Leaving a movement

I’m aware from many of your previous posts that software availability is one of your major concerns regarding the choice of a smartphone, which is perfectly fine. Yet I do think that the majority of Fairphone customers choose the phone for its ethical approach to work towards a fairer hardware chain.

But anyhow, I wanted to sincerely thank you for your efforts and great contributions to raise awareness for and support the distribution of the Sailfish port. While the devs have done an awesome job on porting Sailfish, I very much appreciated your support to other Fairphone users to get Sailfish running on their devices.

In this regard it is sad to hear that you decided to part from your device. Yet, I wanted to thank you for your great contributions particularly in this forum. It is people like you who make the Fairphone community a great one.
Thanks for all your efforts!

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Thank you for the warm words! I try to support the Fairphone SailfishOS Community in the future, but without own device its nearly impossible. @Douwe send me 2 times FP2 community device for 1-2 weeks, and it was very helpfull.
If it will be the case in the future - i don’t know, but i will always try to support the FP2-Users in their SailfishOS / and other technical- questions. But as i said, its difficult without own device. And for a new FP2 there are no money there (Most important part) and its difficult to get (even if you have money) :wink:

Anyway, i will be there on this forum…

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Sorry, but after 8 months of hassle I’m out.

The concept is great, the phone not bad, but still not completed and have to improved more if it wants to replace professional devices.

All the best to the leaders.

Eric

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That’s going to be a rant. A rant’s never nice. It shouldn’t be, though. But I’m disappointed. That thing costs 530 EUR and does not withstand a normal use throughout a year.

Case broken, primary microphone dead. The issues with the semi-transparent cases where know by FP-project for a while. But instead contacting the buyers of that stuff, FP-project waits till the things fall apart. The new “slim” cases suck, because you can’t take them of fast. But that’s necessary. I will reason why below. The case become hot. Would be better to have one made of titan or at least aluminum. But as you have to use screws to open such a case, you won’t be fast. So better hot than slow.

Same goes for the bottom module. We have 2 FP2 in our family. We had been proud to be part of a project using conflict-free resources, changeable parts, all that stuff. Point is, the stuff needed to be changeable, because the quality is poor. Nobody would buy a phone at that price with that much issues the FP2 has after 2 years on the market. Read the forum. Devastating. Crashes, black screens, white screens with some users experiencing them weeks after they bought the phone, changing of the display sometimes yields the same issue, defect modules, the lot. Anything that can go wrong in quality control has gone wrong. For a price of 530 EUR.

More than that. Contacting FP2 because of a spare bottom module yields… nothing. For 3 weeks. I bought one on my own now. Cheaper than buying a new phone. But honestly, that sucks. Again, the phone costs about 530 EUR. It’s ok to build solid, stable and… to be able to deliver spare parts when needed. It’s not OK to deliver poor quality. It’s not OK to bundle poor quality with sucking service.

When I thought of buying the phone in the first place, I had worries because FP2 was rewriting Android by it’s own. Saw some phones, thought it’s OK. But it isn’t. I experience constant reboots, I experience constantly black screen when calling someone, so the battery must be taken out to kill a call. That’s shit. Calling a mailbox is just not possible under that circumstances-

Fun fact: The Black screen issues seemed to be solved with the change to Android 6. But then, after an update the issues has been experienced again. Nice work, folks!

The battery endurance sucks. I don’t know why, but the endurance sucks even more with every new update on Android 6.

At this point: Never again. Thanks. I’m out. I have some friends who are interested in buying a FP2. I tell them what issues that thing has and hope they’re smart.

Why don’t you produce the cases in a way, that they work?

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I hope you do understand @Lidwien and almost everyone else on this forum is not a fairphone-employee?

Further, I don’t get it. Your phone is clearly broken. But why do you not want to change it under warranty? Because your broken phone was expensive and didn’t work? For me, that would be a very good reason to contact support and demand a new phone with a new case (btw, slim cases can be taken off rather easy)…

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Yes I do. Doesn’t change anything. Not the user is the Problem.

