Very well expressed. Would you believe Fairphone 2 had less problems if it was non-modular?
1 Like
Hey all,
thank you very much for your responses so far and how the Fairphone itself helps you to talk about fair electronics and open source software. The Fairphone 2 clearly has is pros and cons when it comes to being a subject of discussion.
Now, besides the Fairphone, what other materials, knowledge and information could we create that would help you to share the story of fair electronics?
- Would a locally translated version of the Urban mining manual help?
- Do you think there should be a dedicated Fairphone app with extra info to show?
- Shall we give coupon-codes to Fairphone community members so they can give discounts to friends?
- Do we need to share more info on our website and blog about the issues in the industry for you to read and educate others?
- … or do you have an other crazy idea, we didn’t think of yet…?
In other words: what do you think, apart from what was already discussed in relation to the Fairphone itself, would help you to convey the issues in the industry to more people?
It 's easy: There is nobody, who bought a Fairphone because of me.
The reason for that:
Very seldom I talk to friends about Fairphone, because I value this concept to realize and produce a phone very much, but I have had and still have trouble with my FP2, specially with battery drainage. And this severe issue stays and stays and stays over the updates and makes my phone unreliable. Imagine, what I should say, when a friend is asking me, how I could advise her or him to buy such a phone.
Another question I am unsatisfied is the camera quality. For a long time they are talking and talking about a new model - the existing one has been insufficient from the beginning in my opinion - , but when does it come???
A third point: The insufficient communication between the Fairphone management and the Fairphone owners. It is really nice to have this very active forum, but that does not replace reliable and in time information by Fairphone itself.
The forum for me very often seems to be a playground for the customers to let alone the Fairphone stuff.
Therefore I can 't do any advertising for Fairphone at this actual situation. Hopefully it will change in future. I really would like to do advertising for the Fairphone concept!
2 Likes
I think it would help with workshops in schools because younger students don’t speak English yet. (Maybe there should be a stripped down version for younger students that is translated into other languages, rather than the whole Miner’s guide.)
Gosh, NO! Think about all the iPhone users! They won’t ever be able to learn anything about Fairphone!!! On a more serious note: That would also raise questions about Sailfish OS, Ubuntu OS, etc. native apps. I think the mobile version of Fairphone’s website is sufficient and you should make sure that it works well in the latest mobile browsers.
Yes! Maybe to #efct17 participants? 
[quote=“douwe, post:26, topic:26704”]
Do we need to share more info on our website and blog about the issues in the industry for you to read and educate others?
[/quote]
The blog posts about recycling the FP2 and the 10 materials you are focusing on were very informative and I hope to get more of these. (Wasn’t able to read the MWC blog post yet.)
Paint @werner_noebauer 's VW bus in Fairphone blue and make a roadtour / pop-up stores all over Europe! 
3 Likes
I think that you should try to organize more events. Maybe you should have either a “Fairphone day” or use the World Fair Trade Day to organize a lot of different events in big stores, electronic stores, telecommunication agencies, etc. At least with your partners, but maybe more.
It should be a way for people to hear about Fairphone, to see one or even touch one, to see its modularity, etc. BUT: you should have enough stock for people to buy one at once!
I understand that this project would take up a lot of time and manpower. Maybe an alternative would be a “Fairphone tour” with one person or a small team travelling to different countries to show the Fairphone. (Hmm, @Stefan writes faster than I…)
Coupon-codes: why not, but the risk is that you create a small community and don’t reach broader. On the other hand, concerned buyers are maybe going to accept bugs more easily than regular buyers who just happened to cross the Fairphone bus, found the phone cool but are not really invested in the project.
2 Likes
Personally, I think it should be easier to find this kind of information on the website.
For example, if I want to show information about the Fair materials", I have to go trough the following steps:
Fairphone.com => Story (=> our goals => Fair Materials (not the image, but the text a bit lower)) => learn more.
There you can “cycle” trough 3 projects and see some more general information. I couldn’t find the information about the field trips to the mines, your quest for fair trade gold or other interesting information. To get this information, I would have to go to the blog and search for it. Which is not something any future customer will do, because he does not know he can find this information.
