My Fairphone 2 with the transparent blue cover arrived yesterday.
My experience so far in one word: AMAZING!
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I’ve been fiddeling around with my FP2 all day, installing and configuring stuff, and I really like it.
It charges with two different cargers, from the PC and from 2 different powerbanks. I tried 4 different cables and only one doesn’t work (a non-data cable from a powerbank). I had no problem to use my phone while charging, regardless of the cable or the power source and I’ve tried all combinations. Well, the charging LED only works when the phone is switched off and it won’t switch to green at 100%, but that’s a known bug and doesn’t bother me at all.
Since I still don’t have root access, I decided to get my stuff over from FP1 via the PC and My Phone Explorer. At the beginning, I had some trouble to connect the FP2 with my Windows 7 64bit PC via adb, but by rebooting the PC and installing the adb driver several times it finally worked. Don’t ask me how and why, but it worked and I could transfer contacts, calendar, notes and SMS. My Phone explorer can also backup apps (apks) and other data…
Another problem I experienced but somehow solved is the restricted writing access to the microSD card, where I wanted to save my fotos. To enable the brandnew SD card, I had to choose “erase SD” in the storage settings. Then it was available, but on the FP2 only read-only. Seems to be one of these new “features” of Android 5 
. Well, trying to create a new folder on the SD with ES Datei Explorer, this app gave me the necessary instructions how to enable writing on the external card. Afterwards my SD was shown in both camera apps (Open Camera and Camera ZOOM Fx) and these asked me for writing permissions and now my fotos are stored where I want them to be.
The phone paired directly with my Reikko Evolution bluetooth speaker and there was no problem with stuttering sound.
One thing I really don’t like is that the two SIMs don’t have different colours anymore. And in general, I liked the notification bar of FP1 (of Android 4) much more. This one is just ugly and I hope I’ll find a solution to change it. I also don’t like the software buttons, but I’m getting used to them.
The only thing that really annoys me is the bug that makes it impossible to use VR-glasses like Google Cardboard. I got one as a new year present and as the hardware of FP1 is too weak for most aplications, I had looked so much forward to my FP2 for virtual reality experience and now it doesn’t work at all 
! I know that this will be fixed in the next update, but neverthess…
The camera is much better then the one of FP1. It makes very clear photos of texts (so it might replace my scanner) and the flash is quite powerful. But I haven’t had the time to really take pictures.
Well in general, on this first day, I’m REALLY happy with my FP2 and in most things it’s a real improvement compared to FP1.
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@Mikaciu Thanks a lot for your report. Since I’m coming from a very similar device as your Xperia V, I would be highly interested in some more words about the comparison between both devices: How do you feel about the size of the FP2? Is it hard to get used to? Also - does it feel much more heavy than the pretty light Xperia? And can you give some impressions about system performance?: does the FP2 really feel much faster or is it more or less comparable for everyday stuff like browsing the web?
Hello @kuleszdl,
TBH, the mass difference between the Xperia V (120g + the backcase I have bought) vs the FP2 168g is very minimal. I can’t feel the difference on my everyday use.
The thing I have not yet got used to is the size. Given I have small hands, I have a hard time accessing the icons on the left side of the phone but I guess that I hold the FP2 like I used to hold the Xperia V, i.e. wrapping my palm a little bit too much around the phone.
About the system performance, it’s astounding. My previous phone had severe memory issues, and I had to reboot it randomly because apps started to freeze. With the 2GB RAM provided by the FP2, I no longer have this issue. When browsing the web, I found the performance to be quite good (although I’m not using my phone for that, I don’t use the browser much) with 4G (LTE).
Another thing important to me (I didn’t have yet the time to update my post), the display quality is very good. The contrast is fantastic, the colors are not washed up at all.
As a conclusion, its not hard getting used to at all, except for the phone size, for which I’ll need a few more weeks I think.
HTH
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I turned on my Fairphone 2 for the first time today. And it comes up to my expectations. Until now, I really like the phone. I like to press the buttons and how the screen looks. I like the speed of the phone and got no crashes or reboots until now (after 4 hours). Overall I am really impressed what the small Fairphone team achieved and I am proud to be a supporter 
.
The only thing, that really annoys me, is the deep integration of the “Privacy Impact”-feature, so that I have to activate it. Otherwise many apps don’t behave as expected. But that is an already known issue.
Another small thing I noticed, was the poor german translation for the tutorials at first startup. The screens that introduced e.g. the edge-swipe-launcher or the most-used-apps read like translated by Google 
.
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I made one for myself - no animation I’m afraid. So now my wall paper is the inside of the phone.
I reduced the contrast of this photo a bit so it looks like the back through the transparent screen. Either way I pretty pleased with it … for now.
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Oh wow well done mate! And thank you for sharing. 
My pleasure … it’s nice to know that the hours I spent yesterday evening, avoiding work whilst playing with cameras, tripods, lights and photo editors are appreciated :¬)
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You can customize that by installing another launcher, e.g. Nova Launcher.
My experiences:
Shipping / Packaging
- The package arrived before I got the shipping confirmation e-mail. A pleasant surprise.
- The packaging looks nice.
