Been using my personal FP4 for 3 months now alongside my cheap and cheerful Samsung A32 work phone - both Android 13.
But if they’re both A13 why are they so different?
I presume each company applies their own mods to the basic Android?
I’m writing this trying not to dis FP but it’s difficult when I switch between the 2 phones constantly and the FP4 just feels clunky.
Fitted a standard screen protector to both, screen response reduced, A32 has a setting to increase the sensitivity, nothing in the FP4.
I’m in a workshop so need a high volume on the ring tone but don’t need to be hassled by a high volume notification tone - you can’t split them.
Can’t reorder my home screen navigation bar buttons
Show all open apps, scroll all the way over to the left to find the close all apps button - make it immediately accessible!
Swipe down quick access, open second window to switch on/off data/wifi, close that window, close quick access - why aren’t they on the main menu?
Etc, etc.
Yes they are small niggles but I expect a high level of customisation from modern interfaces, I won’t say the Samsung is a dream to use because I don’t even have to think about using it!
I’m I missing something?
Can I install a different version of android which is more customisable?
Never had a new phone before, always had 2nd hand and was really looking forward to this product once I had the funds but now feel just a bit disappointed : (
all those features you’re missing are indeed implemented by Samsung, andand some of them you won’t find on any other Android phone, whether it’s a Fairphone, Sony, or any other brand.
I suppose I don’t really understand how Android as an open source app works then.
So this is pretty much an out of the box version of Android?
Does it have much development from FP?
Is there a process for requests?
I suppose in the future I should pay more attention to the OS rather than just the hardware/brand.
the base of Android is open source, but the licence allows every OEM to modify it with closed source components if they want to do so. the version running on Fairphone by default sticks mostly to the open source core, except for some closed source provided by Google (like Messages, Dialer, Chrome and the like).
Samsung is known for modifying the Android base of their devices heavily. As said previously, those changes are proprietary. Unfortunately, that means switching from Samsung to anything else becomes more difficult as users are used to those custom changes. And given the market share of Samsung devices, many users might even consider the “Samsung way” as the default now.
There is not much that Fairphone can do about that, I’m afraid.
If you want more custom settings, shortcuts like double tap or home button if you are alredy on the Home screen, different home screen arrangement etc. you can try a different Launcher.
I really recommend the Nova Launcher, and yeah it costs like 3$ or so but its worth every penny.
Really great Launcher with lots of custom settings. edit: you can try the launcher for free but with less customizability.