Some of the takes in this thread are surprising and disappointing.
The decision for Sony is one that I find very compelling, in large part because of the Open Devices program. At one point in time, a company such as HTC offered a relatively easy bootloader-unlocking solution (until their mobile division started to falter). Sony Mobile makes bootloader-unlocking easy, and also offers prebuilt ROMs of Android Open Source Project (a theoretically non-Googled Android build). Meanwhile, Samsung invests millions into their KNOX security, and disables features, or hardware outright when you unlock their bootloader (say goodbye to your camera).
Currently out of the popular manufacturers of smartphones, Sony has my support. Having used both my XA2 on Android briefly, and being stuck with Android on the 10iii until 4.4 or 5 releases, I believe Sony strikes a very good medium of software customization. It isn’t a bloated experience like a Samsung or LG device, it has just a few of Sony’s trimmings to make it distinctly a Sony product, they have a handful of useful features and apps that, while proprietary, are much better apps than the competing versions. I would be very comfortable with Sony’s array of media applications over what I’ve stumbled through using on any other gadget.
Sony’s hardware is absolutely no slouch either. The 10iii has an AMOLED display, the 21:9 aspect ratio, while understandably a tall device, is much slimmer in the hand than you realize. It’s actually slimmer in the horizontal compared to the XA2, which may be the last official option for a small Sailfish device. Yes, it’s tall, but it’s still practical as a one-handed device, especially since Sailfish is a more gesture-driven OS overall. Front-facing speakers, headphone jack, a 4500mAh battery with fast charging support. NFC is one thing Sony heavily advocates for that I appreciate. They have it on a lot of their products, and they make it very clear where it is on your phone. I have to guess half the time where the NFC reader is on someone’s phone, and the way people fumble with using Google Pay at checkouts, a lot of manufacturers should be taking notes. (EDIT: Turns out there isn’t wireless charging on the 10 iii, and the two-stage shutter button was dropped in favor of… a Google Assistant button. That’s a massive bummer, but I’m sure we can make better use of that button in Sailfish.)
Only Google’s Pixel devices can compete in actual price to hardware, and with that, you’re clearly paying that low cost for the privilege of Google’s aggressive data collection and utility for always-listening Assistant (their sales pitch with that is you can check your phone in a store or coffee shop and Assistant will have already listened in and identified what song is playing on the intercom) and their AI-based image processing, which has obviously been gathered from the terabytes of pictures backed up to Google Photos since the first Pixel and beyond. In other regions, I’m sure a Xiaomi or ASUS ROG or Redmagic can provide good hardware ans performance, but there’ll be a lot of bloat in their implementations of Android, even if they lack Google Play services. You get what you pay for. And sorry to say, OnePlus has not been worth their asking prices for the past 5 years. Don’t be duped.
Huawei making an “Open Devices” program is hunorous, considering they’re on the same track that Samsung is going through, with their China-backdoored HarmonyOS in smart TVs, fridges and watches. That’s as humorous as the notions our own Sailfish would get an Aurora-style fork in those territories.
The Pinephones are not yet daily driver material, that’s without even the stable base of a strong community port of Sailfish. That said, you won’t probably find as free and open a smartphone for ~$200 like a Pinephone. And to support the Librem, you’ll be paying well over the reasonable asking price and mostly, it’s for those hardware toggles and the freely available code of the Freescale CPU among other parts, and PureOS is still under heavy development. A great base, but at ~$700, no thanks.
As has already been pointed out, the Open Devices program, and the availability of these binary blobs, are dependent on the manufacturer and companies involved. Those sorts of things are NOT available simply by asking. Sony has to put just as much an effort as Jolla does with convincing a company to make such a thing accessible, and then it’s on Sony to get the legalese handled for the little guys to have these small comforts. Sony is a huge minority among the smartphone manufacturers. The only company in this same league is Fairphone, and far as we can tell, any discussions about SFX on Fairphone stop at the community forums. Obviously it’s hush-hush stuff that has to be worked out behind closed doors, and Jolla is primarily B2B now.
Elaborating on what David meant by Jolla’s market, Sailfish X is the enthusiast and community-focused branch of Sailfish OS. Jolla has put their focus on B2B relations, with Russia’s Rostelecom being one of their strongest contracts, and a large reason for why Aurora OS exists. SFX exists so that the original crowdfunders and the interested parties therein, who still believe in what Jolla’s trying to do, have a device and a place that they can belong. If you buy a license, you’re mostly paying for the cost of their Android app support. True, it is not a requirement by any means. Using the free version, or a port, just means you don’t get predictive text, Android apps, Microsoft Exchange, or “OTA” updates. It sounds like that isn’t a deal breaker for you anyway, so fair enough.
As it is, your only bet is any and all community ports. We aren’t aware of any other major devices coming down the pipe, and a lot of us are perfectly happy with our Sony devices. I wouldn’t even be buying another phone in the first place, but my XA2 looks like it’s been through some scuffles. Dented top and bottom brackets, missing paint, there’s a chip off in the back plate, and I can tell it’s starting to bulge from the battery. Still, it feels good in the hand, screen is always nice to use, still gets respectable standby and SOT, and while I have complaints with memory management that I can only truly solve by just… having more memory (thank goodness the 10iii has 6GB), I will still say Sony’s phone are a solid choice, and I’d recommend them to more people in general if Sony would actually sell their mid-rangers state-side.
