Fairness is an important issue for me. Fairphone gave me the opportunity to put my money where my mouth is, and believe me, I have.
I owned an FP1, and convinced my father to buy one too. When I was given an iphone at work, I politely gave it back and kept using my FP1 instead. Then, support for the OS dwindled and slowly died. I thought, ok, let’s be understanding here and support the mission, after all they’re up against some really huge competition, and I bought an FP2. A friend of mine who trusts me bought one as well, because they trust my opinion. I had repeated issues with the hardware (my Support log is a fun read, although credit where it’s due - almost all repairs were done for free as they were within 2 years of purchase, but they were many), and software (lost my data in the Great Open Source OS Official Update Debacle of 2017 after I was forced to wipe it in order to make it usable again). When FP did a round of public fundraising this year, I gave some money. I am not a rich man. But I believe in fairness, and put a lot of € towards FP.
In December of 2015 I pre-ordered a FP2. It arrived in May/June 2016. In August 2018 (and therefore just after the warranty expired), I started having a hardware issue which has gradually rendered the phone unusable. In a last ditch attempt, I connected the phone to my computer and ran an update through command line, as suggested by customer support (my support logs are there for FP to go and read). Now the OS is fried as well, and I have lost all the data that I hadn’t backed up in the last few months.
I want to replace this with another FP2. I really do. But this feels… stupid. Fairness does not mean buying a new phone every 2 years. It doesn’t mean dreading the moment the warranty runs out because the next time something happens, I’m facing a €300+ repair bill if I want to avoid buying an entirely new phone.
I’m looking for reasons to not just give up and just buy a second-hand, non-fair smartphone, and install LineageOS on it this time around.
I moved this from #help:fp2 as you are not describing any issue that we could help you with.
Second hand phones are always better than even the fairest new phones. The only reason to buy an FP2 over a different used phone is if you want one.
Usually FP2s work flawlessly, so there is also no reason not to buy a new one. Though personally I’d take the 300€ repair over a new FP2 for 530€. If you don’t repair your old FP2 please donate it to a localcommunities or in the Market so it can still be used for scrap parts.
Hey Paula. Thanks for your contribution, you’ve been doing fantastic work in the forum over the years and I’m sure I’m not the only member who wants to thank you for that.
Since I contributed to the funding, I actually have access to a €180 discount, which brings the price for a new FP2 below the quoted price for repair (€ 378). So from a financial point of view the choice is not even between repairing or a new one - it’s between a new FP2 for €350 (+ € 15 - 20 for postage and packaging, which was another unwelcome surprise when I looked into how much it’d cost, and something you only discover on checkout), or a second hand non-FP2 for… I don’t know, €100?
And honestly, if I could trust that a new FP2 would hold up as well as a second hand non-FP2, I might actually go for it, even for 3 times the price. But based on personal experience… I can’t.
I am sorry to hear about all your troubles. I must say that my troubles have been limited to the bottom module.
Now the FP2 is running quite slow but I figure it can be fixed with a factory reset.
I totally get it that you want to switch to a second hand phone but be prepared for not upgrading your OS as it will slow your phone down as OS updates are optimised for the latest hardware and double as a push towards newer hardware.
Kudos for your patience.
Hello there, I have the same story, same motivation for buying a fairphone my first smartphone and am now really fed up with it. I have had it three years and I think that it has never at one point worked 100%. Never! Most parts have been replaced and luckily free of charge except for the screen module which I also had to replace ( middele section more or less dead) and waited too long. I was so used to problems that I didnt bother until I did and was too late. Anyway, now I have bad reception, or no reception inside buildings and the sound is distorted both for me and at the other end.
It is unbelievable how much has gone wrong and is still not well. My patience has been stretched to breaking point. It would be absolutely laughable to contemplate buying another fairphone.
The worst part may be that all of my friends and contacts have noticed the problems and are not taking my fairphone seriously at all! They will never ever buy one because of their experiences with mine. They find it a ridiculous and expensive crap phone and have more or less told me so.
Very sad, what can I do? I feel I’m stuck in a bad marriage… Getting used to it too.
Hopeless really, anyway good luck to those who have a good phone. I wonder whether it is the majority or not?