Looks / Hardware
- The phone looks better than I feared. The transparent back cover is great.
- It’s a bit big for my taste, but I guess I’ll adapt to it.
- I like that the USB port is now on the bottom of the phone. Previously you could not charge your phone and plug in an adudio cable at the same time if both connectors were a bit bulky.
- I love the connector pins on the back, looking forward to hardware mods.
- The cover is actually quite hard to get onto the phone. Takes a while until everything fits.
OS
- The OS is fine, everything seems to react quickly to user input. In the beginning I had some problem with screen flickering / touchscreen problems, but that went away after the setup dialog.
- Firefox scroll speed is really slow / laggy.
- Even though I’m a software engineer and I love root and custom ROMs, I think it makes sense (especially from a security perspective) that the phone came unrooted. Many people don’t know the implications of rooting it. But there should be an official rooting guide soon.
- The camera is really bad, at least in low light. It’s probably fine in sunlight.
- The second SIM card symbol is annoying. I’ll try to put in a (unused) SIM card into the slot tonight, maybe I can then disable the symbol.
- Unfortunately gesture typing is broken in the AOSP keyboard
- I moved data from the FP1 to the FP2 using ES File Explorer and its “send to LAN” feature. Went really well.
- I had no problems with the OS otherwise.
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Great !
One quick and stupid thought : shouldn’t it be horizontally flipped to seem more realistic with the transparent cover ?
EDIT : Oh my. Did I just actually set this as my good old HTC wallpaper ? 
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You can flip it in a photo editing program if you like; but its an actual photo of the insides with the screen element removed and I was quite pleased to get the battery in exactly the right place, so it’s what you would see if there were no screen there!
Oh I’m sorry, I thought it was a photo of the BACK side, I didn’t understand that it’s the actual front under the screen… Now it makes more sense to me, thanks for clarifying @nicka
I am glad that you are suggesting renaming the flight mode to some other name rather than forbidding all Fairphone owners from flying. I am going to visit my family in South America this summer and I do not fancy the 7000km swim. 
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How about also including animations for RAM usage, disc space and such…
(bad blend with pic from ifixit teardown)
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After a long time waiting on 13th January 2016 it finally happened: my FP2 with blue translucent backcover arrived.
Here my first impressions and already some critics:
Shipping / Packaging
I got the shipping info on the 12th January in the evening that the FP2 is on it’s way.
DPD delivered an the next day within 1300 and 1400 hours with announcement via email. That was OK.
The packaging looks nice.
Outside no damages. Inside: the paper saying “Yours to open” was ribbed off and the recycled holder of the phone damaged. The outside cover no damage. So it moved a lot inside the parcel until I got it…
Looks / Hardware
The blue transparent back cover is great.
The cover moves quite hard onto the phone, but i got used to it.
OS
The OS is a “pain in the ass”. Sorry for the rude words.
From Android 4.1.2 to 5.0 and now 5.1 it got worse. Things you thought that you will find are gone.
- contacts cannot be organized in goups anymore
- the dual SIM organisation is not practical, no quick switch and there is a bug when you want to switch between the SIM’s for each call. One SIM is then blocked.
- No possibility to save your data to the SDcard. No writing because of “security reasons”…
- No signal strenght icon fo the secodn SIM in the pull down menue => switching possibility.
I don’t need a rooted phone but not to allow the customer to save her/his data on the SD card???
You have to do a lot of workarounds because of missing features. The three year old Android 4.1.2 is alot more comfortable than this.
All in all a little bit disappointing. If I had known it in the beginning, I would not have bought the FP2.
It is a timeeater to the worst. I want to use it and not to configurate and search for solutions. I could live without the peace of mind app if there is a plain android (like in a Samsung, sony, htc, etc) with all comfortable features.
Hoping that some of my points will disappear with future updates.
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Well, I agree with you, in many things I liked Android 4.2 much more. But that’s no a fault of Fairphone, but of Google. On, the first day, if a downgrade would have been possible, I would have made it. But now I’m getting used to it an other things are better…
Howdy first impressioneers
A terrible joke before : What is a VIP : Very Impressed Person :-))
I guess with only 120 minutes of starting my FP2 it is far too early for real or complete impressions, so I better call it Very First Impression, or VFI of a VFIP , Very First Impressed person . This joke is about impressions that don’t last e.g. like advertising and commercials.
1. Shipping/Package, Assembly and Go-Live
[+] Delivery as expected: Mail notification yesterday and arrival today. Perfect.
[+] One big bonus to me is FPs choice of DPD (“Deutscher Paket Dienst”) instead of DHL!
[+] The paper “README”: Getting-Started (GS) is pretty worth reading. I honoured that decently.
[0] The battery found already connected without a plastic seperation lug. Not sure if this might be risky ?
Notice the GS: It demands to pull battery out while inserting SIM cards . Did you ? I Don’t have microSIM yet.
[0] As described in GS it really was tricky to switch on the phone after assembling the rubber rims and lugs.
This hard going on/off button may become tedious in situations when fumbling blindly for quick access
Remark: irregular on my behalf is my (still) missing micro SIM card. Unfortunately I have still the big one.
