Oh! this is fantastic! (header pins and accessories)
Definitely. However, every Linux-based phone that I’m aware of, has always under-spec’d the devices to the degree that they become e-waste long before they need to. You can’t spec-out a phone that will be released next year (at best) with specs that are only good-enough now. Because if it’s only good-enough now, it won’t take long before it’s before it’s not good enough.
With things like storage, you can work-around it by having a large SD card in there. But with RAM, there’s not much you can do. Once you run out, you’re in to swap, and the experience utterly sucks. In this survey, the highest ranked answer was 12GB of RAM. For the average Joe that runs a few android apps along side their sailfish ones, that’s a today-spec, not a next year spec, or even a 2-3 years from now spec. It’s so incredibly short-sighted.
As for the display: Several years ago, I bought a 5.5” phone with a 720p display (A little better than the C2, because it was smaller). The flashing of the screen-door effect was so unpleasant that I gave up trying to use it within a few days. I had bought it from somewhere I thought I couldn’t return it (I was probably wrong.) I felt so guilty about the e-waste that I vowed never to make that mistake again.
I’ve now got to the age where my sight is starting to go downhill (some days it’s worse than others). And 1080p at 5.5” is still unpleasant most days. With modern displays, the screen-door effect is less of an issue because of the sub-pixel layout, but the colour-fringing on the edges of fonts will always be with us as long as the resolution is too low. I keep hearing people complaining about eye-strain when using their phones. That’s a good sign that their display is not working for them.
In any case, the thing I’m advocating for is:
- Don’t be short sighted with the specs. If it’s spec’d adequately, the phone should remain pleasant to use for at least a few years from launch. This might not be realistic for the high-end use-cases, but the average Joe should not be going into swap-space just from running a few Android apps (this has been a problem with every Sailfish device so far.)
- Having an option between a well-spec’d device and a cheaper one would satisfy a better portion of the market than one device that’s 100% compromise. We have the C2 for the low-end market. This is an opportunity to fix the mistake that keeps being made.
- None of this is about spec-hunting. It’s about having a device that’s not e-waste soon after launch.
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Moto Z
It’s interesting that the preview for that link has a different title to the one displayed when visiting the link. Not that it’s a competition, but the LeEco Le Max 2, actually removed the headphone jack before the Moto Z.
I remember thinking at the time that it was a terrible mistake, and was surprised to see the iPhone do it, and was like “OH oh…“
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You are complaining for the screen being too big to fit in a pocket, and then you want to carry powerbanks?
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IMHO…
- It is quite possible to create a “future-proof” phone for SailfishOS, but the AAS requirements are increasing rapidly, making predictions regarding appropriate hardware very difficult. A flagship today is a mere budget refurbished in just a couple of years if it runs Android.
- Having a Linux distribution for mobile units capable of multitasking on a variety of hardware is not a compromise, but rather a triumph.
- A device primarily for running Android apps on a multitasking host OS will, because of the rapidly increasing hardware demands of Android apps, be e-waste quicker than a device primarily running native apps.
The needs of a person are quite easy to satisfy, but the wants are something else…
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You wouldn’t believe the size of the solar-powered battery bank that I intend to use for charging my phone only years from now. The phone would still need to fit in my pocket, though.
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I agree with most of that.
However, for the foreseeable future, most of us are stuck with Android apps. Therefore, taking them into account is a need, not a want.
While it’s true that Android apps are heavy. We also shouldn’t under-sell how much the native apps have gone in that direction from Sailfish v4 onwards once the containerisation was implemented.
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Most of those Android apps that you mention are wants, not needs.
The difference in size (for an individual app) is still quite significant.
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If we want to widen the user base of Sailfish, I would argue that there is great need to pay attention to those Android apps requirements. A lot of people who might consider switch might use same android apps they are used to. Slowly of course they would transfer to the native apps that are available, but the transfer to new OS would be easier. Assuming the next gen Jolla phone would be aimed to wider audience than just current users. Of course most requirements of Android apps can be ignored but that will with high probability scare away a lot of potential new users.
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The debate on how much the NG phone should rely on AAS and Android apps depends on how Google handles the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and app downloads from the Play store.
Those are the two main reasons to why i primarily promote native apps.
I leave it up to you to research the long time trends and the current changes.
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Premium class specs
NOTE that all numbers below are suggestions.
