I’m tempted, I’m thinking about the Fairphone and would like to know from users how practical it really is: what’s the battery life like? How easy is the phone for a novice to touchscreen/smartphone technology? Do you have an equivalent to the what’s app thingy?
Many thanks!
Hi
My old Nokia phone worked about five days with one charge.
With the experience from my friends with smartphones i thought i had to recharge my new Fairphone every evening.
But fortunately when I only use sms and phone as with the Nokia, the Fairphone works five days too with one charge.
But…there are many more things to do with a smartphone, so with mailing, browsing and using maps in the holidays, the Fairphone works about two days with one charge. Of course switched off during the night…
I’m very happy with the Fairphone battery!
Dosc
1 Like
Battery life is decent for a smartphone.
Battery life is very good, actually I recharge my Fairphone every three to four days (with minimum 25 % left). I switch it off during the night.
And I think, thats pretty good, because the phone is new and I’m playing around a lot…
I was also worry about that. I agree with the other posts. I usually charge the phone every three or four days.
1 Like
I recharge every 2 days but in all honesty I never discharged it completely up to now (actually, my batt indicator went below 50% only a single time).
This for a relatively intensive use -for instance, I have two simcards, and leave GPS and WIFI on all the time, also running ‘wifi/GSM mapper’ apps like MozStumbler, InViu OpenCell and Tower Collector every time I take an unusual traject (about 3 to 4 hours a week)
1 Like
I like to be online most of the time, and when enabling mobile data everywhere, your battery will last a day, maybe less. But this is the case for most smartphones, as mentioned before.
The Greenify app extends the battery life quite a bit for me.
“Greenify help you identify and put the misbehaving apps into hibernation when you are not using them, to stop them from lagging your device and leeching the battery, in an unique way!”
4 Likes
Difficult to say. I’ve been using versions of Android for 3 or 4 years, so it always seems familiar to me (haven’t used iPhones or Windows mobile).
2 Likes
Yes Battery Timing is very good
When I first got my phone, I did a test with a fully charged the battery:
In standby, with wifi activated it shut down because of low power, after four days. During that time I made some twelve (short) phone calls and received/read (and replied to) about just as many SMS’s and what’sapp mssgs. I have screen brightness on automatic. Since then I’ve been on a holiday, making use of the camera and watching photo’s, and texting , (but just one or two calls calls; too expensive from abroad) which caused the battery to drain after something over three days; 58% power consumption by the screen according to the battery “app” that’s found under settings of the phone. So I think, you can safely say that with battery life is OK. I expect that extensive users might want to charge daily, but I doubt if that’s really necessary…
1 Like
I get about two days of a fully charged battery, being a moderately heavy user of a whole bunch of apps.
Regarding the “what’s app thingy”: You can use WhatsApp and every other Andorid compatible messenger app with the Fairphone.
1 Like
to answer “how easy”. this is my first smartphone and i love it. set up wifi, texting, calling, installing googly stuff, camera, touchscreen and pretty screensavers all by myself within a couple of days. with help from the forum worked out how to set music for notifications. succumb to temptation, i certainly haven’t regretted it for a moment…and you can help overseas workers into the bargain
1 Like
About the battery life, I can tell you the same as most of the others did. The way I use the FairPhone, the battery last from at least 2 days (if I use it very intensive, e.g. to find out, how a new App works), up to 6 days, if I use it seldom (a few phonecalls, write some text messages, take some pictures, discovering when the next Train is running, … so only if I need it.)
Yes, there is a very good equivalent to what’s app, and even secure! It’s called THREEMA. I think it costs about 1,60 €, or something like that (but only once, not per year or month), and you don’t even have to buy it at the Google PlayStore. You can buy it directly at Threema (Threema – The Secure Messenger For Individuals and Companies).
With Threema, you don’t have to replicate/synchronise your contacts with a online-server. You don’t even have to tell them your E-Mail address or Cell-Phone number, if you don’t want to. If you install the Threema-App, you generate a unique ID. So if you want to chat with your friends, the only information you have to exchange, are the IDs between each other. It becomes even more secure, if you scan the QR-Code from each other (Sounds complicated, but it isn’t. Everybodys ID can be found as a QR-Code in the info-menu and with the QR-Code AddOn from Threema, which comes for free, you can scan these codes.) and on top of that, the messages are all encrypted.
Hope, this helped.
1 Like
Best description ever.
1 Like
Just seen your reply! My Nokia (about 10 years old) is slowly showing signs of ageing and I’m dithering about the switch to a smartphone - I’m waiting for the new Fairphone: any idea when/if that’s going to happen?
Cheers,
Yekfi
Read here: http://www.fairphone.com/2014/11/04/next-chapter-in-fairphones-strategy-outlook-for-2015/
The probably best whatsapp alternative around (imho) is the free + open source TextSecure. If you are using the play store, I can only recommend everyone to replace the standard SMS app with it. Install: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.securesms
If you are concerned about privacy, this site may help you to decide which messenger to use: https://www.eff.org/de/secure-messaging-scorecard
About the battery: If you are running into problems, you could give this program a try: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nema.batterycalibration
Terribly sorry not to have replied. That’s because Ive only just seen your ver helpful message. I’m just worried that for someone like me who does not understand technology, the fairphone might beguile me… All the fairphone owners in the community seem to be technology geeks! At any rate I can say that I’m still holding on to my Nokia brick until it really gives up the ghost?
Many thanks,
Cleo