There’s been a lot of buzz here about the Fairphone here lately, especially with it coming to the US.
On paper, it seems rather nice. Ethically sourced, privacy friendly stock ROM.
But the skeptic in me does say, “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism.”
What are the drawbacks of Fairphone that seem to be shunned away, or less discussed both by the company and community at large? Why shouldn’t I just buy a Pixel 7a and put GrapheneOS on it instead?
Re ethical consumption, my opinion is, if you don’t absolutely need a new phone (broken beyond use) don’t get a new one. And then when you do get a “new” phone, get a second hand one. Fairphone may be “ethical” but it’s still marketing to get you to spend money on a new device. Reusing one will always be more ethical.
The camera is pretty bad. I'm seriously concidering changing to a pixel with GrapheneOS from FP4 because of this. I've missed some not really important but spontaneous moments with my kids where the camera was too slow or too low quality or something else, that made me not get a photo of it. I don't take much photos, so I'd like the ones that I take to be decent quality and not taken 5 seconds after the kids already stopped whatever the cute activity was I wanted to shoot
i wrote this comment on another post recently, i think you might find some value. the thread has some good discussion. note that i regret using a fairphone, but i dont regret supporting the company. in a ‘lesser than two evils’ sense, fairphone is MUCH less evil.
the fairphone company makes grand promises of 7 years support, despite historically really doing 2-4 years of support very badly. to the point where when the fairphone 4 released, it was going to take so long for it to make an android upgrade that a FOSS group CalyxOS ended up making the port for them. being this late for security and feature releases is insane, especially when they make claims outside of SoC OEM support periods despite knowing that they can’t provide those updates. the fairphone 3 even launched on the same day as android 10 but instead of quickly porting over, they instead ported over their next line of phone (fairphone 3+)
the phone removed expandable storaged and a headphone jack, with obscene pricing for storage upgrades and at the same time as they released their unrepairable line of wireless products. this is just begging for e-waste.
the claims of being ethically sourced are not universal to the whole phone, the fair trade gold standard is limited to some parts that they source.
they have hardware for an extra SIM slot on the fairphone 4, but made it unusable to the user. clearly just an anti-consumer move.
there are other reeasons, and you’ll also notice im not providing sources here. a lot of this is readily available info online and frankly im tired, i hope you can search these things up yourself if you want to confirm. i’m saying these things in good faith if that makes you feel more comfortable. there are reasons to consider the fairphone, but know that if you’re doing this for a ‘long-lasting’ phone, then you’re only getting that on the hardware side and even then you’re vastly overpaying for the value of what you receive.
i still support fairphone in their journey to making mainstream fully modular phones with readily available replacement parts and open schematics. as a big ‘fuck you’ to smartphone producing companies, the fairphone does its’ job magnificently and provides an excellent example of why samsung, apple, google etc are lying scum when they say these things aren’t possible. if a small company like fairphone have been doing it since their infancy, we shouldn’t believe that big tech can’t.
I’d like to set the record straight, since you’ve made some pretty large leaps and factual errors which I hope doesn’t mislead anyone else.
Disclaimer before I start: I have a Fairphone 4, I’m probably one of the first to get it in North America (especially Canada), and I’m the first Fairphone Angel in that region. So yeah, I’m biased in favour of Fairphone, but I get nothing out of supporting them.
the fairphone company makes grand promises of 7 years support, despite historically really doing 2-4 years of support very badly.
The Fairphone 2 got 7 years of support, the Fairphone 3 just got it’s 5 years promise upgraded to 7. They make no promises about how timely the updates are, but they do keep your phone usable for 7 years if “usable” is defined as “having reasonably up to date Android security patches”. This doesn’t work for everyone, since some workplaces require very timely security updates, but I think that’s a quite reasonable niche to miss for a small company with much more limited resources than the big two phone companies. On the other hand I can confirm first hand that CalyxOS has had very quick turnaround for Fairphone 4 Android security patches (e.g. it’s July 12th, I just installed Android’s July security patch).
especially when they make claims outside of SoC OEM support periods despite knowing that they can’t provide those updates
Firmware updates aren’t the only sort of security patch. You drill this point home a bit more in your linked post as well, as though firmware is the only thing that determines whether a phone is secure. Blame the SoC makers for that, if you must, but Fairphone has not made any claims about firmware updates in that 5-7 year promise.
