đź“Š POLL: How satisfied or unsatisfied are you with your FP5?

Simple vote roughly one year since the launch of the Fairphone 5:

How satisfied or unsatisfied are you with your FP5?

  • very satisfied
  • satisfied
  • neutral
  • unsatisfied
  • very unsatisfied
0 voters

If you have an FP3 or FP3+, you can vote here:
How satisfied or unsatisfied are you with your FP3 or FP3+?

If you have an FP4, you can vote here:
How satisfied or unsatisfied are you with your FP4?

9 Likes

With the FP4 I wasn’t sure to choose between unsatisfied and very unsatisfied.

With the FP5 I can’t really make up my mind between satisfied and very satisfied :stuck_out_tongue: I think that’s a good sign. FP keeps evolving.

I guess with the FP6 we will see even better hardware, mostly in terms of quality.

It seems the FP5 didn’t go for the best featured screen (AoD), light sensor (unstable, maybe fixable in software), vibration motor (too soft) and protective case (doesn’t protect the screen). And the updates are still unpredictable and there seem to be only enough people to focus on one phone at a time. But there are less bugs. Most bugs seem to be caused by hardware issues(?) So that’s still progress.

But hey, no phone is perfect. I’m proud of FP.

12 Likes

I’m in the unsatisfied group.

Reasons (not fixed as of A14):

4 Likes

i’m undefined as well.

way to much lagging. i don’t know if this is software or hardware. but it’s just not right.

don’t get me wrong i still like the FP 5 but i just keep getting ignored if i find again something wats not working properly when using the phone.

way to many bug’s.

*phone often don’t response when touching the screen, don’t matter what app.

*GPS is lagging.

*fingerprint sensor unlock the phone in pocket or directly after locking.

*needs to be restated often, gets very slow apps don’t run right.

*battery life is not really that good, little random sometimes it can reach 2 days. sometimes only half a day.

*dual sim setting are very minimal.

*auto network select don’t work.

*Camara is not that good as promised.

*app network settings are missing.

*light senior don’t work properly, its getting much better but still sometimes its lagging.

*when calling the volume is just to loud on the low setting.

*i have often broke pictures in my folder, can’t be opened. deleting only way.

*and the original case…

and i sorry but i can keep going. I think this make te point already.

something else not a bug, I still miss having a headphone jack.

positive points, good to end with, true?:

i like the outside design of the phone.

*no glass back.

*nice shape, fits well in my hand and pocket.

*looks really nice

other positief points.

*i don’t know what makes this. but the phone is using way less mobile data than my previous phone.

*and of course that the company is trying to reduce climate impact, and improve working conditions.

2 Likes

I want to love my Fairphone 5, but I’m also in the unsatisfied group. The hardware is perfectly fine imo. It feels good and works well.

The problem is the stock Fairphone OS. I’ve had my FP5 since launch, and here are some of the issues I still have on the newest stock firmware:

  • The app switcher breaks randomly. This happens so often that I usually don’t use it anymore.
  • Sometimes when you lock your FP, the screen stays black until you physically remove the battery. Touch still works tho. This made my FP call emergency services and write my emergency contacts that I’m in an accident once.
  • For some reason, Fairphone recently removed the option to have the AOD from their OS. Sure, it uses more battery when it’s on, but I am ok with that. I just want my AOD!
  • When my FP is in my pocket it always gets hotter than any other phones I’ve had, even tho I’m just connected to wifi and listening to offline content over bluetooth.
  • Google Pay usually needs two or three tries until it works. When I still had an iPhone or Samsung device, GPay and Apple pay always worked without any issues.
  • Raise to wake is so broken that is called my emergency contacts a few times while the phone was in my pockets. I had to disable the feature because I don’t want my FP calling emergency services by itself again.
  • Sometimes the FP plays audio through the speakers even tho the OS says it’s through the bluetooth headphones. It’s a bit awkward in public places when your audiobook suddenly starts playing loudly through your phones speakers.

Now, to be fair, it’s not just downsides.

  • Battery life is good for me. I usually still have around 20% battery left when I go to bed.
  • The cameras aren’t the best, but absolutely enough for the occasional picture and scanning documents.
  • Performance it solid. Never had anything stutter.

I didn’t even intend for this, but re-reading my comment is just like what I said at the beginning: Solid hardware, but software still needs a lot of work. Two of my friends also have a FP5, and they say the same.

