I know this is an old thread but please build me a repairable and upgradeable phone. My Teracube 1 camera is fantastically bad, and its GPS can make driving dangerous (specs on the 2 are equivalent or lower). Otherwise I was happy with the phone and the company but had hoped to have better options four years on. Is this an ongoing consideration at Framework?
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Yes, please, make a small Android phone. It’s a niche market, but it’s really missing.
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I also want to say they should build a phone. I haven’t bought a phone in a few years and the last one I got was “free” with bill credits because I refuse to pay for a disposable phone. Did that back in 2016, bought a flagship, and the phone only lasted about a year before the battery was useless.
@Andrew_Palmer 's notes are pretty spot-on. However, I would put microsd card at the top of the list along with replaceable battery being an absolute must, and basic waterproofing.
My phone requirements (that I will gladly pay for):
-replaceable battery #1absoluterequirement
-microsd card slot
-waterproof (at least ip56)
-android OS (non-google)
-durable without a case
-lcd (oled always burns in on phones)
-good camera (because pictures have become a primary function)
If it can be done Framework style with replaceable/upgradeable mainboard, screen, radio, camera, ports, that would be the GOAT phone!
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An Wifi router.
The device i’m personally most discontent wit is a my chargadebale beard razor/trimmer. Propritetary charger, and a built in battery.
An modular USB-C charged with an replaceable18650 battery, it can’t be that hard?
I do not know how much this counts as ‘beside laptops’ but I would most like to see a 2-in-1 convertible version of the Framework laptop (ideally using the same motherboard standard) with stylus support. Pen input is quite essential for me to sketch diagrams, blueprints or just help me organize my thought. I have mostly used HP x360 series 2-in-1s, which have a nice feature set (reasonably bright display, a touchscreen with Wacom AES active pen and a matte glass finish, built-in 4G LTE). At the same time, the current 2-in-1 market is extremely frustrating. You are usually limited to Intel CPUs (and weaker ones at that) and soldered memory (usually 32GB) max, both of which seem quite limiting to me.
I am personally not quite convinced that the “flip” (360 degree double hinge) form factor is the optimal one (converting between laptop and tablet mode is slow and cumbersome) but I get that it is the easiest to make and I’d be fine with that. I’d be fine even with just a pen-enabled screen in the current clamshell form factor. I even looked into DYI-ing using screens from major-brand convertibles such as HP. But given the lack of documentation and official ways to source parts, this is hard. And I am not the only one interested: 1, 2.
For me, the best 2-in-1 form factor I saw was the Sony Vaio Duo, which I was able to switch from tablet to laptop mode with one hand, in which I was holding it. The HP Dragonfly Folio form factor also seems intriguing in some ways (however, it cannot be fully closed in the ‘screen up’ orientation to become a proper tablet and also the port selection is abysmal).
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+1 for a small phone, if it’s feasible for it to have long term security update support. I’m posting this on a pixel 5a that is completely fine and doesn’t need to be replaced at all, except it’s 3 months away from being end of support for updates.
Really sad how many perfectly fine phones just get abandoned from a software support perspective. I know newer pixels are getting 7 years, but even that’s kind of bad when compared with computers.
I guess some way to use the fw16 GPU module as an egpu would be cool although I might have read somewhere that it was being worked on already.
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Like a ton of people here I would also love a Framework phone, but I wanted to stress that I feel like Fairphone is almost excellent but really lacks the upgradable aspect that Framework has been offering. The lack of upgradeability is a dealbreaker on the Fairphone 5 for me, as I don’t want to be stuck with a below mediocre CPU on a phone that I expect to keep for a good decade. Being able to upgrade the CPU would also resolve the problem that Qualcom and co will not maintain software for a particular CPU for decades (albeit the competition from Apple and Google for example may require them to offer this at some point).
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Last I looked, Fairphone didn’t have the correct bands for US carriers. Has that changed? I mean a phones primary purpose should work.
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Sorry I don’t live in the US. Fairphone 5 seems to support only some US 5G bands, which is fine to me.
Right, so my point is, Framework being a US company, making a phone that works in the US “like” the fairphone would be perfect.
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Partly inspired by the discussion in this thread:
FW16 keyboard module (numpad form factor) version/derivative of the Precursor security token/subsystem, by bunnie et al.
What i would really like is a modular smart watch, similar to this:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2106691934/blocks-the-worlds-first-modular-smartwatch/posts
Apart from that, a all-in-one (like an iMac) might be a good place to go, many of those face the same challenges as a laptop w.r.t. repair-ability, and it could even work with existing expansion options, including the gpu expansion bay.
Similar to that, a monitor or TV with docking options for the expansion cards would be great, so that you can connect your framework 13 or 16 to the monitor.
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Ouch, looking at the kickstarter comments, it was another project run by scammers who squandered the backers money without leaving any behind to actually make product. Framework should buy any patents they still have and produce that product. Looks like not a bad watch…as long as the battery is replaceable.
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An Android phone with repairable parts and replaceable (without major disassembly) battery. Something like my current Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro 6, but with Framework/FairFone parts availability
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One relatively simple thing: a modular dock that’s compatible with the expansion cards. I’ve tried finding a fitting USB-C hub to build my own but so far I haven’t found one that supports display out but doesn’t come with the HDMI port preassembled.
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I remember in the 90’s a coworker found a laptop tossed in the dump that had (i presume a thermal) printer built-in. I think the paper went in bottom, maybe like a printing calculator or fax type print.
A LTO tape unit, or at least LTO interfacing. I have to run old Linux or windows in a tower, with fan blasting on HP interface cards.
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I mean if you are doing a dock with full featured ports you may as well expose them directly instead of putting them behind expansion cards, that seams kind of inefficient and wasteful.
A sas card in an egpu enclosure would probably do most of that.
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