Oh my gosh! I did not know that even existed … That is perfect!! Thank you… Yeah I am a programmer but when it comes to mobile hardware… I am at a lost… I do fear busting things up with my bad luck lol!
Thank you for the mega information as well!! This is my solution! I will check into the shipping price for sure. At this point I will just pay it! Thank you!
I don't want to Turn this Working Sony 10-3 into a desk weight will pay you to Install it (Resolved)
Thank you! Not sure what I have seen and that has kinda been my point. The information needs updating as the forums are full of peoples different opinions. So when you are seeking which way is the right way its hard to decipher what is relevant and what is no longer is relevant. Who knew asking for clarification would cause so much drama amongst the tech elites of the forum. A kind user has pointed me to a device store that sells the phone with the software install. I think that will be my solution. Going to send out some emails! Take care!
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Enough with the FUD already! The official instructions are up to date and easy to follow - as affirmed most recently by @Fuchur84 .
If you can point to any part of them that is not up to date, or ambiguous, then please do so. I’ll gladly contribute a fix. But i suspect it is all in your head.
So far, across all the threads (that are now definitely duplicate in content), i have discerned only two questions:
Q: Do i really have to downgrade Android? That sounds complicated.
A: Yes! Do what the instruction says. If you are on Windows, it’s really not. And in having tested this as the first step, you have also tested your way back from “bricking”. What a bonus!
Q: How do i back up the phone? Do i have to?
A: Nowhere in the guide did it say to back anything up. Obviously, if you have things you want to keep - you should back those up as the phone will be reinstalled, overwriting all user data in the process. But only you can know that.
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So, you send it to someone for flashing and for some unknown reason, they brick the phone and can’t repair it, now what?, that person is now effectively in debt to you for a new phone, who wants that responsibility ultimately?, not me for sure and not because I don’t want to help, but too many times I’ve “helped” someone out and it cost me, my fault or not, it’s a shitty thing to be in the middle of.
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No, as I stated many times, and what’s confirmed by others who followed my advice, it isn’t needed at all. I’ve been using Android 12 and Android 13 base on the 10 III since early January, with not a SINGLE issue ever experienced. On the contrary, it is Android 12 / 13 base what fixes certain known 10 III issues. There are solely advantages of installing SFOS on top of Android 13 (or 12, doesn’t really matter and no difference was ever observed by me), not a single problem has ever occured. Why Jolla still doesn’t recommend that? Ask Jolla. Most probably they just didn’t bother to test it.
So let’s save the guy that completely unnecessary problem of downgrading Android, the only result of which will be that he will get the in-call echo and screen tint/banding that Android 11 base will give him.
As for: How do i back up the phone? Do i have to?
If it is a new phone with no user data, there’s nothing to backup. So just don’t do it. Proceed to the next step, i.e.:
- unlock the bootloader
- restart the phone, it’ll do some data clearing
- install SFOS.
If you have any problems WHILE doing any of the above steps, ask us for help concerning that SPECIFIC thing you’re doing, not the whole thing in advance.
There is absolutely no possibility of bricking the device beyond simple fix (e.g. reflashing it with EMMA) because installation of SFOS doesn’t alter any partition (or the bootloader) which are required to be able to reflash the device. So even in case of flashing failure, it can be solved by simply reflashing.
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I installed on A11 and definitely don’t have any banding. Nor do i at least have anyone complaining about an echo. I just thought it was down to me using the phone properly, but now i’m starting to doubt i even have it. So i don’t take this as a 100% correlation and stick by my recommendation that newcomers follow the guide.
@olf pointed out early on that this one specific combo (A13 on the 10III) is the only known thing you can do differently. 12 is already ok’ed in the official guide. And it’s not like starting on mismatched versions works across the board.
My point exactly.
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But what kind of argument is that, if you know that many others do have it. There are whole threads about those issues, with multiple participants.
And what’s the point in debating about it, if - as I one more time consciously state, and other people have confirmed - there are simply no issues at all resulting from using Android 12 or 13 instead of 11. So why at all waste time on it, regardless of whether one may have echo/tint with Android 11 or not. In the very worst case, by installing A12/13 he won’t notice any difference vs 11, but definitely it won’t cause him a single problem. It’s been now 8 months since I’ve been using it, so I really can confirm it responsibly.
So there’s just no point in downgrading.
The guide doesn’t say explicitly to downgrade. It only recommends to use Android 11 (or optionally Android 12) simply because since Android 11 times it wasn’t really updated (just that since sentence was added that Android 12 “can be used but Android 11 is recommended” simply because most likely they only did some basic tests with Android 12 after it came out) but never bothered to test it with Android 13, so the guide just doesn’t reflect its existence at all.
That’s why - after having tested it for 8 months - I am here to confirm that it works 100% correctly, with no side effects.
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Gosh no… I would for sure sign anything saying they are not responsible for it going bad. I think that would be a given. Im sending the phone to a stranger. I mean if I did it the outcome would have been the same, meaning I would do something wrong. A brick is a brick but at least the person doing it may have more understanding then I did. I am the one taking the risk.
