Any chance of non-Sony phones being officially supported in the future ?!

Devices
#1

Some background :

  • I never liked Android from the beginning!
  • I was a big Ubuntu Touch fan from Day #1 because of Convergence
  • The whole Maemo/Tizen/etc. story is known to me but sadly did not become what I hoped they would…
  • Linux and BSD are a big part of my life.
  • I have discovered Jolla Sailfish only last year…
  • Since two weeks or so Sailfish 3.4.x.x is running on my Xiaomi Mi 9T which I specially bought as a used phone to be able to test Sailfish on it :slight_smile:

But…

It’s a Community Port basically and has a batterydrain issue! :frowning:

However…

I really like the OS and wish I could use it on phones that look similar when it comes to their design and specifications!
For example :

  • Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro
  • Pocophone F2 Pro
  • OnePlus 7 Pro
  • OnePlus 7T Pro

Or any other phone that :

  • Does NOT have a notch!
  • Does NOT have a hole in it’s screen!
  • Is not a bananaphone++ phone like most Sony phones are…
    Also : I have always disliked Sony as a brand!

Soo…

Is there ANY chance Jolla Sailfish will consider other phones to be officially supported phones and start selling official Jolla Sailfish Licenses for them ?!

I would for example gladly buy a € 50 costing license for my Xiaomi Mi 9T at the moment! :slight_smile:

7 Likes
#2

From memory from previous statements by Jolla: Sony was selected for worldwide availability, good “Open Devices” support, good price for a given performance and feature-set in the midrange.
Thus it stands to reason that design, especially in the personal-preference territory, and brand like/dislike does not weigh in to the decision.

Presumably if some company comes up and does an even better job in the openness department, has good availability, and doesn’t want €500+ for the privilege, that may be interesting to Jolla. Arguably the Pinephone qualifies, but it is probably just a little too low-end and niche to warrant a switch from something that works well.

8 Likes
#3

There is some discussion leaking out of Jolla that the licensed software like Android App support might come available for some community devices. There is no idea how soon that will come, I assume the hardware people are currently busy getting the Sony Xperia 10 III running well.
And even then I expect there will only be a selected few devices, where Jolla expects users will have a good experience.

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#4

Huawei should create its own program similar to Sony’s Open Devices program, then we would have the biggest manufacturer in the world, with thousands of programmers and a lot of budget support an alternative to the Apple/Google Duopoly… :slight_smile:

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#5

Here in Swederp we have a saying that something is like “choosing between plague or cholera”, i think that might be an apt comparison here. Surely there are better choices… even Sony.

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#6

Pinephone pro! I was also wondering about the librem? But I’m ‘too much’ the Sony detractor.

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#7

Yes, certainly getting there!
Some questions on availability perhaps…
But the question is if it is “better enough” to warrant the switch. As an initial choice, i too would have preferred it.

#8

Relying on other mfg hardware is always going to be problematic up to a point. Unless the phones are supported by a mainline kernel.

And then are the dimensions of HW (most modern phones) that are unsuited for the SFOS paradigm.

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#9

Sorry for this question, what is a bananaphone++ ?

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#10

As addendum to this thread theme, I would really like to install SFOS free version without support on a bigger tablet, 10-12 inch screen. I really like to use the phone (Xperia 10) as e-book reader (epub + pdf), but for reading it’s possible but a little bit rather small.

On what things have I to take care of on bying a tablet, that it is possible to flash SFOS on it? Processor? Chipset? Screen resolution? Is it possible? I read something before, that there were people that have done so.

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#11

Sorry, but Sony phones are overpriced for what they offer so I don’t see that as a valid reason to choose their brand…

OK, but sticking just to ONE BRAND is a bit silly IMHO :frowning:

Runnig Android is not my goal here : I just want Jolla Sailfish on a phone that isn’t a Sony :slight_smile:

I do the same with Ubuntu Touch : Only use NATIVE apps and experience the OS that way as much as possible! :wink:

You know that Huawei phones had their Bootloader locked like 3 years or so before the whole drama began with their USA friends, right ?!

They simply said : From this day on we do not allow you to unlock the Bootloader anymore! :frowning:

As long as we don’t get phones that are 100% based on opensource hardware & software that issue will always remain! :wink:

I always say that choosing between Apple and Google is “A choice between two evils!” :rofl:

Way too expensive for what it offers! :frowning:

But together with the Librem basically a way to fund the whole PostmarketOS development and that of the hardware they use :slight_smile:

If you have the patience and can afford it then it’s great! :laughing:

There are GSI options for some phones…

I have ZERO issues with that so I don’t mind a big phone at all! :slight_smile:

In fact I like large phones because of the onscreenkeyboard and it’s small buttons!

