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Hands-On With the Fairphone 2 Modular Android Smartphone (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In just a couple of months, the world's first consumer-ready modular smartphone will start shipping. It's called the Fairphone 2, and it will run Android 5.1. Ars Technica got hands-on time with the device, and they say it works surprisingly well. It's a bit thicker than most modern phones, but that's the trade-off for being able to swap out components. "The smartphone consists of seven major building blocks: the back cover, removable battery, display assembly, main chassis, receiver module, rear camera module, and speaker module. Positioned this way, the components that break most often, like the screen, are isolated for better repairability. In addition to swappable blocks, you can even change things inside the modules: for example, a mic or a speaker. They are press-fit, not glued, and can be extracted with simple tools."
Assembly and disassembly is pretty straightforward, as well: "The modules are held together by Phillips screws marked with blue circles. All screws are the same, so you won't have to remember which one goes where. It's quite hard to make a mistake in the assembling process, however Fairphone promises to release additional manuals and video instructions in collaboration with iFixit." The company also thinks it's important to get the phone's materials and components from ethical sources.
Assembly and disassembly is pretty straightforward, as well: "The modules are held together by Phillips screws marked with blue circles. All screws are the same, so you won't have to remember which one goes where. It's quite hard to make a mistake in the assembling process, however Fairphone promises to release additional manuals and video instructions in collaboration with iFixit." The company also thinks it's important to get the phone's materials and components from ethical sources.
What about the part of the phone that is guaranteed to go bad (can't be patched for security vulnerabilities) after a few years?
Seriously I don't see this as any better than a run of the mill Samsung phone (the Galaxy S6 series with the non-removable back excluded). The number of modular components look about the same as when I replaced the microphone board on my Galaxy S4. So what is the point of this? It looks far less modular than Project Ara and I see little benefit over other commercial phones, especially when something breaks on a typical iPhone you can just go to an Apple store and have it repaired / swapped quite cheaply / free depending on the fault.
It is projected to have a 5 year lifespan using last years specs. No thank you. Great idea but too little too late.
With "2420 mAh at 3.8V (9.2 Wh)", the battery life will surely suck. I have 3100 mAh, that's a reasonably sized battery.
People would do well to remember what can happen when trying to avoid "conflict materials". See this article from The Guardian.
A lot of these so-called "fair trade" efforts are marketing gimmicks and come from the "let them eat cake" school of thinking of rich and naive Westerners.
Best part of it is transparent back cover. This way, everybody around can see how cool you are for building your own phone. Even if it is as complicated as putting together 6-part Duplo duck.
Ethical sources part only confirms diagnosis - it is targeted at holier-than-thou vegan hipsters, rather than on hacking/modding community.
This would be a lot more exciting when some other manufacturers do the same thing in a compatible form factor. Then you'd get a handheld the same way you get a desktop: go buy just the right parts for your situation.
"A Fairphone screen, a Foomeister I motherboard, a used Sorny RadioNIC that I found on eBay, a Brand X battery and oops I guess I didn't even bother with a camera on this one. Oh well, I didn't need one here. Wait, I just remembered have a 5 year old one sitting in a drawer, let's just throw that in." Later: "Shit, it got obsolete: time for a Foomeister II+ board, which has enough RAM to run the newest release of Netbuntroid."
But the only way we'll get there, is if this sells well enough that other manufacturers see a market for the form factor. It's hard to be optimistic about that.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
If they play their cards right, pushing this as an open platform to attract third party module makers, this could be huge and bring a variety of "personalized" features to niche markets. This could be a little bit like the IBM PC in the early days, where companies or people with specific needs can buy a standard platform but then expand it with one specific module to cater to their needs. Imagine a big company that currently needs many of its employees to carry an expensive custom made device, and then could replace all of those devices for a fair phone with just a less expensive custom made module.
I suppose I can see the benefit of modularity for maintaining a device if a piece of it breaks. But that adds bulk, and to the cost of the handset in total. And I doubt it makes the device reusable or future proof. The article even ends by expressing doubt about backwards / forwards compatibility on that score.
I don't know the details of this FairTax, but it sounds like one of those schemes that are designed to be 'fair' by putting the burden on others.
It sounds like people with low income would be (comparatively) worse of as people who earn plenty. Assume the same amount of waste produced by both, the poor person would have to spent a larger part if their income in taxes.
