Fairphone hits sales target for 'PC' phone

Fairphone, the organisation that aims to offer the world a more politically-correct smartphone, has secured 5,000 pre-orders, a milestone that will enable it to put the phone into production. The Android-powered mobe is designed to be recyclable, will be made in a factory where workers are paid and treated well, and uses …

[Christian Berger]

Very good, now it needs to be fair to the users

meaning that you have some open and easily copyable interface to the hardware. Kinda like a BIOS so this phone can start a new common platform where we can share firmware images.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Very good, now it needs to be fair to the users

That is what "the handset is also rootable" means really. Although by phrasing it like that they've not made it very clear. The BIOS in the Android mobile-world is the SPL (Second Program Loader) that is responsible for verifying, booting and flashing an OS image. It has 2 modes, S-ON and S-OFF (the S standing for Security).

When in S-ON mode (think every phone except Nexus phones and this) the OS can only be flashed if it is signed with a valid certificate from the manufacturer. When S-OFF is enabled, any OS image can be flashed. This is what the Nexus phones allow you to do.

Rooting implies some kind of root hack to gain root access, which for devices like this simply isn't required.

[ukgnome]

I have been looking at this phone with interest, although spec wise it's a bit mishmash

Android 4.2

Chipset - MTK6589 (quad-core) 1.2 Ghz

System Memory - 16GB + 1GB (RAM)

Primary Screen- 4.3 qHD (960x540 pixels)

Glass - Dragontrail Glass

Primary Camera - 8MP AF (stabilization + image sensor)

Secondary Camera - 1.3 megapixels

Battery 2000mAh (Replaceable battery)

Weight 165 g

[uhuznaa]

Sadly a fairly sad phone

I mean, 4.3" with 960x540 and 165g isn't going to convince anyone these days.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Sadly a fairly sad phone

That's because they've just tweaked an existing Landfill Android made by an unheard of Chinese OEM. So still made by wage slaves on whatever counts as a living wage in China, and to China's renowned environmental standards.

If they really want to be taken seriously, let's see them manufacture this onshore somewhere with decent labour and envronmental standards.

[marvin29]

Taxes

Crikey, they might even pay their taxes!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Taxes

"they might even pay their taxes!"

That'll require them to make a profit, which seems unlikely on 5,000 units. Fairphone smells depressingly like other well meaning projects like OLPC, and I'd be surprised if they can get these to market and keep them there. The progress of the Aakash tablet is a similar story of ambitious plans to break into an established hardware market, which then runs into delays and cost issues (possibly saved only by the vast volume of an Indian government contract to supply the device to schoolkids).