First smartphone - fairphone

[quixoticgeek]

I certainly wouldn't want a credit card or anything else that can only be activated using a phone app. Nor anything that depends on a phone app to work.

Gotta say i used to find the 2fa thing on online payments a pain. But having been saved from having a 174€ fraudulent payment this week, I'm kinda liking it. I just hope I'm not tripped up by it when trying to check into a hotel with no phone signal...

J

[Feanor]

I don't need to do any of that faff.

Just make sure the phone is unlocked, that's all.
Don't need to open any specific app or anything.
Just wave unlocked phone at card reader and it's done.

That assumes you only have one card in the device.

Certainly not true here.
My Google Wallet has 3 cards in it, a debit and two credit.

If I go into the Google Wallet app, I can swipe between them, and the final swipe gives a screen where you can change the card order.
The first card is used by default, with no necessity to open the Google app or anything.
Just unlocked phone, tap-and-go.

I don't get any kind of lock-screen card-chooser like Ham describes, but then again I've never seen two Android installs which are the same!
So if I wanted to select a different card per-transaction, then yes I'd need to open the app.
But I never do.

[Lightning Phil]

I have a credit card that I can freeze and unfreeze via an app, to prevent its use when I’m not using it.  I can also create virtual digital credit cards for Apple Pay or direct for (online only if direct) purchases. Similarly I can freeze and unfreeze the virtual card. A feature I quite like.  But I didn’t buy a phone just for the card.

[fd3]

A reason for my getting a smartphone is a new credit card that I can only activate using the phone app.  If I didn't want cashback I could bank exclusively with the coop and use web based banking (and I believe they have linux app).

Wow, how much cashback are you getting that it's worth buying a phone for?

If all my outgoings are on one card we're talking 2-4k a year, so 0.5% would pay back my phone over 10 years, 5 years with a higher cashback obvs (eg amex).
But, no, I didn't get the phone for the online banking app, it's just one of the many examples of things you need a smartphone for these days.

[fd3]

I also use dolphin as my browser of choice, cos of hysterical raisins.

does not appear in google play store.

[Paul H]

But having been saved from having a 174€ fraudulent payment this week, J

Not your money though, unless you'd been negligent, grossly negligent in the words of the FSA who also say it should be credited back to your balance the next working day. That's why I use a credit card and don't have the paranoia about using it on Google Pay, along with a pre-paid debit card.  What would be foolish IMO is to have all your cards on there, just as it would to have them all in a wallet.

[fd3]

Tapatalk, much more readable but also muuuch slower (but the why?).
This is a test to see whether it puts in the obnoxious (posted in Tapatalk)

[quixoticgeek]

Not your money though, unless you'd been negligent, grossly negligent in the words of the FSA who also say it should be credited back to your balance the next working day. That's why I use a credit card and don't have the paranoia about using it on Google Pay, along with a pre-paid debit card.  What would be foolish IMO is to have all your cards on there, just as it would to have them all in a wallet.

But my time, to have a conversation in a second language with someone in a call centre to get it reversed. As it is I spent 20 mins on the phone in the middle of the night, and a second 15 mins later that morning.

J

[fd3]

noob question:
My phone has an micro sd card on which I have stored my music.  I have connected with a usb to the computer to drop in some new music, but the PC see the phone, but no folders in the phone and no sd card.
How can I get the PC to see the SD card, or how can I otherwise move files to the phone sd card?  I could move to google drive and then move off the drive - but how do I set the destination?

[quixoticgeek]

noob question:
My phone has an micro sd card on which I have stored my music.  I have connected with a usb to the computer to drop in some new music, but the PC see the phone, but no folders in the phone and no sd card.
How can I get the PC to see the SD card, or how can I otherwise move files to the phone sd card?  I could move to google drive and then move off the drive - but how do I set the destination?

I honestly don't know. I get files on and off using SCP, or foldersync. You can always put the SD card in a usb reader and plug that into the laptop...

J

[fd3]

Plugging in the SD card is the "simplest" method, unfortunately to get some sort of waterproof certificate the SD card plugs in to the phone from within, so I would need to remove the back panel, remove battery, remove sd, etc ...
Which I would rather not have to do every time I get new music.

[quixoticgeek]

Plugging in the SD card is the "simplest" method, unfortunately to get some sort of waterproof certificate the SD card plugs in to the phone from within, so I would need to remove the back panel, remove battery, remove sd, etc ...
Which I would rather not have to do every time I get new music.

Ah yes. There is that minor issue. Don't know what to suggest then.

