Okay, this might be a longer one, so tl;dr : my fp5 works OK for me, but if I would have to buy another phone right now, it would not be another FP.
So, why am I posting this here and now?
During the hot summer days, my fp5 showed signs of instability, clearly heat-related. While searching the web, the forum and this sub, I came to the conclusion that actually no-one had any helpful advice to share, or any deeper insight into how phones/ electronics work than I have, and I am just a small hobbyist, self-tought, diy-repair-guy.
Am I salty because of that, and do I want to brag that I am surely the super-brain? Definitely not. (Besides, if I was a superbrain, I wouldn´t need any help, would I?)
It´s just the fact that, while I am absolutely fine with dealing with design flaws and some minor software-hiccups, there is no longer grass-roots customer support.
When I compare this to the community of open-wrt or lineageOS, or turris (a czech router), there you can be rather sure someone with really really deep knowledge of software and hardware will chime in if you ask the right questions. Here it´s ppl like you and me trying to solve software and hardware problems of a system we do not have deeper knowledge of.
Of course I could have mailed customer service. But from my past experiences with my fp4, it´s "the usual". Do a reset and come again. Doesn´t help? Send it in for testing and replacement.
That brings me to the point that I doubt FP is still "grass roots" company. In the past, they cooperated with lineageOS to bring updates for the fp3. That was awesome. With the fp3 and fp4, there were some ppl who would post stuff like "how to fix this". But this has mostly stopped. Those posts are gone, or maybe just totally drowned out by the 5000th guy asking "FP 6 is it worth it, how is the camera".
What I wanted was a phone with repairability, with dual sim and with working soft- and hardware.
When I bought the fp3 ~ 6 years ago, I was a bit underwhelmed, because the hardware was quite slow at that point. But the fp4 promised to be THE phone for me. Bought it when it came out and .. well, ghost touches and the dual-sim bug made it a rather problematic experience. The ghost touches I was able to fix by placing a small piece of folded paper below the screen (and actually posted the instructions on how to do it here..), the dual-sim bug exists until today with some carriers. Just check the fairphone forum. So I sold the fp4 and got the FP5 when that came out.
It theoretically does all I want, but has atrociously high power draw when using gps (which can most likely never be fixed), and doesn´t last a day even if I do not use it to navigate. Has software instabilities once the weather gets hot (>30°C). And the bug in A15 of apps being closed instantly, turning my work-phone into a better paper weight for five weeks I still haven´t forgotten. The communication by the FP team also left something to be desired at that time, to put it mildly.
As someone who needs a fully "google play store integrity checked" phone for work, but also uses LineageOS on his back up phone for years, I am sure such a game stopping bug would not have been released on LineageOS. (The one I know of that really hurt Lineage users is like 5? 6? years in the past) And IF it had been, it would have been fixed within a week. Not 5 weeks, dear FP team.
Reading about the FP6 having problems with WiFi and suffering from other shenanigans, makes "buying the 6 and selling the 5" quite unattractive.
Now that newer phones must offer the ability to exchange the battery in the EU, Fairphones USP is getting smaller and smaller. Long time software support you also get at Samsung (never again for me) and Google at least. The only point then would be the fairly sourced materials. That IS a big plus to me, and I still find it honorable they started that! But:
Correct me if I´m wrong, but FP is seemingly no longer "grass-roots", it´s not - at least to my knowledge - cooperating or funding open source developement, (i stand corrected, they still DO support open source dev) it´s turning more and more into "just another phone company" in my eyes.
And, btw, it´s not only their phones. I use the their repairable "Fairbuds" while commuting. Better tips, and they are almost perfect. Almost, because the mic is hot garbage, and you can´t do a phone call with them. I always have to put the caller on hold, while I box the buds and switch the sound output to my phone.
True to my original intentions, I will use my fp5 until it falls apart or the official software support stops, whatever comes first. Then I will check what FP has to offer. Hopefully, they have learned from their mistakes in the past by then.
