When I started taking apart the Fairphone 5, I didn’t really expect any surprises.
Having dis- and reassembled the previous model several times, I had some experience with Fairphone’s approach to building a smartphone: Modularity paired with easy access to all major components.
It’s a winning formula for a repairable smartphone they have iterated on several times now. So, what’s actually different this time around—apart from a new and shiny OLED screen and beefed up cameras?
↫ Manuel Haeussermann for iFixit
Spoiler: it’s still a 10/10 for repairability, but with new niceties to make the process even more pleasant.
I made fairphone 4 our work phones and rolled them out to staff. They were great, and I was able to cycle them so easily. Had regular updates and knew that when someone broke something we could quickly repair it without needing to buy a full replacement.
They were a little chunkier, but in use, almost indistinguishable from mid-range phones.
I wish they’d do a “pro” version with slightly higher spec. But their “+” upgrades do help a little.
I wish they were available in the country I am from, far far away from Europe. Very expensive item to post, and if a repair was needed…
tux2bsd,
In the US, depending on the carrier, many phones are banned by their IMEI number. Compatibility (or lack thereof) used to just be about matching phone frequencies to carrier frequencies, but now your IMEI has to be whitelisted too. Even those that support the wireless technology are being blocked.
Legally the carriers were obligated to accept all phones under their 3G/4G wireless spectrum license from the FCC, however those terms were dropped for 5G licensing. Now carriers like ATT are deciding which models to block and allow on their networks. BYOD got a lot more complicated. Most of our phones, including fairly new 5G capable ones, ended up getting blocked and had to be replaced.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/no-at-t-wont-let-older-phones-tap-into-its-full-5g-network-after-all/
I believe there may be region locking in play as well. A traveler using a foreign phone with a foreign SIM might work in the US, but I can personally confirm many 5G devices are IMEI got blocked on domestic plans.
I think this impacted fairphone imports as well.
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/questions-before-i-buy-a-fairphone-4-in-the-usa/96560
Then switch to a better carrier… AFAIK T-Mo and MINT aka Min T-mo which gives you all the towers for s slimmer service at a lower cost and I love that I only have to pay once a year.
AFAIK T-Mo only uses IMIE checking to make sure you are on a phone made for the US market, because they are required to do so by the FCC to ensure that US approved firmware is being used.
cb88,
Tmobile does this too.
Anyway we had tmobile but when my parents moved to to Vermont they had zero coverage there. Of the main carriers, the only choices were ATT & verizon. It was a deadzone for tmobile.
cb88,
Do you have a link for this? If that’s the case it must be new, as far as I know the FCC has never mandated this before. I’ve purchased and used foreign phones without issue in the past (insofar as they have the right frequencies).
I’m not in the US, far further away than that.