Use cases of smartphone changed since 2011 considerably, that is probably the reason that the industry moved along.
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I speak about the changes which the guisfrom Rostelecom made.
Nearly everthing was changed a little bit fom consitent pulleye menus to touch buttons.
They have broken the whole usability of SF from my point of view.
The marketing guys from Jolla prayed it as big improvement.
When you compare the first marketing video of Jolla phone 1 with actual SF 5.0.68 you can see the big steps backward.
Nearly every new functions which were add later crashed the very constistent and oustanding ui.
If you wont believe then check the ‘improvements’ of caller app and the mail app.
The former very consistant and outstanding ui was the most unique thing of Sailfish compared with Apple or Android.
Jolla should make as a first step of deshitification process a consequent review of the whole ui and ther own apss. Polish out every bug and inconsistency before they try to invent new things with there limited resources.
For me it looks like if they have finished it properly.
Sorry for the hard but true words from me as a SF user from beginning on.
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Sorry for the hard but true words from me as a SF user from beginning on.
You don’t need to be worried! It’s exactly what we need: some constructive opinions with examples. Exactly what you do.
Unfortunately, I’ve never used the Jolla Phone as a daily driver so it’s quite hard to compare it with the current Sailfish version. I’ve read here and there that the Call app was changed due to some UX issues (like decline a call instead of pick it up). Related the mail app, I don’t know why it was changed. Was it due to UX issues or Rostelcom’s influence? No clue.
Perhaps should we open a new topic to discuss about UI/UX changes?
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I did my best to promote SFOS at FSF40 yesterday - let’s see, whats coming of it.
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Replying a call was swiping down the screen, rejecting it was swiping up
Three errors and you’d get a visual hint
In my opinion was seriously handy but it was different from other systems so in like sf 3.something they changed it probably thinking newcomers would have found this too different from what they were used to
And i suppose the rest of the changes also came to not look too alien to people coming from android
Sigh, i really miss sf1 ui/ux
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I disagree with both points you expressed about the user interface.
Overall, the Russians made the user interface better (sadly, they made it uglier).
They even kept the one-handed usability that pulley menus provide, while improving the multitasking flow (i.e. they made it easier to identify and switch between apps, especially recent apps).
The current Jolla UI is definitely not worse compared to the old UI, and, even more, it is constrained in what it can do by the antiquated gesture paradigm from 12 years ago that Jolla pioneered at the time, in a world of tiny phones with tiny displays.
Back then nobody else truly had gestures.
But now everyone else does have gestures, and the most important ones, the multitasking gestures, allow the user to quickly multitask with one hand.
Jolla does not have such multitasking-friendly gestures at all.
While the pulley menus are cool in theory and even at first glance, the paradigm is very restrictive to much more useful modern gestures (e.g. reachability gesture, refresh gesture).
Jolla should definitely overhaul the entire user interface paradigm to bring it into the present day, but that would take large amounts of money that Jolla just does not have.
This is why tick-tock release cycles are such a good idea in engineering. On every other major release, you should focus on fixing errors, rather than adding new features.
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Some bikeshedding, huh?
FWIW, the fediverse is also abuzz with mentions of SailfishOS. Well, that might be an exaggeration. I just opened a separate topic, but rn people are willing to listen to all the good things (most importantly that it works as a daily driver) you have to say about SFOS:
https://feddit.org/search?q=Sailfish&type=Posts&listingType=All&page=1&sort=New
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This is great. What SFOS needs is entering a virtuous cycle where people come, spread the word and develop apps, and this brings more people in.
The Linux mobile space is too fragmented and has too many non-viable options. SFOS and Mer Mobile are IMHO the most polished ones, almost ready for mainstream use.
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I also liked it but the new one was better as I remember hanging up a bit after the other party and accidentally calling them again.
Hooray! And great timing!
As an individual who only bumped into Jolla and Sailfish OS 3 weeks ago, looking for the European Alternative Phone and mobile OS, I put my deposit down on the new phone.
Since then I have scoured the internet, YouTube, Jolla’s site and days on this forum, trying to understand what my enthusiasm has got me into.
Despite having programmed when I was younger I am now firmly a GUI User. I have eyed Linux for decades, but never had time in my life to develope the environment into my daily use. Having discovered the new phone I wondered if the time was right to make the jump, motivated by the current world and corporate developments.
This morning I was going to make a post questioning whether anyone on the forum had anything good to say about Jolla and SFOS, before I cancelled my deposit. I am prepared to give some ground on the app front, I expect that, coming from a Windows, Android place. But, as a User, I want to limit the amount of OS tinkering I have to do in the longer term.
My overwhelming impression, generated by members of this forum, is one of dislike, disbelief and distrust for Jolla (they only use us as a test bed). There appears to be a resignation that little is going to change. Also, getting my head around exactly what issues the OS has and whether I can live with them (no system road map etc) has been challenging.
