NEWS – Murena has brought the Fairphone 4 to the United States. Murena sells 4 phone models that have been privatized and ‘de-Googled’ as they say. Fairphone is known for easier user repairability, longevity and sustainability, but up to now has only been usable outside the U.S. Some have tried earlier Fairphone models here and they did not operate optimally.
The Fairphone 4, the model usable in the U.S., operates on T-Mobile 5G networks, comes with a 5 year warranty (if purchased by Dec. 31, 2023) is made with recycled materials and Fairphone claims it is ‘electronic waste neutral’.
Murena lists these as the U.S. networks with which the Fairphone 4 can operate: T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Mint mobile, Tello, Red Pocket (GSMT – T Mobile version) 24, Ultra mobile, Simple Mobile, ting, Speed Talk, GCI (Alaska) 3. These are all T-Mobile MVNOs and special mention is made that the Fairphone 4 won’t work with Verizon. AT&T isn’t mentioned at all but they have a strict, limited list of phones they allow on their network anyway.
Murena calls the operating system, ‘/e/OS’ but it’s a de-Googled version of Android 12. ‘Android without Google’ they call it. The phone (and company) seems dedicated to full privacy. The software nor hardware will track your location, app usage or anything about you.
Default apps come on the phone to meet common needs but all Android apps can be installed on the Fairphone 4. Apps can be downloaded from the Murena ‘App Lounge’. From the Murena site: “/e/OS comes with beautifully designed open-source apps to cover most of your needs: browser, email, calendar, maps, camera and more.”
And because /e/OS runs on Android, you can still run most of your favourite Android apps.”
And, “…we decipher the app code for you: you can see which and how many trackers are hidden within the app. It also documents the number of permissions the app requires to operate. With an easy to read scoring, you can see which apps are safe and which ones should be avoided.”
Pricing is $629.90 for 126 GB storage and 6 GB memory. 256 GB storage and 8 GB memory is priced at $699.90.
Read more about Fairphone 4 and see the full specs at Murena and Fairphone, but the phone can only be obtained for U.S. use at the Murena website for now.
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I like that the phone can be repaired, but if it can only use Fairphone manufactured components, then that makes me question the availability of the parts in a year or more down the road if the company tanks. As for the de-googling, I’m not paranoid about trackers and I like Google services. I wouldn’t want to use a generic email app or maps app. So that lets me out. What about you Lex? You didn’t tell us if you’d buy/use one.
These models feel pricey for me and I’m stuck in the Google atmosphere for now. I know you can re-Google these de-Googled phones, but to me at their price point they seem expensive for Android 12 and not yet evaluated cameras. Love their concept and maybe if they were $200 cheaper each I would be willing to try one.
Do you love the concept because they are de-googled or because they can be repaired?
I think what I like the most is the very long warranty, long support and it’s okay with me that they use recycled stuff to make it. I’m not a tree hugger but I think it’s a fine concept.
The camera has been evaluated, but perhaps you mean by yourself?
Here’s a link to a review:
https://www.dxomark.com/fairphone-4-camera-test/
I’d like a stronger showing on the camera front, otherwise this phone could be a strong contender for my next phone choice.
I did see some 2021 and 2022 Fairphone 4 reviews but would like to see the full evals done on some U.S. Fairphone 4s by Murena. Maybe it’s the exact same camera hardware and software in the U.S. models?