Fairphone 5

I've had a Fairphone 5 for a year and it seems fine to me. I do remember people giving up on the early ones.

I have had my Fairphone 5 since 2023 and I enjoy it, but I also barely use its camera. Otherwise I do like it, though I installed LineageOS on it because Fairphone is kind of slow with updates.

[...] I've switched to Bluetooth but agree it isn't compatible with old school tech. That said, I've had my fairphone 5+ years now. The only replacement I've needed was a battery change which was so simple to do!

A Fairphone 5. [...] I have had one for over a year now, and it's been great. [...]

I've been using a Fairphone 3 for 4 years. The battery is still good and I still get Android security updates. They promise to support the newest model Fairphone 5 up to 8 years. [...]

[...] I'm as little reliant on proprietary services as possible and I'll jump to Linux mobile (having used a pinephone for one year as my main phone, I know it'll be comfortable for me) when a convincing phone that's not very expensive given the outdated hardware it has and that doesn't rely on an Android base can run it smoothly enough, but that phone doesn't exist yet. [...] The Fairphone 5 I have is very close to run PostmarketOS well, I have hope but for now few but critical features are missing.

i've been using my Fairphone 5 without any google account since last december, so about 5 months now i guess? [...] The apps i use most by far are messaging apps like Signal and Telegram which offer direct downloads and easy updating without play store, Organic maps for navigation, breezy weather, Immich (google photos replacement, self hosted) and etar (calendar, but its kinda clunky). [...]

@footsteps 2 years ago, I bought a Fairphone 5 while traveling to England. I have used CalyxOS on it, slightly different. [...] ATT does not sorry wifi calling. [...]

I have had Fairphone 5 for a bit over a year and I have not had any issues so far and would overall say this as positive investment for me. If your interest is in longevity then its positive for sure on that On gaming its not that good and pricing for sure it can be from higher end

I have a fairphone 5 and actively don't like it when it asks me if I want to mirror my screen when I plug it into a charging cable attached to a monitor.

I've just switched over to Ubuntu Touch again recently. We'll see if I stick with it, but... at least on my device (Fairphone 5), VoLTE works now!

I have the Fairphone 5, for which they picked the IoT equivalent of the mobile chipset so they could ensure 10 years of driver availability from the vendor (8 years of majors + 2 of security patching IIRC). [...] That's 8 years of software updates when Android devices from that era barely got 3, and you had to pick the flagship. Kernel updates used to be bound to Android versions because of how the kernel modules development was handled, not really limited by the company or the hardware. I owned a OnePlus 5 and the custom ROM was stuck with older kernels for a while too, until the community stepped up to port it, because there just wasn't an easy way to build kernels with updated custom vendor modules for the hardware. [...] So newer kernels may still lag a bit based on the manpower available and priorities, but they should be easier to do. Now that replacement cycles have become longer because hardware is good enough that you don't need to change phone every year, and Android supports KMI and other features that make maintenance easier, more vendors decided to extend support, so at least there's some more choice. From the environment point of view, I can now finally easily repair my phone. A friend of mine always had bad luck with pixels, so bad that he went through 4 phones in 5 years (2 bought, 2 replacements). [...]

[...] For example, I don't see where I can buy Fairphone 5 chipset, a QCM6490, but I can buy a Pinephone Pro's RK3399. [...]

I have a Fairphone 5 which I'm very happy with. Replaceable battery and security updates for 8 years

Recently replaced the battery and charging port of my Fairphone. 5 screws, two plucked components, done. Hopefully this means that soon you won't have to buy a specific company's phone for this marvelous experience.

I just switched to a Fairphone 5 with e/OS, which is a de-googled Android (it uses microG), and am pleasantly surprised how well everything works. [...]

[...] An acquaintance at a local hackerspace has no laptop, just a Fairphone 5 and a device that looks like a laptop but is really just an external screen and keyboard. He connects his Ubuntu Touch phone and uses that as a laptop, developing software on it etc. [...] passing through Bluetooth is an issue so there are limitations) but maybe that's an interesting option for you as well

All the Fairphone Versions support e/OS/ as far as I know. I have the Fairphone 5 with the current e/OS/ version completely un-googled. But you also have the option to allow partial google-fication in e/OS/ so you don't miss out on most of the features and paid-apps you had.

I recently got a FairPhone 5 and it is working pretty well, especially for the price. UbuntuTouch as an OS is quite refreshing as it's not just a copy of Google/Samsung/Apple UIs. [...]

I got a FairPhone 5, not bad. I wanted to contribute without supporting Google, so FP is a good choice.

I use a Fairphone 5 and plan to stick with it for a while (after all, that's the point!) but this does look very nice. [...] I got mine on a trip to Europe and it works here, but not always consistently. [...]

I had an iPhone 11 and the Fairphone 5 feels like an upgrade. (Case on the former as it shatters and is expensive to repair and no case on the latter)

Really loving my Fairphone 5 - basically smartphones are enough of a commodity now everything feels really high quality and fast physically. [...]

[...] Thanks to that, now I have iPhone (longer support) and Fairphone 5 (I like how they try to upstream everything for this phone and promise really long support). [...] As long as browser is up-to-date, she doesn't connect to unknown WiFi networks/Bluetooth devices and she is not targeted. The easiest security fix is to not have anything worth anything on the phone :D

I have had a pretty similarly bad experience repairing my pixel 4a the other month. Purchased a new screen and kit from ifixit for 1/3 the cost of buying a new phone, even had to get a heat gun to unglue the old screen, and guess what? [...] Just got a fairphone 4, optimistic but the build quality is shit and they're already rolling out a fairphone 5 now... [...]

