FP4 several issues

@anon1128606
Hey,
I just hopped onto this thread and read only a handful of posts, but is there any possibiliy to get access to the beta software? It cant be worse than my FP4.TP1X.079 image!!!

I dont want to wait anymore an Im considering flipping my phone and getting a Pixel with GrapheneOS… I was here for the first 5G bug, I coped with the problem that NO EFFING PERSON can understand me with traditional phone calls, when Im not using my Sony In-Ears, my second pair of Fairphone Earbuds was broken weeks after I got a replacement from you (I didnt bother to get them repaired!), my frontcamera got black dots in the image (no it was no dirt. I checked and even scratched the lens before replacing it. It was the sensor) my screen glitched the F out mid this year and was broken (not ghostinput!), I had severe problems with the ghost inputs in July/August (and got a new screen from you guys, which changed nothing).
And now I cant use my phone for 60 min straight, because it eighther freezes up in horizontal mode, craps itself when I use PiP mode (presumely) and randomly reboots without any input.

When it freezes up it stays unlocked the whole time, the assumed “PiP-bug” (thats how I call it) renders a black screen. When I unlock my device the backlight turns on and the LCD part stays black. And only god knows why the reboots happen.

To be clear: Your customer support is helpful and very nice, but at some point I didnt even bother to tell them all that, because they cant fix it and its a waste of their and my time.

And now I read the update comes around christmas?
Ill switch back to my Pixel 3 something with /E/Os and I dont know if Ill bother to change back after the update.

Im not really angry, Im annoyed. Updates take forever (Ok, fair, you have small dev groups) and are buggy/unsuable. Why cant you offer quick bugfix images here? This is a million times faster than the OTA carrier update. Why is FP4 not getting any upgradepath? Oled Display? Better camera? Nothing? Maybe a later release for FP5 would have given more resources to FP4 development?

I hope that all reaches you as critique and not as internet-hate, because criticism is justified when I have to swap my sim, if I am expecting a really important call!

I love the idea of fairphone and I accept some drawbacks, but not a complete halt.
Contact me for any further questions, have a nice week

Lord

1 Like

Same here. I don’t use my Fairphone as my primary device anymore, but I use it as my alarm clock.

Until this morning that is. The alarm rang and I pressed snooze. It never rang again.

I thought it was an app bug or something until I realize that my phone battery has gone from 48% down to 7% over night and that Android probably killed the app to conserve battery.

How!?

I open the battery tab in settings and it’s damn near empty. Truly unbelievable.

My workplace has given me an iPhone 13 and while I despise iOS, it at least works most of the time.

1 Like

Hi @LordSexy
I am really sad to hear that and I understand that it must be very annoying indeed to deal with all these issues.

I am not sure I can address all the questions above, but to summarize:

  • The problem is not setting up the OTA configuration (which takes no more than 1-2 hours, including the time needed to translate the strings), but the time needed for the verification and internal/external validation; once a new software release is built, we test it as much as we can both in the field and with static setups. This takes time, but it has avoided releasing faulty software multiple times already (which is the reason why we tested it).
    The tests do not capture everything, unfortunately, as we need to balance between the release time and the testing grade.
    We are working to improve even further our test plans, to reduce redundancies and make them more time-efficient.
  • The FP4 Beta Testing program is, unfortunately, closed. We do have a sufficient number of beta testers and it would be complicated to accept more people for the time being.
    We are working towards that but, for now, we cannot accept new members.
  • The screen freezing issue is acknowledged and under investigation, we managed to replicate it internally and more data is being collected right now; I will keep you updated on the progress, we hope we can provide a fix for that as soon as possible.
  • We are constantly considering hardware upgrades for FP4, but honestly there are still things to be improved on the software side before focusing on hardware; in that regard, as anticipated at the FP5 launch event, we are working on a software FP4 camera improvement.
    The update will bring serious enhancement to various aspects of the camera, I am sure my colleague will communicate everything at the right time.

And more in general I understand your feedback and I can guarantee that the constructive criticism expressed on this forum (and other social media channels) is being heard.

13 Likes

Hey,

  • I knew before (and understandy why) you would not do this. Thats okay :wink: I would do all of that and risk getting a pre-relase bug, but I can imagine why you would not let me do this. I would just love to see bugfixes “asap” and not just in the monthly update cycle. (BTW Thanks for the on-time security updates. Really appreciate this!)
    I just waited until end October/start November for the release of the second Android 13 update to bugfix this and I just got worse/stayed the same. Now I know Ill have to cope with that for 3 more weeks and… AAAAH.

  • I thought so. Thats why I didnt ask in the first place. If you would like to get a beta tester, who tortures his phone… Give me a call :wink:

  • Do you mean the landscape mode freeze with the screen displaying the last “picture” or do you mean the black screen, where just the backlight works. I nearly perfected the last one. If you need input for the black screen bug, write me a message. :melting_face: (for real. If its crashing eighther way, it would be best if I can help you.)

  • Also true. Software is more important atm…

Ill confess, I was not very objective 2 days ago, Sorry for that. I would love to help in any way, if you think its helpful. Otherwise Ill wait till Christmas and hope for a nice update under the christmastree.

Thank you for the “insight” and keep that going. That’s kind of calming and makes things better

2 Likes

If you havent done so, please contact support, the forum isnt meant to report bugs officially

1 Like

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