First hands-on in French: http://www.journaldugeek.com/2015/12/10/preview-fairphone-2/ .
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The first review/test in German: http://futurezone.at/produkte/fairphone-2-im-test-ein-statement-fuer-mehr-nachhaltigkeit/168.901.638
edit:
- changed the link from “mobile to desktop”.
- and added it to the wiki. @jftr I was aware of the thread being a wiki, but adding it on my phone seemed too complicated with all the formatting, so I postponed it until I was in front of my PC again, but I thought sharing the first review in german was important enough to just post it as an normal entry…
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Can we distinguish between articles talking about prototypes of the phone and those that tested the release version? We could add a new section at the top which only contains the latest reviews of the actual phone.
BTW: Everyone, the original post is a wiki. Please don’t just post links, add them to the original post instead.
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I read the translation, but it doesn’t seems that they are entertained in any aspect, they find battery life “less than average”, the photo module seems close to bad (no details, bad focus), idem for the front “not convincing”, they also say that the cover is making screen operation difficult, the screen seems quite good, but the luminosity is a bit under the average.
The benchmarks are “ok”, if i compare to a sony xperia z3 compact ( 1 years old, a 801 -AC at 2.5ghz), the Z3c scored 50 000 , where the FP2 scorded 41 000… its enough for everyday life and gaming, but still…not awsome at all.
The Techy inside me is disapointed by the benchmark results, but i was excepting that (my kind of “sacrifice” for a bigger good), but the other part of me is also really really disapointed 
Yeah, i excpeted that for the price it wasn’t going to be super powerfull, i excepted that it was going to be way bigger than average, but, i also excepted that the camera sensor was going to be at least “good” (from viewing what a 8mpix camera on an iphone can do !), i excepted that the battery life was going to be good due to the reduced frequency, but it seems that the software need some improvments !
overall, i excepted i bit more than just “a bit less than average”…
BUT ANYWAY I DON’T CARE BECAUSE I CAN COMPLETLY TAKE APART MY PHONE (the techy inside me wanted to talk)
Regarding the battery: They say that it is not worse then the ones of other smartphones.
Regarding the camera: Apparently Fairphone is thinking about an upgrade of the camera module (at least Futurezone says so in their article). Also I think that this is really software dependent and subject to improvements. The camera software of the FP2 prototype we had in Vienna was not optimized back then.
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Here you got (original resolution) pictures…
…So you can judge by yourself.
This module is not “close to bad (no details, bad focus)”.
The direct traduction of the test is : Inside and in low light conditions the camera can not convince. Details are little or hardly represented and disappear. Even in daylight, the quality of the images falls below average. The camera revealed a little trouble with the focusing.
Heise.de tested the FP2,
downpoints are the camera (the demo Fotos looking nice for me) and battery life. So i hope i don’t need to buy a second battery. Maybe a battery cover would be great.
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It would be great if an already 11mm(!) Thick phone didnt need another hump to last a solid day…
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Zeit Online now also has a review article: http://www.zeit.de/digital/mobil/2015-12/fairphone-2-modular-test
You’re right, it had a different title so I thought it was a different text. I removed it from the Wiki, no need to have texts linked twice 
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Here is a comprehensive review from Tweakers.net (in dutch, text and video). http://tweakers.net/reviews/4289/fairphone-2-hoe-duur(zaam)-is-eerlijk.html
And here is a very nice article (though not really a review) in English: http://www.gadgette.com/2015/12/16/fairphone-2-the-ethical-sustainable-phone-you-can-upgrade-by-hand/
The BBC has weighed in with its pros and cons (and Bibi is in this one - I must say, she does a bang-up job on PR). Nothing we haven’t heard before, of course…
You’ll note they comment on how it doesn’t look as “cool” as Project Ara - but then again, Fairphone has actually produced something sellable by this point, which the Ara people can’t claim.
I also find myself a little irritated by this constant repetition of how the specs are mid-range in comparison to the price. It’s true, but it misses the point doubly - firstly, that the cost is reflective of the fairness, and that you get a transparent look into where your money’s going; and secondly, that it’s actually saving you money, allowing you to buy one mid-range phone that will last you five years rather than upgrading to 2-5 new models over the same period.
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I agree, but many articles also mention those reasons for the higher price. In the end they are right: It is expensive.
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Tweakers.net beat Fairphone itself with a video of the Fairphone 2 live in action:
http://tweakers.net/reviews/4289/1/fairphone-2-hoe-duur(zaam)-is-eerlijk-inleiding-en-filosofie.html
(it’s in Dutch though)
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From Tweakers’ video:
modular
easy and cheap to repair
philosophy of openness and honesty
32GB storage and upgradeable
Dualsim
Very moderate camera
moderate screen
if used, battery is empty in a short time
Hi,
now the first reviews are done, and it seems that the camera quality is below-average.
I’m disappointed, because the camera is one of the main features I use with smart phones, because otherwhise I need an additional “unethical” produced compact camera.
I like the FP idea but the bad camera quality was the reason I sold FP1, and now I also think about cancel my order for FP2.
Would be good to get an statement of the responsibles how they want to treat the issue.
Reviews of camera:
Best,
Marcel
In the pictures they provide in the second article, I can not see how there is a bad camera quality.
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