As for the rest: Why would I want to change the phone? With little luck and much certainty the new phone has even more bugs. At this point I rather stay with my phone and pray it doesn’t get worse.

“Changing the slim case is simple”: I never said otherwise. But it takes more time to open the slim case than to open the normal one, especially when you’re male and have short nails.

Or it could be as trouble-free as it gets, like my phone and very probably the phones of a majority of owners not visible in this forum (or elsewhere on the internet) because they are not in need of solutions or fixes.

Not being interested in the obvious probable solution is a mindset I don’t get.

Get a one-piece silicon bumper for the Fairphone 2 then :wink: .

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My mindset is simple: Either it works or it’s rubbish. I don’t demand the device to be soldier-proof. But I demand the device to withstand EDC-use. Especially when the thing hasn’t been carried unwrapped or in a trouser pocket. And especially when the thing hasn’t seen any weather condition but sunshine.

I’m waiting for a simple bottom unit replacement for nearly 4 weeks now. No support, no module, nothing. Look into the forums and you will see, how long it takes to deliver a new FP under warranty. Look, what these users got. So, my experience simply is the same as the one of them.

This is just no valid argument, as you don’t see the ones with broken devices who just reading to find a solution. My wife’s phone was broken, a friend’s phone, too. Both didn’t comment in the forum but waited all the time quiet to get the replacement spare part, they needed. So quiet doesn’t always mean good. I bought a new bottom module now by my own and hope I get it before my vacation in early november. I’m not that hopeful, though.

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Sadly I have to agree with people complaining about quality here.
At first I was very proud of spending my savings in my first smartphone ever, a Fairphone. I told everyone about its ethical, its fairness, its (expected) quality.
It was only one year ago, and I can barely count the problems I’ve had since I first received it. I am currently facing a huge one preventing me to even use the phone and I am waiting for an answer from the support.
My phone is still under warranty, but I read on these forums that they don’t really care about that and always find excuses to make you pay for the repair (despite the material quality being the problem).

I stopped advising people to get a FP and at this point, I honestly regret buying one. I completely agree with your marketed ideas of open-ness, fairness, etc… You had me on your side from the beginning. And now, because of all the troubles I’ve had and since I realized you are not what you pretend to be (toward your clients, mainly), you don’t have my support anymore.
Instead of increasing my enthusiasm for your company, you lost me. Before buying a phone, I advised people to do so. Now that I’ve had one, I will most likely advise them against such decision. It’s a complete loss, both for you and for our ideals (because you proved me we cannot design a proper ethical smartphone yet).

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Aside from single complaints, I can’t seem to remember, that there was a general lack of taking responsibility by Fairphone.
Just take a look at this thread:

There you will find quite a few customers who got an exchange of their display up to 3 or 4 times (for free).

I fully understand your disappointment and anger and I know, why you are not advertising the FP anymore. I equally share your complaints about support-response-time; although rather from my readings in the forum than own experience.

To be honest, while in my opinion this seems a bit unfair:

… while I guess, that you are quite right with this:

Still it is a start; and nothing else was ever promised (or at least I never did expect more). And you should be proud, that you are a vital part of the “movement”, proving, that things can turn around; albeit slowly. Without you and your support, FP2 never would have been possible.
And just maybe it’s a small consolation for all the troubles you are facing with your phone, that it’s modularity is nothing less than a revolution when it comes to smartphones.

I just hope, that support will get back to you soon enough and solve your problems. And maybe later on, when things turn out fine, you will be reconceiled with the company and do no longer have a feeling of betrayal.

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No idea what that is supposed to mean?[quote=“MikeSixPointEight, post:113, topic:20270”]
much certainty the new phone has even more bugs. At this point I rather stay with my phone and pray it doesn’t get worse.
[/quote]

I would definitly replace the phone under warranty. There is little chance its worse.[quote=“MikeSixPointEight, post:115, topic:20270”]
hope I get it before my vacation in early november
[/quote]

I have a new spare bottom module here. Do you live in Germany? I could send it to you for the normal price and you send me the replacement when it reaches you.

