After using the Fairphone 5 for seven months now, and overall I really like it! Perfect for my big hands, easy replaceable parts, neat cameras and an open concept, which easily allows me to install a custom ROM. I miss an AR Chip, so I could use the PeakFinder feature in my map app, but that’s really not that important.
The only thing that really bugs me is the weak vibration motor. It’s basically the one thing that I can agree on with the Linus Tech Tips Review of the Phone. I either miss notifications and calls or have to set the phone on sound, which the minimum level of is really loud.
So because there is the possibility to replace each part individually, I would like the phone receiving a better vibration motor. I think the motor sits in the bottom module, so it would be an update to the bottom-module.
Previously I owned the Fairphone 3 for four years and it didn’t have this issue.
What do others think? Is this a problem for you?
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I have FP4 and the problem is exactly the same. I think they just copied the design from 4 to 5…
I had the Fairphone 2 before and on average the vibration motors are perfect, meaning the one of the FP2 was really strong while the one of the FP5 is very weak indeed. Putting the phone into the pocket of a somewhat wider jacket or trousers often means that I’m likely to miss whatever the phone wants to make me aware of as it more or less has to be pressed to the body to feel the vibration. Would be nice to have it a little bit stronger. On the other hand I doubt I personally would spend money on improving this.