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!