General Fairphone 3 discussion

OK, thatā€™s a change.
But I guess, they have tested it with lots of different people.
Does it work with the left and right hand equally well?
After getting used to it of course.

I felt I could operate it well with my left thumb when holding it in my left hand. I was just not used to operating it with my index finger when holding it with my right hand, and it takes some more force when the protective rim is on the phone. How it feels after a few days of usage, I donā€™t know.

I had the same problem on FP2, and managed to destroy two of those threads.

You mean left-handers? Or do people who are right-handed hold their phone in their left hand?

I read the above discussion and my take on it is I thought that was only with large phones which you need to operate with 2 hands, like ā€˜Noteā€™ series, or when your main hand (right hand for right handers) is in use. But I prefer not use my phone and my right hand together. It isnā€™t even allowed to use bicycle and smartphone anymore.

1 Like

I thought about this whole ā€œphone in right hand or in left handā€ thing again last night. I admit that testing to use it with my right hand felt ok to me as well (right-hander used to hold the phone in the left hand). So I wondered why it seemed so natural and beyond doubt to me that a right-hander would automatically use it in her/his left hand. My assumption is that this might be a generational thing ā€“ i.e. people my age or older who ā€œgrew upā€ on still using old landline phones with dial discs or a dial pad (not even sure if thatā€™s the word) and are right-handers would probably dial with their right back then and once switching to a cell and later a smartphone just (usually) kept the habit of holding the earphone/microphone part (which is now the whole device) in their left.

But well, Iā€™ll still observe others a bit more now regarding this thing :wink:

2 Likes

Not going to carp about price or technology - personally I think people need to understand the need to pay for what they get, and not moan about lack of 5G or some other feature we didnā€™t know we needed in an ethical / sustainable product.

I need to replace my FP1 (it has been wobbling for a while and has just spent two days in a bag full of rice to dry out after a rainy day of work). Iā€™m really starting to nurse it towards its final destination of the recycling.

My ā€˜gripeā€™ with FP3 is size. Why so big? FP1 is as big as I can cope with - fits in the pocket, can be used one handed. This new one is like a tombstone by comparison. I think its about 25% bigger?

Does anyone know if a Fairphone 3.5 might be in the offing? As in something about 125mm long? You know, like the ā€˜compactā€™ version of a certain popular electronics company. Same principles of production, just smaller.

I would be happy to have something slightly slower and lower spec. For me this is too big to be practical (I donā€™t carry a man-bag). Sadly I might have to visit an online auction site and buy a second hand compact phone if not.

Maybe you could argue a smaller phone would have lower ā€˜embedded energyā€™ or use fewer resources? Last longer between charges with a smaller screen to power, that kind of thingā€¦

I know there was a lot of secrecy around FP3, but it would be good to know whether I should forget about Fairphone as an option - thereā€™s no point in me buying something ethical that simply doesnā€™t work for me (and Iā€™m not saying that itā€™s not good enough, just physically too big to use comfortably).

3 Likes

Hi! I found this cool and complete video review of the Fairphone 3. I recommend you to watch it because it is very detailed and with many tests :blush:

By the way, in the FP3 specs itā€™s said that it can record video in 1080p @ 30fps, but in this video you can see that supposedly it allows to record in 1080p @ 120fps with the rear camera (minute of video: 12:24), even when the youtuber sais that it should be 60fps in the definitive version because of a bug or something like that.

Anyone knows if the final version of the FP3 will be able to record video in 1080p or 720p in higher FPS than 30? It would be really nice :blush:

7 Likes

Hm, what I used to do with phones where you had to dial or push was hold the phone between my neck and head. For some reason I donā€™t do this anymore with smartphones. I wonder why :thinking:

Honestly, I think I use either hand (only both with movie in landscape), it just depends on the situation.

My partner is a ā€˜leftieā€™ and sheā€™s been using keyboards and mouses all her life. For ā€˜rightiesā€™.

AFAIK, 90% of all people are ā€˜rightieā€™, but thereā€™s also people who are actually ā€˜leftieā€™ but got taught being ā€˜rightieā€™ is the correct way. Also, ā€˜leftiesā€™ live in a ā€˜rightieā€™ world, so they need to adapt constantly; which they do.

