FactRated data sources

FactRated is designed to make product comparisons easier to verify. The source behind a value matters, so standardized comparison metrics, optional product-media enrichment and FactRated's own derived displays are kept as separate layers rather than blended into one undocumented dataset.

The first FactRated release covers smartphones and slate tablets. Its core comparison metrics come from public product-registration data in the European Union. Optional enrichment can supply a consumer-facing product name or image when exact identity and content rights allow it, but enrichment does not replace the standardized source used for rankings.

Primary standardized product source: EPREL

The initial smartphone/tablet comparison layer uses public data from the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL), operated by the European Commission.

For covered models, the source can contain model-level fields such as standardized battery endurance, battery-cycle durability, repairability, repeated free-fall reliability, ingress protection, software-update support, energy-efficiency class and battery replaceability.

FactRated retrieves this information server-side and normalizes it into a stable internal product model before it reaches the public interface.

A supplier-registered value in an official framework should not be described as a laboratory test performed by FactRated or as a claim that the European Commission independently tested every individual retail unit. FactRated is independent from the European Commission and is not endorsed by it.

Exact model identity matters

The initial standardized source is centred on products placed on the EU/EEA market. A commercial product name can be shared by several regional variants, so FactRated keeps the exact supplier model identifier and source registration attached to the product record.

A same-named product sold in another region is not automatically treated as the same registered variant. Where country-availability information is explicitly supplied, FactRated can show it. Missing market information is not converted into a claim of worldwide availability.

This identity rule is particularly important when using FactRated outside Europe: compare the exact model identifier before assuming a registered metric applies to the version you plan to buy.

Optional name and image enrichment: Open Icecat

Some standardized source records may not contain a consumer-friendly commercial name or product photo. In those cases FactRated can use Open Icecat as optional enrichment only when an exact GTIN match is verified and the FactRated account is authorized to access the relevant content.

The enrichment priority is:

1. source-provided product picture/name when available;
2. authorized Open Icecat name/image on exact GTIN match;
3. the official supplier/trademark + model identifier and a neutral FactRated category graphic.

FactRated does not use fuzzy name matching to attach a product photo in the first release. A missing trusted image is preferable to showing an image of the wrong variant.

Open Icecat enrichment is not used to overwrite the standardized battery, repairability, IP, software-support, durability or energy metrics used by FactRated rankings in v0.1.0-beta.

FactRated-derived displays

Some values shown by FactRated are transparent transformations of source data rather than additional measurements. Examples include:

• converting canonical battery-endurance minutes into hours/minutes for display;
• converting a source battery-cycle band into a consumer-readable minimum cycle count;
• composing the familiar IP code from documented ingress fields;
• calculating rank/percentile within a clearly defined comparable cohort;
• sorting eligible products by one named metric.

Those transformations do not create a new laboratory measurement. The Methodology page explains the normalization and ranking rules in more detail.

Freshness and source changes

Supplier records and external source structures can change. FactRated keeps source freshness/provenance information and periodically synchronizes its normalized catalogue. A page can therefore change when a supplier updates a registration or when a new eligible model enters the comparison cohort.

FactRated does not silently convert missing fields to zero and does not guess a replacement value when a source field is unclear. Potentially unsafe schema/data anomalies can be quarantined from public use while the previous known-good data remains available.

Official reference material

For the first smartphone/tablet vertical, the main public reference material includes:

• European Commission information for smartphones and slate tablets;
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1669 on energy labelling;
• Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1670 on ecodesign requirements;
• the public EPREL product registry.

The relevant official links should be rendered from the maintained source-reference configuration used by FactRated rather than duplicated inconsistently across templates.

What FactRated does not source in v1

The first release does not claim to provide objective rankings for camera quality, processor performance, RAM/storage performance, retail price/value, network quality or subjective user experience. Those topics require different datasets and methodologies.

FactRated will add a new source only when its role, identity matching, licensing/authorization, normalization and limitations can be documented clearly.

Read the methodology · Browse the Guides · Explore rankings

Data source: EPREL · Last updated: Sep 7, 2026