Title. What is the most ethical smartphone to buy instead of Fairphone that DOES have a 3.5mm headphone jack? By ethical I mean ticking as many boxes as possible: fair trade, environmentally sustainable (ideally using recycled materials), vegan (no animal products), etc etc. I also might get it second hand, but I still want the phone itself to be from an ethical company. Thanks

    • SeahorseTreble@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      2 days ago

      Tbh I don’t really understand how anyone comfortably uses wired USB C headphones since it means you can’t charge the phone or have it plugged in to do anything at the same time. If that’s the route we’re going, I might advocate for 2 USB C ports. But that’s not the main reason for me, and I understand my situation/use case doesn’t apply to most people. In fact I still have to deal with that problem anyway, on top of others.

      I require a specific kind of headphones that don’t touch my ears due to a medical condition combined with massive ears. It’s very painful and harmful for me otherwise. It’s almost impossible to find headphones like that, in fact I haven’t been able to, but the only ones I’ve been able to find that are big enough to be comfortable enough and not cause major issues are all expensive/professional studio wired over ear headphones. If I find one that is either Bluetooth (wireless) or USB C that works for my ears, I would get it.

      So my solution has been to use firstly USB C to 3.5mm adapters, which break constantly and surely create more waste than I personally would with a headphone jack part of a phone, and never work well and keep disconnecting, and also don’t let me charge etc at the same time. For that problem I tried ones that split a USB C port into another USB C port + a 3.5mm jack, but they worked even worse. Ultimately what I settled on are 3.5mm Bluetooth dongles/adapters that work a little better and don’t break as much (though their charging cables do), and still let me charge the phone. However it still creates extra waste (and uses extra energy to charge) and doesn’t work well and isn’t ideal, and I’d always rather be able to just plug it into the phone directly.

      I’m also somewhat into audio editing and music production, and for that purpose I believe that most professional studio headphones and industry standards are still using 3.5mm, but I could be wrong about that and I know it is shifting rapidly toward wireless or USB C, and I also haven’t been really prioritizing sound quality since my main priority is comfort/usability.