down to budget.