Well, the degoogled OSes for FP1-FP3 all were based on Android, so no wonder they were able to run Android apps 
They already have a working beta of Android 11 for 12 devices (FP2 and FP3 are among those).
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Sailfish’s progress may be slow, but last time I put it onto a Sony Xperia XA2, I had Android support for Android 9, I think. Now they are at Android 10 and have 64 bit for specific devices.
Btw, I also invested in one of the tablets (never got one), and I still profit from that (OK, when my money seems to be gone, I was a little bit sad), because they turned my refund into licenses for Android support for Sailfish X on Sony Xperias.
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I think it could technically be any 5G variant they have, perhaps even from the 8xx series. Apparently there’s features with which FP and Qualcomm can negotiate about, such as the supported 3G/4G/5G bands and perhaps also the supported WiFi standards or speeds. FP could well have “not paid” for the full wifi capability of a chip, but instead opting for a cheaper contract with lower speeds and possibly a simpler antenna. Time will probably tell, but looking at the 690 specs it was released about at the right time (a year ago, like the 768G) for it to be integrated by FP. And from the specs it looks like a nice upgrade from the 632 too, although I’m not sure it warrants a €300 surplus over the FP3+. unless other parts of the FP4 have leaped forward in quality too.
My personal wish is for the screen not to be any bigger than the FP3. I don’t really buy too much into the high refresh rate hype, but slight improvements in resolution could be nice-to-have. For me the 76x would have the slight edge mainly because it’s produced at 7nm rather than 690’s 8nm, which translates to better power consumption, and because it supports faster DRAM (2133MHz versus 1866MHz). Other than those, faster 5G/wifi or even more megapixels on the camera would be wasted on me.
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It has been bugging me that a new “plain” phone makes little sense for the ad. Like, “The phone that can change a whole industry”, with the focus on phone… why? That was already their slogan, why focus on the word phone being so special?
There must be something more to this. Maybe it is actually a phablet or tablet? Or maybe there is support for some kind of dock to connect it to a monitor so you can use it as a PC as well? I would hope the last, but we will see. A plain phone feels odd to me with the marketing angle they chose, because the Fairphone 3 was already a phone that can change the whole industry, why use the same slogan again?
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To change the market, they could provide 2-3 phone models with different modules that are interchangeable. You can start with a cheap model and replace broken or to bad or slow modules with more expensive ones. In the end you have a high end phone.
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Although the idea is attractive to the consumers the cost of designing and manufacturing the products with a realistic idea of how many of each will be purchased is not what a small company could financially deal with.
Many people have fanciful ideas of what other could do, but they are just that, fanciful, not going to happen, then of course I may be wrong. 
Also your post is more fitting at
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Isn’t the point of FairPhone to not replace it as often as other phones?
Scratch that - you can give away your FP2 to someone in need, then it’s fair 
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Ok @Pierre_l
- you are loosing patience
- yet the point is . . .
The phone isn’t going to save one molecule of the planet, ‘au contrare’, but Fairtrade shares the spoils of the powerful, so buy an FP3 now and an FP4 when it come out. Forget the promises if it 's unfair to you
I hope not a FP4 / 5G version. We don’t need it.
First of all this is not in line with Fairphone belief. FP3 was launched in late of September 2019, Septermber 2021 is TOO early for something new. Second, I bought a Fairphone also to approach a new metality, less consuming and much more “the best phone is the one that you already own”. Third, as argue in a well known FP article, the production of core produce 70% of the total smartphone lifecycle pollution …
I guess a new sort of device (tablet) is on going, but a new Fairphone 4 will be an hazard, a bigbig loss of company image.
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Ah, the good old majestic plural .
(While it’s true I personally don’t need a Fairphone 4 5G currently, I wouldn’t generalise or dare to speak for everybody else.)
Source?
That doesn’t change if there’s a Fairphone 4 5G.
But that’s true for newly produced current Fairphones, too. So?
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Fairphone official articles are clear.
So, the product itself is not the point but what kind of product will be released. I (we) already have a phone, so… why should we need another one? It will be incoherent (with the aim of this company, and for most of us is the reason why we buy a FP3 or 2). But a Tablet … Fairphone will be the first ever company to provide such a device, that means acquiring new market share and consumers which need a fair and sustainable tablet. and, yep, a FP4 should be awesome (I agree) but this is not the Fairphone that I (we) knew before and for what we bought a FP3. And of course, FP4 may let FP to acquire new market share but that could make fidelty consumers gone, without considering that FP will start to follow the trend of big high tech companies.
I agree there is no we, that I have authourity to speak for
I bought it only due to Fairtrade not repairability (there are other phones for that) so another model every year wouldn’t change that.
The only issue I can see is the maintenance of previous models.
Given the legislation for consumer repairability and Fairphone’s own chat of 5 years or more, which is no big deal (all my previous phones lasted longer without repairs) there is a requirement to stock so many modules made, maybe 200,000. Once they are nearly used up, what to do . . . hash out another 100,000 or get going on the next iteration.
