Fairphone 1 maintenance comes to an end

Maybe some numbers at this point: In 2014 Fairphone published a blog article:

In this article they state:

Fairphone owners, on average, used their previous smartphones for 2 years, feature phones for 3 years and basic phones for 4 years.

Even if the devices would only last as long as others do then at least they have created some awareness for that fact.

In 2015 there was another blog article:

Here they say:

I chose the functional unit as “the use of a Fairphone and its battery with an average lifetime (3 years) and average daily use time of the Fairphone users.” (This average lifetime was established from a survey with Fairphone owners.)

I must admit that I was a little bit surprised to read these 3 years already at that time. But on the other hand: It’s not that they were intransparent with the information they had.

@ReginaMoeve: Yes, I’m interested in any feedback from Fairphone about battery solutions, too. But I wouldn’t be too optimistic. We might be “quite a lot of people” when looking from our user perspective but we’re probably only a few people when looking from the perspective of a battery supplier. I consider the adaptor solution as the way of the least resistance. At least it is probably easier to do some 3D printing than to produce batteries in these little quantities.

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I’m so disappointed and really angry too. I bought the fairphone because of all your good intentions to make it last (spare parts and repair available for a long time). English is not my first language and I think I cannot really express my disapointment. But I’m mad, I told friends to buy a FP2 because I trusted you, I won’t do that in the futur. I loved the idea of the FP1 and honnestly I was sceptical when the FP2 was released because I saw it as the end of the FP1 and I felt that Fairphone was like any other company, they want you to buy the new phone. So yes I feel ripped off and it’s not a nice feeling.

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It’s definitely more secure to use the alpha-pre3 because it includes more security patches than Kola Nut 1.8.7.

Installing it is pretty easy, you only need to download the installation file to your phone and open it with the Fairphone Updater app. Remember to dic:backup beforehand! :slight_smile:

If you will join us for efct17, we can upgrade your FP1 together. :slight_smile:

PS.: In any case, I’d like to suggest this great community guide to you:

I find this idea very intriguing and promising. You could start a new topic in the #hardware:diy category. :slight_smile: Does anyone have the exact dimensions of the FP1 battery?

Edit: @Martin_Anderseck Why not chip in here: :smiley:

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Everyone concerned about the lack of FP1 batteries, please note this post in the Unofficial Marketplace:

https://forum.fairphone.com/t/fp1-u-akku-gesucht-battery-needed/30577/2?u=urs_lesse

I already wrote to Hermann to suggest that he creates a standalone thread outlining his suggestion so it can be discussed and tested.

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I already went ahead… :grin: Here is the new topic:

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Hey Tin,

This information came available yesterday when I published the first post of this thread. So it is correct you have not heard about it before.

You can submit your email address on our dedicated Fairphone 1 page.
You will be notified as soon as the refurbished phones are in.

Best,
Douwe

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Can you put the source code to GitHub? Somebody will certainly finish a stable version :slight_smile:

Please read above: Fairphone 1 maintenance comes to an end

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Thanks for information, but…

Oh, you are using two different expressions: “Refurbished phones” and “Fairphone 2 New Life Edition”. But at the end is the same.

Not very clear, sorry.

“New Life Edition” seems to be some kind of euphemism… :joy: I agree that it’s not very obvious that those are refurbished FP2s.

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I totally agree with Marte ! More anger than disappointment.
After all news and announcements during the last months I haven’t expected a serious solution for fp1 users.

Conclusion: FP(U)1 has been a complete maldevelopment.
At the end I am fed up with fairphone’s empty advertisement slogans.

With a lifecircle of 3-4 years I can switch back to the oneway-solutions of regular companies.
At least I would have expected an upgrade offer to FP2 with a considerable discount.
Fair means also fair to customers.

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Really bad descision to not making the OS open source from the beginning and at the same time not being able to support the development. This is really lame.
So in the end my old nexus with Lineage lasts much longer and therefore is more sustainable than the FP. I handled my FP with maxium care, the battery is in really great shape, but I still can throw the thing away, now.
This is driving me mad, especially as all my colleagues laugh about this situation.
I will never buy or recommend a FP again. It is a waste of money and resources (is not sustainable, more the opposite)

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Please read this post by @paulakreuzer above:

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At that time they did everything to invoke the impression that they do know. And the reason why we bought their phones was that we believed them. I don’t think that 30,000 people would have spent 330 bucks each, knowing that the manufacturer is grossly incompetent. Else, the company would have never come this far. Now, they are leaving scorched earth with many of their early adopters.

I do think that when it became apparent to them, that they are unable to fulfil their promises, they should have immediately warned the users, instead of making more empty promises, which they did.

And they should not end this SNAFU with a false claim of having supported the FP1 for 3 1/2 years. The only thing that ended yesterday was their empty promises. Support has already ended ages ago.

For me, the FP1 was the first (and probably last) time to ever buy a new phone. Else, I only use second hand devices with custom ROMs on them. I did this certainly to support a noble cause, but I did not do it to be treated as a Guinea pig.

The point is, that we already had swallowed the sour apple of buying a fairphone which was not really fair: Only two of the > 70 minerals uses have traceable supply chains, workers in China did not receive living wages. The work hour limit was 60 hours/week which is the legal limit in China anyway. Fairphone positioned itself against binding regulations of supply chain responsiblity, even though their business would have been impossible if it hadn’t been for the Dodd-Frank act…

So what’s left? What good cause has the FP1 actually served? From my point of view, the glass is at least four fifth empty.

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I know the threat. Yes, mediathek (not going open source) was the wrong descision.

But of course it was my bad descision to buy a FP (or any other non lineage capable phone)

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I am sad to see so many people leaving the boat. I still cannot see that having an iPhone or a Samsung is a better solution. Yes, you might get a longer life time since those companies still know how to build phones and have the money to support it since they are global players who often produce under disputable conditions. On the other hand i think a broken phone often means you will buy a new one since it is not implied to repair it by yourself. The FP1 still was a milestone in my eyes and even though i am really disappointed that the soft- and hardware will be unsupported from now on, i still support the idea of solidarity, sustainability and openness.

What i don’t understand is that many people here forget that there are already impacts from FP and ideas like the cooperation with several NGOs to reduce the electronical waste, use conflict-‘free’ materials and so on. I will stick with my FP1 and i cannot see why i should or could buy another phone so far in the future. We all know that it can be a hard competition on the market and if you follow the project Fairmondo you also see that there are ambitious aims which often hard to meet.

So i hope Fairphone won’t make the same mistakes twice. Otherwise this project will lose even more of its idealistic community.

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Yes, you might get a longer life time since those companies still know how to build phones and have the money to support it

They don’t support it longer either, but you can install Lineage on it.

Thank you, Stefan. I will look into getting the alpha-pre3 installed and the other suggestions you mentioned. Unfortunately I won’t be in the Netherlands during the #efct17 but thanks for the offer!

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Well, it was fun while it lasted.

I ordered my FP1 in May 2013. The decisive factor was FP’s committment to fair (as fair as possible) raw material and fairer working conditions. Lack of 4G, a camera that couldn’t compare with the best on the market, and other small drawbacks didn’t bother me.

My phone still runs fine and does what I expect it to do. I’m on my second battery and have a fresh one waiting in a drawer, so hopefully it will serve me for at least another year, maybe even two or three.

But after that it’s thank you and goodbye. I still think the original project is (was) a good one. But I will not consider the FP2. Not only is it too big and too expensive. In my opinion it was also a mistake that a company as small as the FP chose to put itself in the frontline when it comes to developing a modular phone. Great thing in principle, but not so easy to implement, and clearly the FP2 has caused a lot of trouble for the owners, while FP’s support hasn’t been able to cope. And the lack of resources left us FP1 owners in the wilderness for quite some time. It might well be (as some are eager to point out) that no formal promises have been made, but we’ve definitely been led to believe that support for the FP1 would continue (at the very least in the form of security patches for Android 4.2.2).

I also wonder if FP have made a mistake trying to accomodate three different groups of owners whose interests may be very hard to combine:

  1. Those who mainly care about fairness (raw material, working conditions)
  2. Those who want a phone that can compete with the big brands spec-wise (camera quality, Bluetooth protocol &c &c)
  3. The OpenSource zealots.

Since the fairness part is my greatest concern, I will replace my FP1 (when it dies) for something cheap but reliable (my wife’s Moto G4+, running Android 7, for example). The €200+ I save can be used for promoting fairness and fair trade in other ways.

And I will follow the development of the FP3.

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Yes, it is sad that the Fairphone 1 maintenance has ended.
When I bought the Fairphone 1 during the crowdfunding period at that moment it was still uncertain that there would be a Fairphone.
If one joins a crowdfunding for something that’s not even build, one takes the risks that the project could fail.
Not enough participants, the build for the phone isn’t succesfull, problems in the company etc.
So for me it’s a great achievement that there really is/was a working Fairphone 1. They made big companies to think about there way of making phones and other products.
The Fairphone 2 is better than the Fairphone 1 as Fairphone is on a learning curve whilst making Fairphones.

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