Don't worry. No one is going to upset the rich people's apple-cart here; no one else can afford to bribe the legislators to arrange the tax code to suit them.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
There are some nice concepts, but excluding the US does them no favors.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
It leaves the issue unresolved.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Umm... I've acquired some wealth. I'd submit that you probably don't want to switch to this fair tax idea. You know, I've already purchased all the big stuff, right? I can pay to have things repaired - and do. I don't even need to buy much in the way of groceries. I suspect, if you tax my goods at the same rate that you tax your goods then you're really going to get a lot less from me or a lot more from you.
I'd suggest increasing the rates on capital gains taxes over a certain amount. I only get taxed on it when I spend it, anyhow. If I'm spending over $500,000 per year then I can probably afford to pay more in taxes. I'd start there, I think. If I just leave my money in the market then, well, I don't get taxed really. Then I'm still encouraged to keep my money working and keep the economy afloat. Well, my little effort. I don't have *that* much money.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
You missed my point entirely. I wasn't arguing for the fair tax.
I was saying that the system isn't going to change, so stop worrying about it.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Ah, okay. I thought you were suggesting it was a good idea. If anything, the evil rich would probably be advocating such. It's got "fair" right in the title, right?
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
What about the part of the phone that is guaranteed to go bad (can't be patched for security vulnerabilities) after a few years?
TL;DR: don't be afraid security *will* be patched over the next years.
With the previous phones (where Fairphone company didn't have had that much access for the software part of the device) the Fairphone company has actively sought to help CyanogenMod.
Now for the FairPhone2, to quote page 2 :
As a next step we're working on giving users the choice in the operating systems that they want to use, instead of being limited to one that the manufacturer has pre-selected. We're talking to alternative OS vendors such as Jolla, Ubuntu, and Firefox,” she added.
Yup, this time arround, enabling the user to install whatever they want is one of the main point of the device.
More details on Fairphone's blog.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I really hope that they learned their mistake with the second version.
Seems like they've learned.
(And are also working on the FairPhone1 situation - They've managed to bargain licenses from MediaTek)
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Ho{p}efully Cyanogen will fix this issue.
FairPhone is doing whatever they can to help Cyanogen.
Up until recently, the main blocker is that the ODM (Original Device Manufacturer) that FairPhone contracted to produce their phone 1, had in turn licensed MediaTek as the chipset provider for the phone. And MediaTek hasn't publicly released nothing beyond what the GPL forces them.
They've release the linux kernel source, but not the android OS itself (it's a permissive license, thus MediaTek can modify it and not release the modified source) and neither the binary proprietary drivers.
These drivers only work up to Android 4.2, the kernel used by more recent Android release can't work with them. Thus you can only get Cyanogen up to the corresponding version.
Recently fairphone has managed to obtain the necessary code and license from all the hardware partners, including MediaTek.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
So what is the point of this? It looks far less modular than Project Ara
The difference is that Project Ara is still a vague project between Google, Motorola and a few others.
Whereas FairPhone2 is a phone that is currently shipping (despite some delays compared to the initially planned time schedule) and already in the hand of the first lucky few (e.g.: the community at Jolla has a few phones to try porting Sailfish OS on them).
I see little benefit over other commercial phones, especially when something breaks on a typical iPhone you can just go to an Apple store and have it repaired / swapped quite cheaply / free depending on the fault.
Except that, this being Apple, the experience of the few friend who have iPhones tells me that 4 months later they're already out of stock of spares, and (because there's still 20 months mandatory warranty to go, according to the law) they'll try to sell you the next model as replacement with a very strong rebate.
Meanwhile FairPhone1 (this phone's predecessor) can not only get fixed at any phone repair shop, you can even replace parts yourself at home (FairPhone company has collaborated with ifixit to make tutorial so end users can swap parts, and they've made sure with their ODM that the phone is serviceable by the end user). I've been there, I've replaced the screen of the phone for a girl I know.
FairPhone2 simply pushes this "End-User serviceability" even further, using modules.
- They garantee 5 year supply of spares or upgrades.
- They made it even more user-friendly by using modules
Also, unlike any other brand of phones, there's the whole fair-trade business (that was the main reason FairPhone began in the first place).
- tracking source, to guarantee conflict-free material
- also guanrateeing employee welfare at the chineese manufacture plant.
Add to that the ecologic aspects:
- phones are designed with a though about their lifecycle from the very beginning.
- the design is easily fixable (FairPhone1) modular (FairePhone 2) to avoid phone getting thrown away in the garbage when they could be fixed
- the devices are designed with a long life in mind so they can be repurposed/refurbished (e.g.: and still be used in developing nations once they're out of fashion here)
- they have partnerships for the recylcing of old phones.
