Communication (or lack thereof)

General
#1

Wonder what sort of traction & reaction this post will get.

I have to say that for a company producing communication devices, including having developed their own operating system, Jolla are probably the worst company I have ever seen for communicating.

Their comms skills are (edited for those of a sensitive nature) poor. Beyond (edited for those of a sensitive nature) poor.

Take their “News Highlights” as an example.

Jan 4th 2022

May 18th 2022

Feb 9th 2023

Their blog page?

2 posts in 2022

1 post in 2023

1 post in 2024

I’m posting this to try to give a focal point to the community - ultimately their CUSTOMERS!!

To get some traction from us and maybe, just maybe, if enough people post and complain, all in the same place, get some responses from them.

2 Likes
#2

They are not…

#3

Pedant.

Commissioning the production of communication device. i.e. a phone.

Better? Probably not…

#4

In my opinion the real problem is the fact that jolla always underestimate the time needed to work on x/y/z or whatever, so generally it prefer to stay silent rather than have to explain everyone why they are late as always

Is it good?no
I trust jolla and i would still prefer to use sailfish rather than android and a google product?definitely yes

5 Likes
#5

@chwissa Some words and phrases you are using in your post are insulting and demeaning. Please mind your language and you will also receive better answers.

The topic itself is important and has also been discussed in the forum and with Jolla too. The first positive result is the (only) blog post of 2024 :wink:

8 Likes
#6

That they may be and they are drawn out of frustration. The team themselves I rate very highly and think they are gifted. Hence why I have been a customer since day one.

However the lack of information, interaction, lack of answers and their treatment of us would classify as the same would it not? Insulting and demeaning?

I do however feel a bit like a mushroom. :wink:

#7

Regarding the Jolla Blog, see also this thread: No need for Jolla blog?

1 Like
#8

@chwissa , what you write in your initial post is right, but considering the alternatives, for me SFOS is still the best! Alternative in the current situation is only to live without cellphone or to have a simple feature phone, or (maybe) GrapheneOS for people who really only want to use the phone and not modify/tweak it, or - imho not an alternative - surrender to GAFAM. (A friend of mine unfortunately decided to change from SFOS to Graphene-OS and I’m very curious what he will tell me in the next days and weeks.)
Another point is simply, at Jolla/Jollyboys there are mainly coders and they don’t invest in advertising or big customer care. Problems should be discussed here in the forum and solved by the users themselves and there is really much help here in the forum! So if something doesn’t work as it should, please ask here, open a thread and describe the problem. I’m sure you’ll get answers!
Personally, I still consider SFOS as the best alternative among the existing phone OSes.

3 Likes
#9

Let’s not confuse apples and pears here please. Just because it is a post by me there is no need to jump down my throat. Read my specific post first please.

I am one of the biggest fans of Jolla and of Sailfish. I’ve been with it since the start. I have no complaints about the operating system or the software. None. I love it. To me there is NO alternative. I AM A FAN. Is that plain enough for everyone?

Now, communication? Keeping the users up to date? Lest we forget, the customers?

Am I really asking so much? I just want to be updated. Read my initial post. Is that REALLY too much to ask?

If it’s going to be delayed so be it. I’d rather wait than get a botch job. Just let us know. Don’t be afraid to tell us. Better to be in the light than the dark.

So I swore. Wow. How many of you haven’t? You can reprimand me for my language or you can support me in asking Jolla just to keep us up to date. Bad news is better than no news…

In fact Jolla. Let’s spend 5 mins every two weeks on the phone together and I’ll update the community for you.

2 Likes
#10

Yes, I agree, @chwissa . Jolla should do so, that would be better.

1 Like
#11

While Jolla isn’t perfect at their communication, I only wonder, how much more time is worth devoting from development to communication.

Bi-weekly IRC meetings consume a few hours of development time (preparing the answers + the meeting itself) and I would imagine it takes even more time to write those community newsletters. On top of that, sailors help people with their problems on the forum and other platforms.

Usually, but not always, when people are dissatisfied about Jolla’s communication, they expect answers that Jolla may not have at the given moment. Therefore, communicating, when there is nothing to communicate, could be considered as waste of time.

