I am weighing options for a new phone. I have had mine for 5 years, no problemsāexcept now the OS is discontinued. I am a fan of the Fairphone vision! But I am reading a lot of negative stuff about Fairphone problems in this forum.
Can I launch a little contest to see who has had the least problems? Letās make a happy thread here!
I guess you refer to the current Fairphone 2? Then itās definitely not me as I got it in December 2017
In case you are also interested in experiences with the FP1, head over to My FP1: four years and counting! (mine still works after 4.75 years with only the battery replaced once).
And may I ask which model is the phone you had for 5 years?
I bought the FP1 in ā14 and never had issues with it.
In ā15 I bought the FP2 and kept using the FP1 as a secondary phone.
When I decided I no longer needed a secondary phone I turned it into an organ donor phone which saved the lives of many other FP1s. Up until then I only had to exchange the battery once (under warranty).
I once had to replace the FP2ās screen because I stupidly let the phone fall into a toilet. Every other module survived. I also had the known cover issues with now discontinued cover models. Those were also replaced under warranty.
Thatās the nature of a support forum. Youāll find lots of negative stuff about any phone if you search the web. A difference is that most other phones donāt have one forum where all those reports are concentrated.
Will there be a price?
Maybe you could start crowdfunding for your FP2 and then give the voucher to the winner of this contest.
One thing when you switch from the iOS world to the Android world: Apple usually supports their phones longer than itās the case for Android phones. But unlike the iOS world, you can install so-called custom ROMs to extend your android phoneās lifetime when the manufacturer does not support it any longer (if the community behind the ROM supports your model, which is the case for the FP2 and LineageOS for example).
Thanks, Ingo, this is helpful. Yes, itās a bigger decision than just a new phone but also considering switching from Apple to Android. Really Iāve had no problems with Apple, just the steep price, a couple apps that exist only for Android (Zotero), and the idea of sustainability in the Fairphone that has me considering this dramatic switch. If I switch Iāll have to buy some apps again, but I would still save hundreds if it lasts 5 years, and that is a factor right now.
The idea not only of sustainability but also a modular phone is wonderful! Two winning ideas! But does it work? Nothing has ever broken on my iPhone (except now the battery needs 3 charges a day). I could get a new battery, but that doesnāt solve the iOS problem and seems a temp solution. So I am thinking about the pros and cons, and I hope to hear from all the pros out there! There are plenty of cons on the internet.
I got my first FP1 in January 2014 and am still using my second FP1 (I forgot the first one in a train). So I have been using a FP1 for 4 years and 8 months (excl. 2 months last summer after I had lost that phone).
What makes me hopeful to use it for some more years is that we have spare parts here in Vienna, that were donated by other Fairphoners. Several other #fairphoneangels also keep a spare part stock. This, of course, applies to FP1 in my case, but even when Fairphone cannot sell spare parts for the FP2 anymore, the community will step in and distribute spare parts.
Note that Fairphone will still be able to sell FP2 spare parts in two years and hopefully after that because when Fairphone founder Bas recently visited Vienna, he told us that they had secured spare parts for at least 3 years and that he is aiming for 5 years.
PS.: What Iād like to add: If you are feeling nerdy, you could get a second-hand or refurbished smartphone that is well supported by the aftermarket operating system LineageOS, for example a OnePlus One, Samsung Galaxy S5 or Google Nexus 5 (according to the statistics I assume that many installations -> many developers working on it -> fast updates). A second-hand/refurbished phone is even more sustainable than a FP2 because it doesnāt use up original resources. The counter-argument is of course that you would have to manually install LineageOS on a second-hand/refurbished smartphone (I linked instructions above so that you can learn more about the necessary steps).