4 Likes
Hi,
A suggestion: a (build-in) shortcut somewhere in the phone that redirects directly to a video showing what fairphone is and what it stands for. It could be done using a web shortcut, or as a small app, or maybe reachable from settings/about phone
5 Likes
Hi Gerry
I don’t know if would have a lot less problems - there were problems with the first Fairphone too. The fact that it is modular has been useful in diagnosing problems, and has meant that when my screen was discovered to be defective they could just send me a new screen, rather than having to either repair or replace the full phone.
I don’t think that the modularity of the phone is causing major problems -> the individual components may be causing issues, but I’m not aware of any issue that is due to the fact that the phone is modular and that you can take it apart.
Brian
3 Likes
Exactly what I do every day in the office 
. And sure enough this one colleague repeatedly returns to it mumbling something like:“this modular concept really should be promoted”
4 Likes
I think that after sharing this video from Greenpeace and this video from SkyNews on Facebook, with the message that this is the reason I have a Fairphone some people has started thinking about it.
I convinced my wife to get one. That wasn’t too hard since I was the one paying for it (and I will be the one setting it up).
The main reason why I haven’t convinced more people to get one is all the problems. When I tell about the phone, the follow up question is “Are you happy with it?” And honestly, until now, I haven’t been too happy. Now I have my third FP2 and it works perfectly (touch wood). Before that I’ve had my fair share of random reboots, mic not working, bright spots on screen, bad speaker etc. I don’t know the reason to all those problems. I don’t think it’s modularity. I think it’s bad quality control and testing. (Just my guess.) If my wife’s phone works as it should then I will get more and start bragging more about the FP2.
I can’t find it at the moment, but Fairphone once reported around New Year 2017 that they halted the production lines to improve the manufacturing processes. That should have also improved quality, right?
I really hope so. That would be good news 
We bought two FP2 with very exciting minds. I spread it everywhere I could, but after a while one of my girlfriends has so much issues with her phone that she had to get a new one. It can be a hassle and I helped her as much as I could and she got a new one and everyone was happy. But after a while both our phones started to reboot whenever it wanted and that became a p i t a… so now we have to get new phones (again, but the service is good and no problem with the service, they reply fast and kindly) and during this time I have not been so eager to promote it because even if the concept and the build of the phone is great, I can not promote a phone with so much problems, sadly.
But, despite all this, my room mate became curious on the phone so he had a look at it a few times and then desided to buy one, so yes, someone bought a FP2 because of me. Looking forward to the new phones and hopefully get to keep them a loooooong time, working… then I will gladly promote it where ever I can.
3 Likes
You can say that again, @Donsemann! I instantly hope Fairphone gets to the bottom of things and sorts them out: One by one, step by step.
Quite the opposite. I would show it around excitedly, people would take it in their hands, play around with it, start apps, GPS, play some youtube videos or a game and stuff and naturally the FP2 would freeze and reboot after a short time. After the reboot, the time would not be right for a few seconds and Whatsapp sync problem because of that would appear on screen.
One of my friends said:
Fair resources are double-wasted, if the end product doesn’t do what it’s supposed to and makes the consumer buy another product shortly after
That hurt. A lot.
Because he’s right.
And I am not a good salesman.
“So you would rather buy a phone that just works”, is not a sound argument…
Still I am happy with it and even my post often sound emotional like the rant of a 13 year old, I do it because I care about the product.
9 Likes
Just because there are a lot of reports of reboots on the forum doesn’t mean it’s natural for a Fairphone. If you want to help promote the Fairphone idea, get your phone fixed and don’t show off a faulty device (which exist with every other phone model too).
1 Like
Reading your post made me feel a lot of emotion coming my way. I didnt mean to offend you.
1 Like
But can you tell us what has worked so far for you?
And do you have ideas what we could do to help you tell this story better?
How many people did you tell about Fairphone so far?
Has anyone bought a Fairphone because of you?
Looking forward to hear about your crazy, moving and honest stories of spreading the Fairphone story.
I have been talking to almost all close friends, family and co-workers about my Fairphone 2 - like I did with my Fairphone 1. For one I am known for having some above-average knowledge on tech-stuff and people ask me for advice and two I do like spreading the idea and might have shown off the transparent cover I used to have (before it broke at the volume buttons) every now and then to provoke questions like @danielsjohan mentioned. That worked fairly well.
