Android 9 Beta – Progression/stability?

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Hi,
some apps of my business will become mandatory as of November 10th. Unfortunately, one app needs Android 8, but Fairphone 2’s latest OS is Android 7…
I heard of an Android 9 beta, that has been in in beta testing since June '20.
Question: Is the beta currently more or less safe (they announced the release to be within 2020, and there are only two months to go :wink:)? I don’t want to buy a FP3 (that would be kind of against Fairphone’s idea) just because of the OS and I don’t feel safe about flashing the phone with LineageOS or similar…

What would you suggest?

Thank you!
Stay safe!

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Oh, ein Nachbar aus der (Eu)Regio(n) … :slight_smile:

I guess you have already seen this?

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Hi urs_lesse,

I´ve already read this (Fairphone 2: New Release of Fairphone Open?) but, if I understand well, there are no answer for the question of our friend Luka.
Can he use the Android 9 Beta for his business?
I´m in the same situation too: I don´t feel safe about flashing the phone for an alternative OS which can´t work with some sensible apps like online-banking or something else.

Thanks a lot to bring us your light as you´re a reference in this forum :wink:

Have a nice weekend

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I cannot really be a reference here … because my daily phone is still my trusty FP1U (I never became much of a smartphone type :wink: I find a desktop computer – and occasionally a tablet computer for convenience – the much superior experience compared to a smartphone). Just from what I have heard, some online banking apps or corona warning apps just won’t accept any OS that has no google certification.

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“Business” as in “serious, breadwinning business”? Beta software?

Can? Sure. Should? No.

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Thank you for your answer.

I´m not a smartphone type too, that´s why I choose a Fairphone: the course/challenge to get the best hardware for a normal consumer is, in my opinion, a little bit too ostentatious or pretentious.

The most important things, in my humble opinion (IMHO), is the OS and the security packet, hence my haste to get a new and secure OS.

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Regarding the corona warn app, from what I heard on the German FSFE mailing list, that should work with LineageOS and microG, too. Since a few weeks ago now. Reference:

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How do you know?  

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The thing is, if the beta version doesn’t pass Google certification, it won’t be released, no matter how stable it runs for individual beta testers.

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If you do not want to flash your phone with lineage there is no win in using the beta because it is not available via the updater yet.

Besides i have some apps that run in android7 but are now displayed as not compatible in the appstore.

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Which are those?

For example Netflix needs the still missing Google approval, see https://bugtracker.fairphone.com/project/fp2-android9/issue/70
I could imagine this affects several apps.

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Which are the other open/major issues as observed in the latest beta?

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From my opinion OS 20.10.1-beta.0 is more stable than previous versions, but still too sluggish for a production version.
Examples for sluggishness are messages coming up, that Google Play is too slow, and the time needed to start the builtin Camera app or Opencamera.
(The picture from the selfie-camera is still turned by 180° in the builtin Camera app.)

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I guess there’s a beta that’s going to be released this week as it’s been a long time…

I feel this is only with one type of camera module. I have the old module and it’s fine for me.

I don’t think approval is the one blocking this. There should be some other requirement I think.

I think it should be.

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The book oft unwritten Tales 2
Peakfinder

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The latest beta now removed all issues with the Google certification.

Additional information from the beta testing group:

In order to comply with Google’s test suites we disabled some hardware-related features. We continue investigating the impact of these changes and feasibility of fixing and re-integrating these features:

  • USB audio. Support was incomplete on FP2 Android 9 and did not pass all Android compatibility tests. Therefore we disable it completely for now.
  • Gyroscope (rotation sensor). Does not provide the precision required by Android CTS.
  • Batching mode for the accelerometer. The sensor is still available and functional though.
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I know… :slight_smile:

Finally device is certified. Any issues found in the new beta so far?(Including the existing issues)

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Well, there’s a new issue with Hiccup: https://bugtracker.fairphone.com/project/fp2-android9/issue/99

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I don’t think this would be related to the other performance issue(device sluggishness) that’s currently there.

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You can check easily. Just stop hiccup and monitor if sluggishness remains.