I had a FP2 for a year, it was not a bad experience, but some things where annoying: The battery live was not very good, the percentage often jumped and I needed to charge it twice a day if I used it more then usual. The microphone broke. It was easy enough to replace and Fairphone delivered the spare part on guarantee. I switched to Google Pixel because I needed the lastest version of Android for work (I do not have a work phone.) I am looking forward to a Fairphone 3 that hopefully will come to market next year. I have a colleague using a FP2 and a friend, that sill uses it, but is not so happy, having issues with the battery.
You asked for experiences, not advice, but here is some, if you donāt mind. Otherwise just skip the rest. I
If you really want to keep the phone for 5years, I would not buy the FP2 now. There is plenty discussion in this forum about this and some will disagree.
Fairphone is doing a tremendous amount of work to get the FP2 to Android 7, which was released two years ago. Donāt get me wrong, that Fairphone works on Android 7 shows that they really care. However, we are currently at Android 9, I doubt that this will ever be officially supported on the FP2.
The reality is: There might never be an Android phone supported with up-to-date software as long as iPhones are. But the future could be a lot better with technical advances in Googles Software introduced in Android 8 and 9.
If you do need a new phone now, you could try to keep the 5S or switch to a used 6S/SE. Stay in this forum, subscribe to the newsletter and check back next year to find out* when the next Fairphone is released.
* Edit by @Stefan to clarify the sentence. Nobody in the community knows a release date so this could be misunderstood.
Thanks for sharing your experience! "#fairphoneangels " and āspare partsā is a whole new world. Thanks for the ānerd tipsā also. Iām learning a lot from this thread! I hope it helps others also.
Thanks Ben! Your experience and announcement of FP3 and where things are at with Android and FP is really helpful. I am keeping my 5s on life support (an external battery) and so I have a bit of time to learn about things.
My first contribution to this forum was in search for a solution to both get a voucher and use it too. But it seems the break in the voucher system (where you need to already have a second phone at your disposal before you invest in what would be a new third), is like the break in the āmodular systemā right now. I was thinking the basic frame stays the same and new partsālike a better motherboard or cameraācan be bought and installed as tech advances. But if these modules are only for the sake of a repair and the quality never advances without having to buy a new frame anyway, itās not really the module I dreamed it would be. I dream of a smartphone like a bicycle. Get a nice frame and the parts are standard, upgradeable, swappable. I could level up to disk brakes or even an e-wheel without needing a new frame. So what I am hearing is we have a way to go yet. Thanks for the input of all!!
Thatās mostly true. Only the front and back camera modules have been improved in quality once, i.e. not just for repair. They were 8/2MP and now are 12/5MP and FP2s sold after the new modules had them directly at no extra cost.
This doesnāt really seem to be what you are asking for in the first post. If you replace the motherboard after two years because ātechnology advancesā, whatās the use of keeping the frame as long as possible? According to Fairphoneās Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) the motherboard makes up 72.6% of the CO2 emissions of the FP2. So a motherboard upgrade is hardly sustainable if the āoldā module still works.
Besides, FP2ās modularity is the closest you can get to modularity at the moment.
Please tell me, what you would consider to be the frame in this case.
In my opinion the SoC/Motherboard is to the phone what the frame is to the bike. You already get better cameras, a better display, a new battery and maybe in the future, the other modules might get an enhancement as well.
And the phone is open to customization as well. You can get or design your own cover, someone else has already made an extension plus a new cover to house it:
The one thing, thatās different to buying parts for a bike, is the fact, that you get no choice. If you need a new camera, there is only the new one (unless you buy second-hand of course). Fairphone has not the means to offer various choices; not to mention, that the difference - pricewise - would not be that much, that anyone would go for the lower quality option.
Still, in all, I would agree with @ben about getting a FP2 now, if you want to keep it for 5 years.
I got my FP2 in January 2016, no repair but it is really time for me to change the case as the original one is tearing along the limit between the two type of plastic it is made of.
Thanks Technoratiā seems like the general vibe Iām getting from all. There are problems, but also help. May your phone (and self) be preserved from flame!