This is ridiculous and highly unprofessional, my phone is barely functioning, most likely due to old android…
This phone was not built to last, this phone was built to work for 1,5 years, such a disappointment.
Care to open a topic and explain what exactly the problems are, so we could perhaps help?
Else … many here (including me) currently run Android 8.1 on their phones … Info about FP2 | LineageOS Wiki
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Do you mean postponing an update until the most important bugs have been ironed out, or the fact that they openly communicate about it? I suspect you rather mean “missing a deadline”, but sadly that’s part of software engineering. These projects are complex and an initial schedule is likely to be revised over the course of development.
My mantra has always been: don’t judge people by their mistakes, but rather judge by their efforts to resolving those mistakes, as it is those efforts that show the character of an individual or team. In this case we see that FP takes responsibility, shows humbleness and keeps investing in the final goal despite one or two set backs. I’d call that professional.
I am experiencing no such problems with Fairphone OS 18.04.1, which is an Android 6 image. So either your definition of “barely functioning” differs vastly from mine, or you have other problems that you require support with. Either way, passive agressive complaints like these aren’t going to solve those problems, and with the phone being 1.5y old you still have a right for retail/factory warranty.
Thanks to FP support, I’ve already had my FP2 functioning for 2.5 years… I challenge your 1-sample statistics with my 1-sample statistic. Although I understand that your experience left you with a negative sentiment around this product, you might do yourself a favour by taking a deep breath and focussing on a path to solving your problems - like searching around the forums for your problem and opening a topic if nobody else experienced something similar. There’s many helpful people around in this community and the FP customer support have been quite forthcoming and reasonable too.
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Phone every now and then restarts itself (and I haven’t noticed any common trigger for this behavior - it happens when i use it, it happens if i heave it in my pcoket, or when it charges). Screen is very unresponsive at times (very imprecise touch) and freezes very often (had this issue before, was repaired but Im tired of repairing it over and over again (that’s not so green after all), apparently it just the way it is, got used to it after 6 months of frustration).
Very often when I turn on apps (FB, ig, snapchat, mozilla) it takes quite some time for them to actually start, that’s I guess a matter of android/memory of the phone (I actually wonder if Fairphone is planning on updating the chipset, which would be the most beneficial thing for the company imho. Unless they’re working on FP3… but that’s like a slap in the face of FP2 users). Apps often go very slow or phone freezes while going trough posts.
Oh and calling and receiving calls or text msgs (SMS) that’s a roller coaster. First of all, microphone doesn’t work (it happened once already - so at first I just bought new unit with microphone and replaced myself, but again this one failed after few months so I have to be on headset or loudspeaker - Im done with repairs). Second, very often calls are not being received (regardless of provider I use). People just cant call me (explain it to my mother, eh?!). I can barely make a call. If i call any number I will never get connected at the first attempt, only second attempt works (but only sometimes, as at times I have to restart the phone…). Sometimes while calling phone all of a sudden loses connection with the network, but then few seconds after an attempt to call, it reconnects with network again, just to disconnect when I want to call again - motherf&^%r. I cannot send text messages at all. Phone “sends” them, just to notify me few minutes later that sending failed (regardless of target network). And if I get a text message it never comes immediately sometimes it takes hours to get a text (regardless of restarting the phone), which is F#$%^g annoying when you want to make a bank transfer, etc. All those calling/text issues happen regerdless of network, i tried two different ones.
EDIT.: Oh and you know the fun part about issues with network connection: I DO HAVE MOBILE INTERNET working perfectly fine…
And the jack, oh my god the jack. Whenever i put jack in to listen to the music then another rollercoaster of wonders starts: if I put volume louder phone restarts android (lol) but the music still plays (lololol). After few minutes of listening on jack phone goes craaaaazy - it switches on and off random apps and screen, its like its possesed (lol) happily nothing of this happens if I go through bluetooth.
Anyways Ill try to survive with what it is now till the end of the month and I go for a new phone from another company.
Regardless of FAIRPHONE transparency about Android - yeah cool story at least they inform about the time - I DONT CARE, I have deadlines at work too and i HAVE TO MEET THEM ON TIME. This is what I expect of others - as simple as that - if they cant keep the deadline - bye bye.
And I must say I was a great fan and advocate of Fairphone, because personally ideas of fairtrade and being green are very important to me. However given alle the issues this product does not meet my expectations. I cannot recommend this phone to anybody and I am myself very disappointed. If its a matter of price, make it more expensive (have you seen prices of recent iphone?? they are craaaaaazy, and yet people go for it). Id rather pay a lot but for a reliable simple, high quality product rather than get something for a medium price, with poor performance - its a waste of money, energy and resources.
