2021-01-01

Fairphone 3: Fair, ecological and fully, fully functional

The new range of Fairphones work great and will leave you feeling like you are doing something good for both the planet and society.

Often, when you buy a product with selling points like “sustainable” and “fair”, you have to sacrificed others like “usable” and “functional” and “attractive”. Luckily, that is not the case with the Fairphone 3. In short, the Android smartphone just works.

The (trivial) cons
The only shortcoming(s) that I have experienced in the 6-plus months that I have had it are that the camera needs a little longer than my previous smartphones to take a picture; especially in low light. Also, the white lettering on the back slowly flaked off, so that I went from a “FAIRPHONE” to a “FAI PHONE” and then to an ” AI PHONE” to just a “PHONE” and now to a “P  ON”. Oh, and it’s a little heavier than most phones and a little clunkier.

So the drawbacks are purely cosmetic and you get used to them pretty quickly.

The (major) pros
Firstly, it has an amazing battery life. Should battery performance ever become an issue, you can order a new one right from the manufacturer’s website (see link above).

Further, it is only a little heavy and clunky because all its parts are screwed in place (as opposed to glued or soldered) and you can replace them if an upgrade is available or is something breaks, for instance. It also comes with a little screwdriver for just that purpose. After all, it does say on the side that the phone is “Designed to open” and on the back that “Change is in your hands”.

Fairphone is the only smartphone company with a gold rating from Fairtrade and from EcoVadis and they are certified as using their business to address social needs. They also have a perfect score for their repairable design. I could go on, but you get the picture. Basically, you can be secure in the knowledge that you are not harming anything or anyone unduly or unjustly if you use one of these.

Conclusion: Buy it. Now!
Finally, we can enjoy a usable, practical, and functional piece of high-quality equipment is truly sustainable and manufactured in a fair and responsible manner. Right now, their sales figures are just above 100,000, but I think they will see growth in the not so distant future.

PS My wife outdid me (obviously) and got herself the Fairphone 3+ a couple of months ago. She is a more demanding customer than I am and she is more than satisfied with it.