True, fair point. There’s also a second-hand market of FP2. Another reason could be not to create promises which can’t be fulfilled, or to wait with announcing for the right time (hey, they do use Macs at Fairphone and Waag).
I guess you will have to look for a second-hand phone, as the “original stuff” is sold out; at Fairphone as well as at resellers.
Guys, it’s time to face the truth: Fairphone 2 is sold out, Fairphone 3 is not yet announced, so what does a company do if it has nothing to sell?
This means: Fairphone is as dead as can be!
Actually they have already teased a big reveal this summer via newsletter. It seems pretty safe to assume that we will get to know the Fairphone 3 soon. Fairphone is anything but dead.
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i follow discussions about FP3. and i’m certainly interested in any planned features. i’m especially interested to learn if FP3 comes again with smaller screen, similar size as FP1. i had FP1 and happily use my FP2 since it came out. the only complaint is that i miss a smaller screen. no big deal but i’m increasingly fed up with large screens – also on laptops, 11.5" is just fine for me – that occupy too much of my visual field. a personal thing.
I sure hope the next phone will have DisplayPort/HDMI capability. With my last phone, I could connect the phone to a portable external monitor and basically use it like a laptop. It saved me buying a laptop as well as a phone. Now I need a new phone (I won’t go into why I can’t repair the old one!).
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If it has USB-C it might be possible to use that as output:
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Which phone was that?
Do you mean slimport?
In principle you could connect a phone with an monitor which has a usb connection. Or use a adapter from usb to vga.
Not unless either:
- The graphics IP inside the SoC is willing to route display information through that USB channel, or
- The USB-to-VGA converter is really a USB graphics “card” with a VGA output, the smartphone happens to have drivers for this device and Android is willing to use that as a second monitor.
Realistically, the former is the only reasonable way to go, but it’s unclear whether the chosen Qualcomm SoC supports this in practice. Looking at the list of phones that support display-over-USB, none of them seem to contain a mid-range Qualcomm SoC.
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I tend to agree that the situation seems critical for Fairphone. Leaking info and soon announcing a new product is nice and all, but there is no way around the fact that for months they have had nothing to sell to the few potential customers in their niche market. And if past releases are anything to go by, even if and when a product is announced it may be many more months before it is actually available.
I might have been in the market for a new phone (killed my FP2 screen and am generally rather unhappy with the stability of the FP2, so debated if I’d sink another 100€ for a new screen into it). But Fairphone’s track record tells me not to hold my breath for the availability of announced products, let alone unannounced ones.
So my advice to OP and others looking for a phone now would be: If you decide to wait for FP3, be prepared to be patient.
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First: Maybe you can get a used display for less via the marketplace or from on of the #fairphoneangels
Second: My guess would be, that FP has been working on the FP3 for quite some time now; so announcing it equals starting to sell it. One reason I come to this conclusion is the fact, that there have been no OS-updates for the FP2 in a while. Seems to me, they have focused on the new model.
I may be completely wrong of course.
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I think a good hint that the actual FP3 isn’t too far away is the 10€ discount you get when registering for their newsletter now 
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Thanks for the hint about the used display! I should have thought about that. Instead I did end up ordering a new display. Even though I’m regularly annoyed about the constants reboots of my FP2, otherwise it does its job and ecologically I think there is no good justification for binning it just yet.
Back on topic: I would love to believe that this time around all is different, that this will actually be a “hard” product launch with immediate availability. Somehow I don’t, but maybe that’s just me. I guess we’ll know more on August 27.
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BQ Aquaris X2. The cheapest phone at the time that had this feature. Glued shut though. USB 3.1 generation 1.
It’s a more modern version of SlimPort but the same principle. In the link JeroenH provided it talks about SlimPort and before that, MHL as two standards used on micro USB before USB type C made it easier. They worked too. They basically allowed a device to receive power as well as to display audio visual, and also included a small communication channel for input such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen. So MHL and SlimPort did the same thing essentially. MHL was based on HTML and SlimPort was based on DisplayPort.
It’s not at all expensive to implement, but in the cut-throat world of smartphone competition, most smartphones just have a USB type C port that’s stuck on USB 2.0. This is not a priority for most consumers, but they’re missing out.
Doh!
HDMI, not HTML. A late night post after the pub.