The Sony approach for a phone that isn’t part of the 16:9 generation :

Most phones are something like 19,5:9 or so but they went totally bananas and stretched it to 21:9 or so! :frowning:

See this as comparison : Samsung Galaxy S10 vs Sony Xperia 1 III vs Xiaomi Mi 9T - Visual phone size compare :wink:

Good point!

There will be a huge wave of new Android tablet releases in the upcoming months and beeing able to run Jolla Sailfish on them might be interesting for some people! :slight_smile:

But just to be clear :

  • I am not looking for Android apps support.
  • I just want to be able to buy a Sailfish license for other/more phones and support Jolla in their development that way! :wink:
3 Likes
#12

Official support? Probably not. Sony devices are widely available (except here in the US, to my dismay) and generally cover a broad spectrum of use cases and needs. Sony’s Open Devices program has been pretty good to Jolla and I doubt they see the need (or have the means) to push other OEMs for help. I’m not even sure how interested most OEMs would be, in earnest.

That aside, honestly… I prefer community ports anyway. They typically feel more… lovingly crafted and curated. Take my XZ2, for example. Thanks to @rinigus it has 64-bit Sailfish OS, 4.3.0.12. I love it, and the unofficial support has been tremendous.

Also, there’s always the HADK. Often, if your target device will run AOSP, you can port Sailfish to it. It’s not easy, and it takes time, effort and persistence… but it is possible.

I don’t run Android apps, but I do have Waydroid installed in case I absolutely have to have them.

FWIW, there’s a table located here showing hardware adaptations on various hardware and their levels of completion/progress. Some of the ports are defunct, and some are more updated than the table shows. For example, there’s a working port for the Xiaomi Mi Note 10. Might be worth a look.

I hope this provides some insight, at least. Good luck!

Edit: there’s also the Volla phone here. I haven’t followed the SFOS port for it (I was considering it for ubuntu touch) but apparently there’s one available that works.

1 Like
#13

Really? €200-300 for a phone with no particular shortcomings, how can that be bad?
There will always be “better” phones, but sure looks like they generally cost more.

Caring deeply about brands is what is silly. These companies don’t care about you, no reason to care about them.

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#14

@nero355, in terms of being overpriced. They offer Open Devices program which not many do. In particular, an official way of downloading BLOBs. So, try to check out how many companies offer that and then make price comparison. I would be curious to see that list, even without prices.

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#15

Only the fact that they don’t use notches on their designs makes xperia phones worth it. No matter the OS.

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#16

Not to forget the very good quality of hardware! Once I opened my Xperia 10 for minor necessary repair, so I saw the excellent quality of the phones internal mechanical construction.
My phones are now abt. two years old, after cleaning with a soft cloth they look as like new. Battery still good.

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#17

The only sad part with sonys is that we don’t get to have all the cool apps and features that sony has on its cameras on android phones. It would be extremely cool if those worked on SFOS (natively)

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#18

i have no issue with Jolla’s choice to standardise on Sony mid-range devices - i am looking forward to buying a 10 III and running SFOS on it next year…

…but, i would I would like to run SFOS on a modern tablet:

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#19

AFAIK there arent any people working on a tablet with SFOS. And yes it’d be good to have one.

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#20

I fear the same thing, but hey… without hope… :slight_smile:

But… unfortunately I am not a developer…

In fact me and programming is like water and oil :wink:

That table was a reason for me to buy the Xiaomi Mi 9T but later on it turned out the project was abandoned and a batterydrain issue exists! :frowning:

Also getting the Custom ROM/Jolla Sailfish port to work was a bit of a pain in the ass, but thanks to some Linux tricks I managed to get it to work! :slight_smile:

Ugly phone with a hole in the screen sadly…

I know that phone via the Ubuntu Touch project but thanks anyway! :slight_smile:

I guess I am used to more value for money like my ZUK Z2 Pro or the Xiaomi Mi 9T and Pocophone F2 Pro : All around € 300 and packed with high end specs and AMOLED screens and so on… :wink:

I always say the same so I fully agree with you! :slight_smile:

If I understood some developers correctly : Qualcomm and MediaTek offer those in general! :slight_smile:

In the Linux world AMD/Intel/Nvidia are known for the same thing I believe…

Their currently outdated design is still better than all those notches and holes in all those screens used by their competitors : TRUE THAT!!! :smiley:

I can say the same about many other phones that I have seen beeing taken apart so that is not really unique to be honest…

My cheapass ZUK Z2 Pro also still works just fine after 5 years and I only removed the original screenportector after about 4,5 years! :wink:
The battery does about 4,5 SoT hours now too!

I am a dSLR user so the camera has ZERO priority when choosing a phone : Only the hardware like SoC/RAM/Storage/Screen really matter :slight_smile:

I am running out of options so I might just do the same, but still : Let’s have some more choices in the future! :wink:

1 Like