FairPhone 3: The Most Modular & Ethical Phone of 2019

[williamcll]

It's cheaper than pretty much every "ethical" phones mentioned on this forum, but it's still expensive.

[Bananasplit_00]

3 hours ago, Results45 said:

 

Well apparently the launch-price of the FairPhone 3 is already €75 cheaper than the FairPhone2.

 

 

Hmmm........where did you see that price for the FairPhone 3? Cuz the official site clearly says the price is €450 no matter what country you say you're from: https://shop.fairphone.com/en/

 

Plus, unless you've been dying to get a modular phone since Project Ara died there's very little you'd want if as a daily driver if you live in the US (me for example) because it lacks support for half of US LTE bands: https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/US/fairphone-3

My bad, missed that I was looking at ex VAT. Oops

[dizmo]

I don't see how this more environmentally friendly at all. Sure, if your camera module dies, you can replace it. How often does that happen? Not very.

Sure, I could see them using the less waste argument if they kept the same design for all their phones. Then you could upgrade or swap components if you own the older one. Did they do that? No, they didn't.

 

I don't see this as any better than any mainstream phone, except that it's overpriced and looks horrid.

[HarryNyquist]

2 hours ago, dizmo said:

I don't see this as any better than any mainstream phone, except that it's overpriced and looks horrid.

Agreed. This seems like a good idea but at the end of the day it's no different than any other budget type Android phone. The cost comes from the fact that it's repairable. Are you really willing to spend 500 big ones on a repairable phone or 90 big ones on something like a Blu Vivo X5?

[dizmo]

12 minutes ago, HarryNyquist said:

Agreed. This seems like a good idea but at the end of the day it's no different than any other budget type Android phone. The cost comes from the fact that it's repairable. Are you really willing to spend 500 big ones on a repairable phone or 90 big ones on something like a Blu Vivo X5?

Exactly. On top of that, how many phones are just thrown in the trash? If you send your phone to a recycler, you're doing the exact same thing as buying this phone, except saving vast amounts of money in the process. Or, sell your phone on to someone else, who doesn't mind having a device that's a little older, if you're upgrading. Some people don't even mind damaged phones.

[Blademaster91]

4 hours ago, dizmo said:

I don't see how this more environmentally friendly at all. Sure, if your camera module dies, you can replace it. How often does that happen? Not very.

Sure, I could see them using the less waste argument if they kept the same design for all their phones. Then you could upgrade or swap components if you own the older one. Did they do that? No, they didn't.

 

I don't see this as any better than any mainstream phone, except that it's overpriced and looks horrid.

It's more environmentally friendly since you can easily replace the battery, most people would throw away their phone instead of paying to have battery replaced.

A camera module wouldn't die very often, but would you replace a failing loudspeaker or charge port? I am disappointed with how overpriced it is, but phones are too disposable when someone could easily make their phone last twice as long by swapping out a $20 battery. Though most people will also have the same opinion that it doesn't look like a fashionable glass and metal brick and would keep buying unrepairable to the average user phones.

[Fasterthannothing]

On 10/7/2019 at 2:35 PM, Anomnomnomaly said:

Wileyfox phones ... a phone that took security and privacy seriously. 

You mean the company that had Russian backing yeah I'm sure that phone was totally secure. 

[dizmo]

19 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

It's more environmentally friendly since you can easily replace the battery, most people would throw away their phone instead of paying to have battery replaced.

A camera module wouldn't die very often, but would you replace a failing loudspeaker or charge port? I am disappointed with how overpriced it is, but phones are too disposable when someone could easily make their phone last twice as long by swapping out a $20 battery. Though most people will also have the same opinion that it doesn't look like a fashionable glass and metal brick and would keep buying unrepairable to the average user phones.

That doesn't really change much. Those people that would throw their phone away instead of replacing the battery are just as likely to throw it away instead of ordering one from this site. Loudspeaker and charging port are in the same boat. They really don't fail that often. The people that would replace those parts by buying this phone are also likely the types to purchase higher end stuff...not this. It's such a niche market that they likely have more units left over than other phones would, on top of the replacement parts they undoubtedly have to stock, thus creating even more waste. It's not a $20 battery. The battery is $60. Samsung charges $45 for battery replacements. So, once again, this really isn't saving money.

