Wanted:
- large screen
- good battery life
- great camera
- long device lifetime, i.e. repairability, software and security updates, swappable battery, …
- enough RAM (8GB) and built-in storage (256GB)
- SD card slot and 3.5mm won’t hurt (but we use wireless headphones all the time)
The competition are (from my POV):
- Samsung S23+ (or similar)
- Motorola Edge 40 Pro (or similar)
- Google Pixel 8 Pro
I ruled out all other vendors due to disappointing update promises. Motorola with 4 years security updates promised (out of which the first year has already passed if the model is not brand new) is the minimum.
All phones are stretching the budget; must be really good to justify the expense. Benchmark for “great” is better than the previous generation (S10).
Based on the specs, the build quality (according to data sheets stating its plastic), and some of the features (especially the low-res screen) and the software and components (e.g. the outdated UFS, no WiFi 7, the old BT standard, the small battery, etc.)
We live in different universe. You are not wrong, their are mid-tier phones that match the Fairphone specs, but low-res?
1224 x 2700 pixels (~459 ppi density)
Sounds pretty high-res to me and on-par with high-end phones. Wasn’t the first Retina display 200-something ppi? And that was good.
I read something about 1080p on the Fairphone. Mmmh, so the resolution is better, but still not for me.
I don’t say the device is bad, I just don’t consider it as a modern phone. If you want to support their idea, go for it. But for that price tag you can get better hardware.
460ppi low-res? You got some proper eagle eyes, dang
Edit: Just saw your other comment, didn’t know you could bump down the resolution on a Pixel 7. But scaling down to 1080 on a 1440 display won’t look as good as native 1080, I reckon