Hello!
Need some opinions;
I’d like to buy a new smartphone (my first one actually) and I’m considering to buy a Fairphone.
The fact is that I need something durable and something I could use for work in the future (and, you know, the ethical aspects are interesting).
I’m undecided, so I hope to read some users advices! (have to say that my choice is now restricted between Fairphone and Iphone).
Thank you!
Well, in comparison with FP you’ll be able to change your battery easily, or get any other piece to replace a broken one.
On the Fairphone you also have two sim card, I guess that’s useful for having two numbers (pro and perso).
If you aren’t in a hurry you could wait to see what the second version will be, it could enhance in several ways in comparison to the first model. 
Well… I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but Iphones are not really known to be durable or even meant to lost longer then until a new version comes out. The keyword here is planned obsolescence (See here eg: http://www.inc.com/erik-sherman/planned-obsolescence-a-good-way-to-make-your-business-obsolete.html, here: http://www.ifixit.com/blog/2011/01/20/apples-latest-innovation-is-turning-planned-obsolescence-into-planned-failure/ or here: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/planned-obsolescence-as-myth-or-reality/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0).
While I wouldn’t claim, that a Fairphone will last forever, it is still a great feeling to know, that if my battery brakes (at this point you can more or less get rid of your Iphone), I can simply exchange it - no sweat. Or change my display with just a screwdriver and a spare part.
For the hard- and software part: I personally think, Apple does create fantastic devices. I’m personally more happy with the options, Android gives me to costumize my device, but that’s just my idea of a phone. I’m also perfectly happy with the fairphone’s technical features, although they are quite far behind newer Apple devices.
Keep in mind, that you are not buying a real fairphone with the Fairphone (For a good summary of the critizism about the current fairphone, see here: http://blog.faire-computer.de/fairphone-an-unfulfilled-promise/).
You more or less support a project (and join the vibrant community), which aims to change the way electronic devices are made. And that is what was important for me. I have never regretted my decision since, and most Iphone users I talked with, were actually quite jealous of my Fairphone.
So tell us, how you decided after all.
thank you for comments, very helpful!
yeah, that’s what I thought…on the one hand my impression is that FP could be an awesome device (and for what it represents) but not “in step with the times” (in the technical profile) on the other hand I don’t want to be “fascinated” by apple stuff (and sure, the battery problem is relevant to me).
Well, I’ll take some time to think on it xD
anyway, interesting links.
Hi,
well, I was very happy to escape the apple prison - I hates to work with Itunes. Even though my fp has some small spleens and childhood diseases I’m quite happy with it. I also need it for work (basicly mail and calender), I’m confident.
I’m not convinced about this whole planned obsolescence thing. Sure, the fact that a battery cannot be removed from the iPhone (and many other phones) is a bit daft, but to imply that the hardware itself was designed to fail after a year or two of usage, I don’t buy that. Because if that were the case, then why are they still supporting old devices with iOS updates and everything?
Also, the number one reason why I don’t believe it is because still working or not, the fanboys will still line up to replace their perfectly well working one year old phone for the latest model (and this goes not only for Apple). In other words, something contrived as planned obsolescence isn’t even necessary because the consumer will consume anyway.
Having said all that, I do think the ability to replace individual parts of your phone yourself is a huge selling point for the Fairphone and is something more phone companies should do.
The planned obsolescence debate is peculiar. While it’s true companies have their interests in such a possibility (even a bit), the technical existence of such a feature is a bit “daft” as you put it.
After all, I’m not convinced too.
Marketing is the most powerful planned obsolescence. If we used technologies better, it’d be less of a problem. Start buying quality and not cheap s**t (I mean crap)…
I think that planned obsolescence is almost everywhere.
If you buy a refrigerator, the serpentine is made very thin and it will break in a short time. If you buy a cheap printer, its software is planned to simulate a system failure after warranty time (on Internet also exist hacker programs to reset the printer counter and magically printer restarts to work…).
I suspect a similar trick was also put in one of my precedent phones: it worked perfectly for two years, later, suddenly, it stated to scarf down the battery abnormally. Charge kept only six or seven hours (earlier battery can keep charge for four or five days if I didn’t stress the phone much). I thought it was a battery lack, so I bought a new battery and the problem still survived. Phone had not any kind of sophisticate OS like Android and it couldn’t run applications in background. So I realized that an anti-feature was added in my phone and I was forced to change it to another one.
Now I bought a Fairphone because my actual HTC has usb socket broken and it is soldered on phone’s motherboard; it can’t ostensibly fixed.
Maybe in high quality devices makers don’t insert so pervasive malicious software, maybe.
But, from light bulbs to phones, devices often are designed to keep useful state only for a short time and are very few fixable.
I hope that Fairphone can be a little better in this way, I plan to keep it for some years for my wallet, for ecosystem and for people exploited in phone-making process.
Sounds too much like tin foil hat conspiracy theorist nonsense to me. I think the real reason for products breaking prematurely is the practice of trying to lower the production costs by using less expensive materials or cheaper production processes, resulting in lower durability.
It’s more a case of companies adding up the plusses and minuses and coming to the conclusion that they save more money by cheapening their production process than that they lose over devices being returned under warranty.
The idea of some evil scheming person (preferably dressed in a black cape while laughing in a sinister way just when lightning flashes in the background) insisting that their product should break down ASAP is a bit far fetched IMO, not least because early breakage will push consumers towards the competition in search of higher quality goods.
Tin foil hat conspiracy?
There’s a good documentary about that subject http://youtube.com/watch?v=vfbbF3oxf-E (The Apple IPod appears as well )
The German Arte channel aired it under the title “Kaufen für die Müllhalde”.
Hi @Jerry
let us have a look at this quote.
iPhones will be supported from model 4s, released October 14th, 2011. IMO this will be the last iOS supporting this model.
There we have a planned obsolescence: 3 and maybe 1/2 years.
Sure one will be able to use the 4s after software support ends, but there will be no security or bug fixes etc.
I don’t think that 3,5 years are an acceptable lifespan for a 800,- Euro handset. Do you?
Greetings
Tom
Hello there, thank you all for answering;
I have a more practical question to ask to FP owners: what about the multimedia profile (I mean, photo, video and music? Is it competitive or what?
Thank you again
Hi @Francesca
You can see some great pictures here: Pictures gallery - Oh yeah FP camera has potential!
More discussion about the camera quality can be found here: Camera quality on FP compared with e.g. Iphone?
Personally, I’d say the phone camera is good enough for taking snapshots on the go. If I need more decent photo quality I use a camera anyway.
I made one video on my Fairphone, in bad lighting. I was very surprised by how good the video quality was, considering I knew the photos need good lighting to turn out good.
I don’t listen to my music on my phone, so I can’t give you my personal opinion. However a few people discussed this here: Bad audio quality
As for competitiveness, I’d say it’s not as good as those high-end phones multimedia-wise. But it holds its place in the middle-field.