So what’s it going to be, stocks of spare parts for five years at least and|or a new phone.
Fairphone will have idea of what is financially sensible, at this point it’s not about longevity of the phone but longevity of Fairphone. And as long as it’s fair to the miners and manufacturers I don’t care how often a new phone comes out.
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They are so clear that there is no suitable quote, I take it?
You (and me, and many more) are not in the target group obviously, but that doesn’t mean there is no target group.
And they would have to stock a few more people in support, too. Support seem swamped as it is, with a new device they would be double-swamped .
(Edit: On second thought … would it even matter then? Maybe not … obviously not good for people needing support, but from bad to worse is no major setback either .)
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Many people currently in need to buy a new phone will choose something different than Fairphone, because of 5G. So to further emerge, Fairphone needs a 5G phone. I personally don’t think there currently is real need to own a 5G phone, but many many people do.
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Many people think that an edge-to-edge screen is absolutely necessary, or a 120Hz screen, or a telephoto camera, or…
Considering that, a manufacturer needs to release a new flagship phone every six months to keep up.
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There are people who still use a Fairphone 1 or 2. They choose not to buy a Fairphone 3.
Perhaps they are the potential buyers of a Fairphone 4.
Or like me, I bought a Fairphone 3, because I know someone who was glad to get my Fairphone 2 to replace his Fairphone 1.
If there comes a Fairphone 4, I only will consider to buy it, if I can make somebody happy with my Fairphone 3.
This is one way to be fair when buying a fair phone, a Fairphone.
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I have the feeling that many people would consider to go without better display, camera etc but not without 5G.
5G really seems to be something people think they will need, especially when they would like to keep their next phone several years. Currently 3G and/ or 2G are shut down and people fear same will happen to 4G the next years.
I would not compare 5G with other stuff.
I still use a FP2 and wanted to wait for the FP4 and thought it will come in 1-2 years, now this might be coming a bit early and I can probably wait for the FP5😉
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I’m actually in the very same boat. Not that I need 5G speeds, but I consider it a “future-proof” feature. My current FP2 lasted 5 years, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to rely on it for navigation. Last time I drove 2 hours I had three reboots on the way. I was lucky to have a passenger to help unlock the phone again, but I’ve taken this as a clear hint that it’s time for replacement. Yet the lack of 5G on the FP3(+) has made me very hesitant to buy. I don’t care at all about flagship phones, rounded edges, squircular corners, tabs out of the screen, fold-out hubble-telescope camera lens… but I do want something that at it’s heart is top-notch today, so that I don’t get the inconveniences of outdatedness 3-4 years from now.
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As for the me, I also want to see 5G, because you simply use your phone like Wi-Fi.
Nothing about speed, LTE is enough, but latency… that’s imporant.
And if you want to create device for long time, 5G is must have for fairphone, because 5G will have more and more cover.
Benefits from 5G:
-
ready for future, device can live so long, higher chance to re-sell someone who just simple see Fairphone 4 is enough and you can go for Fairphone 5 etc.
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marketing move, so many people who doesn’t undestand tech simply see 5G they decided “I want it”
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eco & fair technologies reputation - we should show the world something like fair tech. Industry can be modern.
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Hey there,
I’ve followed this comments the last week. As it seems, that most people here do already own a FP - I thought joining this discussion from the other perspective.
I think FP wouldn’t change their philosophy if they would bring out a new phone every other year.
FP Owner would, if they would change their Phone for that reason or get mad on FP for trying keeping up with technology.
If they want to keep a healthy business, they need to shorten the time to release new phones. Otherwise people will always need to decide between an x year old phone or one is up to date. Especially as the price for these specs is always a little higher than other phones on marked.
At the same time I think FP should follow the way of releasing upgrade modules for old phones (as far as this is useful for a majority of customers). And for sure, they should keep spare modules / replacement modules in stock for several years - even if a new phone is released. Only that way, FP can support us customers keeping a phone alive.
Even though I’m following FP since the FP1 - the (possible) FP4 is the first FP I would/can buy, as my phone starts dying after 5 years.
If your FP works and you are able to do all things you need to do - the FP4 shouldn’t change anything on that.
I’m more then happy, if the release will be an FP4 - and indeed 5G is important for the long road the FP should accompany it’s owner.
Greets,
TheDeckie
Ps.: where is the “september” coming from?
Pps: Company wise releasing more variety of products would be good for sure - like a Tablet, Notebook, Smartwatch.
700€ are to expensive for a watch (even though I would prefer that before the other two)
Tablet market isn’t that big - so stepping in as smaller company wouldn’t be that economic.
Notebooks would open up a new field for sure - but you would need to open a whole new production line, developer department and so on - that’s a huge step which would be announced a little bigger I think.
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