Closed Poll: Future Fairphone OS Development

Continuing the discussion from Future Android version for the Fairphone with an Unofficial Community Poll:

Which would you prefer Fairphone to do:

  • Support Official Android upgrade releases (i.e. Jelly Bean v4.3, KitKat v4.4 etc)
  • Open source / Community developed OS (i.e Firefox OS, Cyanogenmod etc)
  • An open source OS developed wholly by Fairphone

0 voters

Feel free to leave comments as to why you have selected your above choice

Happy polling :slight_smile:

23 Likes

If you mean that ā€˜A full Fairphone developed OSā€™ will be open source, then I voted for 3, otherwise I would vote for 2

2 Likes

@Lidwien - have updated to say what I actually meant to say. Option 3 is the least likely because of the size of FP and their team, but itā€™s interesting to see what the community are looking for

1 Like

@Chris_R Just what you say.
I would prefer option 3. But I know that itā€™s more likely to expect option 2.
Taken in account that making a full Fairphone developed OS is costing to much resources.

1 Like

Iā€™d leave option 3 out, considering how impossible that is for Fairphone. You lose votes in a ā€œwonā€™t happenā€ void, which would be worth more when cast on one of the other two options.

Anyway, Iā€™d prefer a continuation of Android upgrades. Itā€™s a proven platform that wonā€™t go away anytime soon. This means longevity for the platform (continued development), broad app developer support and a large amount of knowledge on the platform available online.

Alternatives like Ubuntu Touch and Firefox OS still have to prove their worth, most notably in app developer support. Just see how badly Microsoft was (is) struggling with this for Windows Phone.

7 Likes

I voted for option 2, but I strongly prefer an Android based OS like Cyanogenmod because of the variety of possibilities and compatibity to Android app stores.

7 Likes

I chose option 3, but what I meant is: Fairphone would do well to build a 100% free/open source Android on top of the ā€œvanillaā€ Android Open Source Project stack.

Alternatively, option ā€œ2ā€ might be an option with Ubuntu Touch or Replicant. But Iā€™d very much like to see it become really 100% free and also not include any proprietary firmware.

7 Likes

Iā€™d love to have Cyanogenmod as the standard OS especially for the WhisperPush feature. That way all Fairphoners would have a secure and free messaging service preinstalled.

2 Likes

This totally.

MAYBE in the future if Fairphone mentally takes up and thereā€™s a need to do ā€œbetterā€ than what is already out.

In the meantime, option 2 would be cool. Even if keeping 1 as an option after 2 would be even better I think.

1 Like

Iā€™m primarily interested in option 1 because Iā€™m heavily invested in the Android eco-structure and Fairphone coming with Android was one of my big reasons for purchasing. Iā€™d be okay with a Cyanogenmod version so long as I still had access to all of the apps and widgets Iā€™ve purchased but Iā€™m a little concerned about the phone straying too far away from vanilla Android if it costs us access to things like the Play Store and Google Apps.

5 Likes

Giving the choice to the user would be best. I have a couple of paid androids apps (mainly games I donā€™t use) but Iā€™d rather get rid of Google altogether than keep thoseā€¦

3 Likes

I am frequently in discussions (and not at all sure myself about the best choice) concerning the values embedded in the fairphone project and the need to maintain control about my personal information. In my view of modern society, these are both very very critical issues.

My choice so far has been for an open source software smartphone (first a Nokia N900, and now a jolla). Both of them worked really well for me.

As a consequence, it seems to me totally obvious that sailfish (the open source jolla OS), which is being ported to more and more recent smartphones and tablets, should be the primary OS for the fairphone.

I realize this may need some design choices for chipsets and things (or driver development), and I cannot judge how large these problems are.

But I repeat: nothing seems to me more obvious than this.

5 Likes

Well im not sure Jolla should be THE primary OS yet, but i agree they are a good fit. Maybe Jollashould be included in the Poll and Firefox OS and Cyanogenmod seperated, because CM is still in the Android Ecosystem and you are free to install GApps, while Firefox OS is not. Btw: Currently i would prefer Firefox OS over Jolla.

The longer i think about it, i would prefer the following choices given it is unrealistic and not useful to develop an own operating system for Fairphone.

  1. Keep it as it is: Install a customized Launcher on top the offical Android supplied by Mediatek and focus on Android Platform updates like Kitkat (4.4) and L.
  2. Plain Open Source Vanilla Android!: Base Fairphone OS on AOSP project, eg. now customized additions by mediatek etc so we get the original android camera and no non-free apps preinstalled. This would require to customize the AOSP for dual-sim support. Fairphone OS Apps like the Launcher and Rest in Peace and third party apps might be preinstalled as long as open source and user-removable.
  3. Join Cyanogen: Provide and officially support Cyanogenmod builds for the Fairphone.
  4. Switch to Jolla/Firefox OS/Ubuntu: Provide only minimal support for Android as it is and prepare to switch to the Jolla OS.
  5. Community involvement!: Choose option 1 or 2 for offical releases and spare some developer time and resources to support third party community efforts to port Jolla, Ubuntu Touch, and/or Firefox OS to the Fairphone. Provide proven developers with web space and possibly financial support for improving this OSes on the Fairphone (search the web for bountysource). Provide factory images for easy reset to official firmware like with Google Nexus lineor Sonyā€™s great tools fordevelopers / users of custom roms.
2 Likes

Let me just say that if Fairphone would switch away from an Android based OS (AOSP based or something like Cyanogenmod) then I can throw my phone in the garbage bin and buy a new one.
Iā€™m just so heavily invested in Android right now that switching to a different OS would be a pain, especially if itā€™s an immature OS like Firefox OS.

3 Likes

I do absolutely agree with @Jerry.

Switching to a completely different plattform would be a pain for most of the users.

This kind of post is the reason why we should totally abandon ā€œclosedā€ solutions, especially Google. :confused:

Otherwise, things will NEVER change and evolveā€¦

4 Likes

Closed or not, youā€™d have the same problem with any platform.
If youā€™d be totally invested in Firefox OS, then you couldnā€™t easily make the switch to something like Ubuntu Touch either. For starters, your apps simply wouldnā€™t work anymore.

Apps are just apps. If thereā€™s a need on an OS, it will be filled by an app that does the same as another on another OS.

And if you willingly put everything somewhere, itā€™s your own fault anyway. Anyone should know that when they start investing somewhere.

Maybe start investing in apps that are on several OS. Maybe encourage that before being imprisoned in a unique shopā€¦

3 Likes

I chose 2, but really, I donā€™t want any specific OS; i want the ability to choose my own. TBH I thought this was possible when I preordered my first edition fairphone; there were mentions of it but they have disappeared.

While I am pretty happy with my phone, and pretty happy with the 'fairā€™ness so far. I think fair could not only be supplier-side, but also to the users, and to me that means choice in software.

I really donā€™t care what the ā€˜default factory installedā€™ OS is, as long as I can replace it. I would probably either go for Jolla or Paranoid Android, but Iā€™d certainly take a look at firefoxOS too.

2 Likes