Fairphone 6 no longer feels like a compromise (except in the US)

Fairphone 6 arrives almost two years after 5, a vow to access the upgrade cycle. If anything, I doubt that the company will be frustrated if Fairphene owners are already considering the new model – these are phones to keep, repair and hold to the bitter end.

The latest Fair continues to commit a company to the company Repairs, long-term customer support and ethical production. It means compromises for consumers: you will find more powerful phones with more beautiful display and more capable to make the camera more to be made for less money. But this year, these compromises are smaller and easier than ever before, while the phone stays much better for the planet – you can’t say fairer than that.

Fairphone 6 is now available through Great Britain and Europe. It costs 599 € / £ 499 for the drive software for Android Fair Software, which is quite close to shareholder experience, or 50 € / £ 50 more boot / e / OS, Central Central Center, Google-Free Android versions of Android. If you are in the US, that’s only Available model, and you will need to redeem directly from Murena for $ 899, the price that the Murena’s founder and executive director Gael Duval said that he reflects tariffs on American imports. It is a considerable difference in the price that takes Fairfone 6 from the middle-middle number competition like Pikel 9a In Europe so that they could be drained Pixel 10 or iPhone 16 In the US, which makes it much harder to justify.

I test the version of focused / E / OS regarding privacy. It may not seem a million miles from Android Android, but the experience outside the box is completely different. It has quick access to blocking cookies for tracking cookies inside applications, fake your geolocation information, or hide your IP address, together with the “style of embarrassment” which lists your applications for how many times they try to find your activity. Murena describes it as “de-googla”, which means it is built on the Android Open Source project, but does not require a Google Account to use, it does not include Google Apps by default, and should share none of your data with Google.

If you are ready to commit to Google without Google, there are a number of relatively simple supplies software, such as calendars and maps of applications that look like they have raised them a decade ago. App Store-over for default options on open sources, giving every application a privacy result with details about seekers used and permits needed.

The App Store also allows you to install just about any Android application – even Google – but only if you want. It is thanks to the microg, an alternative alternative alternative for Google Play services. The only warnings are that Google Wallet will not work for NFC payments and that some apps are a little … Janki. The most work seems to be, but MifitResspal will not run, and several others are prone to bother and fall.

On the hardware side, Fairphone 6 is smaller and lighter than 5 5With a brighter and smooth 6.31-inch 120Hz display. Kualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 Chipset is not a leading hardware, but most of the time is smooth, and with 8 GB of RAM is strong enough for anything but serious play. The battery of 4,415mAh takes more than a day, and the speed of the wire filling 30V is okay But unimpressive, without an option without a wireless network.

The cameras remain a large reduction in relation to the competition. The main lens of 50 megapixels and Ultravid 13 megapixels are fine for the basics – and they exceeded my expectations certainly and then – but they fight in the dark, in complex lighting, or with fast crossings. If you only need a phone camera good enough Then it’s definitely, but you can get a lot better cameras for the same money (or less) else.

The second great addition of Fairphone 6 is a series of semi-modular additives, similar to those offered Nothing is CMF phone 2 Pro. There is a tractor, card holder and loop, but the smart thing is that all three screws on the back of the phone become integral parts of the hardware. I hope there will come more options.

The more important thing is the ability of the phone to last for years. Whether you buy from version or Murena, you will get an extended five-year warranty. Fairphone is also undertaken for eight years of software updates and the seven updates of the Android version, although Murena promises only five years of software support for your version, from apple likes, Google and Samsung.

The phone is made of pretty solid plastic, with Corning Gorilla glass 7i on the display and feels hard. There is one large endurance of the bottom, however, has only IP55 water protection and water protection – good, but not great – which is a lack of a correctional design that represents gluing for smaller waterproof screws. So, while Fairphone 6 is fixed than other alternatives, there is a slightly higher risk than the need to fix this in the first place, at least when it comes to sand and water.

Speaking of: You need only one Torks T5 screwdriver to remove it on parts, which connect and turn off by simply pressing, click the place. Battery, screen, you can replace the back cover, each individual camera lens, speaker, headset, USB-C port and SIM tray (doubled as a microSD grot for expandable storage). Spare parts are sold at FAIRFONE and IFIKITA, promising to bring them in years. In the US, Murena needs They set them on fire, but at the time of writing, the parts are not yet in place.

I wanted to confirm whether any The idiot could pull the repair, so I separated every part of the phone I could return together, which was a little more than an hour and left me with a perfectly functional phone on the other side. Fairphone has some good youtube videos that will go through each repair step by step, and it cannot be much easier, as long as you pay for everything to retire in the right order (Ahem, not an error I could ever …).

“Fair” Some name refers to production as well. Watli will use as many recycled materials as possible and working with mines, recycling, component factories and mounting lines with legitimate working conditions, of living salaries for the representation of workers. There is no ethical consumption in capitalism, but claims that Fairfone is as close as it can.

I was careful to recommend previous Fairfone. The lift terrain is great, but pays the premium for susceptible hardware is still difficult to sell. But clean power is not a differential factor that was once, and even if the fair is 6 is Less powerful than their colleagues, it’s still powerful enough for most of us. Nevertheless, improvements in software support and durability of other manufacturers gave the access to FAIRFON less unique – although no one offers this repair.

However, against medium alternative alternatives, because it is appreciated in Europe, Fairfone is its own. There are small compromises, but the fair choices remains for almost anyone. In the US, where it costs more than some flags and comes with de-goedge / e / OS, do you like it or not, it’s just for those who really committed because of reason.

Photo of Dominica Preston / The Verge