These days even the electronics industry is trying to use fair trade products. The challenge here is not only to manufacture them under truly fair conditions, but also for the raw materials for electronic circuits and batteries, such as tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold, to be purchased without indirectly financing conflict areas.

Currently there are no such initiatives in the industry overall, but the Fairphone company [1], which is based in the Netherlands, is leading the way with their second-generation smartphone, the Fairphone 2, available from their online store [2]. The first model Fairphone FP1U (as well as a slightly revised version of the same) sold out with more than 60,000 units purchased; the Fairphone Company hopes to beat this success with their second model [3].

Fairphone

The first-generation Fairphone was produced under license, but the new model was developed independently. Fairphone claims this gives them greater influence over production conditions, materials used, and the supply chain. In addition, the developers paid particular attention to durability when designing the phone. Many components can be swapped out.

Technically, the Fairphone 2 is based on the Qualcomm SoC MSM8974AB, which also powers devices from established manufacturers, such as the HTC One M8 or the Samsung Galaxy S5 (see Table 1). In combination with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory space (which can be upgraded via a microSD card slot), the device is suitable for everyday use despite the already slightly antiquated processor. The exchangeable battery will last at least a full day.

Modular

While most smartphones have to be repaired or even thrown away after minimal damage due to integrated batteries and glue-on housing, the Fairphone 2 can be fully dismantled easily. On the iFixit Repairability Scale, the device is the only smartphone to score 10 out of 10 points [4]. Spare parts such as batteries and displays, as well as building blocks such as the camera module, are available from the Fairphone store from EUR20 upwards [5]. The display is about EUR85, which is the most expensive spare part. Fairphone plans to offer new components in the future [6].

The device is shipped with Fairphone OS, which is installed after downloading the updates for version 1.11.1. The system is based on Android 5.1 "Lollipop" and has only been slightly modified. For example, when launching apps, it indicates whether they affect your privacy (Figure 1). Fairphone promises to continue supporting the software for two years by releasing updates [7] to fix blatant errors or security gaps.

Figure 1: The Fairphone OS has no superfluous applications.

So far, device owners have waited in vain for an update to Android 6 "Marshmallow" (or newer). The community manager of the Fairphone project, Douwe Schmidt, wrote last November that the update should be "ready in the coming months" [8]. In January, Fairphone's Twitter channel announced the long awaited update would be available "in weeks" [9]. There have been no further announcements since then.

As an alternative to the preinstalled system, there is an open source version of the operating system (OS) called Fairphone Open [10]. It uses no proprietary components (except the binary blobs required for hardware support) and is aimed at users who prefer a free and open system unassociated with Google. Apps can be installed using the open source market F-Droid [11].

Alternatively, applications such as YalpStore [12] or Raccoon [13] provide the ability to download applications in the form of APK files from the Google Play Store without installing the complete Google framework on your phone. The Open version of the Fairphone OS also can be rooted directly from the Settings menu and is updated monthly.

If necessary, Fairphone Open can also install Google Apps using Open GApps [14], making it a "fully featured" Android system with root privileges.

Ubuntu

Canonical has pulled the plug on Ubuntu Touch, despite the company showcasing the Bq Aquaris M10 [15] and the Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition [16], which both use Ubuntu Touch, at the most recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. That said, this year, in tandem with the Dutch IT specialist Smoose, they plan to present Ubuntu Touch for the Fairphone [17].

Work on the Ubuntu port is now coordinated by the UBports project [18]. Currently the OnePlus One, the Nexus 5, and the Fairphone 2 are at the top of their priority list. Except for GPS, Ubuntu Touch supports the Fairphone 2's hardware completely [19]. All three devices are therefore suitable for everyday use.

In order to install Ubuntu Touch on the Fairphone 2, download the developer tools on an Ubuntu-equipped computer and then flash the smartphone with the Ubuntu system (Listing 1). First, you should back up all data on the mobile phone, as the installer erases the device memory and automatically downloads the approximately 400MB Ubuntu image from the Internet – at least in theory.

