11/2016 - Buy a fairphone or wait next announcement?

Hello everyone,

Me and my girlfriend have decided to get some smartphones in place of very old generation mobile phone.
We found the Fairphone project awesome, and are ready to buy 2 phones for christmas 2016: a big investment.

But when I read the forums, i’m surprised to see that there is no decision about the future: Fairphone 2 improvement ? Fairphone 3 ?

Our goal is to buy a phone for 5 years, with some specifics needs, usable without major bug/problems, with replacable components, without an already known obsolescence.
So we really need some answer:

  • is the classic fairphone 2 really daily usable, for calls, internet, apps, little games, without major problems, etc ?
  • how many time before reload the battery, considering a daily use like: 10 sms, 2 calls, 5 photos, 30 min playing, 30 min browsing internet, 30 min take notes, 15 min GPS ?
  • is the dual sim really efficient and usable everywhere arround the world ?
  • are you already aware about future compatibility problem with android ?
  • can we realisticly hope (and maybe contribute as developpers) a cyanogen OS work on it ?
  • Finally: do you personnaly recommand to wait next announcement, or buy for chrismas stay a good idea ?

NB: i’ve the occasion to get a second hand galaxy S4 cheap. Do you think that the fairphone 2 is a best device, with more years to live, than a Galaxy S4, or not ?

Thank you for your opinions/recommandations

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You’ll not find any decisions about FP’s future on this forum as it is a community forum and not a place where the FP team discusses their decisions.
You can contact them directly, but I don’t think they will leak anything before they are ready to announce it to the public.

Yes.

It also depends a lot on your screen brightness, how many/which apps you installed, which games you are playing and whether you are browsing news articles or high def youtube videos.

There are some limitations to the dual SIM feature and not all functions will work in all countries (different frequencies - more info here), but in general: yes.

Fairphone announced that they are 99% certain that they will upgrade to a newer Android version. Last we heard they were looking into whether upgrading to Android 7 right away is better or whether Android 6 is more realistic (for now).

Porting different Operating Systems is a community effort, so if you have something to contribute I’m sure it’s appreciated. See here.

Since FP just announced new covers and are working on an upgrade to the camera module I’m very certain that - if they are even working on an FP3 - it will be a very long time until they are ready to announce it.

I have no experiences with Samsung phones - I don’t think I ever had one in my hands. If look at it just from the financial side: If you get a used phone for e.g. a 5th of the price of a new Fairphone then it would only have to last 1 year compared to a FP you use for 5 years. Also reusing discarded but functional phones is always better for the environment than getting even the fairest phone there is.
On the other hand if you want to have a device that you can use, love and feel good about for a long time and join a cool community then a Fairphone is a great decision. :slight_smile:

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Hi @chiffon,
I know the feeling: I had never bought a phone before my Fairphone, I always got them second hand from friends and family, and I had been willing to buy a Fairphone for quite some time before I got mine. I was looking at the FP1 just when the FP2 was announced, so I continued to use an old Samsung Galaxy SI (and then a SIII for a year) and waited for a special occasion to buy a Fairphone. I’m really happy with it!
From an environmental point of view, It is always nice to reuse phones others don’t use anymore, but getting a nice phone instead of Christmas gifts you don’t really need is also a good idea!

fyi: I don’t use the phone as much as you (almost no GPS, no playing), but it can last two days without wifi nor bluetooth and on flight mode during the night. I usually don’t wait for the phone to be empty, I charge it every day and a half.
I can’t really answer to the other questions, but I don’t see Fairphone releasing a FP3 in the next 2 years and I don’t see them give up on the FP2 these next 5 years. And the community is great, so I guess that it will soon be possible to port Sailfish easily (already possible as I have read in some threads) and Cyanogen (see here).

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@chiffon well if I were you I would buy the FP2 now, I don’t believe in FP3.
FP3, would mean, a brand new design.
I just think 2016 FP2.1 with new case and camera (hopefully).

I believe we will have FP 2.0.0 - FP 2.9.9.9 so they can keep the main design longer.

i believe FP3, will be something fantastic, I believe Fairphone 3 will be the very last Fairphone ever.
I guess it would look like iPhone 7+ thin and every peace would be modular. RAM Upgrade? well go to a store and buy a micro SD card etc.

