How does it compare to other handhelds, though? Slower than the original Switch is bad, but if these smaller panels are less responsive in general then I’m not sure I care if they compare poorly to larger PC monitor panels. I am not buying a handheld to compete directly with my PC.
Is the screen curved? It looks flat to me, as with all.previous models. Fairphone usually uses components that are easier to source and that will be in production for longer, so something like the curved screen (which seems to go in and out of fashion every few years) would be a strange choice.
Officially the Fairphone (Gen. 6). They are doing away with the numbered names to combat FOMO/unnecessary upgrades, but since they will have to include the generation every time to.distinguish each subsequent Fairphone this seems kind of pointless.
The major changes this time seem to be the slightly snaller size, the return to a more conventional Snapdragon chipset, the modular back/accessories and the new switch which enables a distraction-free mode.
The size reduction is a nice improvement, albeit a small one (this is still a big phone). The chipset change is interesting, considering they made a very bold choice to go with an unusual IIoT chipset last time that did end up causing issues for some users as I understand. Seems like a good change, considering they are sticking to the same minimum 8 years support guarantee.
As for the modularity and ‘Moments’ switch - both seem like gimmicks, although I think as far as gimmicks on smartphones go these are relatively harmless and could prove useful to some. Fairphone has said on social media that it will look into opening up the modular accessories to community printable designs, which could make this feature genuinely great. I know a lot of people here probably won’t see the point of the ‘Moments’ switch, but there are people out there who do want this kind of feature and if it helps them switch off then I think it’s a positive. I’d much rather have this on my phone then a dedicated AI button/switch, like other manufacturers have announced recently.
More broadly, I would say public P2P stuff - at least in its current forms. I’m not sure it can survive some of the generational shifts that have been occurring in society, since it relies so heavily on community and sharing and demands general technological literacy (not just touchscreen/smartphone/app literacy). Those that do actually have the literacy seem increasingly interested in the instant gratification direct download or torrent streaming stuff, to the detriment of traditional methods of P2P file sharing.
The Proton CEO thing was vastly overblown. He is a privacy advocate and expressed support for Trump’s appointment for head of antitrust, as well as criticism of corporate Democrats who stand for big business which was misrepresented as a love of the Republican Party. The only mistake he made was to publish those statements using the official Proton account, which he later apologised for.
Some people, especially the American left, love to virtue signal and predictably they tried to cancel Proton as a result of this pretty minor and irrelevant social media drama. There were some good write-ups at the time which exposed how counterfactual the “pRoToN lOvEs mAgA” arguments were, but I guess feel free to skip over Proton if it really concerns you. It is objectively one of the best choices if you value both privacy and functionality (Proton still has support for port forwarding), which I think are far more relevant areas to be looking at when choosing a VPN for piracy.
Nearly every phone made in China comes with backdoors.
Such as?
I spell it all the time even using no fingers at all!
The support is fine. It doesn’t have 5G because it is not a 5G device (and one model, the WiFi one which I have, does not have any cellular capability). It doesn’t support VoLTE or bootloader locking because it is a Samsung device (you always lose these features with Samsung devices unless the ROM is based on OneUI). It doesn’t support the automatic iodéOS installer because, again, it is a Samsung device - you have to use Heimdall. I’m not 100% sure about the firmware bit. I believe that is referencing whether the ROM includes the latest manufacturer firmware update as well, but I can’t say for sure.
iodéOS has official support for the Galaxy Tab S5e, which is on the list you linked. I own one but I don’t use it for art so I can’t comment any further.
Here is a comparison of all the various privacy ROMs (and “stock” Android), last updated on June 9 this year.
The person in that other thread who said “iodéOS is a carbon copy of LineageOS” is incorrect. iodéOS comes with a suite of FOSS apps (picked by the community) as optional installs, which is designed to make the transition easier for someone who is brand new to deGoogled Android (similar philosophy to CalyxOS). iodéOS also removes more of the Google services left in LineageOS, such as those associated with the Trust feature, and replaces them with more private alternatives. Additionally, iodéOS has developed a GSI version alongside its officially supported custom device ROMs, which means you can theoretically install and run iodéOS on any currently unsupported device that supports Project Treble.
I have an XZ1 Compact myself and was using it as my primary phone with LineageOS (+microG) and later iodéOS until 3G was shutdown in Australia. Nowadays I use it as a portable music player, although I don’t listen to music away from my desktop that often so it doesn’t see much use. It sounds fine to me, certainly good enough for the overwhelming majority of people I would say.
I can’t really tell you whether it’s a good idea to buy one for this specific purpose, that’s quite a subjective question. It is very easy to install custom ROMs on that phone, though, and those that exist are well maintained. Some of the answers here are overcomplicating or fearmongering; installing custom ROMs is just about reading carefully and following basic instructions. The overwhelming majority of issues people run into come from impatience/inability to read. Bricking the phone is not a realistic possibility unless you are braindead.
It’s very fun. I have played football all my life and always wanted a game like this to play virtually with other people at home. A couple of years ago I had to give up the sport due to a bad knee injury, so to be able to play again albeit in an arcadey video game is so satisfying.
It’s probably not as fun for people who aren’t football fans or players, as I think a lot of the enjoyment comes from aspects that are unique to the sport rather than traditional video game elements. A good comparison is the Camelot Mario sports games on the N64. They weren’t hardcore simulations or anything, but were still focused largely on the core principles of the sport, as opposed to newer Mario sports games or the Mario Strikers series which are very silly and not really designed for sports lovers.
I’ve started playing Rematch, a new small-sided PvP football game where you control one player on your 3v3/4v4/5v5 team (it’s all players, no AI). It seems like something that could run on the Switch 2 in the future, but for now I am playing on PC.
I’ve only played Ever 17, but it was very good. I hope you enjoy it too!
Is that a Pixel 9 Pro XL in a case with a magsafe wallet attached, or are you just happy to see me?
I wouldn’t say nobody, they are familiar to people living in Japan or SEA. If you’ve visited one of the countries they are sold in, you might have come across them (I saw them in a Tokyo department store).
and comes preinstalled with spyware.
What is the spyware?
This has been happening more and more to me lately. Not the end of the world, and I still use Aurora Store for the majority of my apps, but it’s concerning.
It seems to change quite a lot all at once on the stock software, so it might require a bit of work to reprogram that (I’m not sure). Definitely seems like something that could be supported by a custom ROM. This one is an actual on/off switch with two positions, which you don’t see that often these days. Could lead to some interesting uses if alternative functions are developed.