No questions, but I’m so fucking pissed that Fairphone is on their 6th generation and still doesn’t offer them globally.
I have to replace my wife’s dying phone, and it kills me that I’ll end up buying some garbage, probably from Google, that will end up as garbage in a few years.
I don’t want to import, I want to purchase from an authorized local dealer with warranty and parts available in Canada.
Even clove says that you’ll need to send the phone back to the UK, at your expense, for any warranty related work. That’s not only incredibly time consuming and costly, but it would negate any environmental benefit of owning the phone!
I can’t imagine how expensive and delayed parts would be, again, missing the point of having a repairable phone.
The demand for at least North American consumers is there. I wish Fairphone would just do it already.
Got it. Yeah it makes sense for the warranty. I assumed I could get parts in Canada though. I might have jumped the gun on this one. I thought iFixit sells them and they do but I can see their site says “Not sold in Canads” for a few parts I checked just now. Hmm.
E: It seems that Clove also sells parts. I see some FP4 and 5 parts. No FP6 parts yet.
It is insanely expensive to get network certification and pay for band licenses, and then build an antenna array that can cover it all well. Myriad of frequencies outside of dealing with mafioso policies.
Cell phones need to be the new landline. Just works. But that takes regulation and design patterns.
And towers. You live where I live, very low population density and thick forest make cell phones iffy at best. Many places I go have absolutely no cell service and probably never will. I will be dead before we get access to 5G here.
I have the opposite problem! 5G is being forced on us here (Ontario, Canada), and my mobile provider just closed of their 3g network, and are making 4g more expensive. I don’t need 5g. I don’t even need 4g, and to have to pay for it just sucks.
The US closed out 3G a few years ago. So 4G/LTE is the default now. When we had 3G, the reception was even worse. And 5G is supposed to be the thing. But even in the nearest big town, (Pop. 15,000), the 5G reception is very spotty. But at least my bill hasn’t gone up.
In any case, even my new Pixel 9a only shows one bar where I live. But at least I can send a text reliably now.
I know Fairphone would probably be quite expensive even for the price it offers if it ever came to my country, but for the update cycle they offer and repairable build (looks at my broken screen of old Nokia), it actually makes sense. I don’t particularly need the highest end specs, I just need a mid ranger phone that’s sufficiently fluid and Fairphone fits the bill.
In fact, I was more intrigued by their earbuds. IIRC, they are the only one with a replaceable battery. For a set of wireless ones, that is a huge step. I don’t think their sound profile was/is as good as Sony’s or Sennheiser’s but the simple fact that they don’t have to end up as e waste makes them way more value for money in the long run.
I know Fairphone would probably be quite expensive even for the price it offers if it ever came to my country, but for the update cycle they offer and repairable build (looks at my broken screen of old Nokia), it actually makes sense.
This is why I got a Framework laptop, and why I wouldn’t mind getting a Fairphone. I’m tired of planned obsolescence, and the e-waste it needlessly creates.
I don’t think they’re handling their current scale well just in Europe, even. VoLTE works on a limited number of carriers even in Europe. e.g. only T-Mobile is recommended by FP in Poland, but it’s just one of the four large telcos. I wouldn’t expand if I was at that point. Plus, they’re busy with making their support less horrible (see post on their forum) for now.
This is just about VoLTE that’s used for higher bandwidth of voice calls (and HD Voice). Calling works normally, it’s just that they don’t have the “HD+” icon in the dialer, so they aren’t high quality voice calls). It doesn’t impact my life very much but it’s one of those things that are missing.
No questions, but I’m so fucking pissed that Fairphone is on their 6th generation and still doesn’t offer them globally.
I have to replace my wife’s dying phone, and it kills me that I’ll end up buying some garbage, probably from Google, that will end up as garbage in a few years.
Please, bring these to Canada! 😭😭😭
Buddy, I’m in Torontario guy. Bought from Clove UK for 1016 Canadian peso final-final, after DHL blood sacrifice.