I am pretty sure I would jack this up. Now that I know I can just buy a new phone with sailfish on it from that jolla device place… I am good to go now. ANd will just sell the android OS version of the phone.
But No, let me be clear… I would sign something with the user freeing them of being responsible if something goes wrong.
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I don’t think so and kindly ask you to refrain from insults.
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Sure thing. WT, sure thing
No. There is only the one official way and there is no need to update guidance unless proven wrong. You did not provide any proof. The rest is just random guys advises you can follow on your own responsibility. Please stop spreading rumors and creating an chaos that you use then as argument for your statements.
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ok I disagree that so called random guy made good points as well as added clarity to old documentation. I got the information I needed to help me decide what I will need to do. I was also pointed to where I can buy the phone with sailfish on it.
So this post was far more helpful then the other random guy wanting to cause drama because his feelings were hurt.
Contrary to your belief, this thread may be helpful to others that are far more brave then I am. All the same thanks for sharing your opinion. Discussion is not a sin… it’s a good thing.
Please remember why we are all here… We are here to support this really neat OS. I have been here since the Jolla Tablet days, People where a bit more open to dialog, questions and comradery, Maybe one day we will get back to that place.
Again I found my solution and I am thankful for the help.
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No, it isn’t “random guy’s advices”. It is exactly what the community is for - to share own experiences and knowledge, where the OS maker doesn’t bother.
8 months of using SFOS on top of Android 12 and 13 by myself, plus all the confirmations from other people who also did it, with not a single report of any problems, fully entitle to recommend it to everyone, especially in case where it would take a completely unnecessary downgrade job.
Expecting not to share and recommend own 100% positive experience with Android 13 base (confirmed by everyone else who did it) actually denies the purpose of this community. And telling people to follow outdated information, only because the OS maker who wrote it years ago then “had better things to do” than to ever test SFOS on the 10 III against newer Android versions (even though the recommended by Jolla Android 11 causes troublesome issues with echo and display banding/tint whereas the newer versions fix it) is actually amusing.
If you insist that one should blindly follow outdated guides, only because it was Jolla who wrote it years ago and then never updated them even though things have changed / progressed, then maybe you should also recommend so that people continue to install and use the (now completely non-functional) Jolla Weather application, as Jolla still recommends to use it and never bothered to update their guide (heck, they didn’t even bother to remove this dead application from their store), which still advertises it as an active and fully functional part of the OS and instructs how to install and configure it. Are you going to also tell us that all reports on this forum stating that Jolla Weather no longer works are just “random guys’ advices” and “rumours”?
This is just an example of outdated guides vs real life. Feel free to choose what suits you more.
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Price of phones on this site is just too high as a refurbished device for me. That’s why I bought XA2P from eBay instead (and found the bootloader not unlockable). So I suppose that’s still a quite reasonable choice for people willing to pay more for lower risk.
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To Add some additional information I did try running Emma.
Just notes for New folks. USB 3 did not work for me. Only USB 2.0 works.
That may be written some where and I missed it. But sadly the phone is locked… even though the seller
said it was unlocked.
I went into the Service menu by typing in the ## pattern and it show that the phone is hard locked.
So that ends my quest for this phone sadly. Glad there is the preloaded Options from that device store.
Hard to trust ebay folks these days I guess.
Anyway Emma Says the Phone is locked Sadly:
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Is that even possible on a Sony Open device? Is developer mode enabled?
On the instructions described under point no. 6:
6 Enable developer options on your phon e
6.1 Ensure that the phone has an internet connection.
6.2 On the phone, go to Settings app > About Phone, and write down the IMEI number for later use. If there are two IMEI numbers, use IMEI #1.
6.3 Tap on the Build number multiple times to enable Developer options.
6.4 Go to Settings > System > Developer options, and enable OEM unlocking (use the slider even if it appeared greyed out) and USB debugging.
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From the Sony Site it says it cant be unlocked if there are 0s for network corporate and one other setting.
Imwill post the like from the Sony site… unless I am looking at the worng thing
It is only possible to unlock the bootloader for certain releases. To check if it is possible to unlock the bootloader of your device, follow these steps:
In your device, open the dialer and enter ##7378423## to access the service menu.
Tap Service info > Configuration > Rooting Status. If Bootloader unlock allowed says Yes, then you can continue with the next step. If it says No, or if the status is missing, your device cannot be unlocked.
Why not just have a look if you can enable the developer mode and unlock the bootloader, just like it is described in the Jolla instructions. If it doesn’t work there will be a message that it is not allowed to enter developer mode or to unlock the bootloader. THEN you really know that there really is a hard lock.
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I completely agree with you; I installed the latest sailfish on a used xperia 10 iii a couple of months ago. Coming from a lineage os with android 11 in which there were color distortions at certain brightness levels, and considering an echo problem in phone calls unacceptable (at least the phone works…) I preferred to install android 13 as a base, following the advice of the forum and not the official guide.
I am fully satisfied with the choice, and I thank the community.
The decision was not easy, however, and it would be good if Jolla took the matter into consideration officially once and for all.
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Of course it is. Do you recognize difference official vs unofficial? All of users in the community are just random nicks and everyone takes own responsibility following their advises. Period.
And it has nothing to do with if it works or not.
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