I switched from pixel (originally a nexus user, then most models up to 6) to FP6. After using google phones for well over a decade, I won’t be going back. Anecdotally:

• FP 6 camera is decidedly inferior to pixel 7 pro. Not just the image quality, but also the pre- and post- processing abilities you have in the pixel simply don’t exist on the FP. Native camera app is fully functional but somewhat limited in options.
• Every. Single. Google. App. can be uninstalled. Simply can’t do that on the pixel. FP comes with a single lightweight manufacturer app that seems to provide only functionality / drivers.
• machine learning on the FP is less capable that the pixel series. For illustration,the ‘predictive apps’ that you see on your pixel is just not available on the FP. In short, Pixel has a strong but invisible range of predictive outcomes that you (I) didn’t recognise until I switched to vanilla android.
• phone is a lot more location dependent. For illustration: I’m in North America and the October android patch forced my device into a boot cycle. Had to disable precise location as a short-term fix. Turns out that FP 6 isn’t sold by FP in North America (Murena is a reseller, no shade) so it’s a bit unsurprising that the patch isn’t robust worldwide. However. The issue was raised in the FP forums, the manufacturer ACTUALLY CONTACTED AFFECTED USERS seeking logs, and a month later shipped the next patch which resolved the problem (I’ve had tickets open with google for 3 bloody years without resolution).

To summarise my experience, I was unconsciously dependent on certain Pixel functionality, and the switch was a little shock. But I feel much more capable with this phone and I certainly feel more control.

Good luck with the choice!

Well, in normal operation, it’s a very standard Android phone. The OS out of the box is vanilla android (although it’s easy to put a custom ROM on if you want). The camera is fine but not spectacular - I still use a dedicated camera if I care about a picture, but it’s fine for random snapshots. Basically, if it came in a white box that just said “phone” on it, it’s what you’d expect to be inside, except for the fact you can take it apart and put it back together.

After using the 5 for a couple of years, I don’t really have any complaints other than it’s a bit too easy to double-tap the power button. The battery life has held up, and I still don’t feel the need to swap it out yet.

On my FP2, I had to replace the screen. The way it happened was a good example for why repairable phones are good. It was broken but still usable, so I ordered the new screen, then swapped it out in a minute or so after it arrived; basically no downtime.

Phone calls are broken on both the Fairphone 4 and 5. The Fairphone 4 has some issue where the microphone has really low gain so I had to almost scream and after the last update in April I just couldn’t make or receive calls any longer. It worked once I rebooted but after a few hours it stopped again. The Fairphone 5 developed a similar issue after the upgrade to Android 15, phone calls just stop working after a while.

Another ridiculous issue is that the background image of the Fairphone 5 keeps resetting to the default blue image.

I switched to a Pixel with GrapheneOS instead. This has its own little issues but at least phone calls work reliably on my phone.