the fairphone 3 even launched on the same day as android 10 but instead of quickly porting over, they instead ported over their next line of phone (fairphone 3+)
Fairphone 3 and 3+ are the same phone for most intents and purposes. The 3+ has an upgraded camera module and DAC [citation needed], but the base software/OS is identical so that statement simply can’t be true.
the phone removed expandable storaged
All Fairphones have expandable storage, including the Fairphone 4.
the phone removed […] a headphone jack […], at the same time as they released their unrepairable line of wireless products. this is just begging for e-waste.
Are USB-C DACs really a big source of e-waste? Anyone who cares about e-waste would probably get one that’s going to last a while or at least have a replaceable USB-C cable since that’ll probably fail sooner (and it’s a easier to recycle than the actual circuitry). Wireless earbuds are infamously hard to make repairable, but Fairphone throwing their hat into the ring at least guarantees that there’s a more ethical option. If Fairphone doesn’t follow market trends, then they’re never going to get people to use their products, which would mean they’d be better off not existing at all. I don’t think any of us think that is a preferable option. Refer to your Pixel for recent market trends.
the claims of being ethically sourced are not universal to the whole phone, the fair trade gold standard is limited to some parts that they source.
Fairphone was like 90% ethical (& ethical offset) according to their latest impact report. You seem to have extrapolated the claim of using any fairtrade gold into using all fairtrade gold, which I can find no evidence of Fairphone saying. You’re also sort of throwing away any effort to be ethical because it’s not 100% ethical. As OP said, there is no [absolute] ethical consumption under capitalism (but there is more ethical).
they have hardware for an extra SIM slot on the fairphone 4, but made it unusable to the user. clearly just an anti-consumer move.
Qualcomm chips only support 2 active sim cards (called “5G Global multi-SIM” if you like marketing gibberish, FP4 has the X52 modem), so it’s not a big stretch to imagine that they didn’t want to confuse people when they try to activate both physical SIMs and an eSIM and it doesn’t let them. (I also can’t find anything that says how many physical SIMs the chip can support, so I wonder if Qualcomm would even allow for that configuration).
You’ve jumped to some conclusions on your own which don’t line up with what Fairphone has said, and then you conflate those conclusions with the actual facts. Marketing is all about telling people what’s good and why they should buy it, so it’s usually best to read it like a lawyer: read it literally and try to see find the loopholes. Hoping no one is going to ever make another big purchase without doing extensive research.
My device came with stock android, rooted it to get back functionality that Google has ripped out of newer Android releases (including app backup/restore & call recording). My previous device was an S5.
FP3 feels good to hold, but it’s made out of recycled plastics so expect the matte body to turn shiny after a couple years
Quite expensive for what it is
Stock camera software is 💩, grab a copy of Gcam or OpenCamera for a much nicer experience
Headphone jack
Replaceable battery
USB C port is wired for USB 2.0, so no displayport functionality here
Loud side firing speaker (on left of display)
Very active forums. If you have issues, they are usually resolved in the following system update, as long as a FP employee comes across the thread
Charging speed is configurable if you’re rooted. Max speed configured from the factory is 14W, I’ve changed mine to 2.5W
Updates do take a loooong time to be released, as FP is supporting the device outside of the Qualcomm’s support period
Good availability of replacement parts and fast delivery
As for reasons to really get this device? Not many IMO. Compared to a pixel, it boils down to the FP being more expensive, being manufactured “sustainably” (via agreements for workers to be paid more, using recycled plastics etc), modular replaceable parts (incl battery), being a reasonably transparent company (if you interact with them via forums - the marketing team seems to like greenwashing so I mostly ignore their stances), and support for quite a few ROMs, as well as entirely replacing Android with a full Linux OS.
I wish the same product manager that designed the FP3 stayed with the company, because it’s a very nice looking device for what it is, and very well thought out, even if the software can be a bit meh sometimes. The FP4 seems like a less-than-ideal direction IMO, and feature-wise distinguishes itself less from generic mainstream devices compared to the FP3.
