I have two familymembers with a Fairphone 5 and e.os. One is the Murena version, and one is flashed with the community build.
On the Murena version, I have the option to select the Fairphone camera, while this option is missing on the community build.
Both phones have the latest e.os v2.9
Any suggestions on his to enable the FP5 camera on the community version?
Is the photo in your post from the community build FP5? If yes, what happens if you just tap on “Fairphone Camera”?
Here’s another user’s description of how he activated the app:
The screenshot s from the Murena version FP5, and there it works perfect.
This option is missing in the FP 5 community build.
Maybe it is actually missing. One advantage of official I suppose.
@Manoj Could you check with the team and shed some light?
Let me check with the team about this and get back.
@manoj any news on this?
Do not have an update as yet. Will check with the team tomorrow after the weekend.
That is correct. The FP5 stock camera works only with the official FP5 build.
Mmmm, that is a (big) bummer. Any specific reason for this?
Any plans to have it available in a next update? Or as .apk? Or…?
The stock camera code like most stock camera codes is not open source, it comes from the vendor.
Any explanation WHY this can’t be included in the community version?
Or should I contact Fairphone and kindly ask them to supply the fp5 camera app, like the one you have received for the Murena version of /e/os?
@voorstad, there’s no technical reason it can’t be. If you extract the APK from the Murena edition and import it into /system of an installation of the Community edition, it’ll function.
However, note that the stock com.fp5.camera application is less useful outside of FPOS, because FPOS has a broken Camera2 API implementation, which solely the stock camera APK (because it’s in /system) is able to bypass.
You should. It’d be very little problem for them to distribute official APKs. I doubt that they’ll bother to, though.
The problem with the stock camera in the community build in FP5 is that for example the cropping is a mess.
When you make a photo, the picture you see in your screen is totally different cropped form the actual picture. It makes it rather annoying if you want to make a picture with or without specific objects, and find out you missed it or still see it and many more.
@voorstad, IDK what /e/OS uses as their stock app, so have you tried Open Camera? I ask because it merely utilises the Camera2 API (if you verify that it’s using that backend, rather than its predecessor in its configuration page), thereby allowing you to verify whether it’s the fault of the OS or stock camera application.
When you’ve ascertained which, create an issue at gitlab.e.foundation/groups/e/-/issues.
Sorry for interfering, but I’m afraid it’s not worth the effort: because even the FP5-stock camera app takes horrible photos! The pictures are muddy, pale and almost always totally overexposed and low-contrast.
When it comes to the camera, the FP5 is absolutely the wrong choice, because the device can’t keep up with any current smartphone.
I also see this as one of the main reasons why Fairphone is rated so poorly and why hardly anyone wants to pay the high price for the very weak device.
So save yourself the effort!
Just in case anyone wonders how many “hardly anyone” might be … Fairphones sold 2013-2024 - The Products - Fairphone Community Forum
I would not have expected so little! 100,000 devices a year! When a niche brand like Nothing Phone alone sells several million.
I can’t imagine that a company can exist with such low demand - especially if you take the planned long life of a Fairphone as a basis.
I for one have struggled with FP2, FP4 and now for 18 months with the FP5 - and will certainly not buy another device from this brand. Not even with /e/OS.
But sorry, I don’t want to hijack the thread here!
@Shakatus, that doesn’t assist anyone already with the device, and I think the camera is acceptable most of the time. It’s one of the reasons I purchased the device.
Irrespective, verifying that this solely affects one application is incredibly important for this user, so that they can capture correctly cropped photographs.
I wouldn’t call Nothing Phone a niche brand. They were founded a few years ago by former OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei. They’re out to penetrate as much of the market as any other maker and they’re doing a good job of it. Fairphone runs under a completely different philosophy. I don’t know, maybe Fairphone is perfectly happy with their current sales.
As far as the Fairphone camera, it may be a deal breaker for a lot of people, but some don’t care much about it, I don’t. I mean it should work decent just out of principle, but personally I don’t use my phone’s camera for vanity shots.
In any case it’s moot for me being in the USA. I would consider a Fairphone, but they’ve not yet brought the FP5 to the USA market and it appears they’re going to continue neglecting it. The FP4 is out of the question, no way I’m going to pay top dollar for a previous generation model.
Can we please stay on topic about the absence of the fp5 camera on the community build, while present in the Murena build? And how this can be fixed.
Discussions about the brand can be held somewhere else, but NOT here please. Thank you.
