[Release notes] Verla 4.2.0

jovirkku · 24 June 2021 07:30

Many thanks to you our active contributors for your feedback and proposals.

Table of content

Table of content

Update version history

2021-08-31: OS version 4.2.0.19 was released to Early Access subscribers as an over-the-air update.
2021-09-10: Made available for H3213 phones, too (there was a mistake in the configuration)
2021-09-13: OS release 4.2.0.21 was rolled out to Early Access subscribers, fixing:
- Mobile data on Xperia 10 ii. It works now via 4G, 3G and 2G with the SIM1 service.
- Text prediction: hangup
- Calendar plugins cleanup: deleted accounts should not leave calendars behind anymore
- Routing of phone calls to BT headsets improved further
- Sailfish.WebView and Sailfish.Share APIs added to allowed QML imports.
2021-09-16: OS release 4.2.0.21 was rolled out to all users at 14:15 EET
2021-09-17: Flashable images added to https://shop.jolla.com/downloads/.

Size of update

The download size of the update depends on the device type and on the OS version currently in the device. Some typical values are below:

Xperia X from 4.1.0 to 4.2.0: about 430 MB
Xperia XA2 from 4.1.0 to 4.2.0: about 480 MB
Xperia 10 from 4.1.0 to 4.2.0: about 760 MB
Xperia 10 II from 4.1.0 to 4.2.0: about 840 MB

Stop release

Yes, 4.2.0 is a stop release.

Device models supported by Sailfish X

Jolla Phone is not supported anymore. OS release 3.4.0 was the last one for this device launched 7 years ago. The lowest supported kernel version of Sailfish 4 in the remaining Sailfish OS devices is 3.10. It is in Jolla C, Jolla Tablet and Xperia X.

The instructions for installing Sailfish OS to Sony Xperia X, Xperia XA2, Xperia 10, and Xperia 10 II (mark 2) devices are here - covering Windows, Linux, and macOS computers.

Read this, please, to learn about the Sailfish X licence.

The supported Sony Xperia 10 II models are:

10 II (mark 2) single-SIM: XQ-AU51
10 II (mark 2) dual-SIM: XQ-AU52

The supported Sony Xperia 10 models are:

10 single-SIM: I3113 and I3123
10 dual-SIM: I4113 and I4193
10 Plus single-SIM: I3213 and I3223
10 Plus dual-SIM: I4213 and I4293

The supported Sony Xperia XA2 models are:

XA2 single SIM H3113 (also H3123, H3133)
XA2 dual SIM H4113 (also H4133)
XA2 Ultra single SIM H3213 (also H3223)
XA2 Ultra dual SIM H4213 (also H4233)
XA2 Plus single SIM H3413
XA2 Plus dual SIM H4413 (also H4493)

The supported Sony Xperia X models are X single SIM F5121 and X dual SIM F5122

The supported Gemini PDA models are x25 and x27.

Contributions from Aurora OS

Here are some of the key features contributed by Open Mobile Platform to the Sailfish OS:

The file-sharing UI was reimplemented as system dialogue
Close button removed from the browser toolbar
OAuth2 helper API for hybrid web app developers added
Browser settings and toolbar improved
Opening a file from transfer notification supported
Improvements to clarity and robustness of sandboxing
Adjustments to permissions
Permission to control access to external storage added
Permissions listed in Settings > Apps > App are sorted alphabetically
Plenty of improvements to Webview

Jolla appreciates the collaborative efforts of its partners and community to make Sailfish OS even better.

Release Highlights

The list below contains examples of new features (and some bug fixes) added to Sailfish OS, compared to the previous public release 4.1.0. The release notes of 4.1.0 can be found here.

Accounts

Errors related to creating/removing Telepathy-based accounts fixed. For instance, removed XMPP accounts do not appear on “Settings > Presence” anymore.
Connection to Office 365 Exchange server failing due to provisioning defect fixed (provisioning inactive time)
Facebook removed from the available account types as the Facebook services had practically faded out. Facebook account remains over OS updates but won’t appear on devices to which 4.2.0 is installed/flashed.

Ambiences

UI components got a fix to follow the colouring of the new ambiences (4.0.1 regression)

Android App Support (Xperia XA2, 10 and 10 II)

“Settings > System > Android App Support > Show licences” fixed
Camera bridged to Android App Support more elegantly
Android app settings pages now display the app icon
If App Support is not running, a notification is shown about launching the App Support to start the app. The notification was improved to show the app name and icon
Internet connections of Android apps via WLAN improved
Updated to 10.0.0.54 security patch level