J

[fd3]

I don't see why foldersync wouldn't work

[hubner]

noob question:
My phone has an micro sd card on which I have stored my music.  I have connected with a usb to the computer to drop in some new music, but the PC see the phone, but no folders in the phone and no sd card.
How can I get the PC to see the SD card, or how can I otherwise move files to the phone sd card?  I could move to google drive and then move off the drive - but how do I set the destination?

On my phone, after plugging in the cable, I have to go to the phone home screen, flick down the usb charging drop down  menu and then choose further options then choose file transfer.

[fd3]

^that did the trick.  Thanks
https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/9425348234513

[Morat]

If the payment was under £45 then it's likely that you don't need to unlock. In the UK, the phone is (by default, but optionally) treated like a contactless card. The limit varies by bank, but smaller transactions can be made with the phone still locked. This is how you get through Tube gates etc with just a wave of the phone. On the flip side, I'm not aware of an upper limit for a phone transaction where the phone has been unlocked. To my mind, a fingerprint scanner is far more secure than a four digit PIN so I'm happy with the arrangement.

https://support.google.com/wallet/answer/12059519?hl=en-GB&ref_topic=11924198&sjid=11604312398692828545-EU

[Paul H]

That was so quick and easy but potentially dangerous considering how easy it is to unknowingly press the button on the side of the mobile.

Potentially, though the range is only about 20cm and there's ways to minimise that potential.  My phone unlocks with a fingerprint or four digit code and the NFC is off by default.  I unlock the phone, open the wallet, turn on NFC from there.  Takes a couple of seconds and people waiting till they're at the front of any queue before having their payment method ready are likely to be so however they're paying.

[tom_e]

I've got an Android 13 (Nokia, so close to stock android), and there is a setting under Display -> Lock Screen for "Show wallet", which will "Allow access to wallet from lock screen".  I turned it off, coz I didn't like the idea you could check what cards were available without even unlocking the phone.

It didn't occur to me that you might actually be able to pay (even for lower values) with the phone locked, if that setting is on.  That seems immensely stupid.  I'm not sure I want to make a pillock of myself by experimenting in a shop to confirm this either.

[fd3]

So, as I am concentrating all my n00b questions here:
My phone ha lost my network for making/receiving calls.  It can access the internet.  I has tried turning data on/off, switching to/from4/5G and briefly it worked but then it topped again.  My wife is with same provider and her phone works.
??

[Lightning Phil]

Check the SIM card and reseat it. That sometimes used to happen with one of my old phones.

[JellyLegs]

So, as I am concentrating all my n00b questions here:
My phone ha lost my network for making/receiving calls.  It can access the internet.  I has tried turning data on/off, switching to/from4/5G and briefly it worked but then it topped again.  My wife is with same provider and her phone works.
??

[I haven’t read the whole thread so apologies if this has already been covered]. What network are you on and are you sure the phone uses 4g/5g for calls?

Vodafone have just begun switching off their 3G network and my old phone used 3G for calls and 4g for data so stopped working for calls last week.   Well, it would try to use 2g for calls but no 2g signal here so effectively no calls.  I have had to replace the 5 year old cheap but all I needed Chinese phone with a more up to date model that uses 4g for calls.

[fd3]

So, I get a signal in the garden and - well anywhere not in the house.  My wife is with same provider and does not have this issue.  I did not have this issue with the Nokia I had previously.

So, my phone works fine a long a I am not at home!

Should I not be able to set it up to do internet calls if it can access internet but not the phone network?

[Lightning Phil]

Yes most offer this. My Iphone shows Wi-Fi call when this is the case.

[fruitcake]

I've found huge variation between smartphones for 3G radio reception. Doesn't seem to correlate with phone brand. It's just some models are poor in areas with less-than-perfect signal. Incidentally this was also the case with vintage Nokia phones. Some models excellent reception, some poor.

It may be worth changing phone network to one that has a more usable signal. Signal strength can vary between phone networks even in an urban area. For instance, in my street O2 is best for voice calls on a 3G handset, but EE is the only network that can offer a sufficient 4G data signal. Vodafone is not good enough for either. O2 4G data in particular varies at different times of the day. I guess when my neighbours are streaming TV programmes (or whatever they do with their phones in the early evening), they occupy the available bandwidth for the local area. (Your experience of the different networks may vary, and it almost certainly will, based on your geographical location.)

If you don't want to change handset or network, it's possible to buy a signal booster. This would be a box with an antenna that you screw to the wall somewhere high up, to amplify phone signal for your house.