Other phones that are fairly fair? (e.g. Shiftphone)

€529.38 seems to me like a fair price for a product such as the Fairphone 2. However that is not something that everyone can afford. I can’t. Hence my question, has anyone of you found phones that seemed to take social and environmental issues into consideration?

1 Like

Yes, ask a friend to give you their old handset when they take up their next upgrade. lowest environmental impact and no additional “slave” labour involved.

On the other hand, loss of opportunity to re-employ a “slave” on decent conditions to make FP2s.

Better still, persuade the friend to buy a FP2 AND give you their old handset!!

12 Likes

I agree with you, but I think this was not the answer the OP was looking for… :wink:

:¬) :¬)

Try this: goodelectronics.org/news-en/2018fair2019-smartphones-compared-fairphone-scores-better-than-tco-certified-smartphones/at_download/attachment

… I ended up shelling out for the FP2.

2 Likes

And Fairphone’s official answer to it:

1 Like

Haha I need to find that one friend that I can manipulate to buy an FP2 :smile: Thank you for the links, I didn’t know about the TCO certification!

2 Likes

There is a German startup called Shiftphone. They have a website and a page on a fundraising platform (both in German only as far as I know). They’ve just started delivering their first phones. Their approach doesn’t seem to be even close to Fairphone’s approach and IMHO their concept lacks transparency.

They offer a 5’’ smartphone and a 7’’ phablet. Both are available in a standard version for €222 or a plus version for €333. I haven’t seen one of these phones in reality yet, so I can’t tell what they are good for.

PS: Their own website’s contents have not changed for several months. It has always been saying the phones would be available in their online shop within the next few days. Nothing has changed on this website.

UPDATE: By today, Shiftphone had to postpone delivery for their Plus versions several months now without sufficient reasoning IMHO. Communication seems to be a general problem there. This confirms my decision to get a Dutch phone instead :slight_smile:

2 Likes

I though about buying a shiftphone instead of a FP but as you pointed it out: They lack transparency and communication.
I really like the way FP tries to involve their customers into the development process, asks for ideas and what we think is necessary! :kissing_heart:

4 Likes

I researched this just today. The only thing they got on fairness is the Fair Production Manifesto, but no word on how or if they control that manifesto. Clearly their focus is on “being designed in Germany”.

In the technical specs they claim that their phones are free of conflict minerals like coltan. Is that even possible?

Wir achten darauf, dass bei der Fertigung niemand ausgenutzt wird: Faire
Löhne und Arbeitszeiten, keine Kinderarbeit sowie gute
Arbeitsbedingungen sind für uns selbstverständlich. Unsere Phones sind
frei von Konfliktmaterialien wie z.B. Coltan. Ebenso ist uns wichtig,
daß die Umwelt nicht unnötig belastet wird.

Their manifesto in English seems pretty clear: http://forum.shiftphones.com/download/file.php?id=108&sid=52057168ff841925117aa904db0d02ae

Haven’t seen that before. That’s a manifesto their manufacturer declared, not the one of Shiftphone itself. Sounds good to me so far. I think Shiftphones are (good?) alternatives to a Fairphone but not close to being as consequent as the Fairphone company. They are great for people who can not or don’t want to pay for a FP and a good opportunity to gain clear conscience. I don’t think they have ever proved that all the points stated in the manifesto are actually executed though…

As one can read in my earlier posts, I personally definitely would not consider buying a Shiftphone unless they change their business model significantly :slight_smile:

I have posted the manifesto 4 posts above… :stuck_out_tongue:

Conflict-free phones are certainly possible, if you avoid conflict areas. Fairphone, however, is going another way and explicitly doesn’t want to remove funding from these reagions to not increase poverty.

1 Like

Sure. I think I just got the sentence wrong. I thought they were saying they don’t use any coltan at all x)

1 Like

Critical article about Shiftphone (in German):

2 Likes

Oh, I didn’t even know they were so small still…

1 Like

Another very optimistic article (in German):

This is what they say in the article on reset.org:

…, kommt Shiftphone laut eigenen Angaben komplett ohne Coltan aus.

Without ascribing anything to Shiftphone I prefer having fair coltan used in a phone than an unfair alternative, also taking away the jobs of the workers and exploiting people someplace else. (Why did I write that in German first??)

2 Likes

Can Shiftphone seen as a competitor to Fairphone (in terms of companies)?
Why they don’t work togehter (or do they?), at least in a manner of sharing knowledge?

But anyway nice to see at least one other with similar ideals than FP, doesn’t matter if they are competitors or supporters of each other…

By the way: Shiftphone’s specs seem VERY similar to FP1’s…

1 Like