Personally I don’t think i’ll be getting another FP (Or another mobile device in general?) anytime soon.
From a software perspective, go get yourself a Pixel and flash GrapheneOS! From a Hardware perspective, the FP would be the longer lasting option IMO. If you’re happy with your current device though, give “Capitalism” the middle finger and keep using it.
@lemann @fluorine Did you check the new FP5? It looks awesome again..!I don't own a FFP. I'm planning to get the FP5. I'm currently using two second handed long due Lenovo P2 phones from 2016. Of course custom roms now.
I’ve been using a FP4 since ~2 months after release.
I cannot straight-up recommend that phone.
The ups:
Repairability is nice. It’s actually really easy to take apart.
Battery is replaceable without tools
They let you root/flash custom ROMs without losing your hardware warranty
Guaranteed updates until end of 2026
Spare parts available until 2027
5 year warranty
The downs:
The phone is getting late in it’s cycle.
The hardware is from 2020
There are only 3 years of software updates left. This is still good, but there are other manufacturers that offer the same
Parts are only guaranteed to be available for 3-4 years. That is ok, but you can also get spare parts for much older phones too.
Stock software is really buggy, and everyone gets a different set of bugs.
Support is really slow and most of the time unhelpful. “Thanks, we have added the bug to the backlog”. A year later, the bug is still there, even for major bugs.
Every release adds new bugs, the software overall is not getting better.
Android OS updates have so far been very late. Android 12 was just released earlier this year.
They outsource their OS development, and the devs don’t use FP as daily drivers, so they only fix what they are paid for, not what they find themselves.
The hardware isn’t great
I’ve had a few games that I couldn’t even play on lowest settings, because the game is too slow for it (e.g. Space Marshals 3)
The camera is really bad. The camera of my Moto Z Play was better, and that phone was a cheap phone released in 2016. The stock camera app is also super slow and laggy. ~50% of the time when you press the shutter, it will not even take a picture at all. Sideloading a version of Google Camera from the Fairphone forum does fix the lagging and the missed pictures, and it does improve the picture quality a bit, but don’t expect anything remotely fitting into 2023.
The phone is really expensive for what you are getting, and the price hasn’t come down a bit, considering that the phone is out since almost 2 years now.
Many people seem to expect a FP5 to be released soon-ish
All in all:
It’s a decent, though overpriced phone if you really like to hack and tinker. There is an ethical aspect if you believe their marketing, but in the end it’s using mostly off-the-shelf components. If you are looking for a phone that “just works”, this is not the place.
Also, regarding repairability: For the high price point you can easily afford multiple professional battery/screen replacements if you buy a cheaper mainstream phone instead.
So this is not a straight-up buy or don’t buy. For some people this is the right phone, for many there might be better alternatives out there.
@squaresinger @fluorine What do you think about the new the new FP5 hardware then? Software is shouldn't be much better, I expect to flash it anyway with a custom rom.
I don’t think these specs are correct. From what I can see, they are identical to the FP4, so I guess phonedady just copied them over.
Cores/RAM/Storage/GPU are all identical.
The only differences I can find is that it appears to list one more camera (even though the renders show the same amount as on the FP4) and a headphone jack (which the renders don’t show).
Also the photo they show at the top is the FP4.
I really hope they aren’t just gonna re-release the FP4 with a hole punch camera as the FP5.
Although you can't both charge the phone/use pripherals, like a keyboard/mouse and use headphones in that case, unless you're using one of the few phones with 2+ USB-C ports, and wireless charging can be cumbersome.
I found it’s very annoying and I had two cables break on me because it sticks out more from the phone - and phones being larger with each release means we can’t keep them in our pockets as we used to. Also, replacing a USB-C->jack cable is more expensive than replacing an audio cable.
Is this really true? At least my Fairphone 3 came with stock Android and I had to reflash it to get /e/OS.
I think that they do have a partnership with Murena where they sell /e/OS pre-installed, but outside of that they should come with Android + Google Play Services.
@Noreia Too bad to hear this. Even the new FP5 doesn't have a headphone jack. No idea why not make it an option via their modules. Anyhow, their reason is: "To support maximum longevity and because of the IP rating, Fairphone xxx does not feature a headphone jack."
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