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Disappointment on FP2 after 3 years with ongoing problems from the beginning

Discuss Fairphone 2
#1

Hi there!
I am new in the forum. Apologies for my English, it is not my mother language.
I would like to express my feelings about the Fairphone 2. So here we go.

I started using my FP2 on January 2017 and I never was completely happy with it. Obviously, the first months everything was alright but after a few months it started having small problems. I was trying to ignore them as I thought I did the best buying this phone and tiny little issues wouldn´t make me change my mind nor my phone.
It’s been 3 years now. During these 3 years I have changed the battery once (it was lasting just for a few hours), then I realised that the new battery was not much better (kept restarting itself for no reason as it did before). About a year ago (so the phone was 2 years old) the microphone broke somehow, started having problems until it completely broke. I bought a new unit and change it successfully. Currently I’m having the same problem: a couple of weeks ago, my mic wasn’t working at all. Again.
It keeps restarting itself; it’s a very slow phone; the camera is not very good (I changed it too, hoping it would have a better resolution and, again, it didn´t).
I am so sorry because I wanted to believe it was a proper phone and I don’t want to invest any money on a non-fair phone as FP. However, I had to. I decided I needed a new phone and I bought one. Not an FP. It hurts because I thought I would have the same phone for a long period of time (at least 5 to 8 years) and I’d show it pridely to everyone, trying to convince other people to invest on it. Sadly, that’s not the case. I understand it varies between devices but I can not risk to buy another FP (yes, I was thinking for a moment to purchase the new FP3).

Sorry for the long message but I needed to post it somewhere.
I really hope your devices are working properly and maybe in the future the new new FP would be much better and I’ll think about purchasing it again. Let’s see.

Thanks to the community.
Kind regards,

M G A

#2

5 years of daily use is excellent for a smartphone. The software support for android is around 3 years on average, Google is pledging 3 years for their pixels which is not exceptional. The proverbial iOS has 4-6 years of support depending on the model, which is great since the used models can have many lives if they not break in the process, but the glaring problem is all iphone users want the latest model(which comes out every 6 months), because that is what Apple wants.

#3

First off, it’s a shame that it’s all gone this way and I understand that a malfunctioning and underperforming device can be frustrating - so please take the following as replies rather than rebuttals. I’m hoping they may be of some use to you, or to other frustrated FP2 users reading this.

It’s a bad idea to ignore problems, especially if they pop within months of buying the phone. This may have been a factory fault and allowing it to persist may have lead to larger issues. That two year warranty is included in the price of an FP2 and you should never hesitate to use it.

Again, this sounds like there was something wrong with your device. It’s a shame you’re out of warranty now because it’s likely you could have had it repaired at no charge had you taken action at the time.

Try screwing in the bottom module more loosely. That’s done the trick for me on a couple of ‘broken’ microphones. Academic, I know, as you’ve already started using a different device, but still worth a tinker.

Coupled with the random reboots you mentioned before, maybe try a factory reset? That usually gets rid of random reboots. You may also want to try using a shim to secure the battery better.

But apart from that: yes, it is an aging phone that cannot run all the things a brand new flagship can. So some clever husbandry when it comes to installing apps is required - which may disqualify the FP2 for some.

Unless you replaced the old module with another old module, the 12MP module definitely does improve on the 8MP module. Here’s a gallery of FP2 images for reference. Are you unable to get good results with the camera?

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#4

… or didn’t select the new, better resolution in the camera App’s settings.

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#5

Is that a thing? I never knew about that, I think OpenCamera may switch automatically.

#6

It may, but @mgajam didn’t mention Open Camera.

2 Likes
#7

Hi there,
My experiences with the 2 year old FP2 are also not satisfying.
I have already written that in this forum.
I had the same problem with the microphone during the warranty period.
FP has provided me with a free replacement.
I also had problems with the up and down of the system.
The camera does not always work. To get it working again I have to clean the contacts.
Also I was very proud of the fair phone in the first time. Today I cannot give a recommendation. I do not know any user of a smartphone from other manufacturers with similar problems.
Also I will not buy any more FP if the quality of the successor model does not improve.
I will keep an eye on the reviews of the quality by the users of FP3.
I have one request to Fairphone: Make an effort.
Happy Easter and stay healthy!

#8

Thanks for giving your feedback regarding your personal experience with your FP2.
Following other topics in this forum I’m convinced that Fairphone employees have successfully put a lot of effort in improving the quality of the successor model (FP3).
As the FP2 is not sold anymore I think that FP2 product reviews don’t bring us any further.

1 Like
#9