What would a smartphone be like if it could last for 10 years?
It’s a question most of us are not qualified to think about. That’s because many smartphones are designed to be replaced every two or three years. And Apple, Samsung and other handset makers announce new phone models – along with massive marketing campaigns – every year, encouraging us to upgrade.
But bear with me and daydream for a moment.
If a smartphone is designed to last a decade, it will probably be manufactured so that we can simply open it up to replace a part like a drained battery or a cracked screen. . Many of its components are upgradeable – if you want a better camera, you can trade the old one for a newer, more powerful one. You can also download software updates indefinitely from the phone manufacturer.
Reasonable and sustainable, right?
Thinking about what such a device might be especially relevant right now as phone season – the time of year when tech companies launch us with new models – has begun. On Wednesday, Apple revealed iPhone 14″, bears a striking resemblance to its predecessor. Also this week, Google announced the plan showing new android phones in october. And last month, Samsung introduced a series of mobile phone can be folded like a book.
These latest products highlight how today’s smartphones are not built to last. Most devices are sealed with glue to keep you out of them. Parts, like the camera and monitor, are not upgradable a la carte. Software updates are only guaranteed for a certain period of time, usually two years for Android and about five years for iPhone.
Keeping us on such short smartphone ownership cycles is great for tech companies and their coffers – but perhaps not so much for us and our wallets.
Don Norman, a former vice president of advanced technology at Apple and the author of nearly two dozen books on design, said smartphone makers have committed the crime of treating consumer technology as if it is a fashion item, each year releasing products that are difficult to repair and replenish. features accelerate obsolescence.
“You want to make a computer out of a piece of metal, and you want it to be as thin as possible,” says Norman. “So you have to produce the battery without the case so it’s really hard to use. You use glue instead of screws”.
However, the idea of a more durable phone is not a pipe dream. One already exists: $580 Fairphone 4 made by a startup, Fairphone, in Amsterdam. The Fairphone 4 has a plastic cover that can be easily removed to reveal its internals. Its components can be swapped out in minutes by removing a few common screws.
The idea behind Fairphone is that if you want a phone with new technology, you can buy it without having to completely replace your current device – and if something goes wrong with the phone. , such as you drop, it can be easily repaired. That makes the Fairphone the antithesis of most smartphones today and shows how tech companies can design different gadgets, for durability and sustainability.
How can it be with hardware
Grab your iPhone or Android phone and take a close look at it. Notice how tight it is with the unique screws that require special screwdrivers. Apple even invented its own screw.
But the Fairphone comes with a small screwdriver that invites you to open the phone. So when I started testing it, that was the first thing I did.
Taking the Fairphone apart is easy. Removing its plastic cover reveals the camera, battery, speakers, and other components. They are held in place by ordinary screws that can be quickly removed with a screwdriver. In less than five minutes, I got rid of all those parts. Around the same time, I reassembled the phone.
The experience of being detached from the phone is powerful. I trust that if I have to do some basic repair or maintenance, such as a new camera or battery, I can do it in minutes at a low cost. (Fairphone charges $30 for a new battery and $80 for a new camera.)
Disassemble my iPhoneOn the other hand, is a nightmare.
When I took the Apple device apart in a previous test, it involved removing proprietary screws with a special screwdriver and melting the glue holding the case together. To remove the battery, I had to use tweezers to yank the little strips of glue underneath it. Although I eventually succeeded in getting the battery replaced, I broke my iPhone’s screen in the process – and a replacement screen costs around $300.
The Fairphone’s plastic case isn’t pretty, and it could pop open if the phone is dropped on a hard surface. But even less fun is dropping an Apple or Samsung phone with a glass back, breaking it, and spending hundreds of dollars fixing it (or to replace it).
How is it to use
Using the Fairphone is pretty trivial. It runs vanilla Android software, which means it can sideload Google apps and software downloaded through the Play store.
But Eva Gouwens, chief executive officer of Fairphone, said the company is committed to providing software updates to its phones for as long as possible. These updates are important to protect your hardware from the latest malware and cyber attacks; they also ensure that your phone can run the latest apps.
A Fairphone phone model launched 6 years ago is still being updated to Android. Most Android phones stop receiving updates after two years.
However, the Fairphone 4’s computing processor and camera still have much to look forward to. In speed tests running with the Geekbench app, the Fairphone 4 was about 35% slower than Google’s $600 Pixel 6 when doing things like checking email and taking photos. Photos produced by Fairphone 4 are grainy and less appealing than those taken with iPhones and other mainstream Android phones.
However, I wouldn’t expect Fairphone’s small team – about 110 people – to be able to develop computer and camera technology on par with the big tech companies.
Fairphone says it’s making money, generating several million euros in profits in 2020 and 2021. In addition to selling phones and easy-to-install parts, the company is experimenting with selling services like helping people repair devices equipment or maintenance of their smartphone software, Ms. Gouwens said. That’s a slow and steady stream of revenue as opposed to a model that sells new phones faster every year.
“If you design a phone that lasts a long time and people actually keep your device and use it longer, then you become more profitable,” she said.
How we think about our personal technology
This column isn’t about recommending people buy the Fairphone 4. (Many of us can’t, anyway; it’s only sold in Europe.)
The broader point is that tech companies with incredible wealth can do a better job of making their phones easier to repair and more friendly to the environment and our wallets. And we, as consumers, can do better by changing the way we think about personal technology,” said Norman.
“Consumers have considerable power, but only when people come together,” he said.
An important step is to service our equipment when we make cars – for example, consider taking a broken device to a repair shop before resorting to replacing it. Another action is to refute hype about every added feature introduced with every new phone.
Because if we are already satisfied with our smartphones, we will probably continue to be – as long as they work. And now we know that some models can work for a very long time.