Here is my take on the matter:

  1. Big phones need to be operated with two hands. You cannot operate them with one, youā€™ll drop them. Iā€™m talking about ā€˜Noteā€™ series. Theyā€™re hybrid smartphone/tablet. People who got these, generally donā€™t need/require a tablet on top of that.

  2. Smaller smartphones, ie. < 5" like iPhone 5S and iPhone SE. Smaller phones for people with small hands. The smaller the phone, the easier it is to hold the phone, even with your ā€˜weakā€™ hand. Thereā€™s a loud demand for these, and they are popular products, but yeah I guess that demand isnā€™t met or the demanders are louder than they are in numbers. These phones can be easily used with one hand.

  3. Normal size. Between 5" and 6", approx, though the length has been going up lately (good for watching a movie as wider screen, and less need to scroll in portrait mode). This is the FP3. The usage here is hybrid. If I self-reflect, I believe I use it like this: both hands if possible (for more stability), one hand if required (ie. not both hands possible). That is very much different than 1 and 2!!

Sorry to hear that ā€¦ and a bag of rice - tbh - was not the best of ideas either.
See the waterwiki
I am not working for FP, not even living near there, therefore I am just guessing.
From the blog entry and the press-coverage, my assumption would be, that there is no smaller FP3.5 in the near future.
They have put much effort into the FP3 and most likely done some market research about what features and specs the phone should have. Obviously a small formfactor did not end up to be on the list, although it was asked for in this forum more than once before.
Hopefully the FP3 turns out to be quite successful and thus pave the way for a two phones strategy.
But maybe other gadgets like a tablet will still be higher prioritized, as I have read in one article, that Bas van Abel talked about developing other fair electronic devices to make an impact on the whole industry.
Found it:

While Fairphone has had a singular device focus to date, van Abel says itā€™s thinking about applying its hard won learnings around electronics supply chains to other types of consumer devices ā€” suggesting ā€˜Fairā€™ could end up as a brand prefix atop an assortment of consumer gadgets.

Source (at the end; but the whole piece is worth reading):

4 Likes

Thanks @BertG - I know rice isnā€™t the best, but it is easily available when in a remote place and in a camper van, whereas a dry space or silica is not so easy :slight_smile: knotted dog poo bag in my pocket for a couple of days was the best I could do - I didnā€™t take apart except for the battery. Itā€™s working againā€¦

But back to topic, Iā€™m guessing youā€™re right about the chances of a small FP3 - I did advocate small form factor during those ā€˜discussionsā€™.

So I think sadly its divergence time for me - in the RRR spectrum, I will try the middle R, having used the first and last to keep my FP1 going for 5 years! I have Reduced and Recycled (cannibalized other FP1s), so now I will probably Reuse a compact phone that someone else doesnā€™t wantā€¦

4 Likes

The sims of the Fairphone 3 both will do 4G.
With the restriction that onle 1 sim can do data.

7 Likes

30 FPS is the maximum.

2 Likes

How about OTG? Transfer rate?

OTG is possible, but I have no idea of the transfer rate.

A general comment on Fairphoneā€™s communicating. For more than a year i am frequently consulting the forum to get new informations about the FP 3. Today i accidently (recommended article via Pocket for Firefox) found this article on Zeit Online (https://www.zeit.de/digital/mobil/2019-08/fairphone-3-smartphone-android-nachhaltigkeit-umwelt/komplettansicht). I found out that it already has been announced at august, 28th, e.g. see https://twitter.com/Fairphone/status/1166299471069757441. Therefor i am still missing any ā€˜personalā€™ information via email. My last official email i got from noreply@fairphone.com is from September, 11th 2017. Is this by design? I still think a lot of old users are interested and still didnā€™t found out about the release.

Did you subscribe to the newsletter?
You can do this on the bottom of this page.

Well, I got an email
(this is the online version of it)
https://mailchi.mp/fairphone/august-launch
on august the 27th

Of course I knew of the FP3 before :wink:

No, i never got an email which said something about unsubscribing. I did it again now.

A general question i have about the recycling feature: Do i order it and send my old phone after i get the FP 3? Since sending the old before the new would be nearly impossible to manage for the system transfer.

If my memory serves me right, after ordering, I got the information to send the phone in later and get a refund.
So, obviously they have done some consideration.

1 Like

Ok, I canā€™t remember how I subscribed for the newsletter, I had some mails with the support, maybe thenā€¦ :man_shrugging: