“If you’re using a Fairphone 4, we haven’t forgotten you. We hope to bring Android 14 to the Fairphone 4 in the second half of 2024.”
What means “hope” and what means “second half of 2024”? Android itself has already reached version 15, also see Android Developers Blog: Android 15 is released to AOSP - and there are phones out there which already got that version as update - and Fairphone 4 is still on Android 13. So when Android 16 will be released, maybe it will get Android 14 then?
The last official word in this forum (from end of September) on the Android 14 release for the FP4 is in the topic with the announcement of said version:
Although FP didnt mention it officially as far as I know/assume: I’m pretty sure its the first upgrade after QC stopped support for the SOC, thus its more difficult and takes more time as for the FP5. And why needing the most recent Android, as long as Android 13 works and is supported?
No - it is just about having a current version of the operating system within at least a year after its release. Android 14 was released around a year ago in October 2023 and new versions of Android usually also bring some new features. Now we have Android 15, released in September 2024 and I doubt, that this will be available for Fairphone 4 before end of 2025 - and by then Android 16 is already rolled out.
Fortunately, Android 13 will get updates until 2026. But why even bothering with Android 14 when version 15 is already out? Maybe it makes things much easier, if you just skip one version and concentrate on major updates every 2-3 years? I also remember, that Fairphone told us, that major upgrades for Android will become much easier when they managed to do Android 12 for the Fairphone 4 - seems, this was a misunderstanding. Major upgrades still take at least one year :-(.
As much as I appreciate the effort of having a sustainable phone which will last for more than a few years - maybe this effort is futile if hardware vendors don’t support that at all. On the other hand Google provides updates for their phones for at least 7 years - but they are big enough to produce their own chips now and support them as long as they want.
I am of the same opinion. Not only do I find the OS outdated, but the security patches sometimes take too long with Fairphone.
Don’t even get me started on the display bug from last year.
Could we please not start this discussion here there is a thread just to rant about about update frequency. What ever bug you talk about, open a topic or discuss in an open topic. Here the topic is about the Androud 14 upgrade.
I didn’t start a discussion on another topic, I just mentioned that everything takes a little longer on FP. I find your comment as a moderator rather inappropriate and seems more like I’m being banned from speaking out!
No, and nobody actually said that you did.
It was said “could we please not” … and we didn’t so far, so nothing really happened in this regard.
That’s not exactly what you wrote …
You can of course mention anything anywhere you like, but in case that it is off-topic and that there’s a topic about it already, anybody can mention this, too.
I think this is on topic:
o FP evidently lacks the resources to do the new Android for FP4 at the same time as FP5
o unless there is synergy between A14 for FP5 and A14 for FP4 then I would welcome FP skipping alternate versions of Android on the FP4 so that loyal users get the benefits of the latest Android sooner
o yes, please, FairPhone: be transparent with the timing of planned Android updates
Most likely it is for the reason @yvmuell stated further up: The FP4 chipset is probably out of support by now, so Fairphone has to do their job and the job of Broadcom, which is probably especially difficult since it’s probably a copyrighted binary blob they don’t have sources/documentation for.
As about why Fairphone doesn’t skip a version and go from 13 directly to 15, this kind of question has been popping up on every FP4 OS upgrade: Fairphone has always been a year late (at least on the FP4)…
I don’t know anything, but I would guess that upgrading from n to n+1 is easy, but skipping a version and upgrading from n to n+2 opens a nasty can of worms. After all, it’s not like it’s a clean install on bare metal… (As I said, just suppositions, assumptions and wild guesses)
I dont see how skipping a Verison will help to speed-up things, as FP has to wait to get the OS to start working.
Comparing to Samsung or Huwawei isnt what I would do, comparing to Shiftphones seems more reasonable. They are more open in communicating to the customers and this status page shows in my eyes quite well all bumps in the road that can thwart plans. Its in German, deepl or whatever translator of choice should help…
They started some time in 2022 to work on an upgrade of Android 10. In April 23 they announced to skip 11+12 and work on 13 which was now finally published in Sep 24, however still with a bug, causing it cannot be OTA updated and will def require a factory reset.
Disclaimer - I’ve not read every post elsewhere on the forum, but I have read all the ones in this thread, so if I duplicate something that someone wrote elsewhere then please excuse me
I’m probably allowed to write this but if I’m not it will get edited anyway so here goes:
A14 for the FP4 is in beta. My phone currently has the second wave beta on it and it seems to work fine, the remaining issues that affect me are things I can work around and are definitely not showstoppers just annoyances. However there could be other bigger issues that I don’t encounter due to how I use the phone.
More broadly on new Android version releases, it’s a while since I’ve really looked into it, but from memory even when Google release a new version it’s only really available for the latest Pixel and if often riddled with bugs. The SoC manufacturer has to add their sauce, then the OEM does, then the operators for network validation, then there’s beta testing, and finally the remaining compliance/QA test and finally it gets released - it takes months even for big OEMs, so FP managing to get it done in a year is pretty impressive considering the dogs-dinner that Google put out when they “release” a new version.
Then why has Fairphone first communicated, that A14 will be released at the same time it will be released for FP5? (no English translation found: here)
It basically says that every fix (of an android security bulletin) is done on the latest android release as base, which gets than backported to previous supported releases. Only applies to high and critical security fixes, the other ones and privacy fixes get applied only on the latest major. So we will not get any medium, low and privacy fixes until A14 arrives.
And don’t get me wrong, but a sustainable phone needs to have sustainable hard- and software, which a version where medium and other fixes aren’t included isn’t to me.
In my years here in the forum, I have realised that ‘sustainability’ has so many faces. There are many views on this topic.
Hardware
Raw materials
Supply chain
Software
updates for a long time
fast update schedule (major, security)
(de)googled (some claim, that the only ‘fair’ phone is a degoogled one)
Just to name a view.
Not that I want the new major versions quickly either. But as a software developer, I know that sometimes things sound and look a bit easier from a distance than they really are. I’m sure FP is doing everything they can (with the financial and human resources available to them) to get the update out as soon as possible.
Regardless of the reasons for the delayed updates:
Fairphone devices must be considered unsafe. Many security vulnerabilities remain open for a long time.
That is unreasonable!
?
) made a few years ago which explains the process pretty well. 