[...] I got a Fairphone 5 at the beginning of the year, so far so good (but obviously I can't say much about the repairability stuff yet because I haven't yet had to repair it). [...]

New Fairphone 6+ is £30 cheaper than what I paid for the Fairphone 5 in September 2024. And the price of the 5 was cut less than a week after I bought it. 🥲

I simply wasn't thinking when I updated my phone to android 16. My dexcom app is constantly disconnecting and won't reconnect until I reboot, AND gemini took over my GODDAMN POWER BUTTON??? As soon as I have enough money again, I'm finally getting a murena fairphone 5. [...]

[...] My Fairphone 5 with Android 15 refuses to do the USB webcam thing. I'm sure I got it to do it before ... [...]

Question regarding Fairphone 5. Every time I get an incoming call, my phone pops up with a couple of screens which are hard to eliminate. [...]

Liquid glass basically was the last straw for me to get away from Apple. I got a Fairphone 5 late last year and will switch from my iPad to a 2-in-1 Windows laptop this year.

@pojntfx running pmos on Fairphone 5, as a daily driver but using ubports phone for calls

@fabio Next to @murena as daily driver, I am running @ubports on a Fairphone 5. [...]

Anyone phone shopping, if it's compatible with your network, I cannot rave about the fairphone 5 enough. I fell into a creek today and was able to open my phone up completely to make sure things got thoroughly dry! [...]

My @WeAreFairphone 3 stopped stopped working a week ago (due to the multiple knocks I have given it over the last 5 years). 5 years I have had the same phone without google thanks to @murena Which one have I changed it for? For another fairphone 5 that I hope will last me another 5 years […]

Now that I have a Fairphone 5 with a 5 year warranty, and security and Android updates until 2031, and is completely modular for very low cost and easy self done repairs, yeah let's figure out how to get my dog to outlive my phone by a couple of decades.

[...] I bought a Librem 5 a few months ago, so I'm sure on that one. The Fairphone 5 is around 3 years old, it doesn't seem to be listed in the official store, but they are big on reusing so I think there should be at least a few second-hand ones being sold(I found some on ebay, and some on their forum). [...] The pinephone is another one very old, they seem to have the "basic edition" still avaliable, but it might be slow. [...] But I must admit a lot of the ones I listed might be too expensive if we consider how old they are

[...] And I have a friend who keeps his small IPhone because they stopped building smaller phones, too. [...] For me, I want to be able to operate the phone with one hand, and the large screen makes it difficult to reach all the spots on the screen even with large hands. I do operate my Fairphone 5 with one hand, but it is super awkward and at some point, the phone will fall into a gully because I cannot hold it tight while navigating. And I wouldn't mind 2mm more thickness if this means the cameras are flush with the back and the battery is larger.

[...] Even worse, it slowing us down from leaving Android entirely. [...] Initiatives like FairPhone paying someone to upstream device support in the mainline kernel / postmarketOS are interesting for both approaches at the same time (but extra effort would be needed, the FairPhone 5 almost working under postmarketOS [1] is kinda irritating, I hope it reaches full support before Lineage OS stops being updated for this device). [...]

[...] I have a Fairphone 5 and helping provide answers to questions in threads online is a minefield. [...] Whether it's USB-OTG display functionality, headphone jack, slider to kill all connections, etc, everybody is convinced their one feature is holding this phone company back, just because they want this one feature. [...]

On the other hand, the Fairphone 5 is hardly a ball of fire when it comes to processor power. [...] I think performance might be what limits its actual useful life. I have had to replace phones more for being slow (since software is always eating up more and more performance) than for actual physical failures.

[...] Its most defining feature, for me, is its removable battery. [...] Over the Fairphone 5, the Samsung Xcover has a headphone jack, dual sim and a IP68 rating, it is a rugged phone. [...] The Fairphone has a better camera, better specs in general (but not best in class), and is more expensive. [...] The rest is about build quality, which is not easy to judge by the specs. [...] Software-wise, the Fairphone is, I think, much better. [...] All in all, I think both are worthwhile options, they just made different... [...]

I got the Fairphone 5, it doesn't solve the "crap camera" problem, as much as I love the company philosophy.

@fairphone.com I bought the Fairphone 5 about 6-8 weeks ago. I've been checking your online store occasionally for a spare battery and it's been out of stock the whole time. [...]

I had to replace my phone last month and I also thought about it, but: having a GPS is really handy when you travel often. [...] I went with the fairphone 5, hoping it'll last at least 8 years with various repairs. But it's kinda bulky.

I got it in my Fairphone 5 and, despite not being as stable as Id like it to be, I really like it. I develop mobile apps for my clients and I have a bunch of Apple stuff for my work, but I guess I could go with /e/OS and the Murena ecosystem (nextcloud…) with ease!

Fairphone 4 (2021) parts: Fairphone 5 (2023) parts: Parts for the Fairphone 2 (2015) and Fairphone 3 (2019) aren't available anymore, but I suppose that's not all that surprising after 11 respective 7 years. Afair, they started running out of some Fairphone 3 spare parts around 2024 and kept the ones they still had for warranty repairs. Source: I own one (and switched to the Fairphone 6 early this year).