Hello,
I have just bought an FP2. I had (still have) a reasonably good FP1, but the battery is knackered. I’m aware we’re not far off getting FP3, but I read some stuff online that the FP3 will be a cheaper item of lower quality…
I have a few questions and comments on the FP2 which I’d be grateful if anyone can answer:
The new one feels a lot more flimsy than the old one, so if the FP3 is going to be a cheaper model, then I dread to think what that’s going to be like.
Can anyone recommend a tough case or suchlike for the FP2 please?
The software on the FP1 seemed quite good to me, I liked that it came with a range of things like the images gallery which were non-Google. I was horrified at how Google dependent the new one is - I do use Google, but I don’t want them following my every move. I had to log into my Google account to download an app, and it sync’d all my phone contacts to the Google account. When I then removed the Google account, it deleted all the contacts from the phone book again. This is going to be a really annoying feature of the phone in the future each time I need an app.
The audio / sound settings are not as good as the FP1. There is no profile for ‘silent’ for example.
The battery life is rubbish - it needs a recharge every day.
I’m pretty disappointed in it to be honest - the FP1 felt like a much higher quality item, and I would still be using it now if Fairphone had continued to supply replacement batteries for it.
Care to share a link?
Up to this point everything about the Fairphone 3 was mere speculation, or I missed something (which is possible) … anyway, here’s a topic for this …
You can always enhance the protection …
That’s not a feature of the phone as such, but the OS it comes with.
Sounds like you want to look into installing Fairphone Open OS (officially supported by Fairphone) or LineageOS (supported by the LineageOS community, at Android 8.1 currently), which come without Google services and Apps by default, and then choose your favourite package of Open GApps (pico is the minimum to run the Play Store) to install … or if you only need free of charge Apps, you could have a look at Yalp Store (which downloads, installs and manages free of charge Apps from the Play Store without you needing a Google account).
If you need further info about this, the search function of the forum is your friend … or the topics tagged openos or lineageos .
In any case, to avoid Google syncing your contacts, you can deactivate syncing for your Google account in the account settings.
As many of us don’t own a Fairphone 1 … what does that mean? What are you trying to achieve? Do not disturb (which can be enabled in the quick settings by swiping down from the top)?
See batteryguide just in case … but yes, the battery is one of the weak points of the Fairphone 2 in general.
However, having to charge a smartphone every day was and is not uncommon across devices. Most people do it over night.
You didn’t want to try the non-official replacements which worked for other users? …
I am a happy user of Fairphone Open OS (FOOS). I switched to this version exactly because I do not want google to follow me at all times. In particular, FOOS comes without Google Applications libraries (gapps). This is good news, since these libraries contain the functions to send bits and data to Google servers. No gapps implies no GooglePlay.
As an alternative, F-droid provides access to a host of free and open source applications. The repository served by f-droid contains less applications. But I feel this is actually an advantage - much less sifting through heaps of sub standard ad ridden apps. There are just three compass apps rather than 300. For the few FOSS applications that are exclusively on GooglePlay, I used the anonymous downloader yalp to install them without a google account.
Install of FOOS was fairly easy. I just followed the official instructions.
In my case, the battery typically lasts for about three days. But I am not a heavy user anyway. To me, the fairphone is mainly a clock, a calendar and a phone – no videos, no games.
The FP2 feels lighter, because it is modular and therefore less dense than other phones.
I assume the FP3 will be modular again, but maybe they found/will find ways to make it more dense while still being very repairable.
Thanks for your reply @AnotherElk - lots of useful things in there, and please accept my apologies for the delayed reply. Part of it is because through continued use of the FP2 I’m more used to the differences with the FP1 now.
The info on the FP3 was nothing concrete - I just tried searching for info on it and found all the same rumours as you did. I just assumed it was due ‘soon’, and that FP’s decision to discount FP2s was a sign they were keen to have a clear out of the soon to be old model.
For the sound, the reporduction seems very poor. Just things like the ring tone, it stops and starts rather than plays continuously, which sounds really cheap and nasty.
I will follow your link re cases. Actually a new annoying thing I have found is that the phone switches itself off and on in my pocket as the button sticks out too much.
For the battery, I did look at changing it but also the port that the USB goes into on my FP1 had worn, so that the cable would not stay in and consequently the battery couldn’t easily be charged without my having to wedge the phone and cable in a certain position. It was all just too annoying so I decided to get the FP2 instead.
As to the Google-ness of it, I do appreciate it’s the OS not the phone, but the FP1 was shipped with a version of Android that had a lot of its own apps that were not Google, whereas the FP2 seems to be a totally off-the-shelf Google effort. I’ve turned everything off I can (as I always do on any device) but there’s still a load of it in there. I also get a lot of annoying messages that tell me “‘unfortunately’ Google Play services have stopped” which I assume is to do with something I have switched off.
Thanks - when I get round to it I will try and install FOOS. My battery lasts about 2 days, but possibly it would go longer if I let it run down more between charges. I don’t like leaving it going all night, and like you the phone’s primary purpose is as a clock. I always have data, wifi, bluetooth switched off when not in use, I’m not sure there is much else I can do.
