Hi folks. This is not a plea for help. It’s just way to vent my feelings. I’m really a fan of the idea of making our technology usage sustainable and fair to the extent possible. That’s why I picked Fairphone. That’s why I preordered not one but two Fairphone 4s and eagerly awaited shipping back then. That’s why I keep using the wireless Fairplugs even though they don’t really sound great.
But what really grinds my gears lately is the subpar battery on the FP4. Obviously the device is a couple of years old by now and I’m already on my second exchange battery. But the battery life of the FP4 just isn’t that great. It never was and it keeps getting worse. Now when I look for newer models I read the same thing. The capacity is just not really on par with what other vendors ship. I’m sad this isn’t seen as a product flaw, because otherwhise FP5 or FP6 would ship with (optional) bigger batteries at least.
Couple that with the fact that we get security updates very late, Android version bumps not at all or with a huge delay, and all the other little issues that you would expect from a beta product but not something that cost a premium price. I’m just saddened. It’s 10 am and my daily commute already brought me down from full charge to 65%. I know I will have to quickly charge in a couple cycles at work just for my phone to last me til the evening. And because I won’t be coming home until late night, I also have to carry a power bank in my pocket. It’s almost comical. I woke up to 100%, unplugged and two minutes later was at 98% already. Without any usage…
I’m not alone at this. My partner practically carries a backup phone every day because her FP4 will run out of battery at the oddest times. Also on a second exchange battery already.
Please for the love of the sustainability idea, when ever designing a new product: make this a priority. Other phones last 2 days or more by now. Don’t keep compromising capacity and software quality.