New mid-range mobile? Or spunk a bit more on a Fairphone

[Des Wigwam]

Title says it all but you can read this guff below if you want to.

My standard budget for a phone is up to ~£200 because in part I don't massively care about the phone and also I have disasters every 3 years or so one way or another with them.

That marker has come round again this morning when I knocked a cup of tea over next to the current Huawei 2019 I have. Thought I'd got away with it but after a while the screen has gone a bit nuts. It's drying in some rice at the moment and I might have got away with it. I've ordered an £80 Xiaomi to arrive tomorrow as a placeholder mostly because I have to drive to a few places well away from home over the next few days and also because I work remotely I can't get onto any work systems without Google authenticator.

So - I thought I'd have a bit more time to look into this so-called Fairphone. I don't know much about it but I like the replaceable/upgradeable component idea and I think they have decent enough specs for me. I have a feeling they are well above what I would usually pay (I'm almost literally heading out the door on a trip for the day so not checked) but not sure. Or do I just buy the usual thing that does best-ish in some TechRadar Best of 2023 article?

I think someone on here bought one but that was a few years ago.

Anyone got any thoughts / experience?

[Sebastian Cobb]

I like the idea of the fairphone but they seem a bit poor value and probably a bit of faff support wise.

I guess from a fairness or sustainability point of view, a used handset (CEX seem quite good, bit of a markup but you get a warranty) where the bad stuff has already happened is probably just as ethical.

I also have another piece of advice that's probably more helpful than the above: migrate away from Google Authenticator onto Authy, it works across devices.

[Des Wigwam]

Thanks. I'll have a bit of time to look into them but might have had a similar reaction when I last investigated couple (or three) years back.

What about Backmarket? The emergency handset will tide me over for a month if not more so got time to choose. You tend to get a 12 month+ warranty on those too.

I also have another piece of advice that's probably more helpful than the above: migrate away from Google Authenticator onto Authy, it works across devices.

I didn't give it any thought when I had to start using it almost 2 years ago. This morning I was very pleased I had as the codes are backed up to my Google account so in theory I can be up and running pretty quick on Monday (obvs I will spend most of the morning saying I'm still restoring things and getting access while I watch a film).

Does Authy offer that sort of backup?
[Edit - I see there is a thread started for this - thanks though]

[Memorex MP3]

In terms of sustainability, iphones tend to be supported pretty long so a 2022 iPhone SE will probably be fully supported until 2026 or later and will be easier to find places to repair it too. Even at that point it's probably got some life being sold onto someone who is trapped in the iphone ecosystem but can't afford much else. Obviously you run the risk of getting trapped there yourself.

Samsung have begun to offer similar commitments but we'll have to see how that lasts; I used to suggest the XCover 5 to people as a good durable thing (it's for builders and stuff like that, durable af, strong waterproofing, long battery, removeable battery) that'll last ages but it's now nearly 3 years old so it's getting on. Could get one used for maybe 90 pound and I'm pretty sure they've committed to put Android 14 and maybe 15 onto it. The more recent XCover models are a lot more expensive with little in the way of extra features as far as I can see though.

Google have committed to 6 years of updates for their latest phones, given google's track record I'd somehow be more suspicious of them sticking to that than Samsung despite them being the ones in control of Android.

Huawei/Xiaomi are usually packed with features but they're not very well thought out and the phones are pretty much designed to fall apart within 2 years (they often get 1 or no Android major updates in their lifetimes too). You do occasionally get exceptionally powerful machines for the price point though (e.g. the Huawei P30 Pro is still a super impressive phone to me and it must be 4 years old now).

Fairphone is probably only worth it if you're someone who fixes your own phones? It'd make sense for me to use one but I'm sticking with the iphone 13 mini until it dies.