Audio recorder

Active cover layout now better aligns with platform style

Backup & Restore

User is notified to sign in again after restoring a backup from a cloud account

Browser

Close button removed from the toolbar
OAuth2 helper API for hybrid web app developers added
Settings and toolbar improved:
- Choosing the download directory is possible now
- History item added
- Adding a web page to add grid appears in the toolbar conveniently now
- Dialogue for checking your usernames/passwords of various web pages added
Usage of home page fixed - restarted browser takes you to the home page now (unless you have had tabs open)
Regression in saved passwords modification dialogue fixed
Tapping the downloaded file now opens the viewer app instead of taking you to the transfers
Opening a file from transfer notification supported
Signing in to captive portals with Sailfish Browser improved

CalDAV & CardDAV

Redirects from http to https (or vice versa) fixed - they used to be detected as circular and aborted
Last modified timestamp of calendar sync fixed

Calendar

Color-coded calendar indications on Calendar main page month grid added
Replying to event participants from Calendar made possible
Opening of iCalendar .ics email attachments fixed
Robustness of signing in to an Exchange account improved
Enabling/disabling calendars in Calendar app now committed when minimizing the app (previously required closing the “Manage calendars” page)
Plugins cleaned up properly - deleted accounts should not leave calendars behind anymore.

Camera

Support for multiple cameras on Xperia 10 II
Camera API bug fixes for 3rd party
Drop camera launch action from rarely used empty state cover
EDIT/2021-09-06: Removed “*Scene mode on Xperia 10 II” as this did not happen yet, after all.

Connectivity

Signal strength of 5 GHz WiFi access points fixed on Xperia 10 II
When joining a new WiFi network the IPv6 address is assigned to the interface now
Ensured that Internet sharing works on Xperia 10 II despite the dual Wi-Fi/STA+AP mode

Contacts – see People

Documents

Documents on Calligra engine upgraded (17 fixes)

Email

More robust attachment handling
Support for sending email to calendar event organiser or participants
Crash in Exchange account creation fixed

Gallery

Android storage exposed to Gallery, i.e., Android pictures and videos are shown in Gallery. Note, currently only shows pictures under Android Pictures folder, no content on app-specific folders

Harbour

Sailfish.WebView 1.0 API and Sailfish.Share API added to allowed QML imports.

Home screen

App Grid supports sticky mode for easier one-handed use. While halfway opening App Grid you can now hold a finger for a moment to pin App Grid in place and then continue to tap the app you want to launch
Lockscreen edge indicators don’t anymore move with the unlock gesture issue fixed
Dismissing OS update notifications at Events view now possible

Media

Bluetooth and wired headset media keys (play, pause, next etc.) are handled via the MPRIS framework now. This makes those keys available for Android apps, too

Messages

Grouping of non-replyable SMS service messages fixed
Sending text messages on some devices (Jolla C) fixed

Multimedia

Stability and playback quality improved

People

Tapping birthday on a contact card opens the Calendar now
Size of attachment file fixed while sharing contacts over email
Recent contacts now show both called and messaged contacts in Phone and Messages (used to only show either)
Memory leak in contacts backend fixed
Avatars painted outside their area in active cover fixed

Phone

Routing phone call voice to Bluetooth headsets improved, also by being less pedantic about the ordering of speech codecs

Sandboxing (app isolation)

Plenty of improvements to clarity and robustness
Adjustments to permissions
Permissions listed in Settings > Apps > App are sorted alphabetically

Security

Vulnerabilities fixed:

bluez 5.58: CVE-2020-27153
connman 1.32: CVE-2021-33833
curl 7.77.0: CVE-2021-22890, CVE-2021-22876
glibc 2.30: CVE-2020-27618
gstreamer 1.18.4: CVE-2019-9928, CVE-2021-3522, CVE-2021-3497, CVE-2021-3498
libjpeg 2.1.0: CVE-2020-13790
openjpeg 2.4.0: CVE-2019-12973, CVE-2019-6988
python3-lxml 4.6.3: CVE-2021-28957

Settings

App settings now show the app icon
Transfer notification icon updated for better legibility
Fingerterm terminal no longer plays haptics on both press and release

Sharing

The file-sharing UI was reimplemented as system dialogue, no longer done inside the sharing applications.

Storage

Permission to control access to external storage added
Possibility to encrypt the phone by using an inserted SD card as temporary storage. If the device isn’t encrypted and an SD card is in the device, the option to utilize the SD card during encryption appears in “Settings > Encryption”. Once the encryption is started, the UI for copying user data appears. If the data is copied correctly to the card, the device gets encrypted. After encryption, the data is copied back to the home directories.

