Hi all,
The fairphone 2 is now in the wild since a year.
I expected to rapidly see parts upgrades and stuff like :
1 - smart back covers that use the expansion slot (NFC and wireless charging…i’m really looking up for them !)
2- new camera : its seems to be in the pipes since a long time, any news ?
3- USB type C : we hear about it since the very beginning, but no new at all
4- improved core module ? better battery ?
Well, i expected a lot from the possibilities of a modular design, and while i know that FP is a small company and things can take a while…it’s been a whole year, and absolutly nothing, a big black void of no informations, just a corrected case and 2 stands that could have took me 4 hours on CATIA…that’s light, very light…
It’s soon to be 2017, and the Snapdragon 801 platform is in it’s ending phase (no support for android 7 for example, no 64bit) and that make the fairphone 2 a…non appealing smartphone at all for new customers.
I don’t want everything right now, but, at least, informations ?!?
How many people do you need to develop something? How big is the potential market? How many salaries do you think you can pay based on your estimates? This is a niche phone, we support a great idea and our own ideals and, for the good or the bad, not the latest hardware development.
Regarding company processes, even if you can draw a rectangular in 4 hours you’re probably not the one who’ll take the final decision, unless you’re some unrivaled genius. Sooner than you imagine, a week, or more, is gone.
Fundamentally, however, I share your interest in hardware evolution beyond the case. Though I do like the new cases, but is that all that’s coming for now? My FP1U starts to show some first aging signs and I wonder whether the FP2 is a good update. Alternatively I’ll try to make the FP1 survive until the FP2 gets a hardware upgrade, at least currently I’m not in a hurry…
Fairphone is quite involved in delivering regular security updates and giving service to many customer requests.
Development need a lot of resources and of course time.
Well, seeing upgrades rapidly maybe can be expected from the well known big boys, sorry for your disappointment.
2 - I believe the camera will not take much longer to be available as this was addressed almost at first.
Furthermore I do not believe it to be totally free, but rather as a optional spare part available in the shop for the interested customers or directly build in every new sold phone as “technical improvement”.
Broken modules will be replaced if claimed at the service, but FP2 initially was announced with a 8MP back camera module.
3 - What for USB type-C ?
Have you read about the fact that this connection type is actually not yet properly supported and followed by the broad market as a standard?
It may happen that you buy a accessory which will fry your device.
I found out about this fact as I backed “omnicharge” on Indiegogo.
The developers back off this solution as they experienced this reality now using µUSB instead. I am glad FP uses µUSB.
4 - Core module? Modularity has limits too, this is one. The core module is regular made as a SoC (system on chip) Therefore the entire design would have to be reworked to get a newer cpu placed. Furthermore it is soldered directlyo on the layer and not in a socket.
I would not say the battery is above-average, but with each update I could experience that the device operated more efficient. Meanwhile I have no troubles keeping it powered for at least one day on one charge if not using heavy-duty apps like e.g. Pokemon Go.
(It´s been stated this app finally damages the battery due to it´s massive power/resource demand).
Generally I think recharging once a day is acceptable, but I could stretch it to nearly two days with limited use. My highest standby estimations after charging was almost 5 days. With my first OS version in February I started with some hours.
I think our battery is of good quality although not the strongest, else maybe some of them would had busted into flames as many of a well known manufacturer…
Sounds to me like the common “must have the latest” customer acting…
We will get Marshmallow in some time.
I’m not a genius, but i work in an automotive industry (so, mass market products, and complex systems and assembly), globally, an engineer alone is supposed to build a complety new component and make extensive testings, including industrialization prices and sub contractors choice in 1.5 year. (i’m talking about a complex single component requiring mechanical testings, electronic board design, analysis, the whole package).
I know that the process can be heavy and time consuming, and that “non technical related” activities can take time, but the lack of informations is really annoying, i’m just asking for “The hardware update plan is planned to roll out Q2 2017, it will include an updated Soc, a balblabla, etc…”
Not to be disrespectful, but i don’t care of your belief, i want ETA, answears, global comunications, not rumors based from rumors and old interviews, i want something consistent.
I never expected any upgrade to be free (that’s perfectly normal), but i expected a shop where you can by upgrade module, or something…
Not my point, if everyone wait for everyone to adopt it, we would still have parallel interfaces
Frying your device won’t happen if you by a cable that follow the USB power deleivery standard ^^
I’m talking about THE core module, the one that contain the SOc and everything, i expected, to see an upgraded version of it
This phone is way under average in terms of battery life, it’s simply bad ! you can’t last a day if you plan on using it “for real”. (not gaming, but web browsing, music streaming, mail, text, calls).
2450mAh is just not enought for a 5inch +801 soc , 2700 or 2900 would have been sufficient (like every other recent 5inch phones)
No its not, but if anyone plan on buying, in 2017 a phone with a Soc from early 2014 (even late 2013!), i would say it’s not a smart move at all.
Let’s get this straight, there is no way a consumer, a tiny bit techy or interesseted in high tech would buy a 3 year old hardware and expect to keep it for a long time.
I don’t want every year the latest 821 Soc, but every futur buyer should NOT buy a platform in 2017 that they know will be blocked to android 6 (face it, no Nougat for FP2) , that’s a non sense if you plan on keeping something for the long term.
Overall, what is bothering me the most is that, for a “social company” we don’t know anything about what’s going on in FP offices, in fact, we don’t know anything, not even financial result, the phone counter is blocked since 2 months, the latest blog post were useless as hell, the last updates where super empty.
It’s like the whole fairphone team just sat there, answeared support tickets, and compiled android with security patchs. I KNOW (or at least , hope) that it’s not true, but please SHOW IT.
What I heard from the Fairphone people is that indeed a lot of them had to help out at the support desk answering tickets and they couldn’t focus on their actual tasks.
