My wife, who is not technically oriented at all, showed me this morning how her FP3’s screen was flickering. She remembered that the phone had fallen yesterday evening (not from really high, but apparently enough to upset something).
I said I’d open it up this evening after work and try to reseat everything (like a responsible Fairphone Angel would) but that I really had to leave early so I couldn’t do it right away.
I left out my tiny screwdriver set in case she wanted to give it a shot.
Now I just got a text that she’d opened the phone, re-seated everything and screwed it shut again, and the issue was fixed
Not only am I happy for her (that she fixed her phone by herself), I’m happy with Fairphone because this is exactly the situation we want to be in, where ‘dumb’ users (ok so she’s got a PhD, but she would never even try to fix a computer) can fix their phone by themselves. (Ok I know about the ‘fair’ bit, but for me the ‘repairable’ bit takes precedence - so sue me )
Fairphone is indeed awesome and they really show how things should and can be better. My old Pixel 3’s USB C port doesn’t connect properly and it didn’t get updates anymore, so I needed a new phone while the hardware was still mostly fine. The battery itself was also aging. With a Fairphone, this would be an easy fix and you would enjoy a longer software support cycle.
More recently, a friend stopped by, needed a charge before he went back. But his phone wasn’t charging anymore, his USB C port seemed broken. Cleaning it didn’t help either. So we charged it with my old Pixel Stand. However, he does need a new phone now. Just because a small part is not working.
Another recent event, the screen of a friend turned black. Even after resetting the phone. However, when pressing at the back of the phone, the screen went on again. So the conclusion was that a connector was maybe loose. Opening the phone and reseating the connector would likely solve it. But… When trying to open the phone and remove the screen, the phone broke. Because it wasn’t made to be opened and wasn’t made easy.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to convince these people to buy a FP5. This was mostly because they got their phone from their work and they will get a replacement, they don’t offer a Fairphone (yet).
Very good. I too like that I could open it up, easily, without any tools but my hands, and pop out and in the battery.
Since the A13 update, I needed to do it 5 or 6 times.
Of which 3 on a train. The 5g data was on, and the FP4-5g would stop and when restarted stop after a few minutes.
It powered down, I faked a restart (not give the sim code) an have a proper shutdown.
Pop out the battery (now I knew it was off), next start (without sim, no 5g), and no internet whatsoever because, yes train.
Didn’t shutdown on itself.
Disable 5g
Battery out, in
Full restart again, connect 4g
No problem any more.
At home 5g isn’t any good. No pb with 4g, neither with wifi.
Back at my mom’s: test 5g. Back to battery out-in-disable 5g : done.
So yes, repairability. For someone who shivers for touching hardware.(electronic hardware. I do try to fix mechanical things)
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