You can install Linux on this device. If it had proper dock support, this would be 'the' phone I've been looking for. There is a not insignificant number of users in the forum that are skipping this phone for that reason. It would have been my first.

https://forum.fairphone.com/t/fp6-discussion-about-usb-2-and...

▲

Grombobulous 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There are only 264 replies in that forum total, and not every reply is a unique individual.

I would say that it’s easy to make an argument that this is quite an insignificant number of users even for a niche smartphone manufacturer. I can’t imagine that a lot of people actually dock their phone to use as a desktop. I would be surprised if the percent of smartphone users who do that eclipsed 0.5%.

My understanding in the iPhone world is that the most common use case for fast USB-C connectivity tends to be people doing content creation work where they’re generating a lot of high fidelity camera footage rapidly and offloading it into external storage and other professional solutions.

▲

chaosharmonic 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> My understanding in the iPhone world is that the most common use case for fast USB-C connectivity tends to be people doing content creation work where they’re generating a lot of high fidelity camera footage rapidly and offloading it into external storage and other professional solutions.

I mean, Apple also enforces a difference in what is an iPhone vs an iPad vs a Mac, at both the OS and the application levels, regardless of what little distinction the internals have. Even without bringing mainline Linux into it, Android is generally looser about that.

> I can’t imagine that a lot of people actually dock their phone to use as a desktop.

It doesn't have to be all the time; there are lots of use cases where big displays are occasional. Pocket gaming, for instance.

	▲	2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		[deleted]

▲

Runways 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

See, that's all fine and dandy, but I would not recommend this phone to normal people anyway - especially with their record of introducing random bugs. Their whole strategy is going after niche buyers. Most people just want a phone and go through their carrier or Apple.

I have a friend who was looking into the phone and he was about to purchase it before I mentioned the port, but yes we are just geeks.

	▲	Grombobulous 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I think their early adopters being niche tech nerds is a very different concept than who they are targeting through their marketing. Scroll down the marketing page and take note of which subjects take up the largest chunk of the page space: https://us.fairphone.com/the-fairphone-gen-6-plus The first section talks about a long warranty and sustainability. It talks about long battery life and the replaceable battery. The next section, which is rather large, talks about the camera benefits. This is a huge section and is a very mainstream selling point. Next is AI and Gemini, a small section. Next is Moments, their phone mindfulness suite aimed at people battling smartphone attention/addiction issues, a very common concern among users. Finally, the last section talks about sustainability as well as tips on switching and “what’s in the box.” So really, zero of the marketing is aimed at niche buyers. They’re looking to sell to people who want a very normal phone experience but want something long-lasting, intentional, and sustainable, and they still need it primarily as a device to capture photos and memories as well as all the normal daily life use you’d expect. There is zero mention of niche/nerdy features in the marketing. Tinkering and software customization is never mentioned. Professional/enthusiast use cases are never mentioned. There’s nothing talking about terminal emulation or alternative operating systems or anything of that sort.

▲

zyberzero 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Ah, that makes sense, thanks! I tried that way back when Windows phone was a thing (using my phone as a desktop), I even had a small dock for my Lumia 925. It worked well enough for presentations and RDPing into my workstation.

▲

teekert 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I for one would have loved to be able to plug a screen into the phone for a somewhat better experience + peripherals. With the 12 GB RAM though I hope to be able to runs minimal VMs and then rustdesk/VNC into those for work on the phone? It's not the same though...

I don't need USB for speed, it's all via the network anyway, even pics and videos are in Immich by the time I've found my cable.