Yeah I would definerly try and see if you can reproduce the scratches with some breadcrums or a fistful of your pocket-lint. If yes, it should be absolutely under warranty and they should replace your screen unit without much hassle.
I’m daily driving a FP4 since almost a year and I can’t make out any scratches on my screen, but I always place it in a pocket without anything else in it.
Also, before you toss your phone, remember that it’s quite easy and cost effective to order a new screen and replace it yourself. Besides that, the second hand market is very fond of only slightly used Fairphones, so you could get a big fraction of your money back, if you decide to resell it instead of throwing it away.
Of course you can question the way of testing regarding the sustainability aspect, but the results totally match with my mileage. I don’t really pay attention to my phone since I don’t care about scratches and I only have a handful of short ones after more than a year of usage. None of them are visible when the display is turned on, which is the most important thing for me.
The only visible damage while using the phone is the cracked area on the top, which happened after the phone dropped exactly with the edge of the display on a small metal edge. Before this, the phone dropped on pavement, tiles and wooden floor multiple times without any damage, so I would definitely sign that it’s Gorilla Glass 5.
Maybe this article is helpful understanding why newer Gorilla Glass generations aren’t more scratch resistant in general:
Sorry if it sounds as a bad question (no offense!), but as @zebrafax has mentioned, are you sure there is no screen foil on the display any more? Did you double check this? We’ve seen such already in this forum…
Yep, changing the screen myself is something why I decided to buy this phone for. The question is, will the replaced screen be the same in terms of scratches?
I don’t wear it with the keys or coins in the pocket, there may be my credit cards mini wallet to happen to be together with it in the pocket, but that’s kind of a soft thingie. By the way, my previous gorilla 5 phone got its first scratches from the keys in the pocket, but those were minor compared to these.
If you can do without the phone it may be worth asking Fairphone to look at it, or at least before you buy a new display module, as it’s not like you can easily replace the screen or the glass, ask if they will have the current one back and test it.
However I would seriously consider just putting up with that main scratch and see what the future brings.
Hey, just’ve read your comment and decided to check, I have put it with the face down but lighlty, didn’t apply force on the table where my kids just had breakfast. Small breadcrumbs, got new scratches, not that deep though.
Unless my kids are having diamonds for breakfast I can confirm that the screen is not scratch resistant at all. I have a business iphone and could use that one instead, but it is a pain to put in all my e-id and banking apps into that one.
Thanks.
Breadcrumps will never ever scratch a Smartphone display like this, so if this is not a production failure, I still think there is kind of a foil on it.
Can any FP4 owner here report, whether a brand new one comes with or without foil in the package?
The surface is completely transparent for me as well, I took the photo under the angle so the light falls on it the way that the scratches are visible.
I went to my provider and got a protection which they fixed on the phone. It’s more expensive, but it’s much better and I have it since more than one year.
Hi,
I have 3 FP3s and one FP4 in my family and bought four FP4 for my company months ago - never had problems with such scratches on the display. So either there is a foil or screen protector in place or there is something wrong with this particular display.
I can confirm that the screen is not scratch resistant at all. I have a business iphone and could use that one instead, but it is a pain to put in all my e-id and banking apps into that one.