Be honest! Why did you buy a Fairphone?

I’m also a member of the Ethical Supporters group.
This interest in FP is just a little bit flavored with the interesting mixture between DIY techie and no-nonsense user :wink: So one day I might change to FPOOS…

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I have buyed FP 1 in 2014 for ethical, sustainable and ideological reasons. I admire the initiative of Bas van Abel and his colleagues!
FP1 has been working OK until now, but I am getting impatient for the (in July 2016 promised but still not delivered!) Android upgrade 4.4.
FP 1 is still working with Android 4.2.2…how old fashioned!
If Fairphone does not update any more the FP1, I will need a newer phone soon. 3 years as a lifetime is not quiet sustainable, so I would be disappointed if the promised updates do not show up.

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Read about the progess in #software:fp1-beta-testing. :smiley:

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I bought the Fairphone because of the other smartphone producers who are too evil on too many aspects.
They exploit the environment, the suppliers, the workers and even the customers. Basically the only people who profit from the established producers are their shareholders.
Why should I buy a phone so that somebody else can buy a yacht?

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The Ethical Supporter here.
I bought my FP2 because I was reading about the working conditions of the people who make the iPhones. I wish I could be more of a Proud Pioneer. Fact is that I don’t tell many people about the phone because I’m so unhappy with it. Random reboots, mic not working, spots on screen. I guess one could say that The No-Nonsense User is stopping The Proud Pioneer.
Writing this response to the question makes me realize that I’m also a Thoughtful Critic. And, the fact that I, inspired by the repairability of the FP2, and in frustration of the FP2 not working properly, repaired my old iPhone 4S, makes me a DIY Techie too.
The only thing that I really do not care about is the software. I would have chosen an iPhone if it had been less evil. And life with Google is OK for me.
Oh my. I’m feeling totally schizofrenic now!

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For me it was all about the fair production, not perfect for sure but certainly trying to break the mould.
It being a European initiative was also a bonus.
I was colonized by Apple some years ago so it was a bit of a wrench moving from an iphone to fairphone but I decided to let my conscience do the deciding. OK so a fairphone doesn’t feel as well made as an iphone and the iOS is smoother and more intuitive imho, Although I’m also still having a lot of problems getting calendar and contacts to sync properly with cardav, I’m persevering. But having missed a couple of appointment recently because of bad calendar sync my commitment to my FP2 has been challenged.

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I have done it the other way. I have copied the iCloud contacts to Google. And I have put Google calendar on my Macbook calendar. I’m not using CARdav and CALdav at all. You can easily integrate Google in you mac contacts and your mac calendar.

FP1 was my first smartphone. I’m not interested in the technology, did not want to study the differences between ios/android/windows/what ever so when I heared of FP and its attemp to fairness and its pioneer spirit that was it for me. No need to think further. And as my first FP stop working after I accidentally dropped it to the wc, I bought FP2. I’m not completely happy with it but I still believe in the idea.
So, not surprising, my persona: The Ethical Supporter

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Thanks Donsemann you have added weight to what I think is the route I will go down.

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I also use MightyText as an replacement for Messenger. (Sorry for going off topic here.)

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I’ve been following the company from the start, but dithered over the first release and then got an FP1U. I didn’t upgrade to the FP2, because the FP1 is as big as I want a mobile phone to be.

Main reason for buying? Ethics. We’re drowning in a sea of plastic which is discarded before being used for a fraction of its lifetime. If I’m going to buy shiny consumer toys, they have to (a) have good specs (futureproof) and (b) be ethically produced.

Fairphone’s policies impressed me from the start, and although the FP1U seems to struggle with some feature-rich websites now (could be the fault of the browser) I still don’t feel a particular urge to upgrade yet :slight_smile:

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For ethical reasons, nothing else. Then after my purchase of FP2 I read that even Fairphone cannot guarantee conflict free minerals, which was a huge disapointment. Well at least it is more ethical than most smartphones.

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Ethical reasons, Sturdy design, I didnt need any smartphone-camera, repair/tweakablility and also to stick the finger to the foxconn-factories-of-death.

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Most of all: Ethical supporter.
Until some years ago I did not know anything about the context of mining for electronics - even though I am working in the tech industry. If more people knew and believed I am sure consumption would change. Too bad, that the bill when buying an electronic device does neither list the ruined health of those working for it nor the weapons bought from the money.

Focussing environmental impact is important too (check out those pages if you want to learn more about the current development of the planet: https://sites.google.com/site/arcticseaicegraphs/).

Being open for open source software helps to protect the privacy of the owner (less chance for backdoors…) and supports the environment cause (because a community can support a device longer than a company would).

A lot of responsibility which the small Fairphone company has put on their plate!

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In order of importance to me:
— 1º More fair to the planet and the people (had the Fairphone been a feature-phone instead of a smartphone, I would have bought it just the same).
— 2º Google-free, OpenOS
— 3º root
— 4º SD-card slot and replaceable battery, although that sort-of goes with point nº1, doesn’t it?

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I’m mostly with you, @mase.

I’ve bought my FP1 mainly because of the “If you can’t open it, you don’t own it” approach.

The fair production is great, too, but it was not the most significant thing in my decision making process.

As my old Samsung Galaxy W was really slow at that time (it still is, but it is six years old and there’s a KitKat ROM now), I was searching for a new phone.
And I didn’t want to loose the changes I made a few months before:
I rooted my phone and installed a custom ROM because Samsung decided that my phone wasn’t going to get updated to anything newer than 2.3 (Gingerbread).
And after the Snowden revelations I removed the Google apps and set up alternative solutions to provide those things. I’ve always been a fan of open source software but it got more back then.
And I don’t like throwing working stuff away.

So, I was looking for a phone that came rooted, didn’t have the Google apps installed, would keep receiving updates for a long time, had decent specs and is open for alternative operating systems and for development on the original software.
There weren’t many alternative phones. Especially not in that price range.
And Fairphone promised even more: Fair treatment of customers and everyone involved in the process.
(And they mostly kept their promises. I’m a bit sad that there are no alternative operating systems (I’d really like to try out Ubuntu on a phone), Fairphone’s communication wasn’t always the way I’d imagined it to be and the next “new” update is going to be KitKat (although it is impressive that there are still updates).)

All in all I’m glad to have done this.
And although there were times I wished I’d bought a Nexus instead, it’s great to have done all this.
This forum and the people here is (and are) really interesting and I can almost say I’m part of a movement (but the hype about the FP2 drove me a bit away for quite some time).

(With the current specifications and the current price tag I wouldn’t buy a FP2. But as my FP1 is still working, I don’t really need to even think about it.)

My persona would be the DIY techie, I guess.

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My reason was to get off all the google stoff and to get easy root…

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I bought it because of two points:
First, I missed a smartphone that stays as secure as possible and usable for a long time.
Second, I appreciated the effort to get it done in a responsible manner towards environment and people.
Both points delivered so far, I do not regret my decision.

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I have an iPad and MacBook so use icalendar sync and find that its works really well between ical and google calendar

The ethical approach to mobile phone production. 100%

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