Network
GSM / HSPA / LTE / 5G
Body
Dimensions 144×72×10 mm
Weight 170g
Black glass front, plastic frame, removable plastic back (textured)
Display
OLED, 1B colours, HDR 10-120fps, durable glass surface
132×66mm, 147mm diagonal (5.8 inches), 8680 mm²
2560×1280 pixels, 18:9 ratio (~493 ppi density)
Platform
SailfishOS 5, upgradable
CPU 8-core Cortex A725 (1U+3P+4E)
GPU 7-core Mali G720 (Valhall gen 5)
Memory
RAM 16GB (LPDDR5X)
Internal 256GB (UFS 4)
MicroSDXC with separate socket
Rear Camera
50Mp OIS
Video 4K@60fps, gyro-EIS, OIS / 1080p@120ps, gyro-EIS, OIS
Front Camera
12.5Mp HDR
Video 1080p@60fps gyro-EIS
Sound
Stereo loudspeakers
USB-c headset adapter for 3.5mm jack (16bit/44kHz) included
Comms
Dual nano-SIM (adapter for eSIM available separately)
Wifi 6E – 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, 2/5/6GHz
Bluetooth 5.4 – LE, A2DP, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive
GNSS: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS
NFC Yes
FM Radio Yes (with built-in antenna)
Dual USB-c 3.1, OTG
Sensors
Fingerprint (in-display), accelerometer, ambient light, gyro, proximity, magnetic compass
Battery
5000 mAh replaceable (extra batteries available)
Wired charging - PD, QC
(Adapter for Qi charging available)
Misc
Colours: Slush white, Shepherd’s grey, Energy orange, Luminous blue
(Other rear cover colours available)
Compare with mid-class specs.
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I believe in the build it and they will come approach. SFOS doesn’t even get the basics right in many cases (ie email, localization, location).
On top of that Jolla with its approach to the Store restrictions alienated many devs and lowered the chances of usefull quality apps being written. Hence the idiotic situation of three “stores“ and less devs that we could have hacking around.
Those are not HW specific of course but need to be solved along the dire HW situation we are in.
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Maybe it is time to create a thread about how to slowly evolve to SfOS 7?
It would be nice to see the current SailfishOS distribution switch to a rolling release model with two variants. A bit like openSUSE has Tumbleweed and Slowroll.
But that probably belongs in a NG software thread… Sorry.
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Please provide a 5” model. The market supply for normal-sized phones like that has completely dried up since Apple decided to kill their “mini” models.
I would pay a premium for a smaller phone. I consider the iPhone 13 mini to be the absolute largest I want to use: that’s 131 x 64 x 7.65mm. Smaller would be better.
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Look at the Mid class specs and think about what you would sacrifice to fit the rest into a device with a 5.1 inch screen.
The above exercise is difficult, but not impossible, imho.
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My personal needs are probably much fewer than those of others. From the top of my hat:
- listen to podcasts
- control spotify
- control oura
- phone calls, sms and signal
- mfa provider
Everything else (including cameras) can be stripped away for my dream phone if it gives me a smaller device. I have never designed phones unfortunately, so I’m not aware which components take significant space. The camera I suppose, fm radio, ir and microsdxc? Perhaps the removable back cover?
That said, my maximum viable product as I said is the iphone 13 mini, which is not 5”, but actually 5.4”. What the mini got absolutely right is that they didn’t compromise on the build quality. The mini is exactly as premium as the regular iphone 13, just smaller.
Mid Mini specs
NOTE that all numbers below are suggestions.
Network
GSM / HSPA / LTE / 5G
Body
Dimensions 128×64×10 mm
Weight 155g
Black glass front, plastic frame, removable plastic back (textured)
Display
OLED, 1B colours, HDR, 10-60fps, durable glass surface
116×58 mm, 130 mm diagonal (5.1 inches), 6710 mm²
2160×1080 pixels, 18:9 ratio (~473 ppi density)
Platform
SailfishOS 5, upgradable
CPU 8-core Cortex 2×A715 + 6×A510 (2P+6E)
GPU 4-core Mali G610
Memory
RAM 12GB (LPDDR4X)
Internal 128GB (UFS 3.1)
MicroSDXC with separate socket
Rear Camera
50Mp EIS
Video 4K@30fps, gyro-EIS / 1080p@60fps, gyro-EIS
Front Camera
12.5Mp HDR
Video 1080p@60fps gyro-EIS
Sound
Single loudspeaker
USB-c headset adapter for 3.5mm jack (16bit/44kHz) included
Comms
Dual nano-SIM (adapter for eSIM available separately)
Wifi 6E – 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, 2/5/6GHz
Bluetooth 5.3 – LE, A2DP, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive
GNSS: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS
NFC Yes
FM Radio Yes (with built-in antenna)
Single USB-c 3.1, OTG
Sensors
Fingerprint (in-display), accelerometer, ambient light, gyro, proximity, magnetic compass
Battery
4400 mAh replaceable (extra batteries available)
Wired charging - PD, QC
Misc
Colours: Soot black, Pop pink, Meadowland green, Transformative teal
(Other rear cover colours available)
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Do you generate those with AI? The colour suggestions are hilarious
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Those colours are pretty close to the ones available for the Jolla 1 (JP-1301), actually.
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Luminous blue would rock