Do we need to upgrade? Still using my FP3 with LineageOS. So many new things that no one will appreciate… The FP3+ was the way to go, improving on an existing model. But even the FP4 battery is incompatible with the FP3 (and the FP2, etc).
7 Likes
No, why would you ask?
There’s no ‘we’ and no ‘need’ 
Some people may want to and I imagine Fairphone are really touting for new customers.
13 Likes
I don’t think so. There is only limited support time by the SoC manufacturer. Fairphone puts a lot of effort in delivering Android support for a long time, but can’t go around everything. Parts of the software stay unsafe without SoC driver support.
So to stay in the market and ship safe products, they need to upgrade from time to time. Is it necessary to launch a new model every two years? I doubt, but seems to be the way Fairphone is going.
7 Likes
Fun to see, but nothing to trust.
Anyway i don’t care unless they fix the software.
The FP4 Hardware is already good enough. (Except size maybe)
But the bugs or not polished camera app makes it to a “not so good” phone for me.
11 Likes
So - FP5?
Means the FP4 will never be fixed?.. 
1 Like
What’s broken on the FP4, if it’s the software you have a problem with do you think the FP5 won’t have such issues.
I’m sure the FP4 is fine it’s just the implementation of the firmware and OS.
There are still issues with the FP3 but generally the phone is fine.
Some people will always find something not up to their expectations.
Some people can live with that
Others will always complain
12 Likes
Why this assumption? The FP3 is still supported.
6 Likes
“Supported” is a very vague notion.
I don’t own a FP3 so I don’t know about it, but I do own a FP4, and there is a number of apparently not too rare bugs which haven’t been fixed for half a year now. I’m thinking about the choppy phone conversation issue (I’m experiencing), or the ghost inputs (I’m fortunately not (yet?) experiencing).
Some fresh new bugs have been added since (like the screen brightness issues), but the old ones are still there. And yet the FP4 is definitely “supported”.
What I’m saying is that with Fairphone’s very limited resources focusing on the FP5, the FP4 bugs might have to wait even longer, probably forever (“Just buy the new shiny-shiny!”)…
I for one am not the kind of person who changes his car or phone as soon as a new model is released. Not in my nature, and it goes against any notion of sustainability as I understand it. I bought a Fairphone specifically because I plan to keep it for at least 5 years, if not more.
11 Likes
FP3 is just about to be updated with A13 and currently I use the Beta version with no problems
8 Likes
But you know what is true for you about this beta upgrade is not for all the beta users.
Saying everything works for you and forgetting the bugs other meet can make people more upset not getting the Android 13 upgrade whereas there are good reasons not to release it right now.
1 Like
You could see it like that. On the other hand they ended their SW support for FP2 in March which freed capacities for either FP4 or maybe already for FP5. So yes, they should iron out the big issues soon (at least from what I read about FP4) but I wouldn’t assume that they are going to drop the FP4 like a hot potato in favor of the FP5.
7 Likes
So you don’t have any experience with ‘abandoned’ products at Fairphone.
As I said, just an assumption. The FP3 might receive Android 13 earlier than the FP4, so releasing a new product doesn’t necessarily stop the support for ‘older’ products, as completely different teams seem to work for them.
6 Likes
I didn’t forget any bugs as I’m not aware of any, and if someone gets upset because I don’t have any that is not of my making. Though I get the pain, so that is mine.
I am surprised by your answer since you have access to the beta FP3((+) issues group on this forum. I am sure about it because I belong to it too and you already commented some bugs you don’t have.
No, just some experience with not-yet-abandoned-products, and it’s slightly underwhelming. 
If you read my first posts some 7-8 months earlier, I was quite close to be a gushing fanboy, and fully satisfied, because I had hope all the small issues I was experiencing would be soon fixed. Little did I know…
By now I have lost all hope. Note I’m still overall rather satisfied with the phone, but I definitely would not recommend to anybody to buy one. It’s a heartache.
8 Likes
I am sorry but the sentence you said “I didn’t forget any bugs as I’m not aware of any” doesn’t imply you don’t have bugs but that you don’t know anybody with at least one.
You should be more careful about the image you give of the beta version. I stop here since it is off topic, indeed.
2 Likes
This is the situation I’m currently in. I’m not dissatisfied, it’s just that I look at what could have been a great device and am disappointed that it isn’t.
I don’t expect the moon either. I just want the basic features to work like on any other phone. I laugh every time I’m in a WhatsApp call and I walk out of the shadows. The screen goes pitch black and I’ve had this problem for upwards of a year now.
I also laugh every time I take a selfie. I don’t even know why I bother anymore. In anything but great light the pictures come out like they were taken on my Moto G3 way back in the day.
I’m also planning on using my device for 5+ years. But I’m not buying another Fairphone if the phone breaks in advance and is irreparable, that’s for sure.
6 Likes
Indeed, same here.
I knew there was a price to pay (and not only in money), but one the other hand, having worked with many start-ups, I expected a young, fresh, dynamic company which wants to get on and is proud of their products. Not this. 
1 Like
It’s related in the sense that if they can’t get the FP4 together into a working product after 1,5 years, how could they ever do the same for the FP5?
2 Likes
It’s not the version FP3 /4 /5 it’s the resources spent on the software.
The FP3 is fine, though there were bumps in the road.
I expect the FP4 software to be largely sorted just about when the FP5 is available, and the FP5’s software may just be fine, cheer up it’s just a phone.
4 Likes