General Fairphone 3 discussion

The modem is tightly integrated with the main processor (SoC) so it’s likely not upgradeable.

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Yeah, I ordered one too today. The specs look just fine for what I need. A bit smaller might have been better, but what the hell…
And Fairphone does look like they’ve ironed out the FP2’s biggest flaws when I look at the first impressions published on some websites. In any case I’m willing to make the bet!
My FP2 with a dead accelerator (which I don’t miss that much in fact!) will become a backup phone for a few months then be handed down to my second daughter sometime next year when she’s deemed ready to have a smartphone.
We’ll then have 4 smartphones in the family including 3 Fairphones, the last one being my eldest daughter’s second hand Galaxy S5 with LOS.

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I am still using an old laptop computer from 2008. I had to upgrade the harddisk with a SSD, and Win XP moved on to Vista, Win 7 and Win 10-64 now. Still working very nicely. Does all I need. I guess, with phones it will be the same. I bought a Sony Xperia Compact, new, and could use it for not even 2 years, as it got so slow. Then I bought a Motorola Moto G2 2014, and it got very slow. I tested the used Samsung S5 from my sister, but it was slow. Then I bought a used Motorola Moto G4 plus for 40€. It got an Android 8 update recently, and it is still fast enough. It does not work with Google Sky Map and does not save RAW format pictures, thou. And it started killing SD cards and it also reboots suddenly, as it sonetimes gets very hot. So, hardware starts failing. Otherwise I’ d use it probably for much longer. Now I will read FP3 Tests and then consider to buy one or not.

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The cable I use for charging the Fairphone 2 isn’t suitable with the Fairphone 3.
But will my charger I use with the Fairphone 2 work with a Fairphone 3?

I am very confused about 4G and LTE. I duckduckwent on it but it didn’t help.

I thought the Fairphone2 had 4G support, but when I finally got one mobile data was much slower than with my previous phone. Also the network icon in the top bar displayed LTE and not 4G.

I was hoping FP3 would fix this problem but according to the tech specs, it has “4G (LTE)”. :thinking:

For tech marketing purposes, 4G and LTE are considered the same thing, but …

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@Lidwien : Yup, it will!
@Wolf.K : I agree CPUs last much longer than smartphones. I have a desktop I built in 2013 that still works just fine. No gamers in the family so no need for high end GPU or else.
As for 5G support : no way FP could have come out with an affordable phone (ie less than 800€) meeting ethical values and supporting a technology that hasn’t been widely rolled out in Europe yet. As previously stated, only a handful of phones currently on the market support 5G, and they are mostly flagships.
And I can’t see FP ever considering an 5G upgrade as that would mean changing the SoC=the whole core module which is the phone’s most expensive part. That would also certainly raise compatibility issues with the other modules.
What I understand is that FP’s first goal with the modular design is easy repairability. If they can throw in a module upgrade during the phone’s life like with the camera on the FP2, why not, but I don’t think you’ll ever see a core module update. It doesn’t make sense from a design and engeneering point of view, not with the way SoC’s are designed nowadays anyway. And FP doesn’t have and will never have the power to design and produce its own SoC. Not even Samsung has!

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It will work, but won’t charge at full speed unless it supports Quick Charge 3.0.

These are used pretty much synonymously. Both FP2 and FP3 support 4G LTE-Advanced, but the FP3 can achieve higher speeds (if the network supports it): FP2 max. 150 Mbps down / 50 Mbps up, FP3 max. 450 Mbps down / 75 Mbps up. It’s all in the tech specs. But it shouldn’t be that relevant in most real-world scenarios.

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For me it is to simple to see the SoC power as limited. My FP2 is enough for me which was even older by the introduction. I am doubting to order a FP since I don’t see really the light in the tunnel for Android 7 on the FP2.

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LighteageOS 16.0 Android 9 Pie (couldn’t resist :slight_smile: , see also lineageos).

