How long do you plan on keeping your Fairphone?

Exactly what I said but if you extract my phrase from the context you do an “unfair” quotation (just to use a trendy word in this forum :P); I simply stated that saying 4.2.2 is an “out of date” version to put on a phone is not “unfair” as per the complain of @LittleWhorle, simply because about one out of five phones still has it installed, so it isn’t yet an obsolete unsupported version (looking from the apps perspective, not Google’s one).

I can also live perfectly fine with Slackware 5.0 or Windows XP or some other “out of date” OS if as a conscious user don’t go to pron sites or use peer-to-peer tools to share unknown files nor downloading unknown applications… Webview flaw is only a minor problem compared to what malware applications and/or closed firmwares can do, please read my post here and here because I don’t want to repeat and cross-post my ideas :smile:

So what NOW blocks you to use your phone? Can’t you install FIrefox, a firewall, XPrivacy or other security tools? Did your phone switch off forever after Android 5 was released?
Saying Fairphone statements are false promises is a bit excessive, if you want to know what does it mean to false promise to customers please see my experience with Sygic here; this is far away than Fairphone “false promises” :wink:

So what many of us hoping to OWN a device built in a fairer way did before…do we really need to do a step backward only because Google not Fairphone decided to not support its “old” operating system by don’t fixing bugs they created? Google has its interests in getting Android versions old in favor of new shining ones, this is programmed obsolescence and is a very well known marketing strategy :wink:

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Where your theory falls apart is that FairPhone actually promised timely Android updates before the phone was released. So it’s not a situation where people bought an Android 4.2 phone knowing they would be stuck with it forever, they actually bought an Android 4.2 phone with the promise of updates and those updates never came. It also took them the better part of a year to come forward and say that the chances of there ever coming an update were pretty much zero, which means that people who bought the phone couldn’t easily get a refund anymore on that premise.

It’s especially painful because for some people (like myself) this promise of timely updates was a pretty big factor in choosing FairPhone because many of the large players in the industry don’t give out Android updates either.

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It’s all about being able to relativize this thing.

If you look at the Android versions out there, over 50% of the Android phones currently in use are running Android 4.3 or older (with more than 47% running 4.2 or older). That doesn’t mean that 4.2 is completely secure and that there are no known exploits, but it does give this whole thing a bit of context. It clearly shows that running 4.2 doesn’t make your phone unusable or a huge, unavoidable security risk. If that were the case, security exploits would in general be a much bigger problem across the general Android user base. Common sense is usually the best protection against security issues. On top of that, FairPhone are including security fixes in their FairPhone OS updates, so that’s an advantage FairPhone users have over stock 4.2 users.

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Please see below regarding “looking from the apps perspective”.

I use Firefox, XPrivacy, Afwall+ and AdAway since the first days. But if you see XPrivacy as a security tool than you may not have understood what it is. As the name suggests it is tool to enhance privacy, not security.

And now let’s have a look “from the apps perspective”: in all versions below Android 4.4 the functionality of XPrivacy can be easily circumvented. It is very easy for any app to bypass any restriction you set. Please have a look at:

If you don’t believe what is written there than checkout the sources, compile and install this little PoC.

The author of XPrivacy has fixed this issue for Android >= 4.4 and stated that it is not possible to fix it for older Android versions without enormous effort.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=54111452&postcount=10580

And please: don’t tell me that it is the users responsibility to check all libraries of his favourite messenger app or any other app he likes or even needs to use but want to set some restrictions.

In short: XPrivacy is a great and reliable tool to enhance ones privacy if used on systems running Android 4.4.x and above.

How can one be so ignorant? There were many infections in the last time caused by malicious advertisements from hacked ad servers. The computers got infected when their users surfed reputable news sites.

That may be the hope of you and some others. My hope was to get a device which was built in a fairer way and the claim to be sustainable. Does it make sense to produce electronic scrap if it is produced under fair conditions?

Google did make the basis of the operating system. From their point of view every manufacturer is free to fix bugs in old versions of android or release newer versions for their phones. That is not unusual.
A great example is the linux kernel: many serious bugs get fixed by the linux kernel core developers for the current kernel version. For older kernel versions these fixes have to be backported by the linux distributors. That is a normal procedure. It is Debian, Red Hat, Ubuntu etc. who fix the kernels they have chosen for their current distribution(s).
To make it short: it is not Googles fault that Fairphone chose a manufacturer for their phone (A’hong) who is unwilling (or may be unable, which I doubt) to do this. There are many chinese phones with the MT6589(M) chipset out there running Android 4.4.4.

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My 2c in this out-of-control discussion :smile:
How long?
Maybe 'till year-end, certainly not much longer.

Why?
Two things. Most importantly, the poor GPS performance. Since I use my phone in my car and for geocaching, this has been really bothering me since the beginning. Secondly, the lack of updates beyond JB 4.2, either officially (via Fairphone) or through 3rd party like CyanogenMod. Yes, I understand Fairphone’s reasons, but this does not change the fact that the FP1 is “locked” to Fairphone’s willingness to provide timely fixes (who knows how long they’ll continue to support the FP1…).

