Review | Fairphone 4: Europe’s ethically made smartphone is guilt-free, scratch-free, has a battery you can change and a mid-range feel
- The Fairphone’s Dutch manufacturer sourced 14 key materials ethically, and offers a five-year warranty covering camera modules, screen, speakers and software
- The display’s refresh rate is low and the camera isn’t the best, but the handset is 5G-ready and you could use it for years
The Fairphone 4 is full of unusual promises for a smartphone: it’s easy to fix, has an unusually long warranty and is the first smartphone promising no electronic waste. But what compromises do you have to make compared to less ethically sourced smartphones?
Design and hardware
The Fairphone 4’s housing, with its sturdy aluminium frame, fits well in the hand. At 10.5mm, it is somewhat thicker than other current smartphones – the Dutch manufacturer does not want to submit to the slimness craze of the industry.
To avoid having to make the phone even thicker, there’s already a few compromises. Among other things, the headphone jack is now missing. But the device is now protected against splash water – despite the removable back.
The Fairphone team also came up against spatial limits when it came to the (removable) battery and had to limit itself to a rather average 3,905 mAh of power.
The display of the Fairphone 4 is a mixed bag. On the one hand, you no longer have to worry about the screen scratching easily – the display is now protected by a special resistant glass.
On the other hand, the image quality is not as brilliant as on top-of-the-range devices. When scrolling web pages, the content on the LCD with a refresh rate of 60hz did not move as smoothly as on other mid-range and premium devices’ OLED screens.