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In my case it is a little bit different.
I orderd the FP2 just when it was possible and got it in January 1915. Normaly it worked quite well and I was quite lucky and proud to own this phone.
I baught it to take it with on my bike holydays just to be able to use the internet and to do the navigation whilst my journeys and bike tours. But with the navigation application (OsmAnd) I have got into trouble very often because of phone reboots. So I decided to sell it to somebody else, who would not use it for navigation. In exchange I baught a used Galaxy S5 at ebay for 60 €, and that device with same processor and very similar specs as the FP2 did and still does the job without problems. And it even has a removable battery.
But now I looked for a faster device and found a “BQ Aquaris X” with just a little bit less specs as the FP3, it runs on a Snapdragon 626 and has 3/32 GB memory and got it for 90,- €.
Now, when the FP3 arrived, it is tempting me of course! I would like it very much to own a Fairphone again, because it stands for principles I support.
But lets wait, how the BQ device with Lineage custom rom performs, and lets see what experiences others will gain with the FP3 - hopefully better ones than mine!
May be, some day I will come back to Fairphone again.

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Very good article, answers most questions asked on this thread about FP’s goals and everything they do behind the “phone selling thing”

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Just ordered an FP3. Does anyone know whether charger packs (ie so you can charge a spare battery whilst using another in the phone) have been available for previous FPs and if this is likely to be available for FP3? My last two LG phones have had this and it’s proved very useful.

How long will it be before screen protectors are available?

There are universal smartphone battery chargers.
Worked for the Fairphone 2 battery, should work for the Fairphone 3 battery.

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Thanks - anything in particular I should look out for in these (good or bad)?

I guess there’s no other way than to just check them out.
I got a generic, dirt cheap one, and it works great with the Fairphone 2 battery.

Edit: For the people following the link (what was I thinking :slight_smile: ) … the charger isn’t available anymore where I got it back then, but it is still widely available on eBay, just search for “universal battery charger” and you should see multiple sellers for basically the same charger.

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So yeah I was finally able to listen to the complete YouTube video. In the YouTube video on the first post (which was the orig. live stream for press) there’s a few more information things which I haven’t read throughout the thread.

  1. Fairhone are not going to focus on US sales in the near future. The next focus point (was announced also via the crowdfunding) is Scandinavian countries because of the belief that there is a high amount of potential customers. They’re aware of demand in US and other European countries.

  2. The Nordic operators are Tele 2 from Sweden, Elisa from Finland, and a few resellers (Etc (?) and Inrego (?)).

  3. In the Nordic countries FP3 will cost 475 EUR. The context was about tax and how much the smartphone would cost in Germany (answer: 450 EUR).

  4. Fairphone will sell a modular earphone in their shop. You’ll be able to detach the wire if its broken.

  5. Bootloader was already mentioned, it was mentioned in stream as Re: to question for a secure mode (not sure what he means with that, MDM?). It was described in the video how easy it is to unlock bootloader.

My comment on #4 is that this is such a simple and clever invention, and actually potentially is going to be also user-friendly to put on/off a sweater or detach cable when you arrive at work or home after commute. I might actually prefer such over wireless headphones.

My question on #5 is does this affect things like Widevine certification? Will the FP3 (with such a nice screen) have a higher Widevine level?

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I don’t think, that I would unplug two earpieces more easy than on phone-plug (if I got you right?).
But If you forget about the cable, maybe the earpiece plugs come off more easyly, so I wont pull out the phone anymore and it ends up less frequent on the floor. :wink: :frowning:

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I am glad being able to visit the Stuttgart Fairphoners meeting today.
I came there, I saw (also when disassembled), I touched, I operated the FP3 and - if my FP2 would not operate so smooth I would had ordered one this afternoon.

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Does anyone know how I can tell for sure if the FP3 will work in Japan? I know someone that has the FP2 that works here…but wondering about 3 :thinking: