There are many great raving reviews about the FP3 here, but I admit I have read only some of them. Yet I feel like I want to write my own and of course I expect that everyone will read it
Anyway, my FP3 is about 5 1/2 years old, I have done my share of dropping it on (hard) floor, and it became wet a couple of times. It still looks good, everything is working, and the (original) battery still lasts for ~2 days even though I use the phone quite a lot recently. It is running an old /e/ OS by the way.
Sure it has some peculiarities like the camera, at least with /e/ OS, but with some attention it makes very nice photos.
It never let me down for like really important phone calls and so.
And it was (and still is) a truly loyal and reliable companion for quite some exciting changes in my life like moving to another country, looking for an apartment, using the mobile hotspot for my (data intensive) daily work for months, guiding me through traffic with the excellent Magic Earth, providing me with music I like and of course email, Signal & friends.
Thank you, Fairphone and /e/ OS, for a very good phone!
I think it is still going to work well for some years to comeâŚ
And as for photos, if you havenât tried it yet, I have been using Nikitaâs GCam port (i.e. the Google Pixel camera app made available for all Android phones). To use it, download the .apk Nikita: NGCam_8.2.300-v1.8 (just the first link there) to your FP3 and install it by tapping on the file (note: This â in my eyes â greatly improves the main cameraâs photos, but for selfies, it doesnât).
Tried it, but it takes forever to process a photo. Tried Open Camera as well. Works okay, but photos in darker settings, like sun set situations come out poorly. So far, havenât found a camera app that works fast and have good results. Maybe itâs the FP3 camera itself?
Yes, GCam processes the shots slowly, but at least on my own FP3 on /e/OS 2.6.3 this does not bother me much as itâs happening in the background and I can still take like 5-10 more shots until I need to give GCam a rest and let it proceed with processing.
Perhaps /e/OS and Fairphone OS make a difference here â I also have an FP3 in vanilla state (Fairphone OS Android 13) and even without much CPU load I keep noticing that the FP3 on /e/OS Android 14 runs smoother and faster than the FP3 on Fairphone OS Android 13.
I also tried the GCam port and while it does indeed produce nice results, I still prefer OpenCamera because I think the photos appear more natural, probably because of less processing.
With OpenCamera, I usually adjust white balance and sometimes exposure, and it needs some attention on the auto-focus. Given a bit patience, it can make nice photos I think.
My /e/ OS is very old and wanted to update it for a long time, but since this requires a complete reinstall/restore I just delay and delay probably also because what I have right now works fine.
However, would an update give me the feature to stop charging at 85%? That would really be helpful.
My rooted FP3 is 3,5 years old, always on /e/OS, working just fine (save some minor flaws), but still on 1.4. Urs, you are on 2.6.3. Do you have Magisk and TWRP? As I am using root and TWRP, I am apprehensive that neither would work on this latest OS version.
Well, I use the default Fairphone OS and take pictures with Nikita GCam version 8.1.101-v1.0 on my FP3.
My experience is that the processing time is indeed long, but for me it is compensated by the good result of the photos, especially in low light situations. However, it usually doesnât let me take more than 4 or 5 photos in a row until it processes the previous ones.
I try not to go more than 3 or 4 because on some specific occasion (it is not usual at all) it has corrupted the file when processing it and I have lost those photos, so I usually try to avoid âoverwhelmingâ it too much, and I donât usually take more than 2 or 3 photos in a row and let it process âquietlyâ, without using other applications (in case it has something to do with that).
same here: fully content with my FP3+ after 5 years with 24/7 use. it runs on the 2nd battery (always recharging to 90% only). it runs on Android14 right now, and all updates were accepted w/o hickups. only small reason for concern: I may have to replace the display module soon, because on two spots parts of the screen have been âpeeling offâ for about 3 months (white arrowheads
That happens with mine too, it started 1-2 years ago. It looks like it is only the black frame (some kind of foil?) around the actual display. The display itself is flawless.
If that doesnât bother you (I personally donât care at all) then you wonât have to replace it
yes, itâs only within the âblack frameâ around the display so far. I agree, changing the entire module isnât necessary if the quirk stays there. time will tell :â)
probably also because what I have right now works fine.
