I am also still on my FP1, deliverd August 2014. Good Job. Today a replacement of battery was necessary, because it looks slightly bloated.
It’s still working and i like to use it until …wait and see what happens.
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I understand! Note, however that FP has secured spare parts for the FP2 for at least three years by ordering the important components ahead, which they were not able to do in the FP1 days as they had less cash on hand at the time & because the FP1 was not their own design.
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As the five year mark approaches, my life increasingly revolves around keeping my First Edition FP1 alive, and reducing any dependency on it as much as possible.
My friends think I’m crazy.
I replaced the battery twice in the first year. I’m now on my third and fourth battery, alternating. The third is starting to bloat.
Two years ago, problems with the USB port began to manifest. I became increasingly creative with angles to charge it. I destroyed multiple cables in the process. Books and furniture are used to great effect. This summer, my friend took it apart and re-soldered it for me. This improved things for a while, but it’s fallen apart again internally since. I can now only charge it when I hold the cable in at a specific angle myself. So I charge my phone when I’m watching a movie or on a long bus ride. I’ve got good at eating with one hand and charging my phone with the other. I keep it offline as much as possible, so I don’t have to charge it so often. In recent months of extremely minimal network usage, just using the camera and offline maps, the battery lasts three days or so.
I recently bought an (expensive) universal charger, which I had to rip a bit of the padding off and have to wedge the batteries into at an angle to make the fit, but it does charge them. I was all set for my life to go back to normal, no more tiptoeing around my poor baby FP’s needs. However, the charger seems to have destroyed the batteries, as since I started using it neither of them now hold charge for more than a few hours even when the phone is offline completely and I’m asleep.
I’ve been gradually and painfully migrating friends from WhatsApp to Signal, as I can use that on my computer when my phone is not connected. I keep the SIMs disabled except when absolutely necessary. I travel fulltime, and am getting used to paper maps in new cities. I can’t use the mobile app for my bank. I’m thinking about buying a digital camera.
I still tell everyone I meet they should buy a Fairphone.
I think I have a problem.
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You should consider using a magnetic USB cable (especially when you fix the USB port once again) - it’s also what @Stefan does.
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You should consider using a magnetic USB cable (especially when you fix the USB port once again) - it’s also what @Stefan does.
woah cool! Never heard of that before, thanks. Wish I’d known before the port broke xD
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Yes, I highly recommend a magnetic USB cable. In case you haven’t seen it, also have a look at this topic: ✏ Fairphone 1 battery specs and facts
Ps: At some point (before you get crazy) you should consider selling/donating your working FP1 parts (working screen???) and buy a FP2. It sells at 399€ now and it’s definitely better than buying unfair stuff to keep your Fairphone 1 alive. 
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FP2 is too big for my tiny hands, and my friends who have them have had too many problems for me to spend 399eur 
If either FP2 was perfect or I was considerably richer, I might. I’ll just live without a smartphone until FP3 or I come across something second hand and free … back to life how it was before FP came along…
(Update: It charged by USB to 91% upside down propped up with a mug of tea against the wall last night!!)
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I would love to see a gallery of all the ways you have been charging your phone 
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Haha I would love to provide one but mostly I couldn’t take pictures of my phone as it’s my only camera xD However, here is one from the other night, from my laptop webcam… (also featuring universal charger with spare battery wedged in, cos that doesn’t really fit)
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Amazing. I am really lucky and happy that my USB port still works without any problems so I don’t have to worry about how to charge it
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I rarely look at the forum, because obviously it’s mostly FP2, but wait…
I can’t remember exactly when I got my FP1, but it was summer 2014, so I’m over 4 years now, and it’s still working quite well. I’m on the second battery, which is starting to struggle (occasionally drains abnormally quickly, but then fine on the next charge).
I didn’t upgrade to the FP2; the larger size put me off. I’m still desperately clinging to the idea that 130mm is perfectly large enough for a mobile phone I suppose I’ll probably have to buy an evil phone (2nd-hand) to fill the gap before the FP3 arrives… hoping there’s a compact version.
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If it’s only the battery, you can replace it by a generic one. See here for more info: #fp1battery
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Yes, I might do that, Stefan. For a while, I thought the phone was becoming too slow for some of the apps I use, but I think it’s going to be fine for a while…
using it since September 2014, second batch no. 700 
How do you guys deal with the software issue? since I can’t update the browser (duckduckgo) because of the old Android version I can’t use multiple important websides anymore. For example public transportation connections and so on. That’s why I consider getting FP2, but I’m afraid it will be too big for me.
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Have you seen this yet:
not yet but thank you for sharing. As far as I can understand this could be a solution, right? Sorry for minor techie knowledge
Sorry no, I just checked and the DuckDuckGo browser needs Android 5.0 or higher. This is only 4.4.4.
Have you tried a different browser, like Fennec F-Droid?
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I’ll definitely check this one. Thanks!
Likely that’s because TLS1.0 is deprecated, using Android 4.4 will solve that. And using another browser often helps as well, as suggested.
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For reference:
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