Newcomer: Root, LineageOS & Upgrades

Hi,

I got the idea of switching to a Fairphone since I’m not happy with the phone I currently use. Since I like the idea of using mostly the same phone for some years (more than 2-3) I concluded Fairphone was the way to go.
However, I got some questions regarding root, Lineage and upgrades:

High priority

  • is rooting encouraged? Or does it void warranty?
  • same as above, but LineageOS. Can one use it without voiding warranty?

future perspective / upgrading

  • from a software POV I can only guess, that the Fairphone will receive future Android upgrades. Is this true? Is there a timeline for this? if LineageOS usage if perfectly fine, this question is mostly irrelevant
  • hardware: are there known plans to upgrade parts of the hardware? I mean the camera module is one thing, but what about 4 years from now, will there be a different “core”? this would be extremely great to have! Personally I’d consider this a great impact to the whole manufacturing industry.

The top 2 questions are kind of deal breaking for me. If rooting is not allowed I just don’t think I could go with that tbh.

Also, please excuse my grammar.

Thank you for reading this!

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It doesn’t void the warranty. In FPOOS (officially supported) it can even simply be enabled in the developer options.

Installing an alternative OS doesn’t void the warranty (FP made a conscious choice to ship the FP2 with an open bootloader), but if you contact support and they think you have a software issue they’ll probably ask you to go back to FP(O)OS to see if the issue persists.
But the FP2 port is officially supported by the LOS community and you’ll find help for most issues that might come up right here on the forum.

Unfortunately I believe another official G%§$e-approved upgrade is unlikely. But yeah, Lineage is a perfect alternative and will probably see many upgrades.

No, there will most likely not be any major upgrades. Well there might be an upgraded motherboard designed by a community member.

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Thank you very much for your fast response :smile:

Most likely I will get my phone within the next month :slight_smile:

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Hi!

Does it still make sense to buy a Fairphone 2 end of 2018? As of today, manufactures have more or less predictable (Update) Lifetimes of 2 - 5 years.

How long do people expect Fairphone 2 to get updates? I did some research on Google but I couldn’t really find a page with an “authorative answer”. (That would be a big wish of mine, being a former FP1U user. The update situation was opaque to say the least.)

Also speaking of Fairphone OS, is there a real expectation that Android 8 will be supported? How about Lineage? I realize 15.1 is Oreo based but what when Android 9 or 10 will be released? Will the drivers be ported? Questions over questions…

Thanks a lot, Philip

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I moved your post here because your questions were very close to those in this topic, please have a look at the post marked as the solution.
Feel free to ask what still isn’t answered after that.

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You’re not the first one asking yourself this question:

Actually it already came up in 2017:

If you’re looking for official G%§$e approved upgrades don’t expect one for Android 8.
For Lineage OS on the other hand an Android 9 upgrade is already being developed and I’m sure it won’t stop there.
There are also other OSes that could last longer than FP(O)OS (see oslist).

That’s a good question. :confused:

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@paulakreuzer Thanks for the answer. Good to hear that Android 9 support is already being developed.

Ok than I must ponder a bit more about it. :grin: I mean for the Fairphone 1 for reasons I don’t know an announced update didn’t happen, likewise non-Android OSs were never made to work - maybe with a handful of exceptions though.

Just to make sure that you know: I just bought the phone today, nearly a month later as I intendet to buy it. Despite that I can’t wait for my delivery.

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