How much work is it to port Sailfish OS to an Android device?

I’d be interested to know how much work it is required to port Sailfish OS to a modern common smartphone, let’s say Samsung Galaxy A33 5G. I’m baffled that Sailfish OS hasn’t been ported to a really high end device like Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, it would be interesting to see how the OS works on a really fast device. I don’t really know how much work it’s required for the port and maintenance. Why does Jolla seem to only support Sony Xperia devices?

Thank you

Everything starts with the ability to unlock bootloader.

See Sony Open Devices program.

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Because there are only few manufacturers out there who officially encourage using their hardware with alternative operating systems (the Open Devices mentioned above) and they had to pick one.

There are a few community ports available for other devices in various states of completion and hardware support (e.g. PinePhone).

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I think it’s safe to say it takes weeks even for an experienced porter, even under ideal conditions (which are theoretical anyway).

You can get a glimpse of what is involved by reading e.g.:

And of course Hardware Adaptation Development Kit | Sailfish OS Documentation

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The same applies if device already has custom ROMs support and all sources published?

I wanted to try myself :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’m baffled people still fall for buying overspeced phones for running simple apps on.

That’s a prerequisite for pretty much any case.

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You never need anything until you do. :stuck_out_tongue: :yum: (obviouisly i am joking in case its not clear)

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Here is what the competition does:

  • GrapheneOS (Android) → by choice only the Google Pixel series | Releases | GrapheneOS
  • PostMarketOS (linux) → by choice outdated models | Devices - postmarketOS
  • /e/ (Android) → The easy installer supports 21 devices, the only recent being the Fairphone 4; some outdated models like Samsung Glaxy S9 (2018), and community builds like Pixel 5 (2020), OnePlus 8 (2020) and some weird specific models (Teracube) | Try the Easy Installer beta | 200 models supported through the CLI, including the Pixel series, but for the Samsung Galaxy series it stops at the S10 | Smartphone Selector
  • LineageOS (Android) same as /e/, 200 models supported, but for the Samsung Galaxy series it stops at the Galaxy S10 (2020) | Devices | LineageOS Wiki
  • SailfishOS (linux) → same policy as /e/ : one supported series and several community ports. (Edit: /e/ not GrapheneOS)

None of the SFOS competitors were able to port to the latest Samsung high-end series past the Galaxy S10.

I guess the Pixel series would be the other easy pick if the XPerias disappeared tomorrow. See also the arguments below.

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The arguments below seemed to support having a pixel port??? Pixels have gained popularity and should offer best hw support (not relying on B team at sony), is there a legal reason why jolla won’t provide a proper pixel port?
Edit: graphene guys not only strip googol services, provide their own like the supl one, but also get rich in the process:

Pixel availability has been rather spotty - especially in parts of the EU. Imagine the people complaining about inability to get last years Xperia having to deal with their country never having had any official import of the device at all. I can also see how getting more into bed with google isn’t exactly appealing when technically being a competitor. But perhaps most of all i think that it is that something has to be better enough to warrant switching tracks. Switching has a cost too.

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So we want to run away from Google, but use their HW?!?

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You can just order from amazon, much more likely they won’t run out of latest pixels than xperias, if not legal reasons, then ideological seem bit absurd, unless we really believe there is a hw backdoor in all pixels and no need to switch, they offered gemini licenses together with xperias, no need to switch, just offer alternative

You actually couldn’t (a colleague is big into Pixels). Unlike the Xperias. On and off there haven’t even been a “current” version, though that time has passed now it seems.
Backdoors? C’mon. No i’m thinking things like passive sabotage of running non-Android on it - messing around with new driver interfaces that might not exactly catch on and so on. Also they like cancelling things.

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What do you mean couldn’t? Just went to amazon.com bunch of listing ‘ships to xxx’ (xxx being EU country). And you don’t have to update hw adaptation every time they fix a bug (and introduce anti-competitive shenanigans supposedly), can even base your port on graphene, just like most are on lineage

Sample size of one. Over the years of course.
And it is still not better enough.

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Literal official seller is amazon on this one, no ‘x left in stock’, sold by amazon.com, can’t be more official

Srsly go on amazon and see how ‘one cannot buy pixel in EU’ maybe your friend was talking about walk in shops in EU? It’s literally sample of one your hearsay vs what you can order right now on amazon, what are you smoking

You are not listening.
Sample size of one [instance in time]. So what that it happens to work right this minute?
I’m talking about over the last several years - which is at least a half-decent way of predicting the future.

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Your friends’ experience which you probably misheard is not data, where was the outcry about geminipdas being sold in limited markets? Amazon still sells 7a, same official seller and no ‘left in stock’ released may 2023, there are all kinds of models available, maybe your friend hates amazon like google, I don’t have a clue what his motivations were but you’re spreading fud right now and being stubborn even when proved wrong, as always, go ahead and live in your head where getting a pixel in EU is hard
Edit: oh and with pixels you don’t have to wait a year like with sony, for their B team to finally release something

I’ve seen pixels everywhere. It doesn’t matter if it’s not officially imported in the country or even supported from carriers by default, there is always a way to get one new or used.
Personally I would prefer a pixel instead of any Xperia 10, but on the other hand why pay so much more for hardware that cannot be utilized by the OS?
With sfos battery will be terrible, camera will be bad, tensor without any optimization would be just horrible, all the current issues would probably apply as well and the only benefit would be a bit faster opening and closing apps?

I don’t see much of a benefit.

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