Today we're going to be durability testing a brand new, modular, flagship smartphone – The FairPhone
4 5G. But first I have a little story time and a desktop tour as you can see behind me. This video
is sponsored by GT Racing. Behind me is where I edit a lot of my videos, and I spend a ridiculous
amount of time in this corner. This right here is the computer I built. And this computer, along
with these two monitors I've been using for about 3 years or so. And they've been working great,
even after all this time. Right here is where I do my voiceovers - this little microphone.
It's a simple Samson Meteor mic. And I can just swing this arm around,
put it in front of my computer and do all the voiceovers for my videos. I've found
that inexpensive things get the job done just fine, without needing to spend a bazillion bucks.
And GT Racing has that same philosophy. They've sent me the rest of this setup so I can show
it off to you guys. The desk has a carbon fiber aesthetic, along with plenty of RGB gaming lights,
because we all know RGBs improve FPS's. It's also got a headphone holder and a spin out drink holder
because it's modular and efficient like that. It's large enough to hold my ultra
wide gaming monitor and strong enough to hold a hundred and eighty pounds.
You might be wondering why I have a shattered GoPro on my desk.
Well I actually took this to the Tesla CyberTruck launch about two years ago and I tried to get
a really cool shot by placing this in the road and hoping that the CyberTruck would drive over
it. Well it turns out the CyberTruck actually did drive over it and smooshed my GoPro with
it's 35 inch tires. The camera was recording and I'll try to play some of that for you right now,
but it did stop recording as the truck was about 5 feet away...Or the footage was corrupted at least.
Oh is that it? It's totally dead! But yeah, you win some and you lose some.
And speaking of winning, the chair that I'm sitting in is also from GT Racing. Nothing
improves crosshair accuracy like a stylized gaming chair. It's pretty firm and has the ability to lay
completely flat with the attached leg rest. So you can take a little nappy nap between gaming
sessions. It can hold up to 300 pounds, and crazy enough, has dual Bluetooth surround sound
speakers in the backrest. I'll have links for all this stuff down in the video description
including the RGB keyboard and mouse, but if you or a young gamer in your life want a lot of
RGB's really quick at a good price, GT Racing has you covered. Of course you can get just a
few lights if intergalactic space rave isn't your thing. But if you're going for that psychedelic
utopia vibe, I'll leave all the links down below. They do make great gifts – just saying.
Now it's time to see if this modular flagship can survive a durability test. Let's get started.
[Intro]
The FairPhone 4 5G. While smartphone manufacturers might not specifically plan for
planned obsolescence, they sure don't do anything to mitigate it. FairPhone is different. This baby
is designed from the ground up to last as long as possible and has a 5 year warranty to prove
it. Inside the box we get the phone. No additional cords or charging bricks – just the phone itself.
With it's triangular camera lens on the back. It does come in all your favorite colors though,
as long as your favorite colors are gray or green. It's also surprisingly heavy out of the box,
which is totally fine by me. It makes it feel solid, but is it solid? There's only one way
to find out. The screwdriver you see on the table next to me actually comes shipped with the phone
cuz FairPhone knows that you don't really own something unless you can fix and repair it.
The back panel is removable, along with everything else in here.
It's all modular including the battery – all 3,905 milliamp hours of it. This has definitely been the
easiest battery replacement of 2021. Thumbs up for that. The rest of the components are held in place
by 12 silver screws. Since this phone is designed to be taken apart, we won't be compromising the
structural integrity if we just take a little tour first. With the screws gone we can take a look at
the bottom module. It's got the loudspeaker and coin style vibrator attached to it,
along with some waterproofing mesh at the speaker opening.
This phone is IP54, so there are some protections against spraying water but not submersion. Not
too shabby though considering there is no glue holding the back panel or the screen.
I'll unplug the three camera ribbon cables up at the top just like little Legos,
and then the upper module is free. These modules aren't the barebone components though. They're
more like building blocks designed to be easily replaceable by people who have no experience.