As an origin Psion owner and current N900 owner, I am in awe that the Jolla boys have made it this far. Giving us the opportunity in Europe to go it alone. I suspect all they need is investment, which at this time is more likely than ever.
So thank you for the clarity and positivity of this post, you’ve just saved a sale! 
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You are right that by looking at the forum one does indeed get the impression that there is nothing good about Sailfish OS and everything is always broken. But that’s the thing with any user forum - people only write when something is wrong, and only very rarely someone writes about the things that are good.
You should also consider the fact that even those who complain here on the forum still choose to use Sailfish OS and be part of the community. If things were really as bad as they sometimes make it seem, they would not be here. Instead of leaving, they write their complaints here. And in reality things do change. Sometimes slowly, but they do change.
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Can confirm. This is the case on any tech forum.
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Thanks for the confirmation. Having administratored a forum in the past and having to use them to remedy everything from software to motorcycle issues, I am aware of the environmentally mentality.
Having made the decision to invest in the new phone and SFOS, I know that I will need to accept reduced App capability in the short to medium term to leave Android behind (146 Apps on my Android phone) I just needed the confidence I am not throwing 600 Euros down the drain.
Thank you for taking the time to respond, very much appreciated.
This forum is the only place to get information, so us Users are mixing with the developer environment, which has also been noted elsewhere. I believe we are all here to support Jolla and the OS and hopefully my strong logic ability my assist at some future time, so bear with us 
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I bought an almost new Xperia 10 III on eBay a month or two ago for £40, so if you are unsure, starting with some older hardware would probably be a better option.
There is a lot to complain about when it comes to Jolla and Sailfish, but I have not been able to find a better alternative in ten years, so we are stuck here, whether we like it or not. 
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That is what I suspected re the OS 
I had toyed with the idea of a test bed phone, but after seeing the different model issues, I felt the Jolla phone might be a marginally easier place to start. This is me committing to a long term, don’t look back, move away from corporate America. The removable battery is a great backward step forward and speaks longevity, so happy to make the investment.
Once I get my head around the OS, I will certainly be looking for a cheaper option for my wife whoes daily needs are much different to mine and should easily be accommodating by a Sony.
Thanks for your thoughts, very helpful and reassuring. Let us hope the current world situation will improve things drastically for Jolla and speed things up going forward
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I am positive enough to recommend SFOS to users who have solid understanding what that means to use a system like SFOS, with all advantages and drawbacks. I would never recommend it to someone who is looking for another iPhone, these folks have to look elsewhere in my opinion. But i already infected some people in my environment who are competent in open source software in one way or another, not necessarily coders but competent to solve common IT problems and simple administration
Just to adjust any expectation level: probably some tinkering will be needed for SFOS, the other side of the coin is that you can tinker and adjust to your needs. Like Linux 25 years ago, that also needed some adjustment here and there. But based on your experience reported that should be no problem for you. I am too stupid to code but also my limited capacity is sufficient to tailor this beautiful OS to my needs…
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Thanks M-j, not expecting to get away Scot free. I admin my own domain and NAS, plus in the past built my own windows PCs and servers. If the information is out there I can usually muddle through. Hopefully I can get up to speed and enjoy the ride
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Yeah, not just short to medium, maybe forever.
Android app support is not the only and imho not the main thing that makes SFOS Good*. AAS can never be a full replacement for an Android phone.
Also, refering to an X10 III as a “test bed device” - after stating that throwing €600 down the drain would be an issue for you - I find that mildly insulting. I use an X10 II as my main daily driver.
And now that I wrote all that I see what you mean by forum negativity:
We - thankfully! - had an influx of curious forum members recently, mostly with completely unrealistic expectations. In the process of setting them straight and curbing their expectations, many feel attacked and start arguing or disparaging the project itself, which again begets negative reactions from other forum members etc.
* after tinkering with Android/Lineage/AOSP for a few years, I was really glad to find True Linux™ - not just the kernel, but a full, valid Linux OS - on a phone.
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In my experience, this really depends on your use cases. I gave a SailfishOS phone to my little brother when he was 11 and he managed to use it just fine, no tinkering required.
Also I myself don’t need to tinker with my SailfishOS phone on a daily use case. Of course there are some things where I tinker, for example with ProtonMail Bridge or native Spotify with Librespot… but I really don’t have to. I tinker because I would like to have those things on my phone, but I could also just install the ProtonMail App and the Spotify Android app and wouldn’t have to tinker AT ALL.
There are some issues sometimes where you need to tinker a bit (e. g. government IDs or banking apps) but from my experience, in general you can use SailfishOS just fine without any tinkering at all.
As said before, most of the time you see negative posts here, but I can only say I have been using SailfishOS for four years now without having to have a second phone and it was the best phone experience I ever had!. And while some people here on the forum are not so nice, it is also a place where people help each other and it has provided very helpful information for me in the past
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