Would be really interesting if Android Wear indeed works on @chrmhoffmann’s Kitkat ROM.
If you want to get the fairphone home apk I suggest you do the following:
goto https://fairphone.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201189497-Fairphone-OS-multiple-versions-
Download FP1U and FP1 with upgraded partition layout (1.8.7) and get the FairphoneHome.apk from the system/apps folder of the zip. While the code is open source I did not find a public repository with the most recent code.
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This is the same thing I thought, so my first try was simply flashing the image and restart, but it didn’t start the home, looping between the two splash screens as written previously. After this I wiped the /data partition and it started well but after restoring some settings and apps from a TB backup (luckily I backup everything some days ago!) the phone app became crashing cotinuously deregistering both SIMs every 5 seconds (I had to put the phone in flight mode to be able to use it); I don’t remember what caused the crashes, my main suspects are some system settings and xposed framework, but I hadn’t he time to investigate deeper.
Bye 
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Please, nobody should start flashing any experimental builds like this without having backed up everything that is not replaceable. I even backup everything each time I update using official channels.
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I absolutely agree 
I have to admit I was a bit brave and risk to loose data trying different beta FPOS installs in the past, but flashing experimental builds is very dif|erent!
As I am a little bit lost in all the disussions about ROMs/MTK/CW/Android 4.2+@FP1;
Can anybody explain to me:
- why @chrmhoffmann can do bring us Android 4.4.2 to the FP1(U) (THANKS!) while FP are not able to do (at the moment, or dont want to)?
- Is this in any connection with the FP1 software announcment, FP recently did?
- What is about the MTK-software part, which is still not available for the public (afaik) - but how the Android 4.4.2 can run at all?
- If Kitkat 4.4.2 is now running well - where is the difference in bringing recent CM running?
- If Kitkat 4.4.2 is now running (which already is a big jump from 4.2), where is the difficulty to go even further (5.0 …)?
Thanks for making some points clearer…
Cheers, Robert
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This is my understanding of the issues:
Without wanting to detract in any way from chrmhoffmann’s efforts, this should be seen more as an alfa version. Testing, packaging and supporting a new version for the general user takes a lot more than putting a version out aimed at technical users for testing.
No, as outside of Fairphone nobody has access to the sources mentioned in the announcement. The XDA thread mentions that some of the required information came from places on the web:
This is Android 4.4.2 kitkat compiled from scratch from some other device sources that you find on the web. Adapted to fairphone FP1(U).
Not sure what you’re asking. Could be that the quote above is what you’re looking for. There is no source code for a bunch of the specific hardware in the phone. Occasionally using compiled parts (binary blobs) can help, but sometimes this isn’t compatible with other parts of the system.
The CM ROM used different code to interact with the blobs, which lead to some things not working. For instance:
Which shows that MediaTek changed a lot of things in the system so it works with their hardware.
At least (probably more): More issues with incompatibilities with the blobs and a lot of work to adapt the kernel sources in such a way that they build for this device (a kernel source for mediatek devices for the kernel used in 4.4 is floating around on the web, but not one for the kernel used in higher versions, if I’m not mistaken).
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Well put! Also this often quoted LWN article sums it up very nicely. There is more to it (how companies work and make money, selling the same licensed features with different names), but I don’t want to warm up this topic every time … there a already a few topics about this here already.
The Linaro group tried to help in this area, but I guess nobody was really interested in discussing those links One can also use their build chain to compile the FP1 kernel.
Regarding BT: The MTK’s bluetooth (BT) stack is a blackbox. I only know about the changes in the Android BT stack, the changes in MTK’s BT are not published in google’s android changelog, that’s why I was asking if newer MTK lib versions were used.
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Does that translate to “one could potentially” or have you actually done it (or know of anyone who has done it)?
Done it. But a kernel is not a working ROM. What I’m was looking for is a full BUILD-chain (it throws out a ROM more or less) this is only the TOOL-chain to build the kernel for the SoC. I hope that is not too confusing. I send you a private message 
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I am running @chrmhoffmann’s build since three days now and had no issues whatsoever.
This first day i ran without google apps, then i installed google apps from opengapps.org. So far, everything works well. The phone feels quity snappy, data, gps and wifi works. Camera works as well!
Great work!
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Just out of a hunch to test something else, I also installed chrmhoffmann’s rom using CWM. I agree, 4.4.2 feels snappy.
Update:
For people that look for a howto for the FairphoneHome.apk (see keesj’s comment). I also missed the side-swiping:
Unzip the lasted Fairphone-image (I used the FP1-Fairphone_OS_v1_8_7_Image_2015081400.zip, that was on my hard drive already):
$ simg2img system.img sys.raw.img
$ mkdir sys-image
$ sudo mount -o loop sys.raw.img sys-image
$ cd sys-image/app
$ adb install FairphoneHome.apk
Reboot and select.
Other notes:
- Do not switch the runtime, Art is not working right in 4.4
- Printing in the local network is not working out of the box (I’m not going to install “Google cloud print”). I read a few things about this online, basically you cannot print with Android without using extra apps or “the cloud”. How useless.
- bluetooth differs
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I just uploaded an updated version that moves the rom to 4.4.4_r2.0.1 and fixes lots of security fixes (now at November status). Head over to XDA and give it a try.
Beware: this is a merge of 4.4.4 over the mtk stuff, so I expect it to be a bit more buggy than the previous release. It was loads of work to get this merged.
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Sideloading fp1-kk444-CH-0.1.zip works, that’s all I can say for now (with your recovery). Maybe a screenshot is easier. Thanks for showing that 4.4.4 is possible.
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Would you suggest switching from CM to the new build?
Will you publish your sources so we can use it for an updated cm build as well?
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[Recovery] I like the ClockworkMod Recovery much better than the standard Android recovery. Can we keep that one or are there possible licensing strings attached? I guess the ROMs won’t mind which one we use, but CMR is much easier to use and navigate (up, down and enter work like expected), so I guess it’s also better for “normal” users. It also allows quick full backups.
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Or if you have a TB backup you can simply restore it from a backup and it works flawlessly 
but you have to restore your widgets (I didn’t find a way to restore them with TB yet!)
I have some problems running OpenCamera and Barcode Scanner, they crash and are unable to open the camera device, I’ll investigate further
Bye!
For me restoring widgets with TB works.
I restore the App datas of the Widget-Apps & the Launcher, the I restore “Homescreen Widgets” and the I restart the phone.
Thanks, maybe it depends on the sequence of restoring, because I restore the same things but I don’t have the widgets on the screen, only the app icons and the contacts…
Hi allz
Step by step installation of stock rom android 4.4.4 for FP1 & FP1U is required for common users like me. because i do not understand how to flash or upgrade my FP1U (repartitioned). Thanks