Not true. Experience can be different, but I had two defects: Case and Bottom Module, and in both cases, it was about a week from my first contact with support and the arrival of replacement units. Easy and fast.

In any case, there is no reason to sit on broken phones and be grumpy. Get your devices repaired, at least try to contact support or if nothing else, sell them here in the forum.

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Yessir. I do live in Germany (bet my english betrayed me :sunny:) and that’s a splendid idea, thank you very much. Please send an E-Mail with your contact information to Mike.riun@gmx.de.

Though as long as I don’t know whether the new bottom module under warranty or the new one bought at full price from FP, ever arrive, i’d prefer paying for the module. I’d pay the full price and of course the shipping costs.

Regards

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Same as ben for the support: 3 support requests (1 for changing the phone, 2 for cracked cases), and every time it has been dealt with very fast, without trying to make me pay for anything.

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Hi ben,

wait for it. I got shipping information from Fairphone, at last. So… Hopefully the new bottom module arrives soon.

Thanks for your offer!

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The bottom module arrived and it works. There’s a candle in the dark. However, I wonder why the shortly bought stuff are arriving earlier than the stuff in warranty promised weeks ago. Anyway. Phone works.

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Now, eventually, the bottom module under warranty arrived. Jelle from FP-support told me there had been an error in their system, so the first order of a bottom module did not go through the whole system. Jelle also told me, support has lately been overwhelmed by request.

I hope, then, support structure has been changed and lessons have been learned. I hope, too, that next time it won’t be necessary to open a second ticket to get the support to work in the first ticket. Last, I hope there’s been a big of a step in quality and quality control on the FP-end of the production chain.

Bye.

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Although I wholeheartedly share this wish, one has to keep in mind, that a small company like Fairphone will have limited ressources only.
And even global players face major quality problems, like
Toyota and Nissan: 6.5 million cars for the airbags
Nissan: 1.2 million cars for improper quality checks
Samsung: 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7s for battery fires
HTC: Sensation for unresponsive power - and volume buttons
Apple: iPhone 6s for unexpected shutdown and 12 years production of AC Wall Plug Adapter for risk of breaking and electrical shock
And here’s a List of Phone Recalls (mostly exotic ones)

And that’s the recall cases, not the less serious problems, the www is full of for almost every product ever made (I would guess ;)).

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I do perfectly understand that. I do understand, that FP doesn’t has the economic weight to influence anything in the way, FP likes. I do understand, others do have quality issues, too. The latter one is, as I said in a reply on another comment, no valid argument. There’s no way, one can argue: “The others do make mistakes, so let’s make some ourselves, because we have the obvious right to do them.” The first, I do appreciate. It’s a point of view, I understand and I would fully follow that head, if the phone happend to be a luxury good, I wouldn’t need to work well. And that’s what I am saying: Be honest in marketing your products. Just say, there are issues, you couldn’t come by though producing the thing for two years. There’s a risk, you are willing to take for having a quite concience regarding Materials etc. We do have at the time issues with our support, too. We’re working to solve the issues.

But that honesty is just missing. And the whole “movement” thing just looks like propaganda to me.

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Sorry to disagree.
Never did I imply. that kind of statement:

I was just saying, that a small company making mistakes should not be compared to large companies, that make mistakes as well; because regularly someone is switching his/her fairphone for another brand, as all the others are so much more reliable.

Furthermore: Fairphone is not producing phones consecutive for two years not adressing quality issues. They have produced and sold a first batch. Quality issues like with the back cover or the display are being adressed when producing new parts. They can not change what’s already produced (no one can).
Now they have produced and are selling the second batch (I hope I haven’t missed something here and stand possibly corrected). If and to what amount they have been able to fix problems remains to be seen.

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