Multiple problems - very slow phone crashes frequently

Help Fairphone 2
#1

Hi everyone!

I have a Fairphone 2 - I’ve had it since March 2019.
It is now running Android 10.
I keep the storage between 85% and 90%.

However, in the past few weeks, I have barely used it as the number of issues has rendered it extremely frustrating to use.
Here are a selected few:
(sorry for what may be a long list but I felt it would be better to give all the main symptoms in order to receive an adequate diagnosis, I’ve put the key elements in bold)

  • Half the time, it doesn’t connect to my home WiFi. It had no problem with it before, and my partner has no problem with the WiFi either (she also has a Fairphone).
  • Getting 4G and/or mobile data is really just up to chance. Some days it will get it, other days it won’t. When it doesn’t, I usually restart the phone. It usually does the trick but of course the battery has a great probability to be drained.
  • App notifications come in seemingly when the phone feels like it. Instantly? Possible. 15 minutes after? Sure. 1 hour later? Not impossible.
  • This problem is even worse when I turn off airplane mode. I usually turn it on at night. When I turn it off in the morning, I know I can expect a few notifications (news, e-mails, sports results, etc.). For a long time there was no issue. Now, it takes the phone sometimes 15 to 20 minutes to bring them all up. In the meantime, it’s virtually impossible to use the phone, as everything seems to slow down to a stop.
  • Which brings me to another problem: everything can take ages. In some rare occasions, the user experience will be smooth, fast, without any hiccup. More frequently however, apps will take forever to load. It’s sometimes so slow I can see the app logo gradually grow before it opens. Actually, sometimes the apps are simply stuck on the loading page. I usually have to leave the phone alone for 3 minutes while it processes what I asked it to do (again, just open an app, not even talking about browsing it) before doing something else.
  • As a consequence, I’ve abandoned the use of “bigger” apps. For example, IMDb has a home page which is too complex and heavy for my phone. I’ve never played games on my phone but I’m guessing I couldn’t today. Even opening Messages, or opening the keyboard when writing messages, can take ages.
  • When faced with a difficult task (say, browsing Reddit with autoplay turned off), the phone will disconnect from WiFi and 4G all by itself, before reconnecting. The move will take a minute or two. The task and the app might have crashed in the process.
  • When I have the gall to receive a notification while doing something else (i.e., using an app), the phone will literally throw a hissy fit. Well, not literally, but it’s very difficult for it to focus on two different things at the same time.
  • I sometimes (a few times a week) can’t turn the screen on. As in, simply trying to look at the time when the screen is turned off: the black screen will turn to a slightly lighter shade of black before turning completely off again. As if that task was particularly arduous and it decided to abandon it midway.
  • I sometimes get alerts like “Fairphone Launcher isn’t working” or “System UI isn’t working” (with the usual option of “close the app” being offered). Which I guess is never ideal.

I was wondering if there was a relatively easy fix (is any single component at fault here or is it a larger problem?) or if it would be better to simply buy a new one.

Thanks in advance!

2 Likes
#2

Sorry no help from my side, but as I have the same problems I am courious about the answer of your very last remark.

#3

I cannot provide a fix for all, but in your position I would give reducing storage use to below 80% a try. We have had people here in this forum who also had just 5GB free and symptoms like unbearably slow responses from apps, too. Their FP2 often speeded up once they had freed up more space. If it works for you as well, keep it below 80%.

If you struggle to make so much “room”, I would recommend an SD card (formatted as “portable storage”! – warning: “extended internal storage” or whatever the other formatting is called has kept causing issues under Android 10) and move photos, videos and audio onto the card.

4 Likes
#4

Before buying a new phone you still could try a factory reset (as a new phone would probably also mean to set it up from the scratch)…

1 Like
#5

Thanks for helpfully sharing your experience. I have owned my FP2 for three years and have similar issues to you, which I believe started after the upgrade to Android 10. My phone sometimes runs slow or crashes, and yet the storage is a modest 55%. I have the same black screen and lighter shade before locking. One of the most annoying issues is the camera is prompted to take pictures when the phone is in my pocket or at other times when I have not chosen the camera button! I am keen to continue using my FP2 for as long as possible, because the current three years is only reasonable, and not remarkable.

#6

How does that happen? Unintended touch or unintended button pressing? Could be configurable.

1 Like
#7

Thank you for the responses. So far I’ve limited the storage to just above 80%, I’m not seeing any change yet but I’ll continue deleting stuff to check that idea. If it doesn’t work, I might do a factory reset.
In the meantime, I’ve received new notifications that I didn’t existed or were possible, like “Google Frameworks Services keeps stopping” and “Settings keeps stopping”.

1 Like
#8

Following this thread, since I also experience this issue quite frequently with my FP2 (received January 2016) after factory reset and fresh install of LOS 18.1 (i.e. Android 11) w/ microG. Internal storage consumption is at 40%.

#9

The camera used to only operate after I deliberately selected the blue power button and blue camera button. My current issue is that the camera activates probably after the power button and camera button have been inadvertently pressed (in my pocket), and this seems to have coincided with the upgrade to Android 10.

#10

Hi!
After I factory-reset the phone, should I restore my old data? Or would that just bring back the problems?

#11

I would first run it without restoring anything to see if the problem was solved. If it helped you can then start to restore things and hope the culprit won’t be restored, too…

5 Likes
#12

… but if the problems come back, try to make sure you know what happened. Keep us updated and let us know how you get on!

2 Likes