What to?
Quite frankly, I don’t know. Apart from the above issues, the FP1 is a really nice package. It certainly wasn’t “top of the line” when it came out, but it was more than good enough. And the fact that it was focussed on fairness and came unlocked (bootloader, root) were key selling points for me (the fact that it is unlocked by default is basically the only reason I’m still using it).

In any case, any replacement will have to fix the above issues, and will have to come unlocked by default. And it will have to run CyanogenMod before I even consider buying it. I won’t ever accept vendor lock-in for my phone again. Fairtrade or not.

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Well I don’t like to be offended by someone who doesn’t know my knowledge and professional expertise…for me the discussion is closed and I suggest you, if you’re better than Fairphone in producing a real fair device to do it.
P.S. I was ironic talking about slack 5 and win xp, maybe it wasn’t very clear…

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[Source]

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Which is far too short.
Of course ‘at least’ means that it could be longer, but it really should be longer. Remember the second batch has only just been sold, so people wouldn’t even have their device for two years by then :frowning:

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You are right, that’s not a long time. But I’m pretty confident that if Fairphone says they want to provide updates until at least the end of 2016 they will only not do it way longer if every FP1(U) user would get a FP2.

I agreed, i would replace Google with MediaTek here, but anyways. I think donated to a good cause is something entirely different to help build sustainable, economic relationships. What i like about FP is that they peek into an industry and try to improve it from whithin.

That is sadly true. I was disappointed myself but with time i arranged myself with that. I do not see any blocking issues with 4.2.2 now (i know about the security bugs, please let’s not have that dicsussion again ;-)) but i am afraid I will make me a lot more tempted to buy a new phone earlier than planned. This is annoying to me as well and also sad because if i had bought a cheap Motorola E / G or something, i would have get those updates.
To me it is crucial for Fairphone to improve in this area for the FP2, which is one reason i started the dicsussion about root/Google Apps/custom launchers in this forum.

Thank you! I fully agree!

And Thank you aswell @ralf_xda! That is very interessting and an educational read.

Sadly, that is true. But it is not only A’hong but also MediaTek. While there are phones with MT6589 running Android 4.4, the FP1 is by far not the only one not recieving updates, it is generally a problem with MediaTek devices that they are not so well supported, software-wise. I doubt they are technically unable to do, but from a business perspective, the decision could make sense.

That narrows the list very much, but i think it is good to have clear priorities.

Thank you, i myself made the “rule” for me not to replace the phone before it is at least 3 years old. That makes to end 2016. Let’s see if i manage to reach that goal, because frankly, i am one of those people who simply wan’t that latest and greatest OS :slight_smile: .

I am confused :smile:. Don’t really understand what you are saying?

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LOL Glad to read that I’m not alone in this :smile:

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Yeah that sentence didn’t really come out right. :smiley:

What I was trying to say is that personally I believe Fairphone will provide updates for much longer than 2016 unless every FP1 user stopped using his FP1, because they all got a FP2.

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[quote=“ralf_xda, post:76, topic:3060”]
a better solution might be to buy a working and long supported phone and make a donation to some NGO fighting for better social and working conditions in countries where our electronic gadgets are produced. This is what I recommend to people at present if being asked if they should buy a Fairphone.
[/quote]+1

[quote=“ralf_xda, post:79, topic:3060”]
Many others tried this already the last 12 months without noticeable (at least for me) success.
[/quote]I have seen a change: new FP2 will be without root. If you can’t call that a “success” I don’t know what is. /sarcasmoff
And they’re moving away from MediaTek.

I meant Google won’t support security fixes for its old Android version so in this case it is a Google intention, not Mediatek :smile:
Bye!

Of course; that’s why they develop new versions. All fixes are in the latest version.

This is not “developing new version” it’s called marketing! If they wanted to provide long term support to Jelly Bean they could’ve simply provide a 4.2.x new version (even 4.3.x given that 4.3 also suffers this bug), perfectly compatible with the one running on the Fairphone and thousands of devices all over the world; this has been discussed also here
[Ironic mode ON]
But if we want the trend topic to be “Fairphone is not fair” we can continue to say this until even Fairphone thinks this of themselves and close the project because they’re ugly and bad guys… leaving us with the most “fair” phones in the world: Samsung’s and Apple’s ones
[Ironic mode OFF]

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I will use it as long as it works.
Perhaps 5,7,…10 years?

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Well, I’m still dreaming of an FP2 coming with CyanogenMod as its base OS… (silly me)

I can’t see any ‘marketing’ in providing new versions. Anyway, this is how it works, and it doesn’t help us.

I think we can agree it is both: Google not bringing the fix to older versions of Android and MediaTek not caring for Android OS updates ;-).

Thank you for this! :smiley:

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