I am looking for my next smart phone.
It seems like I will choose between a Fairphone 6 or Nothing 3 (or any other phone) How do these phones compare?
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I’d pick the Fairphone for sure. It’s not perfect but it’s a tremendous step in the right direction.
We need to have a pinned post about nothing on this community.
Nothing is a Chinese company with American investors, using the UK marketing office as a tax haven, there is nothing European about it.
All of the electronics are designed and produced in China, all of the firmware is designed and written in China, most or all of the software is written in China. All of the electronics & technical job postings from then since inception have been for their Chinese office. (Disclaimer, the past year they had 1-2 software engineering jobs posted at their london office, so maybe sometime in the future, they will start writing a bit of the software in europe)
All of their smart watches and their whole CMF line is ODM’ed (white labeled) by fully Chinese companies, that is why they are all completely generic dime-a-dozen base designs.
Their CEO has had a history of misleading and/or lying with his other Chinese company he started, and has worked in the Chinese smartphone industry for 15 years in China. Sure he grew up in Sweden, but that is literally the only EU-related affiliation the company has, and he didn’t put the headquarters marketing office in Sweden because he is dodging taxation.
Clearly go for Fairphone. Nothing is nothing but European marketing.
Nothing’s new bloatware includes Facebook services that can’t be uninstalled
https://9to5google.com/2025/10/29/nothing-phone-3a-lite-facebook-instagram-apps/
yeah, I saw that one… is it serious?
It likely doesn’t matter if you install LineageOS on it. When I look into phones at the very minimum I check to make sure it has support from LineageOS, since I don’t want to run or sign into Google apps on my phone. Better if it can run GrapheneOS, but that’s unfortunately only available for Google Pixel.
You also got https://volla.online/ and https://jolla.com/
+1 for volla rec. They can come preloaded with either their custom android OS, or Ubuntu touch. If you select the android OS, you can dual boot Ubuntu touch too I believe.
I have great experiences with Fairphone, have every intention to stick with them for years to come. I’m on the FP5 now, but FP6 looks like an upgrade, and I have heard nothing bad about it.
I have recently stumbled across Jolla. No personal experience (yet) but it looks promising. I think it uses Micro G for Android app compatibility. Banking apps might be a faff to get working
Many banking apps should work, they have a list of them in their forum https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/banking-apps-on-sailfish-os/18438
Ultimately, any phone that depends on Google code is not free or European.
Fairphone works better than most with alternatives. PostmarketOS runs pretty well on Fairphone 5, for those who really want to be completely free of Google. Personally I’m happy with /e/OS for now.
Writing this from PostmarketOS on the fp5, it does run, but getting mobile data to work is an adventure (at least with my isp). I haven’t tried the WIP kernel to get the speaker working, the mic doesn’t work at all currently, so only calling with a bluetooth headset. Battery life is a bit less than android. I’ll probably dual boot with Ubuntu Touch or Lineage for the next while.
If your ok with the thickness of the fp5, then get it over the fp6. Linux and custom rom support is much better, also usb 3.
IMO: I would wait until GrapheneOS comes out on the new OEMs hardware, which they said is happening 2026 Q4. Personally GrapheneOS is the only OS I would use, as it gets rid of everything from Google.
I get your point but It’s the wrong sub. You do understand that this sub is more about buying/using European designed/made things, services rather than just avoiding US GAFAMS products.
I guess its depends on what you think is important. I went with fairphone and e/os and I’m happy with it. Nothing 3 seems to have a lot higher specs. But for me repairability is important and my old fairphone 4 I was able to keep for atleast a couple of years longer because it was easy to replace USB port and battery.
Used is a decent option. I really like swappa. A used phone stops a new phone from coming into the world, and you can check reviews with more confidence
FWIW, I am back on my FP4 after returning a FP6. The hardware on the 6 is definitely an upgrade but there were some quality control and design issues that were frustrating. Chief among them is the decision to go from a toolless access to the internals to one requiring a screwdriver.
I liked the idea initially as I understand it allowed them to improve the IP rating, but it introduces multiple points of failure, ie. the screws. I’m sure there’s going to be people frustrated when they inevitably strip one of these screws and can’t get the back cover reinstalled, but mine came from the factory with two of them stripped.
That is to say nothing about the fact that not everyone has a screwdriver or will carry one with them in case they need to open the phone while away from home.
For my purposes that’s a fatal flaw I hope they address with a FP7 someday. Until then I’ll stick with my FP4.
These are actually the two phones my partner and I have and we’re both very happy with our choices.
I really like the sustainability and European angle of Fairphone, my two main gripes with it are that the battery life isn’t quite as good as my previous phone which theoretically had a lower capacity and that it only has USB2, which I guess means it’ll never support the upcoming Android 16+ desktop mode
shit too expensive for me, i rather get a sony xperia and flash a graphene os in it.
Good luck with that. GrapheneOS only support the Google Pixel right now.