[-] During step GS-8 suddenly screen locking happens first time but too quickly. I guess 20 seconds ?
Sorry, why must this be now ? I need the time here. My impression ? Someone pushes me around or urges me.
[-] After pressing shortly on/off button no reaction of touch sensor any more! Obviously I couldnot release locking!
Rebooting so early ?! what else should I do ? 2nd my impression : slightly panic and demanding early support.
Remark: This incident really didnot impress me and I felt not amused about it.
[0] After rebooting the initial setup procedure procceeded exactly where I left after rebooting, so what (happened) ?
[0] Skipping Google-Service (“yes, I can !”) and connecting my inhouse Wifi was seemless.
[-] Next to Edge-Swipe again it blocked me due to screen locking once more and releasing wasn’t possible somehow
Again, I was forced rebooting. I thought I should have better called FP support. However released locking somehow.
Remark: to see my panic here I removed the protecting thin sheet from the display at this moment hoping in vain that this was no software issue. But it was indeed. Or was it a feature to have screen locking on first setup ?
Interim Result: Starting FP2 became to me shocking. It was quite disillusioning. I was reading on the forum for
other incidents becoming quite grave for persons with starting troubles. This phone maybe tricky and even may has potential risks. Maybe this phone is not only new to me but maybe also still kind of new for it’s developers.
2. Hardware / Look & Feel/ haptic perception
[0] Display size not too big, compact design for later modular disassembling. Resolution, contrast checked.
Remark: Looks OK, no complains. Compared to my former 4" display now 5" before it seems to be a smaller enhancement than expected while I didnot have any 5" before.
[+] Speed of hardware, responsiveness
Remark: Yes , here is a positive remark of mine on the fast Qualcomm-801. Maybe only to me who never felt an expensive smartphone before in his hands for more than a few minutes but I like it now.
[-] Accu/Battery, First impression only: Power supply not from FP for charging, if battery may survive my chargers.
Remark: Charging time maybe no 1st impression. Nevertheless same day it went down to 60%. It lasts significantly shorter than my old LG65 that needs recharging (50%) after 1,5 days. FP2 needs charging every day 2x including longer charging times. This downgrade from my cheap LG65 was unexpected to me.
[0] Blue Cover has been an issue of some official FP-excuses because of postponed delivery for blue covers only
Remark: I am sure I wouldnot have been a much earlier receipient (order #7368). I don want to become unfair but I cannot help pointing out to the missing display replacement for FP1 that is acutally out of stock.
[0] Case-Frame: I remember other more solid, sturdy rubber rims. In fact the FP2 looks smarter without them.
Remark: To me there is another issue about the cover because I am missing better protection against display scrapes.
Yes, other smartphones also has no case, covers or transparent sheets for the display as part of the product.
But Pockets, cases and wrappers as accessories are wickedly expensive though they are cheap from production .
Interim Result: There seem to be not much to say about such a simple “case” or cover of a mobile devices. However the special offer of translucent covers became a symbol because FP covers reveal their modular principle. For all mobiles accessories like wrappers against glass scrapes of the display became a hype and a huge merchandising business of the phone industry. Maybe FP missed to make a point for their campaign for sustainability. Even it was only for 2 thin transparent leaf sheets for a few cents to be a gift for every fairphoner.
3. Software / next (first own) steps after GS
[-] Google apps on Lollipop Android (yawning, boring, what a drag)
Remark: I cannot hide my disappointment due to the lean equipment also for the software. Maybe I should remark that I avoid google services in general. In fact for the moment I transfered my apk apps and config files rather by bluetooth from my old phone than reusing googles play store. Also I prefer F-Droid as far as possible.
[-] Software problems waiting for fixing : The weird and wild jumping cursor while touching and flickering display.
Remark: This already known issues reminds me on the illness restless legs with human beeings. I am not sure if this is software or hardware issue. Because it concerns many of all 1st deliveries and it is also a smoking gun about the stage production (still kind of Beta). Cannot believe how this couldnot be fixed before delivery within 1/2 year.
Final Result: Ooohhh-kay! I bought this phone because I like to improve or replace android with better homebrew android as I did e.g. with Cyanogen (later by Sailfish-OS). FP promised to offer open hard - and software. And this promise was kept as far I could see. I bought it for it’s hardware modular system and at least for fair traded ressources and a pension fond for the chinese workers. I didnot buy it for feeling comfortable on 1st impression.
I have to keep that in mind when I compare my 1st impression with the money for FP2. Because otherwise I would send it back and would nobody recommend to buy this mobile phone that may have made sense in 2014 but not in 2016.
Before voting results in detail I have to conclude that the phones longvity doesnot include it’s battery between too many chargings.
4x [+] … mostly delivery points which is a remarkable compensation due to delivery issue of blue covers. In fact there is one [+] left that impresses me due to the fine processor. I hope it is not responsible for too fast discharging, which is the biggest subtraction to me. If so then effectively FP2 wouldnot have even one single + left.
6x [-] … the most sustaining issue to me comes from the battery usage and charging times.
7x [0] … pros and cons are unbalanced quite significantly. However here only concerning my very 1st impression.
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