Fairphone goes on sale to all

The Android handset that's PC can be yours

When is a phone PC? When it's a Fairphone, the smartphone “that puts social values first” and has a rather politically-correct (PC) attitude.

The Android-powered mobe went on sale a couple of weeks ago to Fairphone's 17,000-odd email subscribers, around 2,000 of whom pledged €325 to acquire one of the handsets, which promise to use conflict-free tin and tantalum from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The mobe's now on sale for the rest of us, a critical time for the project as it will only commence manufacturing if it can secure 5,000 pre-orders.

At the time of writing 2104 pre-orders had been recorded. The organisation will leave its online store open for another 21 days and, if it reaches the magic number, will sign contracts to ensure delivery in the European autumn.

Those who stump up will receive a dual-sim phone whose battery and operating system can both be replaced. The phone's also made with future e-cycling in mind.

The phone's logo features typography and a star that your correspondent feels invokes logos of revolutionary socialist iconography, which may or may not be a good thing.

You can get one here, if you're feeling PC enough. ®