I wanted to share my first impressions, experiences etc with the FP5 in case this helps anyone else out with their purchasing decision. I have been debating for an excruciatingly long time (maybe 2 years now) on which phone to get next, and it became a necessity for me to finally pull the trigger.

About me

This is an important part because it informs my opinions shared below. Maybe you align on some areas but not others!

• I come from an almost 100% iOS user experience, save for a few months that I have a Pixel 3a XL
• My phones up until yesterday were an iPhone 7 (personal) and iPhone SE 2022 (Work), I’ve replaced the iPhone 7 with the FP5
• I haven’t used a pair of wired headphones in years
• I work from home and am rarely away from a place where I can charge
• I have small hands and really was hesitant to go bigger than the SE screen size
• I’m about as violently passionate for touch ID as other people seem to be about wired headphones
• I’ve smashed up almost every single phone I’ve ever owned
• Possibly related, I’ve never used a screen protector (until now)

For performance context, the 3 series was their current in market series at the time, I’ve used the 2020 SE phone since launch essentially, and up until about 2 years ago I always used the latest iPhone. I’ve been using the 7 as a handmedown since my last tragic loss of a phone.

Arrival

The phone shipped right around when they said it would via UPS, and actually got here a day earlier than the estimated shipping date from UPS. They delivered directly to the door with no handoff to local postal services which I am very happy about. That meant also no long delays in customs for processing.

The Look

The phone does look a little “retro” if you want to call it that as far as chassis shape and bulk, but I wouldn’t think twice about that if I just saw the phone lying there. It is very sleek at the same time, and the satin-matte surface looks nice. Also, I generally think we’ve sacrificed too much in the name of the thinnest device across all electronics. Balance is key, and repairability/upgradeability is worth the extra mm.

Setup

Setup was easy and unremarkable, which is a good thing here. You’ll see a theme start to emerge, and that theme is “no different than my experience with any other phone.” The only issues I had were from me being a dumbass and just assuming a random hole on the side of my phone was a sim tray (it wasn’t, hopefully I didn’t break anything!), and the phone recognizing my sim during setup. I assume this is some sort of network profile issue, because when I eventually skipped it I saw that my sim was recognized very shortly after (while I was still going through the setup process)

Performance

So how does it run? Peachy keen, jellybean. I have almost no complaints about responsiveness and behavior of the phone. I don’t even want to call them complaints, but the scant number of occurrences I’ve had could be explained by other things:

• a very small number of times my first touch didn’t register. Is this related to using a screen protector? Is this related to the interactive element to that particular app? Because it seemed to happen in a few specific places and not randomly, I am feeling the latter
• I had an issue with multitasking not working at all but a restart of the phone fixed the issue. I am generally finding the experience with multitasking a bit clunky, but am I just getting used to it, or is this a general complaint about this version of Android? It seems like it might be the also the latter, so I am going with “a combination of both”

In a nutshell, I’m satisfied. I can open my apps and use them in a reasonable amount of time. So far no crashes, etc. I can play Vampire Survivors. What else do I need?

Does it be a phone good?

This was once a phone’s primary function, but now not so much. The very first time my husband called me, he had to call twice but since then it’s been smooth sailing. I want more data points to give a fair/honest review here, but I would say that it’s “fine” for right now.

I use a physical Sim and am in the process of acquiring an esim to test out US network compatibility. I am an American (a Broad!) this is one of my necessities - being able to communicate with friends and family but also to use phone number 2FA when required because most don’t let you use VOIP in my experience. Nothing quite like having to use a friend’s phone number for 2FA for your banking app in the name of “Security”!

It calls fine, it texts fine (no problems yet), but I may have only done both over wifi so far. It could be that my issue above was related to my wifi come to think if it.

Things it does/has that I care about

• USB-C port!!!1!one! I have a physical key that doesn’t have NFC, and this was one of my big motivations to look outside iOS. I know that EU laws now require it, but I watched the keynote and it still doesn’t have
• Touch ID - Call me a luddite or call me self conscious, but I just don’t want to use my face for verification. I am cool with the option being there in case I change my mind, but I will not actively choose a phone without fingerprint verification
• E-Sim - All I can say so far is that it has it, but Mint Mobile gave my IMEI the thumbs up?
• SD Slot - I cannot see ever needing to use this, but I’m sure some will appreciate it?

Things it doesn’t have/do that I don’t care about

• Headphone jack - I get it, we all have out things, this just isn’t one of mine
• The greatest speakers - So far this is the complaint I’ve read that is the most legit, but I really don’t use the built in speakers on my phone out of anything other than necessity. They’re good enough for that, but not great.

Things I begrudgingly accept

• The larger screen size - I know I’ll “get used to it” again but this screen size is not conducive to use for people with small hands. Hot take, this is less of a screen size issue and more of a UI issue, and maybe if the UI teams considered a layout that didn’t require being able to reach across the entire width (let alone height) of the screen this would be a non issue
• Google - I am choosing not to degoogle at least for now because I am not confident on what that would mean for the security of my device. I come from a cybersecurity background, and more research is needed. Instead, I am in the process of layering my privacy mitigations that will end up with something much better than I had with Apple anyhow
• The things I left behind in the iOSPhere - Shortcuts, iMessage, Airdrop - probably mostly Shortcuts though

Things I wish it had

• Flip to Silence - One of the things I missed most when I went back to Apple was being able to easily silence my phone by flipping it upside down

Does it Camera Good?

This is the first picture I took with it, and I wasn’t planning on sharing it but here we are. Colors look great, and it’s really sharp especially for how close she is to me. No adjustments made to the camera settings, no adjustments made in post:

https://preview.redd.it/3b4fi4v0ikwb1.jpg?width=4096&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a9ad08513780b3086e7c18c249d3735cbe835c16

The Mission

Pt 1 - Repairability - this is one of the big things, right? When I eventually smash this phone to shit, I look forward to being able to replace the components myself. I look forward to extending the life of a phone that still would be just fine if the battery wasn’t degraded

Pt 2 - environmental/human rights - Fairphone still uses Qualcomm, but that’s because Qualcomm basically has a monopoly on CPUs. I won’t spend a lot of time explaining why this is important, because presumably if you’re here you already know. But the most painful criticism I’ve read prepurchase is how its “not the best value for what you get.” The best value is almost always going to be mired in human rights violations, the destruction of natural resources and communities, the loss of workers rights, and the strengthening of monopolies. Thats why these practices are done, and that’s why major companies can out compete smaller ones.

Final Thoughts

Listen, maybe I’m comparing the FP5 to the Apple Rock, and you are used to using your brand’s Flagship, Mach 5 X-17000 DDR MAX 2 Ultra Extreme Edition. I don’t care how many iops per parsec benchguy dot biz is awarding one phone vs the other. It can do what I need it to, and don’t feel as though I’ve made any real sacrifices.