Please help me find a new device

Devices
#1

Hi,

my Xperia X is getting old and was having odd problems from the start and I finally made the decision that I need something new. But what? I have no idea what to go for and want to hear other opinions.

The Xperia 10 III is really hard to get now here, but then there are community ports, like the Volla Phone 22 or X23. But should I chose one of those? The X23 looks partially like a downgrade of the X22. It has a worse display for example.

I also like the size of my X, modern phones started to get huge in size. Who has pockets that deep to fit them? I would like to have android app support by default, but I could get waydroid to work, too. There are lots of angles to consider here and I can’t just buy three phones and see which one suits me best.

So, what would you recommend?

#2

I would recommend the xperia 10 ii because 10 iii has a severe bug where audio is disappearing, what can be quite annoying during a call

#3

Thank you for your answer, you are making my life not easier :slight_smile:

The II is sadly even harder to get than the III it seems.

#4

Where do you live? At least on ebay.de, there are several used Xperia 10 IIIs available in reasonable price.

Like @smatkovi mentioned, 10 III has some quirks, but personally I haven’t been troubled by them more than once or twice - unfortunately I don’t know, how often people face these bugs (audio lost, echo during calls, fingerprint service failing). The only exception to this is the fingerprint sensor service, that needs to be restarted once or twice a month, in my case. I believe some people have been reporting being constantly bothered by the echo cancellation issue, where the person at the other end will hear their own voice. I have had zero complaints, but this proves nothing of course.

I would go for Volla 23 or Sony Xperia 10 III, since they both have 6GB of RAM. The amount of RAM is crucial, when one is not running solely on SFOS, but Waydroid / Android App Support on the side as well. I would choose a device with 8GB RAM if I could, but I believe Pro 1 X is the only option - and it is out of stock. However, at this point, it pretty much boils down to the importance of Android App Support vs. being able to replace some parts of the phone with ease.

I’d enjoy having a small phone as well (4,7" display), but currently there are no options to run SFOS on a small phone. By the way, if you have any more specific questions in mind, please do share them, so we can provide better answers.

#5

The closer you can get is a xz2 compact. Not officially supported though.

1 Like
#6

The XZ2 compact is hard to get, too.

#7

As far as I can see from the replies it’s between Volla 22 and 23X, if I want a device that is available, right?

When looking at the 23X, it has a worse display than the 22. Does anyone know why and how the difference feels?

(I’m still open for more recommendations!)

#8

Maybe not the best recommendation if you want a small device, and not cheap, but SFOS on Volla Phone works excellent! It’s abt. 6 inch and not so looong as the Sony’s, so better to read browser/homepage content.

#9

Thank you for your input :slight_smile:

The Volla Phone 22 is only 0.5 mm taller (the X23 is almost half a centimeter taller, that would make difference, though)

#10

I also liked small (Fairphone 2 was my ideal) phones which also worked well with SFOS, but I have to admit as a ‘reader’, I’m actually happy with the larger phone sizes. Also has to do with some uses cases like image editing and some video stuff I do with the phone. I’m also a cargo pants pocket type :slight_smile: In any case, the volla/gigaset phones are pretty good value for money and @piggz ports are really solid. But it does depend on the market you’re in. In germany, switzerland, etc, they are easy to find cheap (1/2 price) as ‘returns’. I’ve a couple of rephones and GS5s which I bought as ‘new, returns’ which really were new phones. I also found a 10III which was a new return and paid just over 160 euro for it, but I think that was dumb luck. EDIT: all ebay.

#11

Thank you for your input, too. :slight_smile:

I will sleep over all the comments here. Even though I think I’m going for a Volla 22.

#12

I have two brand new, still-sealed 10ii’s in USA. I’m willing to help.

#13

The Volla x23 is designed to be extra durable and resistant. That’s why the screen is a bit worse and the phone a bit bigger. Also, the x23 comes with 6 GB of RAM, which from my current experience with my Xperia 10 II should make a difference.
The main difference between an official SFOS device and any community port is the Android emulation. You can use waydroid on community devices, but it currently does not have the same integration into SFOS as AlienDalvik (the build-in emulator). If you can live with that, a Volla would probably be the best option right now. Depending where you live, there are also some rebrands of the GS5 (which is also used for the Volla Phones) available which may be cheaper / have better specs.

#14

You literally have no choice:
Volla - all phones are of the size of a frying pane.
Xperias - smaller than Volla, slimmer so better one hand handling/usage, still bad but …
Xperia 10 - everything works except of the touchscreen which has ghost touch issues, this is the biggest and only problem with this phone. It occurs on Android and SFOS.
Xperia 10 II - 3rd party caller may hear their own voice echo;The sidetone feature is not perfectly calibrated, and sidetone volume can be a bit high in wired accessories during voice calls; Mobile data does not work in 2G and 3G networks on SIM #2.;
Xperia 10 III - same as Xperia 10 II plus audio may be lost.

So in general, right now there’s no fully usable officially supported by SFOS phone.

#15

I am writing this on my daily driver, a 10 III, last SF OS, German Vodafone SIM, roaming in Stockholm.

Lost audio did happen. Reboot and forget about it. It doesn’t happen to often.

Echo…sometimes due to my phone, sometimes due to the phone on the other side.

Navigation through Europe, music on the car stereo? Android with fennec, Signal, Threema? Works.

I had the X, the XA2 before. I am quite happy with my phone since the roaming issues seem to be gone. (Reboot after crossing borders seems to be mandatory again.)

Getting one might not be easy.

3 Likes
#16

so it happens - then it means phone is unusable as you never know when the audio will get lost. Next time it could be when the phone should wake you up for a train.

We already made some conversations in the past and based on that I can say that your expectations regarding working phone are on the very basic level. Maybe you care only about internet - fine. But I expect the phone to be a first a phone, the internet is just add on.

#17

Please stay on topic here, as I’m trying to find a new device.

Losing audio is an annoying bug that has to get fixed. Phantom touches by the touchscreen is a no-go either. If something is broken, fix it or have it fixed and don’t work around it. And since I want to find a device that is at least 99.9 % working those faults are nothing I want, because they will annoy me to death.

#18

I’ve had the audio bug twice on XIII in 14 months of usage, some people just blow some bugs out of proportions (or maybe some app they use is causing it to happen more often?) Less than once half a year is definitely not ‘less than basic level’ my android using friends have more painful bugs occurring much more often (having to restart weekly), now try pinephone/pureos where issues with calls are on the daily level and you have less than basic level sure

2 Likes
#19

This topic sadly highlights the perpetual HW problem we have with SFOS.

#20

It’s mostly SW, my company iPhone already had a huge bug with internet connectivity/vpn just stuck on downloading Teams update, as I’m expected to be available on Teams all the time and it just wouldn’t update (M$ ships updates for it every 2-3 days, same for outlook app) it caused a catastrophic unavailability, iPhones are just not ready for primetime yet if someone concentrates on this specific bug (or maybe vpn, or M$ is at fault, still a critical bug, how could someone use iPhones kek)

1 Like