Fairphone just isn't fair to its customers

Discuss The Industry
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I donā€™t see the point in dramatic topics like these.

Is the FP2 perfect? No, of course not, but no (smart)phone is.

Either you like the phone with all its good, neutral, and bad sides and you keep it, or the negatives outweigh the positives and you send it back.

If you keep your device, and you have issues, you need work with CS or with unofficial channels (like this one) on getting those fixed. But there are already topics existing for many if not all the issues you mentioned.

Of your list, I can say:

[quote]_screen is flickering[/quote]Fixed with software update for me.

[quote]_bluetooth audio with interruptions with most of my headsets[/quote]Fixed with software update for me.

[quote]_phone not usable during charging with some chargers/cables[/quote]Works perfectly fine with my chargers. I tried about 4.

[quote]_battery drains quickly, phone is getting hot[/quote]Use 2G and 4G, WiFi, and yes when you are writing a lot of data (e.g. software updates) the battery is drained a lot. There is also some software like OS Monitor which you can use to check what software is running on the background. I for example use a smartwatch, and this costs me hands down 10%+ of my phone battery. On my old phone the problem improved when updating from Androind 5.0 to Android 6.0, but the FP2 runs on Android 5.1 and this version does not have the battery issues Android 5.0 has.

[quote]_handsfree speaker was not usable (ok since 1.2.8)[/quote]Yeah, its OK since 1.2.8. Look if something is fixed in the latest software update, donā€™t bother mentioning it. Every phone gets reliability and security fixes, every Windows version needs them as well. Its rather nonconstructive to keep mentioning problems which are fixed. You should run the latest version.

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Hey, I just replied to your message from Tuesday. If you have any further questions, please reply to that message! Thanks.

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@JeroenH Iā€™m not sure to whose post you are replying. I donā€™t see the point in posts suggesting that people return their phones if they donā€™t like them. I would like to have a functioning Fairphone which doesnā€™t keep freezing, rebooting, dropping calls etc. Just now though, I have spent so much effort in trying to get mine to work that I think I would prefer a full refund so that I can go away and buy myself a phone that works. Instead I have to send it to Fairphone for them to repair and will be left without a phone. This Forum is supposed to be for help with the Fairphone 2. I canā€™t see that you are helping one little bit.

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I donā€™t use a toggle app. What I do is swipe down from the top right corner of the screen to open the quickmenu, click the icon for data connection (with your providerā€™s name next to a radio-signal icon) click it, then slide the slider to off on the screen that pops up. Three hand moves to turn it off and three hand moves to turn it on is fast enough for me.

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The first line of my post is about this thread in general (I find the title clickbait aka troll). The rest of my post is directed to tkos, whom I am quoting. Iā€™m not referring to sources, but that shouldnā€™t be needed 1) upgrade to latest firmware 2) put the remainder of the complains in the appropriate threads.

Iā€™m sorry your FP2 experience didnā€™t work out. Mine didnā€™t go flawless either, but I did overcome most problems. Many by justā€¦ upgrading to the latest firmware, and just now by again upgrading to the latest (1.3.6).

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I should not answer, it is not usefull for anyoneā€¦but i canā€™t resist.

that is right, but i would expect a smartphone i can charge and use more functions than only calling, a smartphone which could handle the expected features, more than just calling - donā€™t forget to clean your proximity sensor every few weeks, otherwise you could not end the call or use the phone during the phone call. Yes, there is another workaround for this, use the power button to end the callā€¦but have you ever used your FP2 for a telephone conference, with headset, more than just 30 minutes, so you maybe want to put the FP2 in your pocket for a while, therfore you usally want to lock the screen to prevent to make some inputs in your pocket, that is a habbit, so you push the power buttonā€¦wait, i forgot, this ends the callā€¦when you are used to this habbit, it happens more then one time and you are out of the conference and have to dial in again.

yes, i know them, i know the existing workarounds , but thanks for your help anyway

this was only a explanation for my frustration, therfore i wrote:

I didnā€™t write that none of the bugs are fixed.

That is great for you, for me 2 out of 7 chargers are working ā€œnormalā€, one was not even charging, and all of theese chargers are working well with any other device. My USB cables are working well with the fairphone, except one, but that number is ok, i own many cables :wink:

Donā€™t take this as a critic to you, to fairphone or anyone elseā€¦just another explanation :smile: -)

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@tkos It is useful. Thank you. I should have started the thread with ā€œFairphone gets away with BLUE murderā€.
Iā€™m afraid Iā€™ve now ordered one of these. It cost about 25% of the price of a Fairphone 2. I suspect that it will have a lot longer life. Longevity was an important factor in making my ill-fated decision to buy the FP2. I have solar panels on my roof, buy my electricity and gas from 100% renewable sources, am vegetarian and try to live my life in a way which reflects my values, but I really resent being treated for a fool and being sold a product which fails even at the most basic level (like using a mobile phone to make a phone call!). The last thing I expect is to be left without a phone while Fairphone take their time to investigate my complaint and (possibly) agree to me to returning the phone for repair. The Chinese phone claims to do far more than the FP2. At least it is helping to support an economy which keeps many millions of people in work. I feel bad, but more than that, I feel deeply disappointed.

