I would suggest to read Developer's Intro Ā· Open Devices, section āFurther informationā. Pay attention to Software binaries/proprietary modules on that page.
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Also, the Sony team was friendly and keen.
Remember, Jollaās market isnāt us and hasnāt been for a few years. Sony devices that Jolla probably makes a small loss on are the best we can hope for.
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If you want official ROM then your only chance is the Gemini PDA with Sailfish X, or a community port if Android support isnāt important for you. I think not all community ports has battery issues, also since you bought an used phone, it can be a hardware issue too. (old battery for example)
I think, dealing with only one brand makes things a lot easier for Jolla, and this is why they donāt really support any other brands with SFOS X. They still have struggle with stability, so I donāt think they will expand the lineup soon. It could change if they would expand their shops outside Europe, since Sony isnāt officially available in America for example, so they would need an other vendor for that market.
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is there any indication of official support for the new new Planet Computers āAstro Slideā slider device?
Very unusual for Sony since they are the ones who send a police squad to your home if you mod their products!
Their vision is that the products you buy from them are not owned by you : They are still owned by Sony according to them! 
Please explain 
I know for sure that there are Community Ports out there that donāt have batterydrain issues, but this particular one has it unfortunatelyā¦ 
Itās not the battery of the phone : Itās fine when I use it in combination with Android 
The phone had only been used for about 8 months according to the guy who sold it to me and my own tests more or less confirm that!
So even a Sony Xperia X II or in the future the III wonāt give me a 100% reliable experience ?!
WOW!!!
That thing looks damn good! 
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Very nice new phone!!
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Sony Mobile is based in Sweden and much more relaxed than the departments in Japan.
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oh wow so they kept the Sony Ericsson legacy in some form?
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So on what does this view base on?
Reading those stuff below does not sound ārelaxedā to me (and it is not first mentioning of this behaviour):
despite (Switzerland)
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There is an official port for the gemini pda which is not a Sony phone.
Plus, there seem to be some russian phones running the russian sfos derivative āAuroraOSā. I donāt know these phones have Android support though, but I guess they donāt.
Link:
The Gemini PDA is a bit of a hate/love relationship for me so I am not yet sure what to do with that one!
Those AuroraOS phones are not a option because of two things :
- Russian market phones.
- MediaTek SoCās which I would rather avoid whenever possible!
But thanks anyway!
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 isnāt a bloated experience like a Samsung or LG device, it has just a few of Sonyās 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 Sonyās array of media applications over what Iāve stumbled through using on any other gadget.
Sonyās 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. Itās actually slimmer in the horizontal compared to the XA2, which may be the last official option for a small Sailfish device. Yes, itās tall, but itās 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 someoneās phone, and the way people fumble with using Google Pay at checkouts, a lot of manufacturers should be taking notes. (EDIT: Turns out there isnāt wireless charging on the 10 iii, and the two-stage shutter button was dropped in favor ofā¦ a Google Assistant button. Thatās a massive bummer, but Iām sure we can make better use of that button in Sailfish.)
Only Googleās Pixel devices can compete in actual price to hardware, and with that, youāre clearly paying that low cost for the privilege of Googleās 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, Iām sure a Xiaomi or ASUS ROG or Redmagic can provide good hardware ans performance, but thereāll 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. Donāt be duped.
Huawei making an āOpen Devicesā program is hunorous, considering theyāre on the same track that Samsung is going through, with their China-backdoored HarmonyOS in smart TVs, fridges and watches. Thatās 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, thatās without even the stable base of a strong community port of Sailfish. That said, you wonāt probably find as free and open a smartphone for ~$200 like a Pinephone. And to support the Librem, youāll be paying well over the reasonable asking price and mostly, itās 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 itās 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 itās hush-hush stuff that has to be worked out behind closed doors, and Jolla is primarily B2B now.
Elaborating on what David meant by Jollaās market, Sailfish X is the enthusiast and community-focused branch of Sailfish OS. Jolla has put their focus on B2B relations, with Russiaās 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 Jollaās trying to do, have a device and a place that they can belong. If you buy a license, youāre 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 donāt get predictive text, Android apps, Microsoft Exchange, or āOTAā updates. It sounds like that isnāt a deal breaker for you anyway, so fair enough.
As it is, your only bet is any and all community ports. We arenāt aware of any other major devices coming down the pipe, and a lot of us are perfectly happy with our Sony devices. I wouldnāt even be buying another phone in the first place, but my XA2 looks like itās been through some scuffles. Dented top and bottom brackets, missing paint, thereās a chip off in the back plate, and I can tell itās 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 justā¦ having more memory (thank goodness the 10iii has 6GB), I will still say Sonyās phone are a solid choice, and Iād recommend them to more people in general if Sony would actually sell their mid-rangers state-side.
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Thereās also a variant of XA2 Plus with 6GB of RAM, that is H4493. I got one and it works well, even in European mobile bands.
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i use the xa2 plus, great phone.
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Like I said : That is surprising considering the fact itās a brand that has a very unfriendly attitude towards their customers in general!
