Fairphone 2 Community Reviews

[paulakreuzer]

We decided to - from now on - keep good and bad reviews of the FP2 in one place and not scattered all over the forum.
This is about the product, not the company, not the forum, not the community and not the movement.
You can simply vote below or also write a review below.
People can “like” helpful/accurate reviews and once a review got a certain number of likes it will be directly linked in this post.

How would you rate your experience with the FP2?

• 0
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

0 = miserable
1 = bad
2 = okay
3 = good
4 = great
5 = perfect

[fairphone_893]

Hello Timeeh,

I’m sorry for your problems with the FP2. But I can confirm, that this is very unusual from my point of view. I have my FP2 since Jan, 11th 2016. And only the back cover of my FP2 once made problems, so I had to replace it. The other parts of the phone works constantly since 15 months.
I also experience some annoying software issues. The most annoying problem is to wait for 5 seconds before making a call, if you have to choose, which SIM card you want to use for that call.
I have two other colleagues at work who also have a FP2. And no one made complaints about them like you have.

[Timeeh]

I tried to be more positive about my phone. That its just bad luck and stuff. And then my Top-Module broke again, not even one month after I got it.
I must be the most unlucky Fairphone 2 User there is…

14 Months of Fairphone 2:
1 Broken Display
1 Broken Cover
2 Broken Bottom-Modules
3 Broken Top-Modules

[xekinai]

I own the FP 2 for some 14 months now. I am no very skilled user, do not fiddle with the software, and need the phone mainly for basic stuff such as calls, SMS / Telegram, and a number of apps mainly connected with everyday needs (timetables, maps, hotel booking, banking etc.) As such, I have been happy with the functionality (except that the battery drains in about one day even if I switch off virtually everything). I adore the double SIM facility as I am a cross-border commuter. I also love the modular concept as I intend to use the phone as long as possible.

However, unfortunately I had quite a number of issues: Display, top module, bottom module, and back cover were all broken within a few months and without any user interference, and the battery drained even more quickly. On the positive side, the service was friendly and professional and I received spare parts quickly. But still, it is annoying and seems like a waste.

Also, software issues such as 2 SIM cards not working properly in parallel (having to wait first five seconds, then more and more before choosing a SIM card for a call; calls breaking down more often than not if both SIMs are active). I ended up always switching off one SIM.

I know two other people who own FP 2 and had these and other issues (problems with proximity sensor, with USB interface, phone shutting down suddenly…) however not so many in such a short time.

I stick with the phone though because I really support the cause, I am impressed with the motivation of the founders and with the community, and can understand that a small company cannot provide extensive development and testing in the way companies like Apple or Samsung can.

[fneuss]

Since the review thread is locked, I would like to post my view here after three months of FP2 usage. First of all the issues:

The camera is good in daylight, but below what I hoped for in low light. But I don’t have a lot of experience with smartphone cams - it is just that people with (even older) iPhones make pictures that are so much better that I hoped for a bigger improvement with a new camera module at the price range of the FP2.

I am convinced that battery drains on new phones and the heat issue are connected. The FP2’s processor is know to be a bad design regarding energy consumption. Some weeks ago I read an article that the same processor cores are consuming less power in other processors - can’t find it now, sorry. So if the battery is just 2800 mAh while other phones have 10-15% more, and the CPU is less efficient, this will of course drain the battery quicker. When my phone was two weeks old, I charged it over night and had a longer Skype call directly after unplugging. To my suprise, the phone compained about being at 15% after a while. I plugged it in again and noticed it was quite hot. Still, it could not charge as quick as it consumed power, and after a total time of just 1:38 hours, it switched off This all was with no other apps running, and I have no software issued otherwise and not exceptional heat during usual browsing. It’s just that this is not a phone for video applications.

The white cover did not prove to be a good choice if you like to keep your phone in a mint state. More info here.

And I did and do still experience the screen flicker issue, but there is a temporary solution.

Now the good part: If you can live with a premium of 350 € on a phone that otherwise (= not fair/responsibly sourced) would cost 180 €, it is a great and unique product. No guarantee loss on rooting, better spare part availability at fair prices, a great community online and offline. Less useless pre-installed apps. And it is one of the products that attract people that want to get involved. Like the Raspberry Pie or an old VW Bus.

It is probably a phone for those people who can live with a mid-range phone with mediocre performance and who can stand that the phone takes more of their attention than they originally hoped for, because they value the idea and hope that it opens the market for really good sustainable / fair phones. It is (unfortunately) still the best that exists in this niche today I think, but it is probably not best for users with no technical background, because they would miss the technical parts that are part of the value that justifies the really high price.

Well, I hope this helps somebody to decide for the FP2 and know upfront what he/she decided for.

[BertG]

This really sums up the experience of quite a lot of users - especially in this forum - I would guess. And in a really good way too.

I have experienced the heat problem as well and usually it was caused by some app “going wild”. Turning the phone off, waiting a minute and turning it on again most of the times worked on the first instant; sometimes I had to turn it off two times and once three times.

Tried to find the article about the power consumption problems. I found it on behalf of the Snapdragon 810 not the Snapdragon 801 that is used for the FP2.

[Lidwien]

My battery life improved very much by setting the Location from ‘High accuracy’ to ’ Battery saving’ . Only when I am using OsmAnd I set to High accuracy.
Whilst using OsmAnd I have occasionally a reboot.