These are the core business of FairPhone. The openness, choice of OS / software / etc. only came afterward. (And that's why it's only getting talked, about now)
It's not necessarily a phone with the latest and best shiny, unlike Samsung's.
But it's a phone with an interesting and unique feature set (upgradeability, easy repair, fair trade, choice of OS, etc.) that isn't easily available now (Project Ara is still at the "project" phase, iPhone are a nightmare requiring hot air guns to repair, installing your choice of OS usually requires hacking/rooting the phone, etc).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Even if it is as complicated as putting together 6-part Duplo duck.
That's the whole point of the module. That even the dumbest end-users could be able to sevice the phone.
The previous one used screws and required a tiny bit more dexterity to fix.
Ethical sources part only confirms diagnosis
...was conflict-free minerals all the way back at the time of their first phone. That's what FairPhone was founded for.
The news is that the 2nd one is modular to make it even easier to fix. (Whereas with the previous, they just made sure that the ODM used screws instead, and then partnered with iFixit to release fixing guide).
it is targeted at holier-than-thou vegan hipsters, rather than on hacking/modding community.
The modularity (now even easier to repair or refurbish instead of throwing away !) and the material source, indeed are.
On the other end, the pogo pins that you see on page 2 are certainly targeting the hacking/modding comunity, just as the Jolla's "The Other Half" did for the Jolla hacking community.
(BTW: Jolla's Sailfish OS seems to be coming to the FairPhone 2 too)
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
If you read the blog, you see that the WHOLE MAIN POINT of the modularity is to extend the life cycle of the phone.
By making it either easy to fix (FairPhone 1) or even modular (TFA's FairPhone 2)
- it makes it much more easy to repair
- much more easy to refurbish.
Thus there's a higher chance that, once you want to buy some other new phone, your old phone can be repaired/refurbished/dismantled for spares to refurbish other phone, and will find its way eventually into the hands of someone in a developing country instead of into a landfill.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Eventually, upgradeability as you describe seem to be on their roadmap.
But for now, the whole point of the modularity is to make it even simpler than before to fix (FairPhone1 was screw + iFixit guide. FairPhone2 is just lego).
Makes it easier to repair your phone if its get broken.
And if you decide to change to another new phone (iPhone 7, now with 7% more Shiny(tm) !!! ), modularity makes it even more likely that your old phone will get repaired/refurbished/dismantled for spares to refurbish another phone, and will probably end up into the hand of someone in a less privileged country who can still make use of it, rather than into a landfill.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Arguing for it is a different matter. As I understand it, it has a threshold built into it so that there is a minimum living allowance below which there is no consumption tax (I think they arrange that by providing X$ to the individual which makes up for Y$ of consumption) and that way it's not regressive.
But it's been a while since I looked at it; it never got any traction (no surprise there either way... things are just how the rich like them, and they're not going to change), so I never really managed to gen all that much interest.
Currently, a fan of basic income, but again, I don't think that's going anywhere yet. Not until automation makes significantly more inroads and there simply isn't any other viable option.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I don't mind higher taxes - that's why I donate to charities that I approve of. I'd pay more in taxes, willingly, if they were spent to actually help people instead of bombing little brown men and stripping away our rights with overly broad and purposefully vague laws and enforcement. We can debate where the lines should be but, it is my observation, those lines should be moved. I still employ a few people, I pay a lower tax rate than they do. In fact, I don't really get taxed at all until I spend money. It's not really all that fair but I don't see much reason to fund the current system more than it is - they'll just waste it. So, I donate to charities that I agree with. I consider that taxation with representation.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
I do the same with charities. Though it's sometimes difficult to find charities that aren't wasting a lot of the funds on ridiculous executive salaries and the like. I agree about the lines need moved, but again, they aren't going to be, or at least no more than represents a token amount.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
This needs a nice clean keyboard to attach to it.
Wash your keyboard, its kinda gross.
I am not a smart phone user , but my children are. Main failures to date are screens (drops, bumps, door closure in car; dead non-replaceable battery), if these could be repaired by any competant person e.g. partner, neighbour, local repair man, without surrendereing the phone; I see a market. Likewise a business with in-house repair to avoid external overlooking while repairing. However 5 years life seems to me to be too short. I have changed phones at 10-year interval. However we only use it for actual calls and text messages. We have never used the email function or radio or whatever. We use laptop computers to email. 90% of all my paid work is by email for clients. However as we are in our eight decade, we make be dust or recyled before the phone is upgraded.
Regards Eion MacDonald