this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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If you can't buy parts a decade after something is purchased, the repairability is a gimmick, a sales trick.
I'm not making a joke, that's the truth of it, imo.
That's how old the fairphone is.
My lgg3 is a year younger, and it's a pain in the ass to find a real battery, but LG didn't sell the thing with the idea of users being able to repair and upgrade. You expect an LG phone to have poor parts availability after a decade.
Like you said, a phone under normal use should last a decade plus. Barring failure of the main board, which is kinda where replacing that part means it's a new phone rather than a repaired phone, if you're still left with a device that you can't get parts for, it's landfill waste. Kinda puts a damper on sustainability as a factor.
Fairphone is a gimmick, and it always has been. A good gimmick to be sure, but a gimmick.
Sadly yes, I like the company philosophy, and I understand that - with regards to device size - due to them being small, they can only run 1 product line, no parallel small phone. But what I do not understand then is how they feel they have to release a new model every 2 years, which also drives switching the production lines for older model spare parts. That's not sustainability in my eyes. I was severely disappointed after Fairphone advocated for repairability with "the most sustainable smartphone is your old one, if you continue using it", and still having my Fairphone 1(!) in tip top condition (the only part that broke was the power button, which I repaired myself with an iFixit tool & a soldering iron) but no longer being able to use it because SW support is discontinued. I was even more disappointed when my FP2 finally started having problems charging because the USB port was becoming wobbly / loose, and not being able to purchase a new bottom module because "sorry, we're on FP4 now, only spare parts we still ship are FP3 and higher".
So now I am on shiftphone 6mq - which is not necessarily smaller, but might be usable with free OS + docking station sooner than a FP ever will.
As you say - a good gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless.
No Lineage support for Fairphones?
Sorry, I meant with a Linux-like OS usable as a (albeit low performance) desktop computer
I always think about auto repair when repairability comes up. I could still get parts for my 30yo jeep. Hell people make parts for collector vehicles, even 90 year old Model A cars.
Now, you might say modern cars are less repairable but I can also get software to diagnose and configure my 5yo Toyota 4Runner. And if I upgrade some parts it doesn't void the warranty because of consumer friendly laws.
Tech would be very different if it followed these patterns.
is a smartphone not a gimmick to begin with.
Ehhhh, depends on how much you stretch the meaning, but I can see where you're coming from for sure
It's my primary computer these days, so it's definitely a useful tool and not a gimmick for me...I do still own a laptop, but I only use it for the very few things I do that require a KB/M combo. I'd say >95% of everything that requires a computer/digital access I do with my phone.