Fairphone 4 Review

[lordreesmogg]

Computer Active magazine has reviewed the Fairphone 4 https://www.snipca.com/40192 they only give the FB4 3 out 5 stars.

[darioce]

Please post the real link. This one is not working.

[lordreesmogg]

I have copied the text of the review

“PHONE ❘ £499 from Fairphone Fairphone 4 - Sustainable. Long-lasting. Fair. | Fairphone
Most of us are happy to do our bit for the environment by sorting our waste into recycling bins and taking re-usable shopping bags to the supermarket, but would we choose our next smartphone on the basis of how eco-friendly it is? Fairphone is hoping we will and its latest model, the Fairphone 4, is its most persuasive argument yet.
The phone’s eco-credentials are bolstered by using recyclable materials where possible, using fairly sourced and sustainable materials, and building its phones with a modular design that makes them easy to repair and should prolong its lifespan.
Because it has replaceable components, – including battery and screen – it’s a little chunkier than a standard smartphone, measuring 10.5mm thick and weighing 225g. However, it will still slip into your pocket with room to spare.
It has a 6.3in 60Hz IPS screen with a resolution of 2340x1080 pixels. A ‘teardrop’ notch at the top houses the front-facing camera. Contrast isn’t as strong as you’d get from an OLED screen, but it’s bright enough to use in broad daylight.
Inside it has a Snapdragon 750G processor, which managed a solidly mid-range performance in our benchmark test, getting a similar to the
Poco X3 NFC (£280) and the Redmi Note 9T (£250, reviewed in Issue 600). Clearly, both of these are significantly cheaper, but won’t do as much for the planet or be as easy to mend. The £499 model pairs the processor with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, though you can get an 8GB RAM/ 256GB storage option for £569.
The battery is only 3,905mah, which is relatively small compared with rivals. However, it didn’t seem to impact battery life too much. In our tests it easily lasted a day on a full charge, even with heavy use. Light users should find this creeps well into a second day on a single charge.
All of this makes for a slightly underpowered and under-performing smartphone for the price. Of course, some of the extra you pay goes into ensuring the company’s support of fair pay to its employees and ecological production processes. Whether you’re willing to accept these compromises and pay more for a lesser phone will probably come down to how much you’re willing to support Fairphone 4’s green ideals”.

[JeroenH]

Do you have a link so we can include it in the general FP4 review thread?

I find the text as you pasted it a bit lacking. Its factually correct, on the good side, but for example it compares with China phones, that’s not a fair comparison at all (it doesn’t mention them as such, nor does it mention the downsides of these). Compare with premium brands instead such as Samsung [EDIT]midrange, not S-series[/EDIT]. Doesn’t mention the fact you can buy the components from the store. Doesn’t mention warranty (those China phones do how many years of updates now? 2?) And they don’t mention lack of 3.5 mm. I also don’t see how they concluded the 3/5 stars.

[robbert.f]

Looks like this review (along with all other contents of the Computer Active magazine) is paywalled, for subscribers only. The ‘snipca’ link is an internal thing that this magazine uses for its outbound links, and it leads to the FP4 page on FP’s website.

[Aaanze]

Well nothing new here. Most reviews end up with the same conclusion which could be summarized as “costly for mid-range specs but hey, it’s about fairness and ecology”.

As I agree about the specs part, those reviews always tend to occult what’s actually - in my personal opinion - the main added value of this device (modularity and reparability aside):
Its ability to be configured with variety of alternate versions of android OS. And this with little risk.

I’ve be using and flashing a lot phones, Google Pixel, OnePlus, Samsung Galaxy’s, Asus Zenfones, HTCs, etc. It’s the first time I get my hand on a phone that can be rooted and debloated within the first month of its availability.
Of course I’ll concede it’s a rather geeky argument, but I find it disappointing that tech reviewers rarely mention the benefits of having lighter, customizable, more privacy-oriented OS without dirty constructor/carrier bloatware on top of it.

[Volker]

Thanks for your contributions within this topic!
Still we moderators have decided to unlist this topic for legal copyright reasons (it’s not allowed to copy and publish articles found behind paywalls).
In case a working link to the mentioned article is found then please feel free to add it within the topic Interesting links / news articles somehow related to Fairphone - #305 by Ingo
Thanks for your understanding!

[lordreesmogg]

There is no link because it is not on the Computer Active website, I copied the text from the current digital version of the magazine.