Sure. Nevertheless these obviously different phones (some witj and some without) are a bit strange. I just fear right now to do something wron as I bought the screen protector, but never used one before in now 18 years of smartphone useage…
Clarifying here, that Jolla said you are meant to remove it, if you are applying the screen protector. If you are not going to use a screen protector and have this second factory installed plastic protective layer (based on posts here, seems like not everyone has it), there is no need to remove it.
The context of “when applying screen protector” might go over some peoples head if they don’t realize your message was a reply to user above you.
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I have had the device for a couple of days. Certainly not enough time to get a strong feel for how it’ll be moving forward, but enough to form an opinion.
I want to like this phone, I really do. I support the mission of a more independent Europe, and I think the development of a new linux-based mobile operating system is exciting.
However. I have found the experience to be… full of friction.
- I find the returning to the home screen gesture to be counter to what every other Mobile UI has been doing for the past decade. The swipe from the middle to go back might have been something I could adjust to, but it seems like this doesn’t work with android applications.
- I find the UI to be… interesting. For things like the settings app, or simple apps it works fine. For other apps, I have some gripes.
- Having to scroll all the way to the top of a list to access a context menu. This is something that I’ve encountered on some of the app stores.
- The blurred background from my ambience. A lot of apps seem to use this as their default, but for readability it’s very distracting. It also gives a lot of apps this “samey” low-quality aesthetic.
- No native app switcher. I’m getting used to it, but it feels a bit slow to go from app, home, find app, open app.
- I don’t think I really like the pin dot aesthetic.
- Android App integration: It is very nice to have. I would say essential on a device that likely won’t be receiving development support from big companies for a long time. There are some qualms I have here too.
- Apps such as 1Password that allow autofilling don’t work with SailfishOS apps, which is fine, but a little disappointing.
- The fingerprint sensor not working with android is also a little suspect. I’d expected that to work out of the box. It makes certain things much more tedious than they need to be.
- Apps are laggy to the point of unusable in android. At the moment it is impossible to watch a YouTube video anywhere. The native browser also slows to the point that I can’t interact with anything.
- Things like going back from the browser to an android app appear to be broken.
- The back button is very annoying. Gestures that work with Android are superceded by SailFish OS, things such as queieng by swiping in Deezer can cause the app to close.
- Confusing Elements:
- The Jolla Store is an app store, but it is not the place I’d go to get most of my apps. This is confusing for a new user.
- No real recommendation or sorting by user on app store. Makes it difficult to find applications I might use / enjoy.
- Hardware
- The hardware is mostly nice. The screen seems incredibly vibrant/saturated, and some of the text seems sharp on android apps.
- The Camera is .. you know, fine.
I expected some element of jankiness throughout - so I’m not really all that surprised. It is a nice device, for what it is. I was just hoping that the android subsystem would have more polish, because that’s what would make it a daily driver until more applications and support is added.
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I totally agree with this. Swiping from the bottom and up has become a standard in order return to the home screen (pioneered by Blackberry OS10). Sailfish adopted the side swipe before this became standard but this is SW so it would be possible for Jolla to add an option that swipe up from bottom returns to the home screen. Please add this Jolla.
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The only real problem with android apps is that lagging especially on videos that mentioned. Thisvis to my mind a real bug as other SFOS devices didn’t suffer these problems. So I really hope for a fix of that.
Android lock pin and NFC for Android apps seems possible in the future (as we alrrady got Bluetooth working).
So just don’t give up too fast… 
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There seems to be some problem with switching the Bluetooth audio output between SFOS and AAS in cars (at least layest Volkswagen one). As soon as you close the other app the sound for the new app is there…
Please not! In over ten years I got used to the sideswipe, what an unintuitive and absolutely strange gesture would it be to swipe from the bottom up? Who would do anything like that?
Is that why Blackberry doesn’t exist anymore?
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I don’t get it, you have the covers of all open apps right there, much faster than a button to open a carousel and fish for the app you want. If it’s not an open app, no need to go home as you can access app drawer from anywhere?
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It is also how you do it on iOS, I’m not sure on android but I suspect the same. I don’t think different for different’s sake is a good thing to be aiming for.
I have ads for the Jolla Phone on reddit. They are clearly marketing towards a wider demographic. It should therefore try to use incorporate what have become industry standards.
It’s not uncommon to want to switch between two different applications. For instance, wanting to copy and paste passwords from a Password manager to an application. In other operating systems that is a single gesture.
The screens on the homepage also don’t reorient around what was last used, and I have to rely on a screenshot (or sometimes a black screen, if there’s a bug, which has happened more than once to me) to get back to that password manager app.
It’s not deal breaking at all, but it doesn’t feel as seamless as it could by a long shot.
I have to use an iOs-Phone for work and really dont see the difference, if you swipe from the bottom or from the side, it’s just getting used to…
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See Switching between 2 apps more easilly (eg password manager) - #5 by davidrasch if you need an extra gesture to switch between two apps
Edit: and you can reorganize the covers on home screen by dragging them around after a long press on the homescreen, if you don’t like your order in ‘launch order’, hope tutorial covers that also, it’s been a while since I’ve used it
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Good news! Just enter the following command in a terminal, and then a long swipe inwards will let you do exactly what you’re looking for.
`dconf write /desktop/sailfish/experimental/quickAppToggleGesture true`
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The biggest difference for me is that there are useful features added from swiping on the left and right side, including back-button functionality. This is now relegated to a contextual button at the top of the screen (or the swipe form the middle gesture, which doesn’t work in apps like the Browser)
I’d also argue that keeping things consistent helps with the Android side of things. I have accidentally closed Deezer about 3 times by using their swipe to queue feature on some songs.
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This must be down to very specific apps and a software bug, because all 60+ Android apps I have installed have not shown any signs of lag. Which apps other than YouTube are you experiencing “lag to the point of being unusable” with? Most likely they all do something that triggers the bug.
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“industry standards.” …those keep changing all the time, flat UI design was THE thing, now it seems we are going back to transparent design with Liquid Glass, and its matter of time when they will try to change the UX as well.
Also why are some people scared of new things? just because its different doesnt mean its bad automatically its just different
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Problem: this conflicts with the App-drawer. I like the fact that I have always direct access to the app drawer by way of the bottom-edge-up gesture.
But I understand the point. That is why I am always confused when using Android or iOS and never realy get it with Android or iOS.
And I prefer seeing all open apps in a widget like manner instead of obscure app switching as provided by iOS or Android. But this is clearly a question of personal preferences and what one is used to.
@Podginator: all your observations are fair points and many concern design choices involving trade-offs in one or the other direction. Many in this forum might be so much used to the Jolla UI that we struggle with design choices Apple or Android once made. And having multiple repositories/AppSources is similar to the situation before Apple “invented” the iTunes Store/AppleAppStore, i.e. a single source for all apps. It would be great if most native apps could be found in the official Jolla store (Harbour) but this is hard to achieve with limited resources. Thank you for sharing your observations!
BTW: I also liked webOS by Palm/HP a lot … but Meego was most intriguing
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yeah some apps that have this issues, not sure why, but its clearly a AppSupport issue (its expected after Jolla has done major changes to getting rid of their technical debt )
So basically, what you want is a android device… ?
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