FP software quality has been the worst in my experience. Even when released slow, there are bugs you find by just using the phone for 5 minutes. While e.g. a Pixel receives the latest Android release and it’s just boring. Everything works. So let’s not paint the picture here that slow releases mean you get more stability. This all depends on the skills and resources available. I want Android 12, but if that will set me back with even more issues, then that would be terrible. Even if you get “6 years software support”, it is a painful 6 year journey. Also, Qualcomm doesn’t support the chipset that long. So you’re actually running a vulnerable device after about 3 years.
Sorry for the downer, I just don’t like it when things are twisted in a positive way, when they’re just not.
It seems you are yourself too much positive about Google and its Pixels that are very often concerned by bugs. But the patch arrives faster than on Fairphone phones.
I had a Pixel for 3 years. The only bug that I ever found was that the live Earth wallpaper didn’t refresh the weather clouds every day. Total different ballpark than having crippling usability bugs for over a year and be behind 2 major Android releases. But yes, I still choose FP because of their mission. But they are testing that support.
This talk of positive and negative attitudes is just relative, there is no positive or negative, there are experiences and some people are happy.
It is a strange ethics where someone buys a phone from the only buisness showing concern for the actaul workers and then drag that down to the use of the product.
Sure the use may not suit some, but they bought the phone and if they didn’t think about it then that’s not down to Fairphone, and if they didn’t do research that’s also not down to Fairphone.
A lot of the arguments seem to be about some software problem where some people, maybe a few, peopleare not happy.
So for those people why buy the the Fairtrade phone which clearly puts most or more effort into the production employees that the software and the devs.
But it’s a business, if they don’t make a phone they can sell that will be the end of Fairphone.
Android 12 it’s just a step through muddy waters of consumer fancy steps, and it’s a bit slippery.
Mud is OK it’s not a negative thing but some people like to be tidy and clean and to them it’s unacceptable. Not a great phone for a surgeon maybe but find for the farmer.
But I did “research”, I asked on this forum if call quality was okay. It was praised as great quality. But here we are, many people complain about bad calling quality, something that’s not the fault of the consumers. It can also not be swiped away as a “premium” feature. It’s comments like these that polute the “research” results. It’s fair to say that FP comes up short with their software quality. It’s just a fact, supported with a list of reproducible issues for over a year. In the meantime more issues were added because of poor testing on FP’s side. This is not the fault of the consumers. And buying a phone that supports fair trade and materials doesn’t mean it has to be unfair to the consumers. A smartphone is a device people use a lot during the day. If the basics don’t work well, even after a year, then that’s on FP. Not the consumers.
I agree but expected that even without research, one reason I kept away from Fairphone until my ‘Human Rights’ focused daughter wanted.
How my daugther with her FP4 doesn’t have problems, so if it a software one it isn’t emdemic it would seem.
There are probably a 100,000 users and 100 complaining. Given the users use different methods, different apps, different carriers etc. it will be hard to find a single solution, hence the long drawn out complaints and lack of resolutions,
I mean it seems only a ‘few’ consumers so what is on FP
It’s not unfair to the ‘customers’ as customers means ‘all’ and it may only be a few points of a precent.
So I can’t see how A12 is going to resolve anyhting except a few GUI changes and a securoty update both of which will hardly be noticed by most users I imagine.
This is really not a fair way to evaluate these issues. The people that have issues, not just with the microphones are many. And anyone who uses their phone encounters them. It’s not that some people are lucky. Some people don’t use their phone to do video calls, regular calls (loudspeaker) apparently. Or use their phone in the evening, because then they must be fighting the automatic brightness every day as well because the phone doesn’t go all the way to 0%, while 0% is already very bright. There are so many issues with this phone that are unsolved for over a year. And some people evaluate this phone like you and make it sound its all okay. Fan boying/girling a product is not healthy. Being too negative isn’t healthy either of course. But these issues are reproducible, by many. FP support is still struggling, that’s not because they get too much fan mail. They get too many complaints!
I never had a Pixel 6, that phone is indeed plagued with more issues, also because it’s the first chipset developed by Google. I did have the pleasure of using the Pixel 6a for a while, couldn’t find anything wrong with it, except for the fingerprint sensor. Friends that are not tech savvy can point out the flaws of my FP4 in minutes as well. I remember these discussions with you, but that was when I returned my first FP4 due to persisting issues and asked if those issues were solved. That was not in my initial questionnaire about the phone. Back then the phone could shoot rainbows and was flawless, as some still insist it is.
Now don’t get me wrong. I can get rid of this phone any minute. The reason I underscore these issues is because for some reason people want to make this phone sound better than it is. I really don’t like seeing that. Let’s just describe the phone as it is, not as you want it to be, or why you feel good about it. For now I’ll still put up with the flaws because I do see the value in the mission of FP. But as time progresses and bugs don’t get resolved, it does wear down on me.
My employer told me that they only support Android 12. If Fairphone won’t upgrade soon, I will have to dump it, and switch to a brand that manages to provide updates within one year…
Those don’t have secure boot, right? I don’t have the update issue yet with my work. But for sure I would have issues when my phone doesn’t have a locked bootloader.
I may try it one day, when it’s possible to go back to the native FP version without bricking it. That seems like an issue. I expect the next hurdle with a custom ROM will be the apps. I suppose they need Play Security enabled as well. Since this is my only phone and use it for work, I don’t really feel like messing around.
