I am a french computer science student and currently have a Xiaomi Redmi 10 2022 (4GB 64GB model). I would like to know if the Fairphone would be right for me. Recently, my phone has been performing very poorly despite numerous restarts (it is slow, my music cuts out as soon as I launch another app, and my battery drains quickly).
I use my phone for basic functions (WhatsApp, Instagram, emails, music, phone calls), but I also develop mobile apps that I need to test. I don’t use my phone much for gaming, or if I do, it’s only for very basic (idle) games.
I would like to buy a Fairphone because it represents an ethical and fair choice for my next phone. And despite the fact that it is a mid-range phone, it is more powerful than the one I currently have. I also like the fact that it can be repaired, but I don’t know if it will last that long.
So I’d like to know if, in my case, it’s really worth paying so much. And if, as a student, this purchase will ever really pay off, even if that’s not the goal.
Technically, it’s an upgrade from my old phone, so I don’t think I’ll have any problems with slowness, etc.
I’d like to know if it will meet my expectations (I want a phone that works well, not one that crashes every two seconds).
I saw that it was on sale for €599 with a case and screen protector. Do you think it will be cheaper at Christmas?
I am certainly going to stick with FP when I need to replace my current FP3. The issue of other apps stopping music playing has threads for FP4,5,and 6 here. I have also experienced that on my FP3, but only with two games. Freecell and Sudoku. I think it is something to do with the games having permissions to override audio settings. I have since uninstalled both. I experienced the problem when the adverts some on either during or at the end of a game. I could pay to go advert free, but decided to get rid of the problem apps instead. I am sure that if I understood more about the Android system I could do something about this!
I too am considering a FP6 coming from a 2021 Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro. But just a brief read of this forum, it seems to have a number of niggly issues - microphone sensitivity with some apps, loudspeaker volume and camera quality and settings.
I’m playing with the same kind of interest for this phone. My Oneplus 11 is starting to giving it up. Broken screen, pore battery.
I’m looking into the deals these days, but ist hard to make the step.
I need a full day battery, working with Android Auto, not playing games or heavy app use. But just normals browsing, social media, mails, music and some scrolling in the eveving. Keep wondering of this is the phone for me
On forums you will always find more cases that give problemes. But the ones that don’t have issues you won’t here complaining here.
I think overall its a great phone if you are not a heavy user.
I’m in doubt just for the battery and the cam. Its hard to compare it on the internet with the phone you own now. In example, I still think my Oneplus 11 takes better photos than the fairphone 6. But there will be a lot of cases where the fairphone takes equal photos or maybe better.
I would not have recommended the FP6 to anyone a couple of months ago (too many issues in software), but there have been regular updates with bugfixes. I have had mine for like 4 months, and so far it has been a pretty ok phone for daily phone usage.
Its definitely not slow. Not blazingly fast but not slow either, ive never been hindered with simple games or daily usage. The screen is great (I come from a OnePlus 8, and I personally like this one more. And overall I do enjoy it as my daily driver. The camera is pretty good, but the app could make way more use out of the sensor.
There are some downsides though. USB 2.0 is a bummer. The microphone placement is pretty poor, so its easy to accidentally block. No ARCore support. Still some bugs in photo storage, screen refresh rate.
So yea, if you can live with the downsides then its a pretty good daily driver. If you need those, then i’d skip it.
You really missing that USB3.X? Your OnePlus 8 didn’t had that neither. I’m probably will switch from a Oneplus 11 and the USB 2.0 isn’t a dealbreaker for me. Because even my OP11 doesn’t have that.
So if camera is still in the works with software updates and alse the screen refresh rate can get fixed with an update in my eyes… It is coming close to being really good.
I did not realize the OP11 did not have USB 3, that is pretty wild for a flagship device
OP8 has USB 3.1, and I used it on a regular basis to connect my phone to an external screen instead of a laptop. Software support was not amazing, but it worked really well for the basic situations where I needed it. I even worked from a camp site using a portable screen and keyboard/mouse during a holiday and it was usable for web-based interactions (i have an alienware laptop, so power and portability are a pain, something this setup fixed at a low budget).
Definitely agree with the screen refresh and camera updates. They already improved so I have faith the FP team will manage.
As a computer science student you’re probably interested in the open-source side of things — customizing, modifying, experimenting…
Keep in mind that the FP6 is not fully open-source at the moment: only some components are, and the most interesting parts (like the kernel) are not.
If your goal is to use your phone to learn, explore, and tinker at a low level, you might want to keep an eye on the FP5 instead.
For now, the FP5 is much closer to being fully open-source and is better suited for learning and experimentation.
I suggest waiting until the reboot issue is fixed. It happens randomly—anywhere from once a week to five times a day—which makes the phone unreliable. I can’t even trust my alarms to go off.
While a firmware update two cycles ago helped, the phone still isn’t stable. The latest update didn’t address this at all, and there is no word on when a real fix is coming. Having a reliable phone is a priority for me, so I can’t recommend it in this state.