Their opinion is that their products will always stay their products no matter how much money you have paid for them! 
And letās be honest : Every damn Sony product is well overpriced compared to their competitors!
Samsung is totally out of the question for many reasons here so letās not waste much time talking about their stupid products!
But just for the record : I am not looking for a good cameraphone since I donāt use it much anyway 99% of the time!
You know that Sony is the brand that is known for pushing their own proprietary standards right ?!
Memory Stick cards, All sorts of compression codecs for music, etcā¦
Also whatever is on the phone in the Android Stock ROM doesnāt really bother me : I either remove it or flash a Custom ROM or in this case a totally different OS
GREAT!
But so has my ā¬ 300 ZUK Z2 Pro for about 5 years now!
Thatās actually one of the things that bothers me the most : The damn āBananaphonesā 
And then ofcourse Sony had to do something totally different thatās weird and introduce their āBananaphone++ā models! 
Come onā¦ 
- The battery is average these days.
- The jack is nice but I would barely use it and we all know the quality of such input/outputs goes down over time and the sound quality goes down with itā¦
- Front facing speakers : I think dual front facing speakers are a thing of the past now just like easily removable batteries ?!
Donāt use it. Donāt need it. Sorry!
I sure hope so too!
I donāt like those spying assistants either!
Ugly spyware phones that are ironically the best deGoogle option in many cases indeedā¦
But beeing cheap or a good price/performance/features ratio is something they definitely DO NOT have!
ASUS Zenphone Flip and the Xiaomi phones with a pop-up camera are my favorites mainly because of one thing : A 100% screen on the front which is just that! A screen! 
No stupid notches or fat bezels or even worse : Holes in my screen!
Pricewise Xiaomi wins and because of some stupid patent related stuff between ASUS and Philips the Zenfones need to be imported over here so Xiaomi wins again when it comes to the availability!
I am not duped! 
I just like their OnePlus 7 Pro and OnePlus 7T Pro because of the same thing I like the Xiaomi 9T (Pro) and the Pocophone F2 Pro for example : The looks!
Yeahā¦ letās skip those and not talk about them ever again!
Sadly indeed still the case, but heyā¦ who knowsā¦ one dayā¦ ?!
True!
According to a couple of people heavily involved in both projects buying either the PinePhone64 or the Librem 5 will benefit the same goal in the end : The development and future of true Linux phones!
So itās basically your choice : How much are you willing to donate ?!
I am aware of all those things but still : Wouldnāt it be nice to have more than one brand to choose from ?!
I am willing to buy a Fairphone at some point but the offers I have seen so far were not really interesting to me from both price and design perspectiveā¦
But again : Who knowsā¦ maybe one dayā¦ ?!
B2B as in phone manufacturers or telecom companies ?!
So far I am only aware of the things we all already know :
And thatās it as far as I know ?!
Exactly!
In fact : I wouldnāt mind buying a license anyway even if I would only be using the OTA Updates/Upgrades and skipping all the rest!
Looks like itā¦
When I browse the forum here it seems that even the officially supported Sony models are not always 100% Stable as daily devices ?!
Thatās perhaps the thing worries me the most :
- Letās say I buy the Xperia III in 2022
- Buy a license, flash Sailfish
And then the bugs start to attack and donāt go away for a long time : What are my options at that point ?!
Have you read the previous reply about the Sony warranty stuff ?!
Not my idea of good RMA support for a expensive phone!
Good point there!
What if I buy a older Sony phone and need to replace the battery : Are they easily available ?!
Thatās great for you but not the right answer for me!
āThatās great for you but not the right answer for me!ā
Unless you are happy to compile (and support!) your own port, or personally convince Xaiomi to create an Open Devices Program, then the right answer for you might not be Sailfish.
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Some blocks of text here read very much like a personal wishlist.
As for Sony being anti-user, I can buy that argument. But then arguing for Xiaomi, Huawei and other Chinese brands is very much going downhill in that regard. I guess the main motivations for those brands are more value for the money, but they can offer that mainly because they are anti-user.
Audio-jack is very much an argument. Maybe not for everyone, but for a wide range of users of Sailfish this can be a good argument. For me personally it is the reason I wonāt buy a Sony Tama device even though they seem very nice.
Gathering from pervious discussions, supporting PinePhone, FairPhone and Volla devices will be highly appreciated.
For Xiaomi devices there is already a community port being built. If that can get the commercial packages available, sure, why not, if the people at Jolla see a demand there.
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Again : Thatās not what I am saying!
One can dream right ?!
Also I am not saying it has to be Xiaomi or any specific brand : Just not only damn Sony!
For example : Maybe if there was a partnership with LG Mobile they wouldnāt be left without a phone department by now ?!
Who knowsā¦
Speaking of wishes.
Asus (routers) has a long-standing history of collaborating with community - Merlin firmware.
MoBoās a bit, too.
Too bad, the mobile division is not so friendlyā¦
Otherwise zenfone 8 would be almost the perfect candy (148 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm)