Would you recommend buying an FP2? I know someone who needs a new phone but can’t afford the FP3 at over £500. She is considerng getting an FP2 but wants to know if these phons are still getting updates.
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I am still using mine on a daily basis. I am running SFOS on it which still receives updated thanks to @mal. If you just need a simple phone it is fine. The main issue I see is that hardware support is running out. If your mic or charging port breaks, you’ll have a hard time getting spares already.
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It might be better to go for a second hand FP3.
It’s also fast enough for navigation apps and browsing.
The FP2 is pretty slow. Browsing or navigation with it is not very smooth.
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Please note that the FP3 has never cost 500£, not even when it premiered four years ago (it started at 450 Euros, I believe). I think with a little attention and patience you might find a used one now between 100 and 200 Euros.
Fairphone has pledged to continue software support for the FP3 until August 2024 and is aiming to add two more years on top of that. Custom ROMs might support the FP3 even longer.
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The software updates for the FP2 stopped back in march, there are no new spare parts, the hardware is nigh 10 years old… Yeah, a second-hand FP3 is your best bet right now.
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FP3 - £579 on ebay and is the only one. Another was selling for over 600 but got sold recently.
Well, any product in the world can fetch a fantasy price like the one you are quoting – it just takes a scalper on one side and an uninformed and/or desperate buyer on the other side (see the recent 100,000+ $ auctioning of a first generation iPhone). Some buyers just have no self-control.
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Is there a reason to buy an FP3 in second hand instead of an FP4 ? If not, I would wait a bit for the FP5 announcement on Wednesday since it is quite likely some FP4 owners sell their phone to buy the new model.
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Sure, but it probably will take several months more until they get their new FP5 and can give away their old FP4s.
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Well, but with the prices mentioned above you’re almost in new-FP4 territory anyway. Also a quick look on eBay yielded a FP4 with a slightly broken screen and no other issues for just above 300€ for me (not UK based though), Even if you add the price for a completely new replacement screen that’s quite a good bargain (<400€ total).
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This is consumism, I hope that much fairphone users are different.
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As long as the previous phone is used by somebody else who could need one, I don’t see the problem. But I think this is not the topic.
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@Najma_Zaman I think is better to buy a second hand FP3, but its depend on your usercase.
FP2 can be a good phone at the moment, but I don’t know how much time will survive.
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In 2023? No way.
Best wishes,
Thomas
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I’d say that’s true for less than 5% of all smartphone users.
If you aren’t a nerd (like many FP users and especially the users still “working” with FP2), then the FP2 is only a suggestion if you only use it for phone and sms.
WhatsApp still works, too but opening a link in the webbrowser or starting a little bigger video can already overwhelm the FP2.
And this wont get better in the future. So, it’s better to get a phone with at least a little bit of computing reserves.
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My Fairphone is dying a slow and cruel bug death.
It is no longer the first line of target phones for Lineage or other roms. so testing is less… dense. and as fewer and fewer people use it, no reports are written… Bugs are no longer being fixed.
If you find a free FP2, take it, but don’t expect it to last longer than tomorrow. The hardware might, your preferred use case might not. Right now I have to choose between a full featured camera and a flashlight. i can’t find a rom that does both well.
I figured out it’s the camera revision, but I really don’t see what I can do about it.
Maybe stock OS might work better, but I can’t tolerate any 3rd party running my phone. so no Googles or stockOS for me.
I still love the phone but I already have a replacement unit (not a FP 
but rescued from the trash 
)in the drawer since I won’t be fixing it next time.
I’m still using my FP2 with LineageOS, even if I’ve always taken good care of the battery (regarding draining and charging) my phone is almost unusable right now. So if I were to buy a Fairphone used, I’d probably look for a FP4. But then again I’ve just looked at some prices, some people really want to sell a used FP4 more expensive than a brand new one, ridiculous!
Welcome to the community forum.
Even if you take care with the battery, it will age.
But other factors play an important role in usability of the phone, too.
Which issues do you face exactly, and what exactly did you already try to remedy them?
I’m still using my Fairphone 2 with /e/OS (based on LineageOS) and it’s still very much usable for my requirements.
I know, the batteries age regardless of how much you pay attention, what disappointed me though is the fact that the replacement battery I’ve ordered 2 years after purchasing FP2 was performing more or less the same as the original battery.
I’ve been using my FP2 with LineageOS with no Google Services installed all these years. Anytime I’ve used it actively (display on, browsing with Firefox etc.) it would start overheating. My wife had a FP2 as well which was behaving exactly the same.
Anyway, currently due to even more aged battery, the FP2 barely manages to stay idle (no usage, in Flight mode, only Wifi is on) for one day. But if I browse for 15 mins I can start looking for the charger right after that. So it is interesting to hear you have a better experience with /e/ OS. Do you have Signal or any Messenger running in the background? I have Signal installed, and the fact that my phone has no Google Push Services, it can be that it is polling in the background and eating up the battery, although in the battery usage page it shows very minimal usage. Apart from that LineageOS has some issues as well, UI is crashing and crashes even cause the phone not to ring when called. So although I have signal, I’m not reachable. But this is definitely not a complaint about LineageOS, the SW support all these years have been great, I’m grateful to the people who put their time and energy to it.