One friend of mine bought a FP2 because of me so far. He even jumped on board in the preordering phase. It was a big step for him, because it was his first smartphone. I think what convinced him the most was the transparency of the project - and not only about the achievements, but also in the honest descriptions of the limitations on how to produce a “fairer” phone (working hours in the factory e.g.). He can be very critical of green-washing or in this case fair-washing.
He also considered the Shift-Phone but finally went with a FP2 because of the much higher standards and transparency of FP1 and FP2 production in china, conflict-free minerals etc. Yet, although he read a little bit about both phones, he never did a lot of deep reading of blog, forum and homepage texts himself. In a lot of aspects he asked and trusted me in telling him about it and e.g. discussing Shift Phone vs. Fairphone.
Three more people I know are considering to buy a FP2 because of my ad campaign (hey, where is my share? ). They too have not read a lot about the FP2 but are rather influenced by me. Two of them mainly like the idea of not only buying fair clothes or fair fruits but also a fair phone. They both are in stages of “maybe soon” - one because she has no smartphone yet but is considering in buying one. For her the google-free FP Open OS is a big plus. Yet, she is not so good with English and technology that she would probably need me in helping her with setting up and getting to know her smartphone. Explanations in german might come in handy. The other has an old phone that is falling apart but is a little short on money. So a discount might work for her. The third person is a colleague that is also very much into security and privacy. Only FP Open would be an alternative for him - but the most important argument for him were the regular security updates. This is one aspect that is in my opinion not brought up often enough. Security updates are a great plus for FP2 and promising to do so in the future and promoting it will attract some more people to considering buying a FP2 instead of a nexus device from google for example.
3 Likes
Many people have asked me about my Fairphone who must have read about it before because they knew what it is and asked me how it’s working for me.
I usually show people how you can take it apart and tell them about the whole concept and that it’s not actually that expensive if you consider that you will hopefully have it for a long time.
But quite frankly it is hard to recommend a phone that restarts itself between one and five times per day. And @paulakreuzer I am really sorry, but it’s not like that with every other phone model. I like my Fairphone and everything else is fantastic, but so far none of the things I tried fixed it and other people had the same problems with a replacement phone.
So when someone asks me about it I say it’s a great phone except for the fact that it sometimes crashes several times a day. I will also say that not everyone has this problem but it’s definitely no exception.
2 Likes
I have talked to many people about Fairphone - colleagues, friends, family. Some of them must had heard about it somewhere but did not pay attention - which has changed now that I am an “ambassador”.
- back in the days a friend was thinking about switching from a cell phone to a smart phone and was asking me whether he should go for a Samsung or Apple device. I had heard about Fairphone and this friend became one of the pre-production buyers of the FP1 (it was his first smart phone). After being inadvertently crashed on a concrete stair some weeks ago the phone was turned into a FP2.
- when my dad was thinking about getting his first smart phone I decided it was time to not have dark forces conquer his soul and so (with some financial support of other family members) a FP1 was his birthday present, he still has it
- eventually FP2 became my first smart phone
- at least one Linux-geek-colleague repeatedly says that his Samsung is not quite enough dead yet, otherwise he probably would get an FP2 because of the Ubuntu port
- another colleague asked my for my experiences with my FP2, meanwhile she has bought a FP2
Regarding the following:
I usually tell people that Fairphone roots in an initiative which tried to raise awareness e.g. for conflict minerals. Since there were not too many people interested in listening to such ‘boring’ information, they came up with the idea to promote their own device as a conveyor for their storytelling…and so on.
And then I conclude by pointing out that Fairphone’s mission is a little tough: they need to be successful in the market to survive as a company, at the same time they hope to prevent people from buying a FP by pointing out that for society and the environment it is best to use the existing phone for as long as possible. And even after having sold a device, they hope for customers to keep if for as long as possible by providing support and updates as best as they can.
(Along these lines I also wonder about the future of FP as a company. Once a major smart phone company steps into the market of fair smart phone production they can easily change much more things than tiny Fairphone. But what would happen to FP then? ‘Mission completed’?)
Many people I talk to support the Fairphone principles, nevertheless there are questions/arguments, some of them are:
- how reliable is the device
- how good is support
- what is the prospect for a FP device in case the company FP would disappear
- why not having the latest technology (the questions being partly answered by the release of FP2)
4 Likes