$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-device-flash phable-tools
$ sudo ubuntu-device-flash --server=http://system-image.ubports.com touch --channel=ubuntu-touch/stable --device=FP2 --bootstrap

In practice, however, this simply doesn't work. The description on the download page for booting the device to the fastboot mode is incorrect (see the Fastboot Mode box). You can't do this by pressing Volume Up and the Power button when booting, but instead by pressing Volume Up and Power Down.

Next, execute the second command from Listing 1. At the end of the test, it may fail with the message Cannot boot recovery image . Temporarily disconnect the device from the USB cable and take the battery out. Switch the phone on again holding Volume Up and Power Down.

In recovery mode (Figure 2), you can check the Fairphone 2 using the touch screen. The computer should automatically find the phone in this mode using sudo adb devices . For further flashing, set the missing directory /cache/recovery on the telephone and repeat the command ubuntu-device-flash . Finally use the command-line option --bootstrap . The order of commands, including outputs, is shown in Listing 2.

### Switch off the mobile phone and connect it to the computer via USB
### and [Volume Down] + [Power] to Fastboot mode.
### The Fairphone logo on the display.
$ sudo fastboot devices
Fbecf69e fastboot
$ sudo ubuntu-device-flash --server=http://system-image.ubports.com touch --channel=ubuntu-touch/stable --device=FP2 --bootstrap
2017/02/09 19:53:28 Device is | FP2 |
2017/02/09 19:53:28 Flashing version 15 from ubuntu-touch/stable channel and server http://system-image.ubports.com to device FP2
Can not boot recovery image
### Unplug the mobile phone from the USB connector and remove the battery.
### Then insert the battery, plug in the USB and press
### [Volume Up] + [Power] to recovery mode.
$ sudo adb devices
List of devices attached
Fbecf69e recovery
$ sudo adb shell mkdir /cache/recovery
$ sudo ubuntu-device-flash --server = http://system-image.ubports.com touch --channel = ubuntu-touch/stable --device=FP2

Figure 2: Use recovery mode to install Ubuntu Touch.

During testing, flashing the Fairphone 2 with Ubuntu Touch ran without any recognizable errors, but when the device restarted it was still using Android. To this end, we hit upon magic-device-tool [20], which facilitates the flashing of Ubuntu Touch on a number of compatible devices (including the Fairphone 2).

As shown in Listing 3, download the script to the Ubuntu system from the GitHub repository, run it, and then select the installation of Ubuntu Touch on the Fairphone using 12 (Figure 3). Next, follow the instructions in the window. You can enter fastboot mode with the Volume Down + Power buttons. Enter recovery mode with Volume Up + Power.

$ sudo apt install git
$ git clone https://github.com/MariusQuabeck/magic-device-tool.git
$ cd magic-device-tool
$ ./launcher.sh

Figure 3: Magic-device-tool theoretically makes Ubuntu Touch installation easier.

This also didn't work. The Fairphone didn't boot to Android this time, but hung on startup.

To make a long story short, installing Ubuntu Touch on the Fairphone 2 is anything but an automated process. In theory, the process will get easier over time. That said, Smoose [17], the company behind UBports, was kind enough to send us a phone with Ubuntu preinstalled for testing purposes, and it worked well.

Conclusion

The Fairphone 2 cannot be described as eye candy. The materials and haptics fall far behind brand-name devices. However, when used intensively, this becomes rather superficial. Unlike fancy brand-name smartphones, any dented metal frames or cracked glass can be repaired cost-effectively on the Fairphone.

Even the choice of software affords you greater freedom than Samsung, Sony, and others. The preinstalled Android image does not include built-in bloatware like Facebook or other vendor-specific services. If necessary, use Fairphone Open to eliminate all Google services from your mobile phone.

We did have a fairly rough time installing Ubuntu Touch. But since Canonical touts the Fairphone as being officially compatible with their OS, this state is hopefully only temporary. Watch this space.