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Fairphone 6 review - Interesting, viable mid-range phone
Quoting: Fairphone 6 review - Interesting, viable mid-range phone —
Sustainability is a big part of Fairphone's message. This is why their website emphasizes the use of recycled materials, why you don't get any charger or cable inside the box, and so forth. I tend to agree with the notion of sustainable use, but I approach the matter from a completely different angle.
Sustainability, in my book, is an outcome of doing things correctly; it's not a goal. If you don't overspend, live within your means, and replace items in your possession when they reach the end of their usefulness, and not because some company wants you to increase the bonus for their executives, then, yes, you are doing it right. For instance, the average device in my place is about 7-8 years old. A few have reached a double digit age. Some are relics, some still serve their purpose well. One thing is sure, they don't get thrown out when the marketing hotshots think you ought to be spending cash. Nope.
The Fairphone comes with some extremely interesting elements. Replaceable parts. Or more correctly, easily replaceable parts. As in, you don't need to throw away your phone if the battery goes bad or the charging port stops working. This is quite commendable. Then, the company also promises seven major Android version upgrades, and eight years of patching. Again, this is better than anyone else. You also get a standard two-year warranty, which you can extend to five years (for free, methinks). Sure, there's small print stuff, of course, but the terms are more generous than what most other companies offer, if they offer it to begin with.
But, I think the shopping experience could be nicer by offering the buyer a cable and a charger as an option. Tick the box, you get them. After all, what if this is someone's FIRST smartphone purchase? Unlikely, but it could very well be. Then, Fairphone 6 has no 3.5mm audio jack, which I find very sad. You can buy Fairbuds, an irony, but there's no USB-C adapter for the audio jack, nor simple, cheap wired headphones on offer.