[Results45]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

That doesn't really change much. Those people that would throw their phone away instead of replacing the battery are just as likely to throw it away instead of ordering one from this site. Loudspeaker and charging port are in the same boat. They really don't fail that often. The people that would replace those parts by buying this phone are also likely the types to purchase higher end stuff...not this. It's such a niche market..........

 

You could really say the same about people who treat their car or bike or laptop or shoe or house that same way. It's dented or broken? Well I'll just buy a new one!

 

At the end of the day it's about sustainability and getting more and more people to consider living that way. It's really only in the last 40-60 years wasteful consumerism has grown to how it is today. Why not bring back better habits and save the planet while we're at it?

[Anomnomnomaly]

3 hours ago, Shorty88jr said:

You mean the company that had Russian backing yeah I'm sure that phone was totally secure. 

I wasn't aware of that... and I'd never seen that reported in the tech press. It was using a fork of the Cyanogen OS and had all of those extra privacy and security features built in. It's still a great phone but obviously isn't getting any more updates past their version of Android 7.1 or 7.2

[Anomnomnomaly]

2 hours ago, dizmo said:

That doesn't really change much. Those people that would throw their phone away instead of replacing the battery are just as likely to throw it away instead of ordering one from this site. Loudspeaker and charging port are in the same boat. They really don't fail that often. The people that would replace those parts by buying this phone are also likely the types to purchase higher end stuff...not this. It's such a niche market that they likely have more units left over than other phones would, on top of the replacement parts they undoubtedly have to stock, thus creating even more waste. It's not a $20 battery. The battery is $60. Samsung charges $45 for battery replacements. So, once again, this really isn't saving money.

Those people aren't going to change... they treat things like phones as fashion items and must always have the latest and greatest piece of shiny.  Most of us are constrained by budget or plain old common sense. 

 

 

 

[Fasterthannothing]

9 hours ago, Anomnomnomaly said:

I wasn't aware of that... and I'd never seen that reported in the tech press. It was using a fork of the Cyanogen OS and had all of those extra privacy and security features built in. It's still a great phone but obviously isn't getting any more updates past their version of Android 7.1 or 7.2

Quote

Andronikou and Hosking, who work for business advisory firm Quantuma, confirmed in an email that Coombes had called them in. Andronikou said Wileyfox hit major funding issues when its Russian backer was restricted from lending money abroad by the Central Bank of Russia.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/british-startup-phone-maker-wileyfox-enters-administration-no-updates/

[Franck]

The price is insane. Nearly double the price of an A50 at about half the specs. That's a 3.5-4x multiplier on bang for your buck.

You can do a lot more ethical stuff with that extra money than waste it in a lower quality phone.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

14 hours ago, dizmo said:

 It's not a $20 battery. The battery is $60. Samsung charges $45 for battery replacements. So, once again, this really isn't saving money.

Or you can get my €70 Chinaphone with old-style replaceable battery. I was too dumb ti purchase an additional €5 battery when first bought it, now supply is running down and I'd have to pay $10 for it

Point being, I don't think a replaceable battery separates you from the pack (unless, of course, you set your price to the absurd levels of other companies, a segment where even a headphone jack is considered a luxury...), and it certainly can't be the line between "ethical" and "unethical" companies - I'm pretty sure my Chinaphone's manufacturer maximized pollution and labor rights violations during production

[Anomnomnomaly]

3 hours ago, Shorty88jr said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/british-startup-phone-maker-wileyfox-enters-administration-no-updates/

I'd imagine that was due to the sanctions being applied to Russia and either they couldn't fund because of it, or that was part of their retaliations... I'm sure if there had been concerns about that backing it would have been reported on... Especially with a media that loves to double down on anything negative about countries like Russia.

 

I was able to replace the battery in it easily too... it cost £13. The back cover unclips easily, then remove the screws holding the plastic back plate on, the battery was stuck down with a sticky pad/tape. A single flat ribbon cable.

 

I did however miss a screw as I temp replaced the screws back in their holes whilst waiting for the battery to arrive. When I went to clip it all back together, I missed a single screw in one corner and managed to put a tiny crack across the screen in that corner near the front camera. But it doesn't go across the screen and the camera works fine still.

 

I gave the phone to my mum and it's still working fine now.