Should i buy the FairPhone?

Hahaha I guess it’s time for me to get back to bed >_>

(but if I could, I would)

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well, be aware of the grunt bias, I mean that by looking at forums and FB pages you can have the feeling that the phone is awful. Because unhappy people tend to write more about their issues than satisfied one. But I’m very happy with mine.

Of course it is not perfect. But when I have issues, i feel supported by the community, if I had another brand I would be more lonely. This community is for me a very strong positive point.

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buy it without even having second thoughts. Thats my verdict- a Fairphone owner for 10 months now…

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Buy it. I have mine now since February and no problems so far. If you look at a forum, you will of course get a wrong perception. When everything is just fine and running, you don’t have to start a topic in a support forum :smile:

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I cannot see any preference in your post due to other specials of FP2: Open Android Software, modular hardware design or longvity . I cannot realize that you insist in opening the device in both ways: HW + SW. If you only ask for the fairness that FP promotes there are maybe other smartphones that are also called partly fair. If you ask yourself just only about a fair product I cannot recommend to buy it because this kind of fairness is maybe not enough reason to buy a device like doing donations. Much of it can be done by your own donations to the societies behind FP. If you especially expect a reliable working device I cannot recommend you to buy FP2. And especially I cannot recommend to buy it if you expect a normal working support after problems happen to it.

@anon9505190, do you know other partly fair phones around that provide as much information as Fairphone? Personally, I don’t. So @dainis, I would absolutely advise to buy one if you want to live by your principles. I got mine for the same reasons, although the modular design to prevent e-waste was also important for me. Donating money can have a similar effect “on the field”, but being able to show your FP2 to friends and start talking about the problems with conflict minerals, is very important awareness-raising.

As for the problems: yes, there is a chance your phone has problems. Like any phone, but maybe also because of the revolutionary modular design. And since Fairphone is only a very small company, their helpdesk is not so big and getting feedback can take a while. But honestly, for every problem I had with my FP2, I found a solution here on the forum.

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I don’t know how much information you need. But there is a german company called SHIFT phones who provides information about fair ressources and workers labour condition.
To be honest I don’t talk to friends about the problems with conflict material although many may be still interested in that. I guess I should convince them by the attributes of the device directly. If this is not possible I wouldnot recommend to buy it.
That is why I would like to ask @dainis if he was interested in opening the device not only when repair is needed.

I have my fp2 now nearly a half year and I am pretty satisfied, everything is working so far and no problems.
I understand that by reading here someone can become frightened.
I never read anything here before I ordered the phone, and I think therefore I bought one, with reading here I would have possible became also afraid and would have bought an other one.
When I got it and start reading some threads here I became nervous.
As said, so far so good, have my as workphone, 2 sims, work/private, I am happy.
But I understand that people who buy such a device and than have problems can make a lot of noise here.

Unsure about the selling numbers and problem %, but if 60000 phones are sold, and 1% have problems, this are 600. If half of those visit this place to write about frustrations, this 300 are more to hear here than the 59400 who have no problems and not come here to report that everything works.

But of course, you have to decide, the phone comes via post, it is not that simple replaceable like a phone from the shop next door, you have to be aware of that and possible have a plan B for the worst case scenario.
If you do not want that, than go for a phone in the next door shop, but even this can be a frustrating experience, but of course, you will not read about that stories here.

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There is some interesting information in this thread:

Unfortunately Fairphone has not published any data about the failure rates of FP1 or FP2.

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Go for it.

I’ve had one since April and it’s the best phone I’ve ever had. It’s sturdy and can take a lot of abuse without breaking (those among us with small kids can understand how important this might be). It gets very timely security updates which is the first time I see in an Android phone. Battery life is also quite decent even when using two SIMs with it.

It only had a teething problem in the very first few days I owned it: sometimes the backlight of the screen wouldn’t turn on leaving it responsive but essentially black (I could barely see the UI with enough light shining over it). Taking out the screen and putting it in place again fixed the issue and I’ve never experienced it anymore so I chalk it up to poor contacts during the original assembly.

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I’m confident to say that it’s the first non-Nexus phone to receive monthly security updates. Plus they are deployed to both operating systems, FP OS (GMS) and FP Open OS.

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i’m kind of bummed. i am going on a trip and i need a new phone. the fairphone is not available, so i just ordered a shiftphone.

it looks like i will join the fairphone family in the next “go-around” of phones…

Although I made my guessing you could take shiftphone as a substitute I think you followed not only advices given here that say you should only rely on the fair called argument. As I mentioned earlier you maybe decided on other objectives than the modularity or the open software. And you maybe didnot want to open the device for further development. That is a good reasonable decision not driven by emotions but more on your own needs. Good choice.

But am I right that there is no phone with 4G at the moment? In my opinion for a long-lasting phone 4G support is important.

Fairphone is designed to use with one or two sims. It has 4G, but only for one sim at the time.
You must choose which sim gets 4G, but it is changable which sim gets 4G.

But am I right that there is no phone with 4G at the moment?

Sorry, I meant the Shiftphone. I know, that Fairphone supports 4G (on one simcard) :slight_smile:

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Let’s continue discussion about the shiftphone here please:

@dainis maybe you could share your experiences about it there? :slight_smile: