That’s certainly right.
But as an FP1 owner this feels really really weird.
You’re thinking about a potential discontinuation of Marshmallow. This is far in the future.
(KitKat will be obsolete in a few months or perhaps in a year.)
I would rate this as a luxury problem.
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@YtvwlD Don’t forget the bigger picture. It would be a great drawback for Fairphone if their second smartphone was stuck at an old Android version, just like the first one.
In my dreams a potent FP2 (with the latest Android) and a lower-specs FP3 co-exist for some years.
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I think that will be in approximately two and a half years…
Support for Jelly Bean was dropped 2,5 years after it had been released. For Marshmallow that would mean end of support in April next year (2018!). That is less than a year to go.
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Correct, but “KitKat”, another 4.x version, was released between “Jelly Bean” and “Lollipop”. I guess it should be possible to adjust same major versions to one device such as the Fairphone 2 with FP Open OS (in the future).
I just created my profile to participate in this forum, I’m really interested in the Fairphone concept, but didn’t buy one yet.
Just like @Gerry shows, there’s no option in the profile creation/modification to put “not an owner”. This should be changed, as you said that the plan would be to get new people with FP3, rather than FP1/FP2 upgrades.
As for the FP3 itself, I would buy one, if it’s not coming out too late. I was using Windows Phone, but the platform is dying and there’s so many thing not working nicely on daily use that I need want to change the phone, even though the hardware is still 100% ok.
Whatever happens with FP3, I’m just hoping for two things :
- It will get a SoC as recent as possible, so that Qualcomm (or any other SoC-maker) will provide official support for as long as possible. It saddens me to see that Android 8 is coming in a few months and FP2 got Android 6 just now, and might never see Android 7 because of lack of support.
- It will get a clear release schedule soon. I’ve been considering moving from WP to Android for 8+ months, my phones’s hardware is not dying, but the software problems are really getting on my nerves, so I want to move soon. I don’t mind waiting a few more months, but I want to know quickly to make my mind on waiting for FP3 or purchasing something else.
All the rest (phone size, screen quality, power of the SoC, quality of camera, etc.) I can wrap myself around it, but long-term software support is a must for me (I’m seeing 4+ years of use), and knowing the release date will make the difference between buying a FP3 or OnePlus 5 (safe bet for long-term support with custom ROMs).
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Welcome to the forum. 
I bet Fairphone are going to support their current model as good and as long as possible until Fairphone 3 arrives. I do not expect the next Fairphone to be a modular construction, but who knows better than Fairphone themselves? If they are really planning a new (non-modular) concept, the release might be possible in the second half of 2018.
I hope that FP3 will be modular like FP2, or at least the same level of repairability !
For the release date, I just re-read the French interview, it says “coming in 2018” without mentioning early or late 2018, but it also says that they are in the conception phase, so yeah I guess that won’t be early 2018 then 
Well, I guess it will be OnePlus 5 for now, but count me in for FP4 !
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I am stuck in a similar situation. If you decide to buy a different phone, just use it as long as possible. If you are lucky, Fairphone 4 will be available when your device dies. 
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When it comes to performance optimization in computers, it is very hard to compare apples to oranges. Global performance will be affected both by hardware and software optimization (and that includes the OS and its schedulers, drivers, specific apps…), but also by the type of work undergone (programs that perform the same instruction on multiple data blocks usually scale better with the number of cores than “pipelining” aka. using different instructions sequencially on the same data block for example although this is probably irrelevant with most apps since they are usually bound to one core only).
Overall I’d say if there’s a risk of degraded performance that would come from new OS features and core apps that are too much of a burden for the phone’s hardware (ex. my old phone has issues running some Google Apps and freezes frequently on GMaps and GPlay).
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Thanks for the links.
So there was an impressive wishlist already for FP2 and most wished were fullfilled.
My statement was generally ment. So FP did listen to the customers/community in the past.
Then I am curious who else than customers/the community brought FP to the idea stepping down to a Qualcomm 400 cpu.
And after this french article which was found [quote=“Elipsus, post:1, topic:28529”]
And then…what about an official word ? 
[/quote]
I did realize there was close to any regarding this FP3 article.
Yes, it is not yet set in stone, but keeping on listening to customers and the community may bring a more powerful cpu back into focus.
Modularity should be used more to the benefit of advancement. So if FP3 to come should be compatible with FP2 modules it could be a nice way to offer customized phones for any budget. The thought of FP2, Ara, LG G5 could be implemented even more keeping FP in focus for building custom built smartphones. This thought surely meets my interrest.
