I have a Fairphone 3 (no 3+ parts) that I bought about a year ago, and recently the power system started acting strangely: it refuses to charge, but the battery did discharge, except when plugged in: in that case, the battery did not recharge, but the discharge rate did slow, I think because the phone was running off the external battery’s power.
This morning I bought a universal external charger—specifically this model, though I bought it locally—and plugged it in, but the charger wouldn’t charge the battery. (I double-checked the charger with a camera battery I have, and the charger isn’t the problem.) I originally thought that whatever was going on was a problem with the bottom module—hence the external charger: I figured I could plug in the battery externally and then use it while the bottom module itself shipped. However, this new information puts a spanner in that hypothesis.
If it is the battery, I have a serious problem: I’m in Texas, so getting a Fairphone battery shipped to me is practically impossible even through a package forwarding service, thanks to hazardous shipments regulations. I need a phone for work, so time is unpleasantly short, and I’d rather not have to buy some cheap phone for the interim and defeat the purpose of buying a sustainable device.
What should I do next?