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I can understand your frustration, but I think you are also not fair to Fairphone.

Unfortunately I also had a couple of warranty cases recently. With electronics there is always a certain amount of devices that do not work properly. In my case it was a memory module from Corsair and - hold on - a brand new, ridiculously expensive Nikon camera. Iā€™m saying this to show that even established and renowned brands have such issues. The industry standard seems to be that you have to send in your device first, it is checked if it really is a warranty case, and only then repaired/replaced and send back. Of course we can discuss if industry should be more consumer friendly, and especially working on improving the failure rare; but the point is, this is a standard procedure in electronics industry, as well as failing devices are a reality with electronics. Nonetheless, most people who had to contact Fairphone support reported that support was very polite and helpful, and I can add myself to that list, when I needed a new back cover.

That said, I honestly think it is unfair to expect a small company to outperform industry heavy weights in every regards. I mean, hey, they already do that in their supply chain and with working conditions in the factories! So I really think, people who complain that Fairphone treats warranty cases not differently than any other electronics vendor are unfair to Fairphone.

Edit: Btw, good luck with your Chinese phone. Hope it works fine, because if you have some issues with that as well, it will likely be much harder to claim a warranty case and get the problem fixed.
But i doubt the point that it will have a longer life. Will you get security updates? How long will the software be maintained? Can you change the battery and do you get a replacement? Btw., also Fairphone produces in China, but I think that the employees might be (not sure though) better paid than from this other phone.

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This whole discussion reminds me of the personas blog post from June 2015:


Unitl now, I only had one warranty repair (display needed to be changed) for which I had to switch back to my 5+ year old Galaxy S for 3 or 4 weeks, which was really inconvenient - setting up as well as using the old, slow phone again.
That was the time when I realized that indeed Iā€™m for a good part a ā€œNo Nonsene Userā€. Even if I find facets of myself in the other personas as well - I just want my external brain extension working as itā€™s supposed to.
Looking back one could say the risk that this whole FP2 thing (first modular phone on the market, small company with limited personnel capacity and limited resources) must have been clear from the begining - I only realized this to full extend when my touchscreen began to fail. But since the repair was successful (and Iā€™m not affected by bugs that are really disturbing to me) Iā€™m really happy with my FP2. However, I can understand everybody who is disappointed because theyā€™re having more issues with their phones. To be honest, Iā€™m a bit reluctant myself in recommending a FP2 to people who might also be ā€œNo Nonsense Usersā€ - at least they should know the risks.
@jsheerin: I hope your new phone will serve you well. Maybe the next one can be a Fairphone again - or it wonā€™t need to be a FP3 / FP4 / FPn, because until then also the big players will care for ā€œfairā€ electronics.

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47

So I have my second Fairphone - I had it returned once due to reboots. The new phone

  • Still reboots - but not as frequently. So that is somewhat fine.
  • Has bad reception
  • Killed a SIM card
  • Mic stopped working except for free hands.

For me it is just not useable. As much as I want the project to succeed - I switch to a different phone. And as I tried two phone I would be surprised if the ā€œsilent majority experience no substantial issuesā€.

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And, in statistical terms, another extremely unlucky guy hereā€¦

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Thanks to whoever fixed the thread title :slight_smile:

Perhaps we could be called early adopters still. Fairphone is a small company, with not much manpower. Compare to Samsung where a new Galaxy flagship release comes from a huge department.

Speaking of Samsung allow me to share my previous phone experiences. My SGS3, premium phone at that time, came with TouchWiz and the notorious hairline crack (I didnā€™t bother sending it back). Software update terrible, still runs 4.3, full with holes, and of course its a PITA to get rid of slow TouchWiz. Ridiculous for such an expensive phone (or any for that matter). My next phone was same as your old phone. Thatā€™s a budget phone, but it had some severe issues. Security nightmare and slow rollout of patches being one of them. When I received a phonecall, Iā€™d often miss calls because itā€™d start ringing too late. I ended up calling people back all the time (not good for your phone bill). Battery life was bad (Android 5.0 issue). Eventually I received Android 6.0, but 1 GB of RAM doesnā€™t cut it. I gave the SGS3 to my gfā€™s mother because sheā€™s new to smartphones and wants to WhatsApp, and the other one went to my gf. Regardless of what phone this was, this isnā€™t a good experience and neither is yours. But discussing it in multiple threads isnā€™t going to help anyone either.

Your charging issue puzzles me. Did you write a bug report? I had this happen to a rooted phone I managed to drop once. It would not charge with certain cables/chargers, or it would charge but it wouldnā€™t indicate it as such.

I use my smartwatch to end calls and I donā€™t want to use my phone while Iā€™m calling so I donā€™t know about that bug. Does it still occur in 1.3.6?

Btw, youā€™re going from a 200 EUR budget phone to a 500+ premium phone. If you want to stick with the same budget, thereā€™s a newer version of that phone coming out. There is also the Chinese phones which have a good performance/price ratio. The FP2 does not have a good performance/price ratio if you look at the quality and power of the CPU, GPU, and camera versus the price of the product. If your budget is 500 EUR and you donā€™t care about the ā€˜fairā€™ part (people being paid fairly, modular phone, and other aspects), thereā€™s far better options available. I knew that full well before I bought it because Fairphone is very transparent on where your money goes to, and I read reviews.

