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The repairable Fairphone 2 gets an Android update five years after launch
Ethical phone company Fairphone's first modular handset, the five-year-old Fairphone 2, is getting an Android 9 update.
Fairphone's ethical smartphone gets Android 7
Nearly three years after ethical smartphone company Fairphone launched its Fairphone 2 handset, the Dutch social enterprise has announced it's now compatible with Android 7.1.2, aka Nougat. This might seem like old news, given that most smartphones are now munching on Android Pie, but the time and money spent upgrading the phone to even this level is indicative of the sustainability challenges still prevalent in the smartphone market.
Fairphone will stop supporting its first 'ethical' phone
Fairphone has announced that it will no longer be supporting the Fairphone 1, which first hit the market in 2013. That means the company won't be supplying spare parts for the phone any longer and has ceased developing the Android software update.
Fairphone's easy-to-fix handset relaunched with a slim cover
Most smartphones are doomed to the scrap heap several years after they're new, because glued and soldered parts make them too pricey to repair. With the modular Fairphone 2 handset, on the other hand, you can replace the screen in a minute without tools, and other modules can be swapped with a screwdriver. In fact, iFixit gave the device a perfect 10 for repairability. The company behind it has refreshed the device, and released its first replaceable component: the cover
6 next-gen green cell phones
By Cat DiStasio In the grand scheme of things, mobile phones haven't been around that long. Less than 20 years ago, hardly anyone had one, and devices of that era certainly weren't capable of doing what today's smartphones can do. Cell phone technology progresses so quickly, in fact, that most users are prone to replacing their phones with new ones every few years -- even if the old one still works -- just to have something with longer battery life and a better camera. This behavior is inspiring designers to create more sustainable handsets: some with easily upgradable modules, some made with recycled materials and some that charge themselves with little or no interaction from the user. Although a few of these technologies are still in the conceptual phase, it's easy to imagine that they could be available within the next few years -- right about when you'll be thinking about replacing the phone you have now.
Fairphone delivers on its ethical, modular smartphone
Fairphone is a slightly different kind of smartphone manufacturer. It's not out to make the prettiest or the most powerful handsets, but the most ethically responsible. The company bankrolled its first device through a pre-order program, and went on to sell 60,000 of the things, affording it the capital to follow-up with a second-generation smartphone that pushes its agenda even further. Like its predecessor, the Fairphone 2 is built using as many conflict-free resources as possible, and a portion of the proceeds from every sale go to a worker welfare fund in China and an electronic waste recycling program in Ghana. The Fairphone 2 is more than just a hardware update with the same ethical angle, though. The company wants to tackle electronic waste at the source, by building a modular smartphone that's durable, repairable and upgradable.