By the way, if you can live without some Google features, I haven’t had any of these problems on CalyxOS or Lineage.

1 Like

I put Very Satisfied but was in doubt to say just Satisfied. I discuss a lot with interested people that most of the perceived downsides don’t affect me a lot, although I acknowledge them.

First of all, I like that it’s a basic phone. It’s bulky but sits lovely in my hand, and I like the look. I’ve also grown to love the side-mounted fingerprint sensor over an in-screen one.

Battery life is good for me. If I would charge to 100% and did no sleep tracking, I would pull off two days on average. Personally, that’s my benchmark for “very good”, because it means that even on an intense day like during travel, I can trust it to stay with me. Also, I carry a powerbank in those cases, so I’m not very picky.

My biggest gripes are the camera and the software. I appreciate the last update fixing some silly things like the minimum volume being ridiculously loud. But it’s a shame there is no adaptive charging, for example.

The camera is serviceable but there I look with envy at even my partner’s iPhone SE :sweat_smile: I hope they will upgrade it some day but I’m aware it would take a long while still. I don’t use it that much though, so it’s not a dealbreaker.

So yeah, if the FP team reads this, I think expanding their software support would be my number 1 wish. :grin:

3 Likes

I’m very satisfied - I guess, because I got what I wanted. Although there are some disadvantages (Lenses?). BUT: Most of the problems and complains that I read about where about FP 5 with the FPOS. Though, me being on e/OS: It works absolutely well and the battery lasts duracell-long. In my case about 5 - 8 days. Have to remark, that I am not a power user. I would wish, that FP5 would come out of the factory with e/OS. Having in mind, that winter is coming … (for the thech gigants, that are abusing our data, I hope).

4 Likes

I chose Satisfied, but only because I have flashed CalyxOS on the phone, when I had Fairphone OS there was couple of issues and the only responses from Support were “we haded it over to the development department” with no fixes in sight.
I think FP5 is excellent hardware and very mediocre software. My wife, for example, would buy FP as well if she didn’t see how many issues the software has. So she buys iphone instead :confused:
Please step up, Fairphone, so that I don’t have to be ashamed to recommend you!

4 Likes

I voted “satisfied”, but did consider “very satisfied”.

The phone is all I need it to be: Decent battery life, good cameras, nice screen and very well built. The software is generally fine with minimal bloat and a nice interface. Updates are good even though they arrive a bit whenever. I do find the phone a bit big and would have made use of a headphone jack if there was one, but this is the case with most phones nowadays and I knew that when deciding to buy it. The option for micro-SD and dual SIM (1 eSIM, 1 physical) is very nice!

The reason I settled for just “satisfied” is because of a few issues that break the seamless “it just works” experience: The configuration of the proximity sensor, gyro and light sensor are overly sensitive which make them somewhat unreliable. My solution has been to change screen brightness manually and to turn off screen rotation. Not much can be done about the screen activating during calls. Another thing I found is that the phone can become kinda hot if you’re out in the sun taking photos. I can manage with these quirks, but it keeps me from wholeheartedly loving it.

But even with the negatives considered, I do like the phone and can’t think of any other that provides all that it does: Extensive warranty and software support, well priced spare parts, modular design, repair manual with schematics and an unlockable bootloader with lots of options for custom ROMs. Also it does feel nice knowing the effort that goes towards ensuring fair practices in its manufacturing.

4 Likes

Brief snapshot of the first 100 votes (no other way to later look at long term dynamics):

41 | 43 | 6 | 9 | 1

7 Likes

Target: :sunglasses:

1 Like

You cannot fully remove it but you can choose a different search engine to replace Google. You then need to have the app of that search engine installed, otherwise the search bar just directs you to the Play Store.

I bought a USB-C to audio jack adapter for my FP4 so I am sure the same would be suitable for your FP5?

Well… I would assume people who are unhappy/ very unhappy with their phone would generally not have that phone anymore… :wink:

5-8 days is crazy, even if you didn’t use it at all! Are there any drawbacks from e/OS in your opinion? If it’s off topic for this thread, feel free to DM instead :grin:

My excuses to the forum, if I’m going off topic with gekooktei. At the moment, the only one I can think of is, that some banking apps aren’t working on e/OS. So of course, it depends of what apps you need on the FP5.
And another remark: I noted, that from v 2.2 to 2.3 there was quite a notable improvement of battery life for my FP5.

2 Likes