Fairphone 4—the repairable, sustainable smartphone—is coming to the US
Fairphone 4—the repairable, sustainable smartphone—is coming to the US
Fairphone teams up with the developer of the /e/ Android fork to enable US sales.
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I'm due for an upgrade from my pixel 3, which I love but the battery life is getting very low. I'm very interested in this, but wouldn't want to spend the money/resources on something that doesn't work well for me. Getting something upgradeable, then discovering the quality is bad and it doesn't last isn't very sustainable.
If anyone has any personal experience with this phone I'd love to hear it!
I've had one for a while now and overall I'm happy with it. The screen and camera are as good as some other devices and it doesn't support all of some bands that US providers use so service coverage may vary. I should also add that the touch sensitivity is a little off. I'm not sure if thats software or hardware to blame though.
I'm on a T-Mobile reseller and excluding situations like being inside a data center or being outside of town camping or whatever my service has been acceptable. Its also less an issue for me as in almost always in WiFi range.
I don't think the phone is upgradable. It is repairable though. The fact that it has an easily removable battery is enough to justify the device for me as glued in dead batteries have historically been my biggest issue with device longevity.
I never considered that the model of phone would affect the coverage, that shows how much I know! Definitely something to consider, I drive through low coverage areas a lot and do not want to get stranded with no way to communicate.
And good point with the upgradeable vs repairable. It would be so cool if it was upgradeable! Making every new part backwards compatible would be a huge pain for the designers though. But like you said the battery is the real problem with most phones. I'd be very happy with a more standard phone that just had a replaceable battery!
Have you ever had an issue that you had to get support for? Whether it's asking fairphone for help or just searching online for answers, did you have any trouble?
I am very clumsy and tend to drop my phone a lot. I worry that the disassemble-able design could make the phone less drop resistant, have you experienced that? (Or maybe you just have basic levels of hand-eye coordination and are able to hold on to a phone without issues lol)
Have you ever had an issue that you had to get support for? Whether it's asking fairphone for help or just searching online for answers, did you have any trouble?
Hmmm. I don't think so. I had some weird issues with audio on phone calls at one point but I think that was not due to the phone and more so due to LineageOS, a third party OS.
I worry that the disassemble-able design could make the phone less drop resistant, have you experienced that?
Well I don't drop my phone but I also don't feel like its construction lends it to being overall weaker. I also keep it in a case and with a screen protector on though.
Yes it's not as durable, also it's not water resistant at all.
I'd consider getting a good case with it.
The screen is Gorilla 4 so it should be fine with a protector.