Put both devices next to each other and, at least on the front, the only thing they say is not the same phone, a small ring around the 3+’s forward facing camera. Flip them over and the differences are more noticeable: the smoky gray transparent backplate of the 3 is sealed in favor of opaque black. The only other detail on the back is the small NFC etching that is now on the back, another change from last year’s model.
However, the most important feature here are those camera modules which, because the Fairphone is modular, are also available to Fairphone 3 users. Buy the upgrade before the end of September and you can get both modules for € 70 ($ 82), after which the price rises to € 94.90 ($ 112). And it should be easy enough to do, because the Fairphone is designed to be disassembled and reassembled by rang amateurs like, uh, me. Therefore, it is shipped with a screwdriver instead of a charger.
Daniel Cooper
This is not the first time you can even upgrade a Fairphone device. There was an upgrade to the camera available for the Fairphone 2, but it was pretty bad. In that case, replace an 8-megapixel lens with a 12-megapixel replacement. Here you slip a 12-megapixel f / 1.8 Sony Exmor IMX363 for a much more important 48-megapixel f / 1.79 Samsung GM1, optimized by Arcsoft. And up front, the 8-megapixel, f / 2.0 forward-facing sensor has been replaced for a 16-megapixel version. This is, according to the company, to tackle reports regarding the performance and the fuzzy detail of the 3.
The weak processor and the camera of nice weather were two of the things that most Fairphone 3 reviews came up with. DXOMark gave the Fairphone 3 a score of 66, putting it just one point ahead of a low-end Samsung phone of 2018. Reviewer Lynn Anderson said the phone “does not have a camera module that any serious photographer or photographer would choose for them. image quality. ” But that does not matter if you can just swap the weak components for better, right?