I was passive aggressive because Im tired of writing those long stories whats wrong with my phone - its rubbish.
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Most if not all of these issues are not linked to Android 6. The reboot issue may be linked to the battery having to much space trouble (forum says adding a piece of paper to prevent any move fix it). Your phone may also have been infected to behave so badly.
My own Fairphone, the one of my father and the one of my brother are all under Android 6 (two under Fairphone OS 18.04.1, one under Fairphone Open OS) and don’t have these troubles. Mine is almost three years old, nether changed anything, but its time to change the case (start to split). The two others are about two years old, nothing changed either excepted one case.
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You see that’s the problem - i don’t want to put a piece of paper to make it more stable - THIS IS RIDICULOUS - phone was not built to last, not even 2 years…
Im glad that your FP2 works well for you.
BUT MINE FP2 DOES NOT WORK WELL FOR ME which is the source of disappointment and my passive aggressive behavior.
I believe that the biggest problem of all - FP2 being suuuuper slow with loading apps, posts, etc and freezing while browsing between the apps is due to the old Android or low RAM.
It was built to be repaired if something breaks. If you refuse to try a simple fix that’s on you.
Now Android versions don’t necessarily/noticeably speed up the phone and the RAM is sufficient for normal use. If your phone is super slow it’s probably a software issue. Backup your data and make a dic:hardreset.
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Since the Android version and the RAM spec up until now seem not to be a problem in general, I would start elsewhere …
This forum more than once identified the official Facebook App as a possible source of almost unbelievable troubles. I’d uninstall that first. See here for alternatives …
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But thanks for venting anyway. That’s a long list of problems and I can totally understand you feel frustrated with your purchase!
Somehow as expected there have already been a few people trying to suggest solutions to your problems. If you don’t mind I’ll reply as well.
An SoC upgrade is unfortunately technically infeasible. The SoC is soldered to a motherboard along with RAM and storage, which together make up more than half of the cost of the device. An “upgrade” would be incredibly expensive to engineer as newer SoCs have a different pin-out. This means they can’t just drop in a newer chip on the same “motherboard”, but they have to re-engineer the entire board to make sure all other peripherals still connect to the right part of the SoC. They’ll have to re-do the powersupply, the operating system… by then you pretty much have a new phone.
Within 2 years of purchase, you should be able to get a new microphone module under warranty, no need to pay for more than a call to their helpdesk after filing a ticket and about 10 minutes of your time. I had this problem recur several times, and FP has in the past few years sent me multiple new bottom modules to work around the problem. I’m not happy with seeing this problem reappear so often, but they take the blame and have provided me with this “solution” without charging me for two years now.
Likewise, if this is a hardware problem the solution would be to have FP send you a new screen under warranty. This problem might take some of your time to solve, but it shouldn’t cost you money.
This particular problem sounds new to me, and very much smells of “hardware issues”. I use my phone on the headphone jack all the time, crank it up to max volume (as the jack connects to my car radio’s aux port), and it remains working steadily. I take it you had a word with the support dept about this one? Do your headphones have a remote control unit and/or a built-in microphone?
That’s quite a rigorous way of judging performance. I think you and I just differ in opinion on this matter. 
Sadly, this (and by now the outdated specs) is precisely the reason why I don’t recommend anyone purchasing a FP2 myself. Not that I get too upset about an infrequent reboot when it’s in my pocket, for me it happens about once a fortnight, but because it has a habit of rebooting under load. The biggest load I have on my phone is Google maps navigation while playing music. As you can imagine, having the phone that navigates me around reboot while driving is a big problem. There’s workarounds, but I haven’t come across a satisfying solution.
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Have you actually read what I wrote, its not a simple fix - its a list of serious issues.
Im not talking about speeding up the phone… I assume that currently apps are more demanding in terms of software in order to run smoothly. Its like a PC game, if your PC is 10yrs old newest games will not work, work under lowest setting or will work very slowly cos the software and components are simply outdated, but once you’ll get the newest operating system with new components at optimized setting your newest games will run like a movie on a big screen…
Or it doesnt work like that? Then im sorry for complete misunderstanding.
So youre telling me that FAIRPHONE made a phone worth over 500€ and it cant run smoothly FB app??
And that I have to dig in some forum post to tweak the issue myself???