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I have a slim cover since short time but there were any new issues as you have mentioned.
Things like random reboots I simply did not experience with my initial and not with the new slim cover.
I only had one random reboot since I have this phone from the beginning in 2016.
Regarding requests for an USB-C connection in future FP phones I can provide this link:
“https://omnicharge.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000663448-USB-C”
I have backed this powerbank and at last are glad that theese engineers stepped back and took this issue serious moving back to µUSB.
Otherwise I would had to use any of the other options it offers for charging/discharging the device itself and any other device being attached.
I did not get it why many people think it is neccessary moving to USB-C taking this 50/50 risk for frying any device.
I meet people having smartphones of other brands with USB-C connection not even knowing its advantage over µUSB let alone having one device making use of it beside the charger itself, so what´s the need beside of another “nice to have” option. (neglecting higher charging currents for quicker charging…)
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I would like to study the article at length for the purpose of improving my French. Is there a printer-friendly version available?
If you are on Firefox, you can enter the reading mode: 
Partly correct - people who buy Fairphones want a fairly produced phone WITH a fair OS - and Google’s Android is not a fair OS… (and as for the usability a shere catastrophe…)
Well I disagree. This forum shows that not all Fairphone buyers have the same profile. Many of them want a fair OS (and most of them are ative on the forum, so it seems that they are a lot), but a the huge majority of Fairphone users go for Android with Google and not for FPopenOS.
Personally, I think like you that a fair OS is important. At the same time, I understand that most users are happy that their phone is produced as fairly as possible but don’t care about Android not being fair. You are talking about people using Windows/MacOS, Chrome, gmail/yahoo/hotmail, etc. How many people use Linux and only/mainly open source software?
According to me, Fairphone is right in choosing to work with Android (including Google services), but should also help developing other OS (like they do with FPopenOS, but maybe also by helping other projects). People will choose alternative OS more and more if/when they see how easy it can be and that there are many advantages (like battery life…) . FPopenOS is a good example, as it is easy to install and official! As soon as there will be an official way to install Lineage, Sailfish or Ubuntu (for example) on FP, a lot of users will give it a try too!
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Hi everyone,
I bought a Fairphone 2 a week ago and now I am trying to catching up with all the discussions about the Fairphone 3 and the rumours.
I would like to give my opinion in this matter even if someone does not agree with me. I can see that there is a different point of view with every single reply.
I do not have a clue about how the FP3 is going to be, or what Fairphone is doing but I will share here what I think.
I think Fairphone should focus in have an ecosystem for their phones. Starting with the FP2, modularity is a reality (“sort of”). Agree that it can be better, but all the time and money, that they have expend in developing this platform, should be used. Some of you talk about a cheaper phone, and other about a completely redesign. I believe that due to the modularity, a lot of things can be done over FP2 platform, for example:
- camera improvements. (on the way, although I think the camera is pretty decent)
- Battery improvements, new specification with more capacity for example.
- New main boards,…
With point 3 I am not sure what is not more discussed, instead of a FP3, what not to load the same FP2 platform with some other cheaper main board (since that seems to be the most expensive part). Having two configurations allows to have a cheaper terminal and a middle-high end terminal sharing several common components. (This has been suggested by other people in this thread and other parts of the forum).
If we want to reduce waste, increase live span and re usability we should think in a platform rather than a fixed phone.
As an example, a PC can be configured and designed according to your necessities, if those change you can always update the system, you do not need a new screen, or new keyboard, or new power supply…
Why not can we do the same thing with a phone?
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Of course you are right in principle. Nevertheless I remember well that we had these discussions about “fair OS” already in 2013. And of course I am working with FPopenOS and tried out ubuntu touch (that will be discontinued) and Jolla Sailfish. The latter suits fine but still lacks an email and agenda MS Exchange client, which -unfortunately- I still need for my work…
Great to have the movement involved in the creation of FP3. As FP2 owner, i hope not to need it anytime soon, but my feedback… Stake a claim on a FP5G asap - does not even have to have a target date yet, might even be the FP you have already re-launched, but stake a claim. Operators / Service Providers need 5G to be transformative & will invest to hype it up - 5G should be Sustainable & Ethical - delivering UN SDGs / Vision 2020 / etc. Use the Force of the current FP movement and sign up the Operators early to realise the 5G sustainable development promise.
Thanks, Keith