I have a Google Pixel 5 that I installed e/OS myself on, but I dropped it a few days ago and the touch sensor is broken in such annoying locations that I feel the need for a new phone. So, trying to be more environmentally conscious, I wanted to try a fairphone for better repairability. I know they have been offering a version with e/OS pre-installed, but I only learned today that it is 50€ more expensive.
Do any of you guys know what the benefit of letting them do it is? I guess there technically is a risk I mess it up and brick my brand new phone, but I think the risk is so small that I am willing to take it.
Asked myself the same question last week. Bought the AOSP Version and did the flashing myself - worked out fine! Just be careful if you want to return to Stock Android: You need to be sure not to revert to a ROM with an older security patch date than currently installed (See anti-rollback feature and the remarks in the official instructions). This could potentially brick your phone. Mine shipped with a patch from May 2025, so flashing to a ROM with June 2025 security patch (e/OS 3.02) worked fine. Wanted to save those 50€, too :D
also the very long warranty, if you install a OS yourself it voids it.
The warranty doesn’t cover problems occuring during the installation procedure of the OS, but is not void in general.
https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/14487777708946-Warranty-with-an-Alternative-OS
Oh, fairphone leading by good example yet again. Thanks for pointing this out, makes installing it myself much more attractive again.
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I did not buy the phone from Murena and installed it myself but it took me 3 attempts before everything was in good shape, so it is much more convenient to buy it pre-installed, which I’d maybe do next time (hopefully 10 years from now given the fairphone promise of being repairable).
Very happy with /e/ OS. I sponsor Murena a little by subscribing to their Workplace product, which works well. App backup works fairly well too, so redoing the install is not terrible, but I hope to avoid it from now on (⁀ᗢ⁀)
Mostly because they spend the time developing an O/S you want. I bought my first android (fairphone 3) from them, and my next will be from whatever people spend their effords on the firmware (e/os/, iodé, etc)
The major bummer is that Murena only support your phone if you keep the O/S version on it it was sold with. That seems somewhat nuts, but …
