The JP26 actually isn’t that wide of a device. What I’d like to point out here is that some of SFOS’s gestures can be difficult because your fingers may not be able to reach far enough. Also, for anyone who hasn’t bought the phone yet and is worried about this, the width of the phone is almost the same as the iPhone Air.
For example, on the JP26, the hardest thing to do with one hand is definitely the swipe from the top down that we use to close an app in one go while we’re inside it. That gesture is definitely difficult to do one-handed.
For me swiping from top to down is the only gesture for which I need to adjust the fingers in the back of the phone, I can still do it one handed but I do make sure I’m over a soft surface before doing it…
The situation might become different once I get a rubber case delivered, they usually improve the grip and give me more confidence.
My Fairphone 4 has a very similar profile and is heavier, once I got the case I never dropped it like that (and Android has many more situations where you need to reach the top).
With that said I would still try out any alternative to prevent me from reaching the top in sailfish, but I have no idea about what could make sense in place of that gesture
Sure it was only a failure by Apple standards but that doesn’t change the fact that it sold worse than other formats sold by Apple and it did so while being one if the few offers in that size category left.
It is not only that designers don’t want it. Customers prefer larget formats even if they have the choice. That is not my opinion that is the market.
That said, there is likely a niche market and demand for small smartphones currently underserved.
Maybe things could change again, after all screen size is not even the biggest downside of small phones. The main issue is reduced battery capacity and batteries make considerable progress currently. That could make smaller form factors more attractive again, but only if rising power demands aren’t eating up that progress.
Implying that a tinyphone would bring more people to SFOS is ridiculous - especially without alienating current would-be users. These are your feelings - not backed up by anything at all. If making tinyphones would magically bring users, indeed “any other company” would already have done it.
I am not implying that it would bring users to SFOS. I am saying that there is a percentage of people -regardless of OS preference- that have no choice for a quality normal sized phone. In the same way that you have no choice for a car that has hydopneumatic suspension.
Regarding the iphone mini sales I believe that most small companies would be more than happy to sell 1million (or there about) of a product.
PS: I urge anyone to find and use an XZ2c with SFOS for a week.
So this is no longer about SFOS on the literal SFOS forum? Cool.
Why should Jolla be solving the world’s tinyphone problem if it doesn’t come with anything near a benefit in sales?
Also lies. You were definitely arguing for that and trying to offload burden of evidence onto me despite you making theoriginal claim.
You can guess, and i can observe that the market isn’t there.
So please explain why literally nobody has tapped this magical market yet.
Biggest problem for Jolla (and for most manufacturers to be honest) is that no one makes or wants small phones anymore so it will be very expensive to make one.
I wonder, if everyone who would like a smaller phone (I’d like one as well) would be willing to pay 4 digit price for the same phone with worse specs probably and much smaller battery.
If you have a giant hand, sure, it’s not hard for you, but not everyone has giant hands. Making that gesture to close an app in one go while holding it with one hand is ridiculously hard, which is why you’ll want to close it from the cover view by swiping from the edge.
Jolla has to solve a problem of its own product. Meaning a gesture based OS should have hardware that fits in the human hand and takes into account its limitations. In the same way that you wouldn’t have a 1.5 meter diameter steering wheel in a car.
The only comment i made in the past regarding jolla and tiny phones was that it could potentially bring more sales (HW only) if the same HW was available with Android. I still believe that if jolla made it the 15K sales from people wanting SFOS would be there + a percentage of people wanting a small android phone. Theoretically i know but …
There are some that make smaller stuff (ikko, unihertz) but the “visibility” is minimal -ie you can see it and interact with it on your local store- and tbh i have no idea how much they sell.
Of course, you’re saying the phone should have been smaller, but Jolla presented this phone to the community and asked what features it should have, so these kinds of arguments wouldn’t come up. The community chose everything from the screen features to the size. In short, the current Jolla Phone 2026 is a phone shaped around the features chosen by the community itself.
This is patently ridiculous.
Why would Jolla maintain an Android distribution to sell fractionally more hardware?
That seems like a job for any small-ish Android maker - if it is indeed so lucrative. You know full well how interested they are in that.
No they didn’t - no matter how you cheat and round it, the current dimensions are closest to the top voted alternative. These were not max sizes (go look it up!), they were indicative sizes.
No, I remember the vast majority voted for 6, and 5 came in second. There was also around 10% who voted for 7. I think they went with 6.36 so nobody would be unhappy — neither the people who wanted 5 nor the ones who wanted 7.
Honestly, dude, I think you guys are exaggerating the size of this phone way too much. In terms of width, it’s around the size of an iPhone, and you should be thankful for the design because at least it doesn’t look like some hideous Samsung S23 Ultra. If it had an edge display, you’d lose your mind.
There was a percentage on the poll that wanted a smaller phone. Apart from that the phone was shaped with what was readily and easily available so it could come quick on the market.
Its not jollas job. It could just be an open bootloader and easy to install Android on the HW. Or they could give lisence the hw to another company or whatever. As i said a theoritical discussion.
Oh no, absolutely not. Carrying two operating systems on one phone would damage its reputation. You’re trying to introduce and promote Sailfish OS to people, but at the same time you’d be accepting this kind of cheap-looking compromise.
If they had basically said, “Anyone who wants to use Android can use it; we support that too,” then neither the whole privacy image nor the meaning of “we are both a hardware manufacturer and a software maker” would have much left to stand on.
Sure, but there were more people who wanted a big phone than those who wanted a small one. So what about them?
Other than that, I think the size is pretty reasonable for both sides. Maybe they could’ve made it a little narrower — not based on the iPhone Air, but perhaps something closer to the 17 Pro, I don’t know. But honestly, I think they did put thought into both the size and the design, dude.
I’m sure some of you know this already, but for the benefit for those who do not, here’s my preferred way to close apps:
As an alternative to the swipe-down-to-close-app gesture, you can conveniently swipe to left/right to the home screen and close the app from there. It’s a long press anywhere on the background image (or app cover), then tap the ⮿ on the app. This is usually within reach without changing your grip.
So, I can pick the option that is most convenient to me there and then. Often I swipe to Home, sometimes I use my other hand to swipe from the top.
The top choice for screen size in the poll was about 6", which is what we got, but the idea of picking the vote for any one feature out of many as an argument for how Jolla disregarded the community is just silly.
To make an actual phone, many other factors had to be considered - including factors that never made it into the polls - and the end result is by necessity a compromise. Most obviously, wishes for a big battery and small phone are contradictory, but the same goes for 3.5 mm jack and many other things.
Jolla had to decide on all these factors, guided by the polls and discussions, and I think they arrived at a good design. One that matches the polls and discussions pretty well, one that works well for me (and I’m saying this as someone voting both for a smaller phone and a 3.5 mm jack).
As I giant-handed person, I appreciate having at least one option where typique is still achievable without the added difficulty of trying to cram my hands and fingers on a microscopic screen. (I find Xperia 10iii harder to type on (dimensions 154x68), that’s part of the reason I also keep a Pinephone Pro around – it’s 160.8x76.6mm almost 1cm wider and roughly within the same order as Jolla 2026’s 157x74 mm)
I am also slowly creeping toward 50yo and appreciate a larger screen for readability reasons (the PPP is the phone on which I read blogs and check mastodon in the evening for exactly this reasons, the exta cm in width does help).
So yeah, I understand that some people have trouble with big screen and would appreciate 5 to 6 inch options, I would like also to point out that some other people would even like having 7 or 8 inches options.
