London Design Festival 2015: Amsterdam tech organization Fairphone has launched a new version of its ethically developed smartphone.
The Fairphone two has been created in partnership with London design and branding company Seymourpowell, and attributes a five-inch (twelve.seven centimetre) LCD show covered in damage-resistant Gorilla Glass.
The handset runs on the Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system, and delivers 32 gigabytes (GB) of storage. It is larger in size and memory than its predecessor, which had a 4.three-inch (ten.9 centimetre) screen, and just 16GB of memory.
The telephone is created to be effortlessly taken apart and repaired to increase its lifespan – comparable to Google’s Task Ara prototype – as an substitute to present quick-moving smartphone trends.
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Fairphone hopes this will reduce the tremendous amount of electronic waste presently contributed by discarded client electronics – reported to be 41 million tonnes globally.
The handset also continues the company’s focus on transparent and ethical manufacturing, and a complete breakdown of charges is available on the Fairphone website. The report information every little thing from taxes and reseller margin, to item and investment fees.
The authentic Fairphone – purchased by 60,000 individuals – was launched in 2013 and included on the Designs of the 12 months 2014 shortlist.
The company used ethical materials sources – this kind of as conflict-cost-free mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo – to make the phone, in addition to setting up a employee welfare fund in the Chinese factory the phones have been constructed in. A portion of every single Fairphone 2 sale will go right to this fund.
Associated story: Fairphone’s Amsterdam offices constructed within an old warehouse using reclaimed components
The organization reflected its ethical focus in the design of its Amsterdam warehouse offices, which left several of the building’s original characteristics intact and utilised sustainable resources for furnishing.
“Nearly 14,000 Fairphone two customers have previously voted with their wallets for a fairer, more sustainable economy and with the cellphone starting up delivery in the up coming month, and turning into more widely obtainable by means of partners like The Cellphone Co-op, we think the motion will expand,” explained Fairphone founder and CEO Bas van Abel.
Fairphone 2 was launched on 25 September 2015 for the duration of this year’s London Style Festival, which took area from 19 to 27 September. Also at this year’s festival, Swiss technological innovation organization Punkt collaborated with designer Jasper Morrison to produce a stripped-back basic mobile handset that would be a “liberating” alternative to smartphones.
