Fairphone 5 review

18 September 2023


Sort by:

  • m
  • micky00
  • ptT
  • 01 Oct 2023

Leanzazzy, 28 Sep 2023They should call it the UNFAIRphone because it's so ov... more5 year warranty, 5 OS updates till Android 18 and 10years of security patches ... that's also maintenance cost.

    They should call it the UNFAIRphone because it's so overpriced for what it is.

    They're using "saving the planet" and "paying fair wages" as an excuse to rip customers off and make them pay premiums for devices that are not only are more expensive, but also much slower and more ineffective than all their contemporary rivals. All while being proprietary so you are reliant on Fairphone anyway to maintain and supply those parts.

    If you want to save the planet so much, either don't buy a new smartphone every 2 years, or just use a dumb phone. They last forever.

    If you really want a new smartphone every few years, just buy a low-end smartphone. They're really cheap and much more value for money than this nonsense is.

      aReefer, 19 Sep 2023Well as stated previously, I'm guessing that the avera... moreI agree with this. The market is just too small. People who want the fastest phone won't want it, and a lot people who are fine with it's shortcomings can't afford it. Maybe if it was $500 or had better specs it would be another story.

        Why do manufacturers and reviewers seem to think that everyone now buys a phone for the camera? I don't give a hoot about the camera, I want a device that allows me to access the internet, send emails or watch videos on YouTube. In that respect I want the fastest processor my money can buy and Fairphone doesn't provide that. For the asking price I would expect a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 NOT a second rate 7 series. Good idea, especially with a replaceable battery, but Fairphone need to offer more competitive specs to be taken as a serious competitor to the main players in the cellphone market and NOT just in the camera department.

          I might be interested in these if they had headphone jacks, but they don't. I don't get why. Wireless headphones are less sustainable in general.

            To everyone complaining about the price, the reason for the high price is because this phone is made by people who live in fair working conditions and are paid livable wages, unlike other companies who pay their workers minimum wage & fuel off of slave & child labor.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • Xys
              • 25 Sep 2023

              Ribbz, 25 Sep 2023I think you have to be an environmentalist to buy this sort... moreWell not specifically environmental activist but yes these is the sort of audience that buy a phone like this for example I know people who are into environmental stuff and low carbon footprint and all and they use Fairphone or want to buy it so I give the company of FP credits for offering such a device good to have choices

                • R
                • Ribbz
                • nIT
                • 25 Sep 2023

                Bulge 5, 25 Sep 2023Battery for example: - 75% post-consumer recycled plastics ... moreI think you have to be an environmentalist to buy this sort of product I appreciate the idea of this and the more you look into this it's what manufacturers should be aiming for, but the average joe wouldn't pay the price for it also the specs and number crunchers wouldn't look at this or give it the time of day so it's a niche market as we know.

                Whilst I am all for fairtrade I couldn't justify the price when other things on the market are more technologically advanced at a cheaper price it wouldn't make sense to me.

                  • R
                  • Ribbz
                  • nIT
                  • 25 Sep 2023

                  Anonymous, 24 Sep 2023Did you not listened the samples from the review? It's... moreno good talking to her she thinks HMD phones are the be all and end all of the communications world.

                    • B
                    • Bulge 5
                    • D6e
                    • 25 Sep 2023

                    Anonymous, 25 Sep 2023Remind me what did Fairphone manufacture by themselves? SoC... moreBattery for example: - 75% post-consumer recycled plastics in battery frame
                    - 100% recycled tin solder paste
                    - 80% recycled steel and nickel alloy
                    - In addition, we account for 100% of the cobalt used in the battery by buying cobalt credits, which support the improvement of working conditions for artisanal cobalt miners in the DRC.FP also account for 100% of the silver contained in the battery through buying Fairmined silver credits, which support Fairmined certified artisanal miners. Yeah you wont find that with other manufacturers.
                    Screen: the display contains 100% pre-consumer recycled indium and 90% post-consumer recycled magnesium in the display frame, as well as 41% bio-circular recycled plastics.
                    100% Fairtrade Gold in the supply chain. Yeah again you wont find that with other manufacturers.
                    It's obviously that a company like FP can make their own chips, so they have to buy them and therefore there's 30% they cannot yet control completely, the rest is 70% fair materials, labour, source winning etc. Let's say with other manufacturers it's maybe 5%. So yeah this is a fair phone as much as it is possible in todays world.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • 0BG
                      • 25 Sep 2023

                      Bright mind, 25 Sep 2023And underpaid factory workers, miners who work in inhuman c... moreRemind me what did Fairphone manufacture by themselves? SoC/CPU? Camera? Screen? It all comes from the same "underpaid workers".

                        • B
                        • Bright mind
                        • JKG
                        • 25 Sep 2023

                        Anonymous, 24 Sep 2023And it has the worst speaker ever used in a phone. There�... moreAnd underpaid factory workers, miners who work in inhuman conditions, a huge ecological footprint, zero recycled parts and so on. Shall we go on?

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • 0BG
                          • 24 Sep 2023

                          Carol, 24 Sep 2023Do you owe the device? Definetly not, so do you know the sp... moreDid you not listened the samples from the review? It's so bad it won't even do the basic job of notifying you. Any music is, of course, out of the question.

                            Tbh, the camera is not too bad. I see noise reduction applied to the photos, but I can't see any oversharpening effect. It's decent enough for everyday social sharing. Even the SoC impresses me, especially when it can beat the Xiaomi 13 Lite with Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. Fairphone could've waited a little longer and used 7+ Gen 2 or 8+ Gen 1, but I'm unsure if Qualcomm made an LTS enterprise IoT version of both SoCs.

                            What surprised me was the battery performance. It's funny that this phone charges faster than the Samsung Galaxy S23 while having a bigger battery. However, I do wonder what contributes to the low video playback duration.

                              • C
                              • Carol
                              • skK
                              • 24 Sep 2023

                              Anonymous, 23 Sep 2023I'm posting this from my 5 year old phone...Wow,yeah, that certainly proves that your phone has no problems and works like new....

                                • C
                                • Carol
                                • skK
                                • 24 Sep 2023

                                Anonymous, 24 Sep 2023And it has the worst speaker ever used in a phone. There�... moreDo you owe the device? Definetly not, so do you know the speaker quality? And second of all, no sane human listens music through phone speakers and think sounds great....

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 0BG
                                  • 24 Sep 2023

                                  Anonymous, 23 Sep 2023They didn't even bother to add FM radio and notificati... moreAnd it has the worst speaker ever used in a phone. There's just no excuse for that and no sane person would tolerate that. Even a Galaxy A0x has better speakers....and battery life...and 3.5mm jack.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • nwF
                                    • 23 Sep 2023

                                    Phone vendors should've never sealed the battery

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 8uS
                                      • 23 Sep 2023

                                      Anonymous, 19 Sep 2023People keep yelling in comments that they want exchangable ... moreThey didn't even bother to add FM radio and notification LED, if they wanted to be the "people's phone", they should have added those 2 at least (I'm not even talking about other quality of life features like extra programmable button (or at least alert slider) or infrared port.

                                      If it was supposed to be a "by people, for people" kind of phone that goes against the mainstream manufacturers, they would've worked harder to add these kind of features. As of right now, this more feels like it's trying to cash in on the ecohysteria.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • sXH
                                        • 23 Sep 2023

                                        Carol, 22 Sep 2023Good joke, where did you find this out, while researching f... moreI'm posting this from my 5 year old phone...

                                          2 of 6