back to article Free ethical upgrade offered as Fairphone launches mobe No 2

Fairphone, the crowd-funded mobe maker, has launched its second model, and in marked contrast to others (a sideways glance at you Apple) has literally taken the lid off. Fairphone launched in 2013 with the aim of creating a mobile that was free from conflict minerals, and was generally more ethical all round. More than 10,000 …

  1. Adze

    Link

    https://www.fairphone.com/

    Could/should have been in the article really.

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Thecowking

      I still remember my parents cries of anguish when they discovered that I had done that to the VCR.

      In my defence, you shouldn't leave a screwdriver near a child, asking for trouble.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

        1. dogged

          It was pens, with me. Ballpoints with spring mechanisms were my favourite, although the springs were distressingly easy to deform, lose or otherwise render useless.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      re. re-assembling it...

      I discovered, many years ago as a child, that almost anything can be taken apart... The problem is usually in re-assembling it...

      being picky, I'd argue that re-assembling wasn't a problem. The problem would be twofold:

      a) spare parts on the carpet when there were none before and / OR

      b) daddy, it won't work again!

      1. Andy A

        Re: re. re-assembling it...

        I'm famous in our family as the child who dismantled the pram WHILE I WAS STILL IN IT.

        No tools required, I obviously inherited my dad's grip, enabling me to deal with those lovely shiny dome-nuts which held it together.

  3. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Fairphone but not a fair price for what is essentially a dual SIM version of the Nexus 5

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

      Ethical purchasing is rarely the cheap option and is usually a moral decision as to whether to spend the extra money to help workers get paid a better wage and safe(r) working conditions or not.

      There is the added issue that these are selling in small quantities, so no big discounts from component suppliers.

  4. Bloodbeastterror

    "Free ethical upgrade"...?

    I've read the article twice and I can't relate it to the headline. What is free?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Free ethical upgrade"...?

      Your feelings of smugness for having a phone that (hopefully) doesn't have any conflict minerals in it.

  5. conan

    Good quality

    I haven't needed a new phone since the first Fairphone but my friends who have one are still very happy. The build quality is excellent - it's solid and has a reassuring amount of weight to it, like an iPhone. It is a little on the chunky side, but the dual SIM for me makes up for that. I'm seriously gonna consider the mk2.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not ethical...

    If it's built on the intrusive andriod operating system.

    1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

      Re: Not ethical...

      From the Fairphone website:

      ...we’re striving to open our source code with the developer community and we’re in discussions with established vendors to offer alternative operating systems.

      1. xj25vm

        Re: Not ethical...

        It would be fantastic if they would offer it with the Jolla OS. I have a Jolla phone and love it. Not sure if it is 100% open source, but it definitely is a lot more open than Android - and far more hackable and customisable. And free of advertising strings and "create an account with us and keep all your data in our cloud, or else it won't work" type stuff.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not ethical...

      If they remove all the Google bits, then the intrusiveness is gone. Switch to using duckduckgo for search, openstreetmap for mapping, etc.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not ethical...

      Replicant is your friend.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Unfair phone

    But when will someone produce a phone for the more evilly minded consumer who wants a phone whose components are exclusively sourced from conflict minerals and constructed with slave labour?

    1. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: Unfair phone

      Apple already did, shirley?

      1. ukgnome

        Re: Unfair phone

        I can't even be bothered to supply a link, just cut and paste. And then bore off.

        https://www.apple.com/uk/supplier-responsibility/labor-and-human-rights/

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