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But I don’t want to repair it myself
Don’t we see this post every few years, with “(X phone brand) makes repairable modular phone”, it turns out expensive, very limited, and very unpopular, or they only make five of them basically, and then it disappears into air and we do it all again a few tears later? Same thing with laptops, really.
I’d love to see a brand actually manage it, but I’m out of hope for it ever actually going anywhere.
This will never catch on in any meaningful way if it is done outside of the big 3 smart phone makers. Apple will definitely not be interested in this because it is antithetical to their business model.
Having had a Fairphone for years, yes, the concept is good, but where the company really fails is quality control. Every other software update they pushed majorly broke something.
That’s my fear. I got burned enough by good hardware with trash software. Nothing more frustrating.
What broke me ultimately was when they pushed an update that broke bluetooth. Kept using the phone (FP3) til the USB-C port died (again…) and then got a different one.
Sounds just like OnePlus.
They brand themselves as “something different.” So, while the hardware and quality of their physical phones are amazing, the software updates are straight trash.
Overly issues where tapping one thing triggers the the icon behind it. Spelling errors. Same options repeated in different menus. Removing several options from the vanilla android for no reason. Notification bugs. Android auto bugs. And so many other tiny things that really get on your nerves.
My 8 pro was amazing when I bought it. Then Android 13 update came and it ruined this phone for me. It’s still blazing fast and has a really solid hardware, but the software side is amateur hour.
Side note: why did Google keyboard suggest “blonde” and “girl” after I typed amateur? I’ve never searched for those words for porn in my life. Wtf google?
Edit: it’s pretty much like Phonebloks which was introduced in 2013 https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/phonebloks-smartphone-s-future-may-be-modular-dan-misener-1.1857440
Never made it to market. Curious how this will fare nonetheless
its nothing like that.
What do you mean? It’s on its 5th version. Fairphone 4 is still supported after 5 or more years, and then there’s community. I only wish it had smaller cost, $$200–300.
I think, me meant Phonebloks, which it never made to market
My FP3 just got an update a couple of days ago 🤷♂️
Capitalism and sustainability are two words that rarely end up in the same sentence.
You can capitalize on parts. Look at the PC industry vs laptops
Unfortunately, their phones are supported by Verizon’s network.
Luckily the UK doesn’t have Verizon
Great network coverage and speed but terrible company
having worked with Vz in the past, it is a miracle they support any band.
who gives a fuck about replacing shit when you get only 3 years of security updates out of this throw away phone
My wife had one. It was a terrible phone that kept on having parts fail - speaker, modem, receiver. They kept sending her parts but a different part would just fail.
In the end she got a Pixel3a which she still has. Probably created less waste that the fairphone that never worked.
This is a great idea.
If it doesn’t have a blue text people wont use it.
Yeah this is what personal appliances were supposed to be. This isn’t new. This is what companes stopped doing in order to get more money. They did this with automobiles, they did this with entertainment devices, they did this with kitchen and house appliances, they did this with the house. You can’t find a house that will last longer than 50 years anymore unless you’re a millionaire. They don’t give 2 shits about our generation or the next or the next after that which is why this will never catch on again.
It’ll add waste because tinkerers will buy it just to play with. What will they do with their discarded or extra parts? How will replacements be packaged and sold? As a gimmick it doesn’t work, there’s nothing more ‘sustainable’ about that than having insurance and having a phone repaired when if you break it. They’re just trying to create a parts market. When phones can be made of mostly recycled materials they will be ‘sustainable’
Yeah I had one of their early phones. It kinda sucked ass.
This is a great idea. The execution is dumb af tho. I own multiple phone repair shops and we get customers with these every once in a while, even though they should be able to fix them themselves. These phones are more of a budget, mid-tier, low build quality and bad material choice option amongst other phones. They are not competitive at all, there is no real reason to choose a Fairphone over some Samsung or other Android phone for the same price. It gives no incentive, is not a good deal whatsoever and the fucking things still break out of nowhere after 2 years.