What do you think of Fairphone's approach to open source on the FP2?

This is a very good comment. To extend it, let me quote a comment from liliputing.com on the advantages of Sailfish OS over Android:

(Source: Jolla Tablet with Sailfish OS is finally shipping - Liliputing )

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What I also miss: will the FP2 stick to Android 5.x, although Android 6.0 will be out in a few weeks?

I completely agree. Iā€™d rather feel I can trust what I read in the Fariphone blog, than have to spend ages second guessing what each statement means. Although:

I couldnā€™t find any statement that anything above 5.1 will be supported on FP2, can someone point me in the right direction?

Regarding updates, this something to keep in mind when considering expectations (and this is from someone involved in FP development):

This is why I would be very positively surprised to see a new version of Android for FP1 (given that two of the apps that I was using are no longer compatible with Android 4.2), but rather expect that the developments for FP1 are important for keeping security patches coming, which is also important for longevity.

For me, the availability of the source code makes it seem more likely that the a project will be supported more long term, which is why I have (a perhaps irrational) notion that open source also fits in with the environmental goals of the Fairphone project. It also means that if the device is popular enough to attract a developer network, there is a chance of community updates even if Fairphone stopped trading for whatever reason or decides to focus their attention elsewhere. On the more practical side I agree with the sentiment of Ben in the OP - this is a good balance between those that want something straight-forward, and those that want to take a different route. For now, itā€™s patiently waiting to see what materialises over the next months.

Keep up the good work!

Side note:

This isnā€™t helpful to the discussion and potentially discourages people from contributing or taking an interest. Please donā€™t make such statements, but stick to comments that can move the discussion forward or encourage others.

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Nobody knows that yet. You can look at other, big manufacturers and you will hardly find a statement in that regard. I doubt Fairphone will be able to an announcement in that regard before we see the first devices with the chipset getting Android 6.0 ā€“ which can be well into 2016 if the updates to 5.0 are any indication. That said, the Snapdragon 801 is a quite popular platform sold in many popular devices like the Sony Z3 range, some HTC One devices, the (old) new Moto X and the Galaxy S5 ā€“ for example (See this list). So chances are Qualcomm will prodive and update Android base for the 801 on Marshmellow (6.0). But even IF that happens, Fairphone will still have to adapt that to the possibly unique device specs of the FP2. Given this complexity and that they were unable to keep up with some promises in that regard on the FP1, it would be ridiculous and not fair to the customers to make such claims that early.

Reading the blog and the forum quite often, i am pretty sure they are dedicated to bring major Android updates to the FP2. But if they will be able to and how long that takes, is simple to early to ask.

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Hi here,

we are at mid of november and still no update about the release of the source code of the Fairphone OS (or at least for the AOSP). Please, for me is very important to have a system ā€œgoogle freeā€ before start to using it, so maybe @Douwe could tell us when this code will be released? I hope not after the delivery of the phone

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Hadnā€™t they mentioned that they will provide a ROM without Google (I always imagined it to be similar to the updater of FP1 in which every user can pick Fairphone OS or AOSP). Does anyone remember where that information is from?

The code and how to build documentation will be publicly available before the first phones are shipped.

We plan to release before end of the month. We are currently working on documentation and feedback channels.

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When the sources are available Iā€™ll order the FP2.

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When Sailfish OS will be available Iā€™ll trade my FP1 for a FP2.
Honestly, I feel any other talk around open source just looks like blah blah.
And given the state of Jolla (makers of Sailfish) at this moment, they are in dire need of help, a help that just declaring Fairphone allows them doing all the porting (and no support) is not bringing at all.
But who knows. Maybe they survive after all, without help, like by miracle. While here we continue belonging to Google.

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For those of you following this topic for source announcements, see also the topic here, or http://code.fairphone.com/.

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A post was merged into an existing topic: Financial problems for Jolla ltd