THAT IS EXACTLY U-N-P-R-O-F-E-S-S-I-O-N-A-L
I could understand that an unknown small app made by some geek might not work or give issues with the phone, but FB? Isnt it one of the most widely used app on smartphones currently? I mean, i EXPECT it to run FB, finito, no bs, no excuses. If not then the product is not worth its price, as simple as that.
If the motherboard cannot be smoothly replaced with the newer, upgraded version it just means that the initial design was poor.
The designer is ignorant enough not to understand the dynamics of the smartphone market, and that the designer shits on the users, because FP2 is advertised as the first modular phone that’s been built to last. In my case it didn’t even last 2 years and its not modular cos I cant upgrade RAM or CPU.
I don’t want to endlessly repair bottom module - that’s not green and not sustainable.
Jack issues happen regardless of the cable (with or without built in remote).
And actually Once i send the FP2 to repair and I mentioned that jack issue, they said its “interesting” but its still happening (so they didn’t repair it - i just accepted brutal reality of dealing with it, esp that i don’t use jack that often)
No, I’m telling you that the official Facebook App is apparently crap as it provokes trouble on an Android OS certified as such by Google.
That Android is a mess in itself doesn’t help with this, too.
Yes. Is that a problem? Then your next phone should not be a smartphone, but a feature phone.
And that would be a measure of the quality of the App exactly how?
Ridiculous .
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I am sorry to say that the most unprofessional I read in this threat is your behavior an your knowledge about android phones @matsto88.
We are here to help everyone with every problem we are aware of this project, but you make it unnecessary hard for us all.
It does not help anybody to finger point on something or somebody, but a detailed description of your issue(s) on a factual level would.
My experience with this forum is very professional in personal and technical view, especially compared with other forums and most people are able to take this professionality.
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There’s a reason why no manufacturer has done this. It’s everything to do with the vast differences between two SoCs even from the same vendor. Trust me, I’m a graduated CompSci, and I wouldn’t see a viable path of upgrading SoCs as long as the market keeps developing at such a high pace, unless you’re willing to waste significant power and space on adopting a socketed design like Intel/AMD. That’s unfortunately never going to fit inside a phone though.
I don’t think Fairphone ever claimed that the SoC or the motherboard would be an upgradable component. They did provide an upgrade to both the front and back camera, an easily replacable screen and an equally replacable battery. Idk, I guess for me the glass is half full rather than half empty.
Agreed. Just pointing out the (disappointing, I admit) choice between free repair (while under warranty) or a broken module.
hands you a deep breath … and relax Some people just need to vent and be heard for a bit, that can be more important than finding an actual solution. We can discuss the language, but it is a long list of faults. I personally don’t mind tinkering around a bit at times, but not everyone has the time or energy for that (busy job, wife and family, non-tech hobbies… you know, life!) and at the end of the day a product should just work. Plus, in matsto88’s defence, I didn’t once catch him make a personal attack. He’s just fed up with the product, and that’s fine. It’s not a piece of perfection.
Equally a big-up to all the people trying to help him out. Proof of good character in the community 
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Hi, have you tried to change the SIM card? Once I’ve been having same issues, and at the end I found that the problem was a faulty SIM card!
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No have tried different SIM cards from different networks (i travel Europe quite some so tried different countries too…).
ONE MORE FUN PART
So calling and texting is impossible, to get a call very rare (but happens that people manage to contact me), text msgs also arrive with SOME delay.
BUT THE MOBILE INTERNET IS ALWAYS WORKING, as long as I have network connection I have mobile internet and it work fine (speed, etc). But no calling.
And its funny that i forgot about that wonder, because this is the only reason why I kept the FP2 despite of all those issues… I use my FP2 mostly for internet XD
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It really reads like your phone is a case for replacement under warrenty.
I very much feel for you, as it seems, you ended up with a piece of waste electronics there.
As to the critizism of sustainability or rather a lack thereof and to the expectations.
One always has to keep in mind, that FP has produced as many phones in 5 years (or something like that) as Apple or Samsung produce in days. I guess we will never know how many faulty parts those manufacturers throw away because of small or larger flaws. FP has not the means for rigorous quality testing and they have a revolutionary new product-design. As a result, a higher rate of faulty devices is to be expected. Sad, but unavoidable in my opinion.
And that happens even to global players with new products.
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But we do know that for example every once in a while they manufacture extremely expensive phones which explode. And while that may sound like a worn out joke it still very nicely illustrates one of the aspects of the markets in which FP tries to compete.
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Seriously! this is just hilarious. Fix your expensive phone by sticking a bit of paper in it! Of course this doesn’t prove that there’s ANYTHING wrong with the phone, other than a completely rubbish design.