There should never be an FP4. Each change in version is a failed paradigm. The evolution should be gradual to make spares compatible as long as it is physically possible. In a couple of years, the FP3+++ should have faster cpu, more ram, better cameras, but the case, battery, screen, finger reader could be the same, or compatible. Just as desktop pcs.
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FP3+++ or FP4 is just semantics, all the rest of what you say is probably on the board of the designers as you speak.
I don’t care about names, whatever sells. But FP1 wasn’t FP2 wasn’t FP3 is FP3+. That was what I meant.
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Ok I’m clearly not understanding what you are trying to say, so goodbye and have fun 
But FP3+ ist basically the same phone like the FP3 with just different cameras, like the FP2, which was upgraded with new camera modules, and the FP1 was reissued as FP1U.
So it’s more likely that there will be a FP4 sometimes, with complete different hardware, than a FP3++ with a new core module.
I can’t see the great advantage anyway, the more upgraded modules will come, the more useless old modules will exist. With a new FP4, the old FP3 can still be used as a complete phone, like a lot of old FP1s or FP2s are still working.
Just to avoid misunderstandings: The RAM in general is not part of the SoC.
In some cases the RAM sits on top of the SoC; this is called PoP (package on package).
This is done in the early models of the Raspberry Pi, for example. And this is done in the FP2, on top of its SD801.
Speaking about the FP3(+):
The SD632 SoC is not able to support PoP. So the RAM sits next to the SoC.
To be even more precise: In this case the RAM is combined with the flash storage in a single chip (on different silicon dies) with 4GB LPDDR3 RAM and 64GB flash (KMRH60014A-B614 by Samsung).
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Thanks to your suggestions I removed some apps completely and limited background services for other apps. Perhaps biggest effect had to close apps after using instead of letting everything open the whole day. With that, my Fairphone 2 is responsive again and I can stay using it until…
Until even that is not enough and all updates will consume the whole 2GB available.
This is not about wanting “the latest” hardware. It is about longevity. I would happily use a Fairphone 1 today, it had all features and apps I need. But it cannot work because actual Android and Apps consume more memory and it is unsecure and not practical to use software of 10 year ago today.
We can and should prevent this happen again by providing new-sold Fairphones 3 with 6 or 8GB of RAM. So somebody who buys this phone today can still use it in 2025.
As far as I understand, the RAM is not inside the SoC but on an extra chip connected to it, and the FP3 SoC can adres up to 8GB (https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/qualcomm/snapdragon_600/632#Utilizing_devices). So starting to produce a FP3 with 6 or 8GB RAM from now on should only cost some Euro extra for each device. Another option would be to make that RAM expandable so I could buy it in 2025 when needed, I don’t know if this can be realized.
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It is not just the memory. It’s also the computational and graphics acceleration power of the SoC, the modem capabilities (5G, 6G eventually), the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity and of course the OS software support.
“Still usable” is matter of definition. If you want to be running up-to date apps in 2025, the best thing to buy is probably an iPhone.
Best wishes,
Thomas
Please elaborate, since Apple is known for their “you need a new phone” strategy.
Well it’s just the other way round. iPhone 7 and iPhone SE for example, both made 2016 are still working with the lastest software, security patches and apps. Most of the Android phones can’t do that. For sure not with the own manufacturer software.
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With the caveat repairs (including replacing a battery which you probably want every ~2 years) on iPhone are either cumbersome or expensive.
As for more more more memory and storage. Availability (in raw numbers) only goes up, and as it goes up, so does usage. Sometimes you can work around that (stop using these stupid apps which are a web frontend), sometimes its just too useful not to.
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So much of the obsolescence argument boils down to this - at this point software developers are as guilty as phone manufacturers of increasing the rate of obsolescence. There’s no real reason an FP2 shouldn’t be able to run some simple web frontend apps, like the New York Times or Facebook or somesuch - but many are borderline unusable. It’s not even limited to web frontends: try running one of the new incarnations of Angry Birds and watch your phone grind to a halt, when the game looks essentially the same as the very first version, which runs smooth as butter (if you can find it). Hell, most games won’t even run unless you give them unfettered access to your private data and Internet connection, which is obviously bad privacy-wise but all the spying also uses up a ton of memory.
Popular proprietary apps have seen feature creep the likes of which I only remember from the nadir days of Norton Antivirus and the end result of that is lots of people getting rid of their old FP2s because they want to run a ton of apps, which should be possible, but they’re all constantly running in the background, calling home, serving ads in your notification tray, et cetera.
And when you tell people who complain about a slow phone to uninstall a bunch of crap, they balk, because tracking memory usage and finding alternatives is not the smartphone experience they’re used to, or the experience they were promised.
I’ve been thinking about this recently, because I suspect that in the coming few years, we’ll be seeing a proliferation of Apple-esque walled gardens as corporations profit from locking people into their ecosystems of non-stop updates. I’m not sure what the solution is, apart from fundamentally reshaping the way people interact with their phones. The way to get the FP3 to last isn’t installing more pointless memory, it’s to teach people how to use an RSS reader instead of five separate shady news apps. Goodness knows I’ve tried, but if we can’t even get people to care about the shittiness of WhatsApp for more than a week after each scandal, what are we supposed to do?
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That’s a good question - and it makes me sad in a way. But on the other hand: Who expects you to save the digital self-determination?
In the end, everyone is responsible for their own digital enslavement. Convenience and the “good feeling” of being accessible everywhere and for everyone is more important for many users than digital freedom.
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We’re setting the right example.
With regards to privacy I wouldn’t count on companies such as Google and Facebook. Apple set a good standard with the labels. Also, you can grant temporary permissions on latest Android (as you can with app Bouncer). Still, Fairphone relying so much on Google is a minus IMO.
MDM not allowing you to increase your privacy is also awful.
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No one is responsible for their own enslavement!
I’m not a dietician so I’m very happy to know that there are laws and institutions that have made sure that I know that an apple is better for me than a kroket (though both are delicious). I don’t really know, on a clinical level, what’s so bad about eating the kroket. But happily, we’ve come together as a society and because of that we all know, through ads and warnings and general social osmosis, that it’s not a good idea to have fast food for dinner every day.
In the same vein, it shouldn’t be our personal responsibility to make sure that when we go to the digital market, we don’t accidentally pick up malicious software.
I don’t want to put the full onus for making these kinds of decisions on the users, because it means I’d be putting that onus on my parents whose eyes glaze over when I utter the phrase ‘libre software’, or on my friends who just want to game, or on my coworkers who just want to use their phones - it isn’t their job to know what’s good and what’s bad.
I think we should be taking collective responsibility to ban malicious software (or at least make sure it comes clearly labeled as malicious), so laypeople don’t have to become software experts just to keep from being digitally enslaved.
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I basically have the same issue with a very laggy FP2, but couldn’t really nail down the issue so far. I’ve also noticed in the android settings that the android OS consumes by far most of the 2GB RAM, compared to other apps.
I was also thinking about installing /e/, so i was wondering whether this would address the massive RAM useage of the OS?
Has anyone some experiences with /e/ or lineageOS and can compare to the ‘laggy FP2 issue’ some of us are facing using the custom Android?
LOS 17.1 on FP2 here, system only uses 1GB correction: ~600MB of RAM and I have rarely felt that my FP2 was laggy (except in some cases with high-demanding apps).
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My friends FP2 has 600Mo Ram usage for android on the stock Rom. But there are not a lot of additional apps installed. Disabled most GApps and sync settings.
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