Are you referring to a certain issue?

6 Likes
#12

Please don’t read things into my post that aren’t there!

There is all the point in the world in communicating even if there is no new news: even just to say “nothing new folks”. It stops people worrying, thinking the worst, doing a chwissa…

I’m offering my help here. Positive help. On your side. On Jolla’s side. 5 mins on the phone. Does everyone get that?

#13

I agree. I would like more information. I bought (pre-ordered) something, and I do not get the information I want about my purchage. It is not a good feeling.
But when I compare to other companies, it isn’t that bad. Apple doesn’t tell us about the hardware they will support in the future. It is a guess until a new phone is announced, and even then we only get hardware details if it fits their marketing strategy. A lot of windows 10 laptops and desktops are obsolete, when the company goes to windows 11, and the hardware doesn’t support some of the features it requires. Customers would have liked to know. When I try to contact google, the very best thing I can do, is do a google search, because there is no way to contact them.
Jolla’s communication isn’t that bad in that regard. But it feels bad. Why?
I think because there is this active community, and Jolla’s people are “active” here. We feel invested. I think it is because of these reasons, among others, we expect more from Jolla than we do with other companies.

I think it would be very good for Jolla to communicate more, and more clearly. To do a short message when there are delays. I think most people here understand delays can happen, and sometimes there is not much they can do about it. But they should communicate about it. Communication is required for a community.
I think it would be a good thing to keep reminding Jolla about this.
I also think it would be a good thing for us to have realistic expectations, not to ask to much, and to realize we sometimes ask for more from Jolla than other companies. And asking to much is a good thing. It means we care. But expecting to much just leads to frustration.

5 Likes
#14

But then isn’t it easier to assume no news = nothing new?
If SFOS5 were released, Xperia 10 V support reached 100% features, the 10 III finally starts working half decent (as if :stuck_out_tongue:), and the C2 was on it’s way to the first backers; you don’t think they’d bother doing a write up about that?

If you need to be kept up-to-date about, say, the Xperia 10 V, just enable mail notifications on it’s feedback thread and it’ll pop-up in your inbox as the months pass; I’m not expecting it to be proper before Q2 2025, and I’d be surprised if it is, means I’ll get to order one that much sooner!
If they don’t manage to get it right at all, camera remains broken for instance, I’ll be happy not to have ordered it sooner.

With hardware, like the C2, I imagine the lack of communication feels a bit worse; but maybe I’ve dealt with too many Kickstarters and Indiegogo campaigns (where years would pass and suddenly you got a tracking number or they needed up-to-date address information) to let that kind of thing go under my skin… :man_shrugging:

#15

And therein lies a problem. I was taught as a young man that assume = makes an “xxx (edited for those of a sensitive nature) out of you and me”.

No news = they’ve gone bust. No news = they’ve run off with the money. No news = android has invaded them.

:wink:

Offer stands Jolla. 5 mins talk time every two weeks.

1 Like
#16

You did read that we (community) wanted the images without bugfixes from Sony, right? So why do you write camera is broken when it’s only disabled?

What exactly is wrong with already published biweekly news?

1 Like
#17

Then I’m obviously not going to the right place. Help me out here please.

The last news I see is for 2023

If there is somewhere else please enlighten me and I’ll shut up!! :slight_smile:

#18

Don’t read too much into it, for an end-user (me) it is broken, and yeah I’ve followed the entire thread.
The only goal of my post was a big /shrug at everyone who keeps asking for better communication; I think the current level of communication is OK

#19

Sometimes no news is not nothing new. Sometimes we know there is something new, and we get no news.
We expect to release software end of this month. When 2 weeks in the new month, a question is asked about this, the aswer is just “you will get it”. It is maddening. A simple: “sorry, there have been unforeseen delays, we expect to brin g you the update in 2 weeks, if nothing else comes up” would do a lot of good, and it is so simple.

1 Like
#20

There is this community meeting every two weeks. Everyone can take part, as long it fits your schedule, and everyone can bring in items to the agenda in advance of the meeting. It is anounced in the forums.