I got my FP3+ in October and I was so happy to finally make the transition to a more ethical product.
But after happiness came a kind of disappointment because I’ve been experiencing issues with the phone from Day1 and it seems to be only getting worse.
Touch screen does not respond if I don’t hold the phone in my hands
Screen goes black (but phone is on) more and more often and to get it back on, the only way is often to remove battery
Sometimes I see weird display: double image, blurry, color lines across the screen (this started more recently that’s why I fee like it’s getting worse)
Currently, screen has been black for 15min and I can’t get it on again
I’ve never managed to use the fingerprint reader: it just does not recognize any of my fingers consistently
I don"t want to give up on Fairphone but I also really don’t know what to do… I filled in to support request but still have not gotten any answer. Has anyone already called the customer service? Should I disassemble some parts?
I had the troubles with the screen as well with my FP3 unfortunately (especially bullet-points 3 and 4).
I am running /e/ by the way.
In the end the screen was black and I was locked out like you.
When looking at the phone, you can see small tongue-like contacts.
On my phone I had the impression, that one or two were not sticking out like the others.
Therefore I took a pointy and slim knive and just inserted it under the tip of the contact-tongues. I did not exactly try to bend them upward, just pushing something slim under the tip.
And since then - for a few weeks already - everything is just perfect and back to normal again.
I can’t tell, if it was cleaning the contacts or making sure they stick out that did the trick.
Since it’s 13 screws to loosen and fix, I was not nosy enough to find out what the root cause was.
But I can say, that the contacts did look really shiny and perfect, so I would not bet on cleaning alone could have worked in my case.
Thanks @BertG for your help !
I will try to do what you suggest this weekend, need some quiet time, really afraid to damage the phone even more by touching it… I have 2 friends really happy with their FP3 so I am really surprised that I have so many problems while my FP3+ is brand new. Hope issues will be solved soon.
@BertG I don’t have the feeling that some of the contacts are sticking out less than the others.
Nothing noticeable inside the phone… Except a bump on the top left, it looks really strange to me and I don’t think it’s normal but I also don’t think it explains the issues I have (see picture). It was probably wrong from the start because I don’t see how I could have created this bump.
By the way since yesterday my phone is basically not usable… long response time or no response at all, black screen, app crashing, camera crashing, took me 10 minutes today to manage to make a call…
Just before the Christmas holiday, great timing ! I will try to call support on Monday because at that point I’m close to going back to my old buggy iPhone. The Fairphone dream is turning into a very bad joke… I got the phone late in October and had issues (but small initially) basically from day 1. I know some of my friends are happy with the FP3 so I guess there is just something wrong with mine.
@formerFP.Com.Manager, maybe you can help or contact your colleagues ? I have 2 support tickets but have not heard anything from support, I just got an email that there were delays due to the high amount of support requests. If I have to send back my phone, I would rather to it as quick as possible, not having a phone is quite problematic.
I just cleaned all connections and gonna reassemble the phone but given all the bugs I encounter and how quickly it got worse despite me not using the phone much (since it as mostly slow and not responding), I don’t believe disassembling the phone will fix the problems.
Sorry to hear about the issues you’ve been experiencing and the delay in hearing back from our support team. Could you share your ticket numbers? That way, I can then check on this with the team.
Hi @rae thank you for the reply. My request numbers are 404725 and 402499. I actually got replies this week. I responded and I am now waiting for answers. Disassembling the display seems to have solve some issues and at least my phone is not completely crashing anymore. I have to say we disassembled the display, cleaned the metal if connective parts and that’s it… I do have a problem with my microphone now: it is not working when I am calling and I turn on the speaker mode. People don’t hear me unless I go back to normal mode.
Great to hear that our team has reached out to you. It would be good to also report the microphone issues you’re experiencing to our support team when they respond to your previous questions. Our tech team can then better advise you.
Sorry to insist again, but I’m getting quite desperate…
My phone was sent for repair and I received it back but microphone problem was not fixed so I can still not use the phone for video calls/internet calls in general (people can’t hear me). From what I’ve read on the forum I have the feeling I’m not the only one with this issue. I can’t tell if it’s a software or hardware problem though.
I’ve replied to the last email from Support Team but it’s been almost a week and I have not heard anything back…
My phone has been unusable for almost 2 months now (out of 4). I really hope I can get help soon and send the phone for repair again or just get a new phone.
Yes, you are not the only one. A lot of apps have mic problems on the FP3+. Just as an example, have a look at this thread
In my opinion this is clearly a software problem. The mic is working fine in a few other apps and also the test option (by entering *#*#66#*#*) shows that the mics are working.
So this is the good news: For sure this can be fixed by a software update by Fairphone. Let’s hope this will happen very soon!
Yes, that’s the bitter thing: Being in lockdown and having a phone that makes it even more difficult to keep contact with friends and family
fingers crossed update comes soon…
The problem appeared after 2 months, I did not have it from the start I don’t remember it appeared after an update but from what I can read on the forum it’s very likely.
So tired of all those issues though… I’m back to using an old iphone with also some issues but still more usable than the FP3. Still, I don’t want to give up so let’s hope everything is fixed soon
Regarding the sound/microphone issue.
Have you tried another app? There are other users with a sound issue while making regular calls; and some have reported, that switching to Simple Dialer (link to F-Droid) helped.
You could give it a try.
To be sure, at least deactivate your standard dialer, make simple dialer your standard app for calls and clear the cache of the previous dialer.
I really have no idea, if that can help in your case, but it should be an easy workaround/temporary solution without too much sacrifice; though some functions might be lacking in that app.
@BertG I have the same issue with telegram.
I don’t see how changing the dialer would help ?
I don’t have trouble with normal phone calls (even in speaker mode).
Issue occurs only during calls done via apps using wifi/4G.
I cleared cache of Whatsapp it did not help.
thank you for the reply. My request numbers are 404725 and 402499. I actually got replies this week. I responded and I am now waiting for answers. Disassembling the display seems to have solve some issues and at least my phone is not completely crashing anymore. I have to say we disassembled the display, cleaned the metal if connective parts and that’s it… I do have a problem with my microphone now: it is not working when I am calling and I turn on the speaker mode. People don’t hear me unless I go back to normal mode.