The new Fairphone 3+ is coming to /e/OS

/e/OS Foundation & Community /e/OS Developers Blog
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The Fairphone 3 is getting an upgrade & we’re sharing the roadmap to its availability with /e/OS.

In May, when we announced our partnership with Fairphone, we were very proud to present an integrated version of /e/OS for the Fairphone 3. The combination of the FP3’s unique modularity, built to be repairable, affordable spare parts and ethical sourcing, and our privacy-by-design operating system is one of a kind, making it most likely the first privacy conscious and sustainable phone on the market.

e Fairphone banner -01
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This collaboration has been a hit since day one, thanks to the support of our two dedicated communities.

Today, we are happy to announce our continued collaboration with Fairphone and its smartphones’ latest developments.

Last Thursday, one year after the release of the Fairphone 3, the Dutch company announced their upgraded model, the Fairphone 3+.

Fairphone 3 _Campaign hero_820x320
Photo courtesy of Fairphone

The Fairphone 3+ goes beyond the previous model being made of 45% recycled plastics, with brand new camera modules for picture enthusiasts and an upgrade to Android 10.

In a spirit of sustainability and easy repairs, the camera modules, front and back, shooting at respectively 16MP and 48MP can be added to the existing FP3 in a few simple steps. The upgrade to Android 10 will also be possible for all current Fairphone 3 owners in September.

The motivation behind this release is not to incite over-consumption but to continue to offer a high-quality product to its users, and keep its features in tune with their wishes and needs in an effort to keep our phones working longer and better.
Fairphone 3 _ Camera upgrades _ Illustration
Photo courtesy of Fairphone

We are currently actively working on upgrading /e/OS to Android 10 and having a new official version for the FP3. This is also the first step towards making /e/OS compatible with the upcoming FP3+ and its new camera modules who run on this version of Android.

Beta testing of /e/OS for FP3 and FP3+ based on Android 10 should take place through September. We hope to have a stable version of /e/OS with Android 10 available for FP3 and FP3+ by the end of October, as well as make sure everyone with the OS on their FP3 will be able to upgrade to Android 10 and so as to add the new modules to their current device should they wish to.

In an effort to make switching any Fairphone 3 to /e/OS the simplest process possible, a new version of our Easy Installer that supports the FP3 has been developed by Ingo, one of our dedicated community members. We will be making it available very soon.

We also plan on adding the FP3+ with /e/OS to our web store for anyone looking for a turnkey solution. The camera modules will also be available for existing customers.

We are thrilled about this exciting next step by Fairphone and can’t wait for you to experience it too!

Follow us on social media and sign up for our newsletter at e.foundation for all the latest details on these upcoming developments.

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That sounds very good. :slight_smile:

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Seems like getting an FP3 was a good descision and flashing /e/ an even better one. Good to see the cooperation is going so well!

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Will it soon be possible to pre-order?
I very much like the philosophies of FP and /e/ and have just been waiting to for an FP model coming with a good camera.

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A “good camera” for an Android phone is only as good as the camera software. The app “Open Camera” incl. “Camera2 API” does a good job. But it cannot keep up with the original proprietary camera software.

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Over in the Fairphone forum people reported better results with the pixel camera app, especially in low light conditons

I tried it myself and compared it (regular camera modules of the FP3) with OpenCamera on the FP2

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Terrific ! That makes two good news for Android 10 and the Easy Installer ! I hope it will be as fast as the initial /e/ porting on FP3 ! Wait and see !

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Yes. A recent c’t (Heise) came to the same conclusion.

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Please not use Twitter.
It’s a non-free network where everything advertisers don’t like gets deleted.

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Unfortunately I can’t read the article completely and the resume remains hidden from me. But I have understanding for the publisher: After all, they need to earn money.

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+1 for FP3+ available straight in the store.
I’d buy between1 and 5 if these appear by end November. (not after, unfortunately)

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I have already installed the new cameras to see if they are working with the latest /e/.

Unfortunately they do not. Does anyone can tell if the next release end of the month will have support for the camera?

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Pls check

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… which should be obvious, as the first post of this very topic here says:

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I bought a FP3+ and it is now waiting for the new /e/OS, as I cannot use it with the preinstalled system (Say “Hi, Google”).

After installing V0.11, accounts and first apps, I only realized that the sound module is not working when I wanted to set an alarm :slight_smile: It was probably to late that night when installing /e/OS.

So +1 for FP3+ Support! Looking now to help as tester!

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There doesn’t seem to be a single place to subscribe for updated on FP3+ support, like a ticket, issue, official post or repo, so that we know for sure we won’t miss the update in the midst of other updates on Twitter or by email.

This would help all the people with a random device in their drawer waiting for the day /e/OS supports that device and would, hopefully, reduce the number of “support fp3+” and similar posts in this forum.

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I suppose it would show up in the device list as soon as it is supported … https://doc.e.foundation/devices/.

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I suppose so yes but there’s multiple devices being added to that list and, as far as I can tell, no way to subscribe to changes. And certainly no way to subscribe to only the changes I care about…

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There’s only one device named Fairphone 3+, and the list is sorted, so there’s only one place in which it can show up, but ok, having a look there from time to time might be considered troublesome, if there are no other, bigger issues at hand :slight_smile: .

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Thank you for your helpful and constructive feedback. I will take this onboard in future when I try to be similarly helpful and constructive. You are an example to us all! :joy: