Is this really about social value?

I would suggest that this is about social value as much as when all those movie stars bought Toyota Prii.

If you want to help Africa, give money to Doctors Without Borders or UNICEF, don't buy a smartphone and and brag about it on twitter while sipping fair-trade coffee.

"If you want to help Africa, give money to Doctors Without Borders or UNICEF, don't buy a smartphone and and brag about it on twitter while sipping fair-trade coffee."

Hear, hear TylerE -- well put. It reminds me of "Smug Alert": http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s10e02-smug-al...

This argument is, at least, misleading. It seems to imply that the best course of action from the social-value point of view is to give money to DWB and then go ahead and buy an iPhone with a clear conscience.

The best course of action, of course, is to take the most socially-conscious option for every consumer choice. So, donate to DWB and buy a fairphone -- or, better, stick to your old phone.

I don't want high specs. I just want something that's usable. In my experience, Android running on similar phones is not usable. Not usable at all. Not by a large factor.

The fact that I'd pay 6-700 EUR for a phone that has the performance of a 370 EUR Phone (Nexus 4), way less than the performance of other 6-700 EUR phones on the market, means that I do care about other aspects of the phone more than about performance. I just want something usable, not a brick.

I couldn't be happier with my much, much lower spec phone.

maybe your standards of "usability" are skewed.

The Nexus 4 is 370 EUR? The large size is 370 USD including sales tax...

370EUR in Europe.

Well yes that's clear, I'm just wondering why there's such a gouge in the price.

Tariffs and trader regulations, and the difference isn't THAT huge. Look at price differences for things like monitors and other PC parts.

Remember sales tax in Europe is typically 18-25%, and included in all advertised prices.

20% tax gets you up to 320 Euros, and then you still have 50€ mystery fun charge.

Check your math. 5/6th of 370 = 308. According to a current exchange rate, 308 euros = $402. So, a whole $32 extra dollars. That seems appropriate given the heavier regulatory conditions on the EU. (Mandatory warranties, etc)

If you're removing the tax then the price you want to compare to in US dollars is $350. But on top of that, I think it's unfair to act like the tax on the 'extra' part of the price is unavoidable. I only calculated tax on the US price.

Still, either way you calculate it, the extra price is somewhere between 50 dollars and 50 euros. And since it has a perfectly good warranty in the US, I doubt that's the difference. At face value it really looks like one of those ripoffs that scribble out the $ in the price and put a euro or a pound on top of it.

EU mandates a full 2 year warranty. Nexus 4 warranty in the US is 1 year limited.