ok in my “world” being disappointed is negative and about expectations I had that were not met. Having wishes in my “world” is positive and not connected to expectations but more to hope for the future. So yeah I would wish FP would be bigger and could compete with the big once and I’m not disappointed its not the case, as its nothing I expect 
. Overall we can be very lucky that FP has a big and great community that puts a lot efforts in maintaining custom ROMs, so there is mainly a good ROM for everybody and you have the freedom to choose.
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We might be lucky with Qualcomms support. The Samsung F23 uses the same SOC, was originally delivered with Android 12 and promises 3 Android version updates, which would put it at Android 15.
Qualcomm might screw with the plans of a small company like FP, but I’d expect them to hold promises against Samsung.
And since they will hardly give drivers to one customer and not the other, I’d expect Android 15 to actually hit the 750G, and thus hopefully also the FP4.
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It could be that Samsung pays for the long time support. In that case the drivers are based on a support license. But Fairphone did say they are working on an agreement to have longer vendor support from Qualcomm. So maybe they are trying to get the same deal.
It could also be a marketing thing from Samsung. Releasing an Android 15 update and soon after that stop their support. My Pixel 3 got Android 12 and 2-3 months later the phone got its last update.
It’s also not just about the drivers, it’s also about getting the vendor security updates. Those are on a monthly basis. So FP isn’t saved by just getting the drivers.
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there is android 13 by now and fairphone as a company is moving very slowly 
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They are small and not Samsung
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Yeah since we’re now at Android 13, I also would like to know when we’ll be getting 12.
It’s not a huge priority of course, but if we’re getting 5+ years of support, it’d be nice to get the software side of that, too.
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Look at the FP2 software history and you will see that some Android versions were never ported to it without preventing it from still being supported and run Android 10.
I don’t believe people should buy a Fairphone if they.want the last version but they should choose a Pixel
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I would have bought a Pixel if they were actually available in my country. They were not, and I wanted a phone with a replaceable battery as that’s what essentially made my old phone unusable. It still technically boots, but since Pixel devices are laughable when it comes to repairability, it sits in my drawer and I’m using it as a proxy for Google Photos uploads to use the unlimited storage that gives me.
I think most of us have accepted the fact that Fairphone is never going to be able to compete with Google when it comes to updates. I’m just slightly disappointed I’m 2 versions behind, and I’m roughly a month behind on security updates.
Very minor stuff all things considered, but I would really appreciate Fairphone to be more open about what they are currently working on. As it is now, updates drop at random and I first hear of them on Reddit or on here due to someone else getting them 20 minutes ahead of me. I wish there was an official Fairphone development blog or something.
The biggest issue I have is that the bootloader problems continue. I ain’t risking flashing DivestOS if closing the bootloader or reverting to stock risks bricking the device.
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It would be nice if Fairphone would drop it’s customizations in favour of faster updates…
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What customisations are you thinking could be avioded?
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how hard is it actually when you can do a security update for month or date X, then do the same over a mere month later. it cant be that of a brain work and reinventing everything from scratch just moving over to the next months releases directly based on the google aosp project etc. after all fairphone doesnt do (?) much customisation or any at all? i could be wrong with this though. still my knowledge is, that fairphone as a company has gotton themselves external coding support in taiwain? or mainland china for the android releases? no matter where this external team is or if it is even an internal team by now and own knowledge, the current hardware level of fairphone4 is pretty mainstream and basic i guess, also hardware support (read qualcom snapdragon) is nothing fancy and available. so returning back to my understanding. if you managed (in any such way) to release just ONE single monthly or point in time security update, why can you not manage the same feat over again 31-40days later? the same way over again? and again. and again? i am not the software engineer here. i am absolutely oversimplifying things. but once you have found your way around. and maybe did a security release or two? what hinders you to do so in a speedy manner within a month after that? I recall during early FP2 times, that fairphone was rather quick with some of their monly android updates. what happened every since? why is the software security and the user base such a low priority? what has become of fairphone? i am frustrated.
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Every release has to go through rigorous testing, not only by Fairphone and Google, but also for every network operator the device has to be usable with. There is an enormous amount of variables involved here.
This isn’t just a simple merge changes and click deploy.
You have to pack as much as possible into one release, because it takes so much time to get that release actually onto consumer devices.
At the same time it has to be thoroughly tested, because you can A) completely screw up their phones and B) support absolutely hasn’t the capacity to deal with any more bugs that you might have introduced with your new release.
In short, this is a very complicated process and it takes time if you want it done right.
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Before a new update is pushed it has to be certified by Google which requires over 500,000 tests. Then each network has to vet the update before they push it to the customers.
If you want quicker updates to the basic AOSP you can try custom ROMs and help out by doing some testing or coding etc.
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Before they push it? I bought my Fairphone 4 directly from the local electronics store. Then logically, the networks should have zero impact on the delivery speed of said updates. Unless I misunderstood and the operators in every country has tests that Fairphone has to pass regardless of where you bought it?
I’m genuinely curious what is causing this delay in security updates, as we’re consistently a month behind. Basically, which parts of the updates are causing this delay? Is it simply the 500k tests or is it that Fairphone has strayed too far from AOSP?
If you want quicker updates to the basic AOSP you can try custom ROMs and help out by doing some testing or coding etc.
I happily would, but as I stated before: I’m not risking bricking my device due to this issue still being around, or so it seems: Trapped in fastboot mode with locked bootloader and corrupted custom ROM
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No, the mobile providers get a chance to do a function-check of the updates. This is to ensure everything (from download speeds to VoWiFi) is working fine. Yes, in the end it is Fairphone giving its okay, but they surely don’t want to risk delivering an update which renders your device unusable. So there can be weeks of delay depending on your provider, due to a slow response time or because they really have to fix a provider specific bug.
Just don’t lock your bootloader and you are fine. LOS for example has a long explanation posted on reddit (iirc) why this isn’t recommended anyway.
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It would seem it’s not that simple. This user claims he tried to flash Stock and that broke his phone:
I can’t risk the phone breaking if I don’t like DivestOS.
But yeah, I’ll probably give it 2-3 months and then give it a shot.
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This one applies after returning to stock rom as well, yes.
You can check get_unlock_ability and risk to lock it again if it’s a 1, but I personally just left my bootloader unlocked even after returning to stock for some weeks.
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When you buy from a store you get the basic OS which clearly has been tested before retail with all the carriers so no matter which you buy it should work fine, maybe not in every situation.
Once you then choose a network or carrier you are then, for future updates, locked to the network|carrier you use as the next upgrade|update will come via the net|car not the factory.
Right… got a source for this? I’m under the impression that I download it over the internet, which in my case is over the WiFi, and that my carrier has no impact on this whatsoever.
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