My experience with all the (smart)phones I had (with some examples being mentioned) is that they all have their up and downsides. There isnā€™t going to be a bug-free phone, and your case of inability to use the Fairphone as smartphone is an exception. I do understand its frustrating if you spend 500+ EUR (or equiv) on a smartphone, so once again Iā€™m sorry its been such a ride. Still, I believe it is far more constructive to only post in specific threads about specific issues, and old bugs currently fixed are not interesting for anyone anymore. Thatā€™s hindsight.

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No smartphone is fair. Trying to define smartphone fairness (or any other) will quickly spiral down to a filosofical discussion, but if we keep it at ā€œthe possibility for all (human) beings to have access to the phoneā€™s benefitsā€ then by any calculation of available natural resources our current phone technology paradigm just isnā€™t fair.

The frustration you seem to feel towards the phone is actually directed at the FP team not being able to deliver to the conscious consumer identity you have set for yourself. If you simply want a smartphone you can go and get yourself any other one (and you have done so), FP having failed to allow you to add the privillege of accessing smartphone technology to your list of conscious consumer choices, you feel that you are effectively out of choices; you donā€™t expect and make no demands of the manufacturers of your new phone to allow you to do this (I nevertheless encourage you to do so).

The thing is: you do have a choice. The concious consumer standard you have set for yourself is simply a tad too high at the moment (nothing wrong with that, most of us set unrealistic expectations for ourselves); you feel FP is to blame for this, and rightly so, we all paid for a fair smartphone and expect delivery. But as a choice you couldā€™ve lived with the bugs, the waiting periods, the returns and the frustration and found solace in the coherence of your values with your consumer choices, or you couldā€™ve decided to go back to your old phone or not own a phone at all, all choices that wouldā€™ve been more aligned to the values you want to live by. To buy a new phone and argue that at least you are ā€œgiving jobsā€ is a bit of a stretch though, I would invite you to reconsider this line of argumentation.

A tip of the hat for the effort! Yours and that of everyone (including myself) that are trying to make things better. We live the filosofical discussions of what is ā€œbetterā€ for another day.

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51

I am sorry to say that jsheerin is right. Fair production is not enough. ItĀ“s also necessary to be fair to the customers! I waited 5 months for my fp 2. ThatĀ“s okay, because I knew what I did. I was happy with it but it only worked less than three months. Then it didnĀ“t start again and didnĀ“t charge. I had send an email to the customer support 1 month ago. Until now I didnĀ“t receive any reaction! So I have sent my fp 2 back to repair or replace it. This is already two weeks ago - again no reaction until now! That is absolutely unacceptable and destroys my trust to a company that I was willing to support for itĀ“s idea.
I am very disapointed!

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Erm, how did you send it back if they never replied to you? If you returned it outside of the regular return procedure then to be entirely honest Iā€™m not that surprised youā€™ve not heard back, but Iā€™d be interested to know how the story ends - keep us posted!
If itā€™s logged in the returns portal, the as far as I know you should be able to see whatā€™s going on by logging into your account thereā€¦

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Well, to send it back inside the regular return procedure needs to know the regular return procedure - and that means an answer and instruction by the support. But how I mentioned they didnĀ“t answer - until now (since 4 weeks - unbelivable!). I send it back to fairphone b.v., jollemanshof 17, 1019 amsterdam, nl. This is the adress of the company. Accoording to dhl they recieved it two weeks ago - still no reaction!
And to be entirely honest it isnĀ“t my problem anymore that fairphone believes it can ignore costumer rights (IĀ“m lawyer). Since they recieved it itĀ“s their duty to react and fulfill their legal obligations. But still no reaction!
Besides the fact that this is really amateurish it is far away from being fair to their customers!

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Thank God for that! I have never seen any mention of this around the forum, and I ended up thinking it was just me. The ā€˜idle appsā€™ feature is indeed useless on my phone. Not that it has any impact on its use, but just another disappointmentā€¦

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We are not alone, there is a topic for this idle app thing :wink:

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Just to throw in a bit more balance: I have my FP2 since January, I experienced 1 random reboot so far (and that might have been due to experimenting with custom recovery and messing around with the internals and suchā€¦), I donā€™t have crazy touch inputs, one of my two chargers works fine, my case is not cracking, my proximity sensor was never cleaned and apparently never got dirty in the first place, my battery lasts for 2-3 days, my camera makes quite nice pictures with zoom x and in general I am very happy with my phone. Even happier than I anticipated, since it is my first android phone, as I used my old Sony ericcson for 9,5 years before getting the fp2.
I can only say that I am very amazed at how well the fp2 is running, considering that it indeed is the very first phone those guys developedā€¦
And yes, I am writing this on my fp2 while on a short break and I enjoy, that I can do that during my breaks. Bundled with all the social values it provides, the fp2 really is the perfect phone for meā€¦
Regards,

Moritz

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