Fairphone concept is great, phone isn't

No, I’ve never enabled my mobile date when using GPS :slight_smile:

Hi @wjvdv

Like you I’ve had significant issues with the GPS but I recently discovered this link here at XDA developers from the Known Issues pages on the Fairphone website, which tells you how to go about turning on A-GPS and EPO (I managed the latter but I’m not sure the former has worked, yet) and that seems to have improved things (will know better tomorrow after I’ve cycled to work and back), so that might be worth a look.

GPS is a bit hit or miss here. Most often it does work fine, other times it takes a very long time to get a location fix.

WiFi/GSM reception is fine for me.

Camera is decent enough. There is a clear quality difference with the camera in my gf’s Galaxy S4 mini, but for quick snapshots, FP performs well enough. If you want really pretty pictures, buy a digital SLR :slight_smile:

What @hyperion4001 wrote increased my GPS perfomance a bit, but the latest update seems to really have pushed my GPS performance. I also had issues with that since I got the phone, so far 1.6 really looks like a huge improvement there.

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Just tried to use the gps using some application from the store (and with no wifi). I abandonned after half an hour, it wouldn’t connect. :confused:

Hi, Zoidberg

This is how I managed to get my GPS working.

  • Download “GPS Status & Toolbox” from the Play Store.

  • Plug in your phone into a charger

  • Go to Settings > Developer Options (scroll down) > And check “Stay Awake (Screen will never sleep while charging)”. When your screen goes black automatically, while on battery, the GPS will stop searching for satellites.

  • Go back to “Settings”, scroll down to “Location acces”, click it. Now check “Acces to my location” and enable “GPS Satellites”. Now press the word “GPS Satellites” (not the on-off button, but the actual word). Check “GPS EPO assistance” and check “A-GPS”. Click “EPO Settings” check “Auto Download” and afterwards press “Download” at the bottom. Go back.

  • Now open “GPS Status & Toolbox” and make sure your phone is plugged into the charger. Now, let the app try and lock on to the sattelites. If it did, the next time you use your GPS for any app, it will go a lot faster.

Kind regards,

Robin

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Thanks for all the info, I’m trying right now. It doesn’t seem to work too well for now… still “looking for gps location”…

Yeah, it might take a while… Give it 20 minutes to half an hour, or maybe even an hour. If it doesn’t work after that, try again but this time with WiFi enabled. First GPS-fix might go faster with WiFi. Also, try and go outdoors when doing this or place the phone near a window. Using a GPS indoors never works as good as outside.

Kind regards,

Robin

Been trying for like two hours now, relatively close to the windows and with wifi enabled… to no avail… :confused:

That’s really strange, have you downloaded the A-GPS data etc. ? Otherwise, I think we might have to move this to “bugs” or you’ll have to contact the support team.

I concur for 2. and 3.

I don’t take much pictures, thus I can’t confirm 1.

The GPS always takes ages to get position. Not only the first time, and this has been reported many times by many people. It provides wrong information whenever I go running (wow I do 50km/h!) and this is also a well-known bug. I didn’t try yet with the new OS version. Anyways, even if it fixes it, it took 8 months to get here and that is unacceptably long to fix such a bug.

The GSM reception is systematically worse compared with other smartphones. I tried by putting my sim card and can see a clear difference.

About the SW, there is a serious issue here. I would say that there are no fundamental flaws in the HW but the SW messes is up. You can have a good camera, a good GPS chip, a good antena, if your SW is bad the result will be bad. And what makes things worse is that the SW is being developed in a very slow and 80’s oriented way. I expect at least one update per month to quickly provide fixes to users.

I see many people defending FP every time we raise such issues. I undertand that we, early adopters, are enthusiasts who committed money even before any product existed. However it should not blind-fold us. Even if you do not experience such problems, one should acknowledge that those are recurrent problems reported on the forum.

I love the FP concept but the implementation is hurting it. And that is bad.

Barth

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I think I have downloaded the EPO file, agps is checked, that is all…

Hi there @Barth,

I agree with the fact that there are multiple post reporting on these issues (GPS etc.) However, I’ve always found a solution by reading thoroughly through the forum. My GPS was bad at first as well, but this, I fixed. I’ve never had any problems with reception/signal (well I’ve had, but this was to blame on my mobile operator.)

I think a lot of (small) issues are fixed with the new software update, and I have the feeling my phone runs even more smooth than before.

I would suggest to address your specific problems to @anon90052001 or anyone from the support team. It’s in my best believe that they’ll try their best to find a solution.

Kind regards

This is very abnormal. Maybe, instead of putting it near a window, try really going outside. Away from anything that can disturb the signal (thick walls, modems, routers, aluminium/steel constructions, in general electronic devices …)

Regards

I have had a similar issue since I got my FP1, my GPS has never worked (it triangulates roughly off WiFi and/or mobile masts, but this is never accurate enough to be helpful - and especially not when I’m out of signal range).

I was hoping the Cherry update might fix this, but it has not.

I should add that I’ve not been able to get past ‘Update EPO files failed’. I’ve tried it again post-update, but no change.

Thoughts?

Nick

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I get that message too when I try to update.

GPS is not a sought out feature by I but now I’m kind of bummed out it doesn’t work.

Trying again at my place, I’m a bit higher. But wait an hour outside to see if the gps will eventually work is not interesting, and I’m not even trying to use it actively, just testing… as i it’s of no use to me either. :stuck_out_tongue:

Unlike yourself, I do use it - when hiking in remote locations, its a great backup as you can reference the coordinates on an OS map. And i’ve used it for field surveying too - which I’d especially like to be able to do with this phone. So it is a bit disappointing.

  • I think I’ll start a separate post actually re: the GPS.
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New topic about GPS issues where you can continue the discussion on the GPS issues and potential fixes and workarounds. Thanks @nick for starting this topic.

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Hi @wjvdv, since not many people have commented on your disappointment regarding the camera, I thought I’d chip in. Yes, there’s a big difference between my Canon DSLR and the Fairphone camera… and yes, the lack of contrast can be annoying. However, there are several things that can lead to better results:

  1. It really needs plenty of light to do its work properly.
  2. I’ve been using the Camera Awesome app instead of the stock camera, which has improved my experience - it gives you more control, and I find the ability to use the volume buttons as the shutter button very useful - just feels more natural / like a ‘real camera’.
  3. The stock gallery gives a wide variety of editing options. Playing around with the curves often helps to get better contrast. After the fact, I know…

Here’s a photo that I’ve taken with the phone a few weeks ago:

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Yes, what @Emma said. No matter how high you push pixel count, a mobile phone camera can never be a DSLR. Mind you, the OP’s description sounds more like a broken phone than a simple dislike of the camera.

That said, it’s always well worth experimenting with camera apps, as the default Android camera doesn’t always exploit the full capabilities of the camera hardware. I did a quick comparison with 3 apps I’ve used before, and sharpness varied quite a lot. The quite basic Camera ICS+ has much more accurate auto-focus than the default app, whereas the more feature-rich Camera ZOOM produced disappointingly soft images.

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