The USB-C charging pot which can charge at 20 watts is also modular.
We have the earpiece and front facing 20-megapixel camera which has internal electronic image
stabilization. We can tell that the inside of the phone is made from a solid block of metal.
Scratching is scientifically enlightening, but we can also visibly tell by the mill markings from
the milling machine in the battery tray. This is a pretty solid upgrade from last year's FairPhone.
You might be asking yourself, 'Hey Jerry, what about the screen though?' We do know that screens
are usually one of the most expensive and hard to replace components in a smartphone. But if
we remove the 8 black Phillips head screws with that same screwdriver, I can run my fingernail
around the exterior edge of the phone and pretty easily separate the screen module from the body.
It has one little ribbon connector on this side that plugs into the motherboard. I bet an
expert screwer could replace the display on this FairPhone 4 in about 5 minutes. Interesting that
there's even a copper heat pipe inside to help dissipate the heat from the internal processor.
Well, we have proved that it's modular. Now it's time to see if it survived so we can try
killing it again. With the screen situated and the earpiece, front camera, and charging port
all plugged in, we can plop the camera module and loudspeaker module back into place with
those 20 screws holding everything together. The battery can slide in and the back panel can clip
down into place. This reminds me of how all smartphone repairs were about 10 years ago.
And everything still works. Let's see if we can make it not work, starting with the scratch test.
You know the drill. Plastic is a 2 or 3. Glass is a 5 or 6.
And sapphire is a level 8 or 9. FairPhone says they have Gorilla Glass 5 on this flagship and we
can confirm that with scratches at level 6, with deeper grooves at a level 7. The teardrop notch
up at top contains the 25 megapixel front facing camera that we saw from the inside earlier. There
is no plastic speaker grill, just a long slip up at the top for the earpiece - aesthetically
following the example of other modern flagships. The sides of the phone are made from...metal.
You can see the glint of silver showing up through the gray anodizing. The recessed power
button does double as a fingerprint scanner and we have two metal volume buttons up top.
The upper edge of the phone is made from metal, along with the entire left side.
The little notch at the bottom edge is to facilitate the removal of that back panel.
The bottom has the USB-C, loudspeaker, and microphone. The rear camera lens might look like
it has three perspectives but it's actually just a 48 megapixel ultra wide, a 48 megapixel main
camera with OIS, and the last little circle is for the 3D time-of-flight depth camera and dual flash,
but still an improvement over last year's singular camera.
FairPhone has pretty bravely decided to take on all of the injustices of the smartphone industry
at once. Whether it's mining, recycling, repairability, or fair wages.
It's a big task. They are also electronic waste neutral,
which means for every phone they sell they recycle an equal amount of electronic waste.
And last year they sold about 100,000 phones, so no small amount.
You can check out their website for the nitty-gritty, but combining sustainability,
recycling, and repairability, it makes the planet pretty happy. For a flagship,
the FairPhone 4 does have a 6.3 inch 1080p 60hz display which lasts about 10 seconds under my
lighter before the pixels go black and turn off. We don't see IPS displays as often anymore. The
iPhones and Samsungs of the world have moved to OLED for that higher refresh rate and brighter
colors. But if we're being honest, the average non-nerd wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Finally, the bend test. What's the point of a woke environmentally friendly 5 year warranty
if it can't survive a little abuse? And, well, when bent from the back, there's hardly any flex.
And we get the same structurally solid results when bent from the front.
Pretty impressive. The metal modular FairPhone 4 survives my durability test. The biggest
issue I see with this phone though is that it's currently only sold in Europe. I think there are
a lot of people here in the USA and other places who might not care about the latest
and greatest flashy thin trend and just want a phone that works good for a really long time.
And that 5 year warranty is a really long time – and all for less than $600.
I'm a huge fan of where FairPhone is headed. Nice work. Do you prefer new
and flashy or solid and sustainable? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments. Come
hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter. And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.