That’s why I think FP3 would just be called “the Fairphone”.
@Douwe FP should buy theFairphone.com, believe me it will be worth to do so(!)

Best wishes

Ben

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Are you working for Volkswagen?
“Fairphone: de telefoon” [as in the advertisement: Volkswagen, das Auto]

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Are there more detailed reason why you are impressed by FP project ? It could have influence on the way I would like to answer your requests you gave below.

There is a decision not to develop another FP release because it makes no sense to keep a promise about longvity and on the other hand offer another release even after 2 years. Improvements with the same FP2 e.g. about a new camera module have been prospected or held out in prospect.

yes

maybe not for your daily use (remember "Radio Eriwan jokes " :wink:

I guess about 8 hours every day. Me I have 12-14 hours before charging but I am using FP Open OS (see below) that uses quite less power without Google framework in FP’s open android. Also I am not using GPS, camera seldom , all that needs chunks of power. Instead of any other restraints due to your daily use I could stress that the percentage range of exploitation is more important due to your request. Simply said if you want longvity for battery then you have to recharge before 25% is reached and you shouldnot load more than 80%. Optimal is only even between 30% and 70% . This directly impacts the charging time frequence or pace. If you run your battery with most exploitation in a daily routine it will not live long nor will it prosper ;-(

Because FP only offers FP2 for europe I may simply answer with “No, Sir”

No, none is known or reported with Android 6. But yes, one crucial or fatal is already reported for Android 7 by Qualcomm. Incompatibility with Snapdragon 801 of FP2 will prevent FP2 running with Nougat (And 7).

If you ask from official FP point of view : No. Why ? It would be in competition with FP’s own open source Android called FP Open OS.
If you ask from free lancing developers point of view: Yes, it is only a question of time. Unfortunately this also means that maybe only half of the FP features maybe supported by a developers CM.

No, simply because you can be sure that there will be no other release after FP2 in the next 2 years. You can make a clear decision now or never .

You can use dual SIM everywhere if the network (for the second SIM card) supports GSM. (You can only have 3G/4G on one SIM card, the other has to be 2G only.) As Japan and South Korea have no GSM network, you can only use one SIM card there. AT&T is shutting down GSM at the end of this year, so, in the USA, you have to use T-Mobile for the second SIM. In the rest of the world, you probably won’t have problems with dual SIM.

Please note that you are currently not able to bind contacts to specific SIM cards. You can only set one SIM card for calls/SMS/internet (each separately settable) or you can set “ask always” for calls/SMS.

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FP never announced anything like that.

As we have many users in the forum living outside europe we know that it works in most countries.

That’s not the reason. FP doesn’t profit from you using an FP OS on your FP. The real reason is because they don’t have the manpower to support a wide arrange of OSs.

That’s speculation.

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I think it is fair to say that most of what @anon9505190 wrote here is false. If you have a link to any official Fairphone statement that backup these claims; please let me know, because we’ll have to correct them.

@paulakreuzer’s posts are much closer to the truth.

Especially on the OS thing: Fairphone encourages developers and groups to take the code from code.fairphone.com and make whatever they feel like. Our team is to small to contribute in a very meaningful way to projects out there, but we do hope that one day 5 or more OS’s can run on the Fairphone 2!

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@chrisse chrisse :slight_smile: no but it comes to my mind, that Apple my will call the iPhone just iPhone, so no iPhone 9 etc so i heared once.
That’s why i thought the Fairphone.
Reason two, the make things stronger. :wink:

If a phone becomes so modular, there is no reason to count them. Sure may be my idea becomes truth with FP5, but i keep on that idea. Sure they should have thre product lines: the fairphone me 4“, the fairphone 5.2“ and a pro or tablet with 6“.
Imagine all of them with a display like Xiaomi mi mix.
:heart_eyes:

Thank you very much everyone, for advices and tips. I’ll buy a fairphone, and i’ll give a second hand smartphone (galaxy s4) for my girfriend, then we can compare years after years.

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