One of the most frustrating things about being a smartphone use is how increasingly difficult it is to get a repair done on your device on your own terms — not to mention at a decent price. But newcomer Teracube is back with a second repairable phone, and besides its exceptional warrant and promise of easy repairs this one is also so cheap it might just convince some to chuck that pricey flagship phone.
With the $167 Teracube 2e, the company’s second Android-powered smartphone, the company is rolling out a more earth-friendly device at a lower price while maintaining a lot of the perks of what makes the Teracube so great. For those who aren’t familiar with the company’s original wallet- and repair-friendly device that debuted last year, Teracube promises a four-year warranty with accidental repair coverage at a flat $60 fee that covers shipping, parts, and labour — regardless of the accidental damage. The phone itself retailed for around $450.
The Teracube 2e, meanwhile, will shave $200 off that retail price. At just $167, the phone is again covered for up to four years with 3 years of software updates, comes equipped with Android 10, has a 4000mAh replaceable battery, and is still supported by the company’s flat-fee repair policy. To my delight, Teracube confirmed users have the option of either shipping their device in for a repair or buying the parts to do the repair themselves — an option that isn’t always available to smartphone owners, either due to software locks or lack of access to OEM parts and manuals.
Many of the specs of this device look similar to its predecessor, with a few updates. The phone itself has a 6.1-inch HD display (1560 x 720) — a hair smaller than the original — with an 8 MP selfie camera and 13MP+8MP dual rear-facing cameras. It comes equipped with 64GB of storage with dual and separate micro SD slots, and it’s future-proofed with a USB-C charging port. Supported carriers include T-Mobile, Metro, and Simple Mobile, among others, but I’d strongly recommend checking with your carrier about support before going all-in on the Teracube.
As with other repair-friendly smartphone options, it’s probably best to expect that you’re not getting the snappiest phone with the sharpest available camera on the market. But that’s not why people buy a phone like this. The Teracube is going to appeal to someone who wants to get years of use out of a single device before it heads to that great obsolescence heap in the sky. But as the Fairphone 3+ demonstrated, it’s possible to put a decent camera on a phone that’s as kind to your bank account as it is to the planet by eliminating unnecessary phase-outs of otherwise functional devices.
The Teracube 2e is available for pre-order beginning today, with limited promotional pricing of $138. The phone will start shipping in December.