Thank you for the explanation.
So, why Mediatek isn’t providing the info to upgrade for that chipset? Is it too expensive? Isn’t this bad entrepreneurship? Because, in the end nobody would by chips from them?
I guess they could provide the necessary info so the opensource-community could make the necessary drivers. Why not doing that, if they’re not planning to do it themselves?
These questions are more or less answered in this thread, I’ll read it again to try to understand it :-).
The thing is that our Fairphones are broke :D. Security issues and vulnerabilities are constantly being detected in almost every software, so the longer you don’t update the more vulnerable your software/phone becomes. In the case of Android 4.2, there are at least 4 security vulnerabilities, some of which severe.
Moreover, most of the popular apps are already compatible with Android 5.0 or will be made compatible very soon. The apps that won’t be compatible are most likely old and unpopular apps. But this is more an Android problem than a Fairphone problem. Also, you are not forced to update if they provide Android 5.0 for Fairphone. So if one of your favorite apps does not work, then you can simply not upgrade 
.
I am wondering, though…
If they released the driver sources they made for jb, how easily could the community (or Fairphone) modify those to work with newer versions of Android?
I once heard someone say that mtk sources are a “disorganized mess”.
I don’t think mediatek would go ahead and write KitKat and lollipop compatible drivers just for the fairphone and for free.
That would not really be very economical for them, would it?
Hi
as Google is cutting support for older versions (eg Webview), reaching at least Android 4.4 is a security issue:
The original idea of the fairphone was “Long-term use and support”. This means at least security patches. If those cannot be delivered my phone is no longer usable for my job.
I know - it is a small team and a small users base. So there should be a focus on that (not on GUI) and some financial support if this helps.
Kind regards
Harald
I full-heartedly agree.
I followed the no-support news, and this seems rather stupid. But we’re stuck anyway, because: MediaTek. 
Well, the 1.8 update contained 9 security fixes.
If future security issues get fixed in some other custom ROM based on Android 4.2, maybe the Fairphone team can merge those changes into the FairPhoneOS code base.
How do i do the poll without posting a post?
I’m not sure, if I understand your question… You can always take part in a poll by just clicking an option and submitting your vote.
I am not tech-savvy enough to understand possible implications, but I assume that if you were to build it, it would work on the basis of where we are at now. If it could be implemented without great pains I’d be all for it! (Actually I’d been hoping someone came up with this suggestion! 
)
In my opinion, even 20 or 30 Euros would be a small price to pay to be able to use my phone for longer.
Thats what I also think…rather a small investment in the software than a big investement in new hardware;)
I think it would be fair to pay something for the special work (development, testing, customizing).
Whenever paying an additional fee speeds up the process of migration I will be willing to pay.
I think that’s actually what it will come down to.
AFAIK all kernel drivers for the Mediatek 65XX have been released and therefore it should be possible to build costum roms and bootimages for the 6589 chipset.
So my proposal would be to advertise on XDA Forums and anywhere else you will find Android Devs and put up a github Directory for a CM 12 (and beyond) ROM as well as a Bithub Payment system for github commits. So anyone contributing could get some money from the community - anonymously. This would ensure a continuous development. We might have to put together (collect) a sum for the first one setting up that directory and providing us with a working version of Cyanogenmod 12.
I’d love to see the Fairphone team contributing some bitcoins anonymously to that cause.
Not sure if this is the case, but MediaTek is moving. See here, especially their presentation-pdf (cf. page 55).
Can someone please explain to me if the Acer and Sony sources which are available are generally applicable, i.e. good for the Fairphone? The Acer release is cloned and forked all over GitHub, but I am to much of a noob to understand the practical implications.
Edith says, I shall quote this:
This seems a great idea. But it would be great if we could also contribute without bitcoin. While I like bitcoin, I don’t own any, because I find it to complicated - and I am a technically inclined person, at least in my peer group.
@Stefan we have contact with Mimmis Cleeren from MediaTek labs whom we met @ xda devcon. We regularly exchange progress/concerns.
I do get the point. But there are ways around. Imho bithub is the system best suited to engage devs in a long term update and bug fixing process for OS software.
But to get to that point we’d first need some sort of pledgebank where people can chip in for a successful build of the first rom. I haven’t seen a system that would fulfill the requirements, yet.
Maybe we could get in contact with kwamwcorp and ask them how much they would charge?
The way I see it, there would be no strictly legal way for a company to perform that, due to legal difficulties with the driver and kernel source codes.
I see no real immediate danger for a lawsuit, but I can imagine that no company would be willing to take that risk…
But with all the stuff going on about Mediatek Labs, maybe there won’t be any legal infringements anymore. In that case what do you think about this option?