Android 12 has come to the FP4

Thank you max_o. I’m not sure If my phone has received the security update. Because I just bought it second hand. In settings I see:

So it looks like the phone update is working well and I’d better wait a bit.

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No, for Android 11 it should be “Android security update January 5, 2023”.
Look into Settings/Security and see if a security update is suggested. If not, your operator might be eligible for the Android 12 upgrade but you haven’t got it yet for some reason.

I do not understand. I bought my phone independent from my phone operator Vodafone. So it is a unbranded phone. Why am I dependent on Vodafone for a security update? Isn’t that Fairphones responsibility?

For an authoritative answer you should #contactsupport

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Thats the general FP Statement for each update post in the past here in the forum and thats irrespective of where you bought the FP4

Please note:
Together with our partners, we test the software before its release, and in some instances where a software update might result in some problems for users on a specific network or in a specific country, we prefer to delay the software release for that specific customer base and fix all the potential issues before making the software available to everyone.

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I think I face a troubling behaviour of the UI with the new Android 12.

On the previous 11 release, when putting the phone in vibrate mode, an icon was showing up next to the battery status.
With the current release of Android 12, it’s gone.

It seems to be a known regression of V12, and was actually fixed by Google earlier last year.
They’ve introduced an option to display the vibrate mode (on top of the silent mode that shows properly with the Fairphone build).

References:
https://www.xda-developers.com/android-12-qpr3-vibration-icon-toggle/

I would really appreciate getting the icon we lost with the upgrade.

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The alarm is also missing and its both there when you swipe down the quick access menu from the top.

However, I dont see silent mode indicator at all!?

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As the others already said.
The thing is, Android patches go through a lot of hoops before arriving on your phone: 1. Google releases a patch, 2. the phone manufacturer adapts it to their specific hardware, 3. the operator you’re tied to checks it, and potentially asks for modifications/fixes before finally releasing it for you to download.
So, even with a phone not tied to a specific operator, you can be stuck on any of those stages.

Unfortunately it’s not like with computers, where the OS manufacturer directly releases patches and upgrades to the end user. You only get them from your current operator, at the end of stage 3, and when any one of those steps fail, you don’t get them at all…

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Thank you KurtF. I did not know that. Vodafone Netherlands say on their website that they have nothing to do with updates to phones that are not bought directly from them. So I hope that that means that I depend on Google and Fairphone only.
If that is the case, I should have had my 5 of January 2023 update already? Shouldn’t I?

If you have a Vodafone NL SIM in your phone, you will get the update as soon as it’s released for that provider, that’s how it works.

If you need it sooner, you can factory reset it and start the phone without a SIM or install the update manually. But I wouldn’t recommend it, because there’s probably a reason you haven’t recieved it yet.

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That might be the problem – Does Fairphone send out updates directly? They didn’t sound like they do, so the best thing you can do at that point is to contactsupport, as somebody already suggested.

A post was split to a new topic: Update Fairphone 4 Android 11

Not the common updates.they are not sent to your IMEI unless you are a Beta tester for example.

All common updates are tested with as many carriers as possible and send to those IEMIs that are fixed to carriers.

So if there is a problem with how it works on a specific carrier it is held back for all IEMIs on that carrier.

You will see a note where a Swis carrier stopped the update as there was an issue with emergency numbers.

So the carriers have the final say in whether so push it to their customers.

Where A12 requires considerable work for a specific carrier, Fairphone have said they will incorporate a security update for A11 and push that to users of those carriers.

It has all been explained, above, but this topic is getting long, though this issue is discussed on almost every update.

Sure, though @BartMans issue was he did receive neither A12 nor security update. :man_shrugging:

Yes, each takes time. Fairphone didn’t say when the updated A11 would be ready.

Also each update has to be certified by Google so. Fairphone > Google > Faiphone > Carrier and then if that doesn’t work then do it all again.

And Fairphone are doing that with
FP4 A12
FP4 A11
FP3 A12
FP3 A11

So lots of work

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A post was merged into an existing topic: Update Fairphone 4 Android 11

There has to be a change in behavior of the locked screen. On A11 it did not happen to me that I’d toss the phone out of my pocket with the emergency calling screen on. On A12, it happens to me almost daily.

Also, I’ve noticed that now the fingerprint sensor is doing read attempts and screen is touchable when the phone is locked and a notification pops up - i.e. the black screen with just the notification. If I remember correctly, on A11 I had to press the unlock button for the screen or fingerprint sensor to become interactive (yet still locked). I do not have the always-on fingerprint reader option turned on.

Has anyone observed similar behavior?

PS: it should be impossible to press the unlock button accidentally inside the pocket as I use the official case for the phone which makes the button sunken.

Another feedback from a user with a brand new FP4…

I got my FP4 yesterday with Android 11 preinstalled. After a minimal setup (no Google account, just WiFi access) I got offered the update to Android 12 (FP4.SP1Y.B.041) which I installed right away before doing anything else - so the phone was “vanilla” except the WiFi access.

After the update I continued setting up my existing Google account, installing required apps and moving some data from my old phone (e.g. Signal, music files etc.).

So far most things work fine - even my old Galaxy Gear S3 works perfect including “Navigation Pro” and the Camera remote control :slight_smile:. Even though I only have a short term experience so far, the overall impression of the device and Android 12 on it is very nice. I don’t regret that I got that phone - well done!

But I also noticed the same issues with FP4.SP1Y.B.041 which are already mentioned here:

  • Accent color which is too bright and also does not work well with white text or symbols, but it can also not be changed.
  • Lock screen clock can not be changed and uses the accent color for the time which is not ideal. It would be better if the clock would at least use the standard text color. Customization options what to display on the lock screen would even be better.
  • Screen sometimes stays active when connected to a charger and you unlock the phone. Sometimes it also just turns off and the configured screen saver does not start. It’s a bit confusing since the behaviour is not consistent. I also installed an app to display the current charge status as screen saver (“Dreaming Battery”), maybe this also counts.
  • In the default launcher the “Glance” widget behaves erraticly as mentined by others: most of the time there is only a search bar but sometimes it is constantly swapping back and forth to Glance. Also if Glance is visible it does not display weather info etc. - for me this is not a big deal as I use Nova launcher anyway.
  • Hotspot does not allow to use 5 GHz (I’m located in Germany and have T-Mobile).

So far this is all I noticed yet. Maybe other things will pop up in the next days, but overall these are not major problems for me but more annoyances which will hopefully be fixed with the next update. So far the FP4 still works way better than my old Xiaomi device with an “optimized” custom ROM.

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Another minor issue: the status bar layout. On the left side the text is positioned too far left without any margin to the display border. This looks a bit odd and should also be fixed:

I also reported this to the support, so this hopefully will be fixed in a future update.

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There’s a lot I don’t like about the Android12 UI changes, but the one I really would like to get sorted is the massive clock on the lock/open screen with the hour and minute digits on separate lines.

I can’t seem to find anything that works in the menus. Even setting analogue as the screen saver has no effect on the login screen.

Is there a way to get back to a simple one line clock?