I don’t want to import, I want to purchase from an authorized local dealer with warranty and parts available in Canada.
Even clove says that you’ll need to send the phone back to the UK, at your expense, for any warranty related work. That’s not only incredibly time consuming and costly, but it would negate any environmental benefit of owning the phone!
I can’t imagine how expensive and delayed parts would be, again, missing the point of having a repairable phone.
The demand for at least North American consumers is there. I wish Fairphone would just do it already.
Murena is an official authorized seller of Fairphones, but they come with e/os (you can reinstall the original if you have a computer)
Edit: Damn its available for the US but not Canada.
Got it. Yeah it makes sense for the warranty. I assumed I could get parts in Canada though. I might have jumped the gun on this one. I thought iFixit sells them and they do but I can see their site says “Not sold in Canads” for a few parts I checked just now. Hmm.
E: It seems that Clove also sells parts. I see some FP4 and 5 parts. No FP6 parts yet.
I bought my FairPhone from Clove too. It was easy and the phone works great here.
It is insanely expensive to get network certification and pay for band licenses, and then build an antenna array that can cover it all well. Myriad of frequencies outside of dealing with mafioso policies.
Cell phones need to be the new landline. Just works. But that takes regulation and design patterns.
And towers. You live where I live, very low population density and thick forest make cell phones iffy at best. Many places I go have absolutely no cell service and probably never will. I will be dead before we get access to 5G here.
I have the opposite problem! 5G is being forced on us here (Ontario, Canada), and my mobile provider just closed of their 3g network, and are making 4g more expensive. I don’t need 5g. I don’t even need 4g, and to have to pay for it just sucks.
The US closed out 3G a few years ago. So 4G/LTE is the default now. When we had 3G, the reception was even worse. And 5G is supposed to be the thing. But even in the nearest big town, (Pop. 15,000), the 5G reception is very spotty. But at least my bill hasn’t gone up.
In any case, even my new Pixel 9a only shows one bar where I live. But at least I can send a text reliably now.
Funny enough, was setting up a new phone and saw the option to enable 2g with an actual toggle! LOL
Opening up their market to another 400 million to multiple billion people would make those expenses worth while, though.
We need ethical, environmentally conscious, future proof options for smartphones in the Americas. 😫
I know Fairphone would probably be quite expensive even for the price it offers if it ever came to my country, but for the update cycle they offer and repairable build (looks at my broken screen of old Nokia), it actually makes sense. I don’t particularly need the highest end specs, I just need a mid ranger phone that’s sufficiently fluid and Fairphone fits the bill.
In fact, I was more intrigued by their earbuds. IIRC, they are the only one with a replaceable battery. For a set of wireless ones, that is a huge step. I don’t think their sound profile was/is as good as Sony’s or Sennheiser’s but the simple fact that they don’t have to end up as e waste makes them way more value for money in the long run.
This is why I got a Framework laptop, and why I wouldn’t mind getting a Fairphone. I’m tired of planned obsolescence, and the e-waste it needlessly creates.
I don’t think they’re handling their current scale well just in Europe, even. VoLTE works on a limited number of carriers even in Europe. e.g. only T-Mobile is recommended by FP in Poland, but it’s just one of the four large telcos. I wouldn’t expand if I was at that point. Plus, they’re busy with making their support less horrible (see post on their forum) for now.
edit: damn fp6 doesn’t support any Polish carrier, a step down from FP5 https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/9779766652689-How-to-set-up-4G-and-Wi-Fi-Calling
That’s disappointing. They’ve been around for over a decade, and still have these “growing pains”?
Even phones from much smaller, more niche companies (i.e Pinephone) have had global availability and work on global bands.
This is just about VoLTE that’s used for higher bandwidth of voice calls (and HD Voice). Calling works normally, it’s just that they don’t have the “HD+” icon in the dialer, so they aren’t high quality voice calls). It doesn’t impact my life very much but it’s one of those things that are missing.