We really like the idea behind the Fairphone. A phone that is not only responsibly built and sourced, but is also repairable. What’s not to like. I mean, isn’t that what you look for in other important buys in your life, such as cars or houses? So why not your phone!
In fact, here is a quick video that aserts that:
Amidst all the excitement, Fairphone 2 has been announced and released at the London Design Festival.
Highlights include a ‘from the ground up design’, sourcing of materials from conflict free mines in DR of Congo, and improving working conditions for factory staff in China and reducing e-waste with the collection of scrap phones in Ghana. The London firm Seymourpowell has been a big part in the design too.
Being modular means that it is easy to open and repair, and spare parts are easily available from the website. There is also a detailed cost breakdown of the Fairphone 2 on its website, to give consumers greater insight into what it costs to make, sell and service a phone, to bring more transparency to the industry.
In the UK, customers can pre-order the Fairphone 2 from The Phone Co-op, either to buy the phone outright for £395 or included as part of a bundle with minutes, texts and data starting at £25 per month. Customers can also pre-order directly from Fairphone for €525, including 20% VAT. Based on the current production and development schedule, delivery is expected to start from November.
Over the weekend of 26 and 27 September, Fairphone is hosting a pop up shop with a hands-on display of the Fairphone 2 at Kwamecorp, the organisation’s software partner, giving visitors the opportunity to disassemble the new phone and take part in workshops gaining new insights into the consumer electronics sector. This two-day event is open to the public from 10am to 6pm. Additional information is available on the Fairphone Facebook page and the London Design Festival website.
A quick look at the specs before we end:
Display
5-inch, Full HD LCD display
Gorilla® Glass 3
Operating System
Android™ 5.1 (Lollipop)
SIM slots
Dual SIM
Platform
Qualcomm® Snapdragon ™ 801 platform 2GB RAM
Camera
8 megapixel rear camera
Storage
32 GB internal storage Expandable storage via MicroSD slot
Battery
2420 mAh removable lithium-ion battery
Connectivity
4G LTE/3G/2G Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n/ac) Bluetooth® 4.0 LE, GPS
Full technical specifications for the new Fairphone 2, as well as more background on the design and engineering process behind the phone, ia available here: https://www.fairphone.com/technical-specifications/
[…] The Fairphone 2 which was released in 2015 will be receiving a software upgrade to Android 9 as announced by Fairphone. Being almost five years old, it is one of the few smartphones to still receive software updates. The Fairphone began its journey with Android 5 and received upgrades for Android 6 and Android 7.1. Now, Fairphone has announced a beta version of Android 9 available on Fairphone 2. […]