Text input

Predictive text input is available for Xperia 10 II, too, from Jolla Store (licence required)

UI components

Context menu closing stuttering cases fixed

Webview

Plenty of improvements

Device specific improvements

Xperia 10 II

Signal strength indication of 5 GHz WiFi fixed
Signal strength indication of 3G fixed
Internet sharing fixed
Unnecessary system messages blocked
Kernel updated
Homescreen now recovers from crashes
Phone behaviour at low memory cases improved
The mic of wired headsets is now used correctly (a workaround used on 4.1.0 was removed). Hardware adaptation of Xperia 10 II updated because of this.
Support for all three cameras (shown with buttons 0.6, 1.0 and 2.0 in the viewfinder) added
Mobile data connections via 3G and 2G fixed on SIM #1
Frequent hangup at the predictive text input bar fixed

Gemini PDA

Audio functions fixed

Sailfish OS Forum and T.J.C: Issues reported by the community and fixed in this update

Technical changes

Changelog

The detailed changelog is here

Updating your device

Your device must be connected to the Internet and signed into your Jolla account. If your Jolla account is registered for Early Access releases you should receive an OS update notification when an update is available. If you have decided not to take the Early Access registration then you will get the OS update typically one week later.

We warmly recommend making some 3-4 GB of free space to the internal storage of your device ( /home ) before starting the update. Processing an OS update of almost 1 GB requires a good amount of work area. Move your pictures and videos to the SD card (or to your PC or cloud service).

This is the usual drill before attempting to update your devices:

Take a backup of your data before attempting to update your device and save the backup to an SD card or to some other off-device location (PC, your cloud service). Note that videos and images are not included in cloud-based backups. Do not reboot the device while the update is in progress. Do keep the phone connected to a battery charger during the whole process. The device screen may blank out during the update process; you may waken the display by a short press on the power key to monitor the progress.

For detailed instructions on updating software, read our help article in Zendesk.

NOTE 1:

Sailfish OS does not support downgrading. Never try to downgrade the OS as this would break your device.

NOTE 2:

After downloading an update and selecting “Install” in the pulley menu, the device runs a restart first. In the case of a device with the user-space encrypted, you will need to type the security code before the actual installation can start.

Notification concerning apps from Open Repos

The apps below have been reported to cause problems when installing the previous OS updates. We recommend that you uninstall them before proceeding to the OS update. At least, read the recent comments on those apps.

If you use Privoxy, be sure to disable it before downloading the update, especially if you have configured https-inspection
If you use Aliendalvik Control update it to the latest version 9.3.x first or else you will not be able to use your phone. See the author’s instructions.
If you use Storeman please read the author’s instructions at Storeman Installer. You will probably need to uninstall your existing Storeman and then install it using the new “Storeman Installer” app. Also, see this post.
If you use Phonehook be careful. Uninstalling it might be wise. The problems with OS release 3.4 have been fixed. There is no information about OS 4.1.
If you use OKBoard, it may be best to uninstall it. Read the author’s advice, please.
If you use Callrecorder uninstall it before upgrading. This app was updated in the year 2014 the previous time…

About SD cards

Encrypted cards must be unlocked by the user to make them available for Sailfish applications.
Non-encrypted cards are mounted automatically when the device is turned on.
Encrypted cards can be formatted only when they are locked. Formatting removes the encryption in this case (the card becomes unencrypted and unmounted). You can then format it again with the option to encrypt if needed.

Location service

Support for MLS offline data is available as installable apps in Jolla Store (see below). Install the data app of your area to make the phone get the location coordinates faster.

Positioning - Australia
Positioning - Eastern Europe
Positioning - India
Positioning - Northern Europe
Positioning - Southern Europe
Positioning - Western Europe

Recommended location settings on the phone:

Settings > System > Location > Custom settings: ON
Settings > System > Location > Select custom settings:
- GPS positioning: ON
- Offline position lock: ON
- Online position lock: OFF

Known issues - generic

Do not install WhatsApp from the Aptoide store now. There seems to be a fake app. Use alternative app stores, e.g. APK Pure.
Sailfish can connect Bluetooth Low Energy devices. However, Android apps cannot use peripheral devices via Bluetooth - other than for playback of the sound. Therefore smartwatches, for instance, cannot be controlled from Android apps, unfortunately.
Signing in to Dropbox works via Google account linking only. So, after triggering the sign-in at “Settings > Accounts > Dropbox” and the browser page dropbox.com appears, tap “Sign in with Google” (if you have a Google account).
The predictive text bar may get stuck, especially by dragging the keyboard down to close then reopening and the dragging down starting from one of the prediction items. In such a case, drag the keyboard sideways (switch to another keyboard and back) to revive the prediction bar.
On some devices, the Camera app is sluggish to open.
Issues related to IPv4 and IPv6 protocols.

Known issues to Android App Support 10 - Xperia 10 II, Xperia 10, and Xperia XA2

Sometimes, Android apps may not be able to use Internet connections via a mobile network. This happens typically right after installing Android App Support. In such a case, restart your phone [will be fixed to OS update 4.3.0]. If there are connection problems later on (either WLAN or mobile data), stopping and starting the Android service at “Settings > Android App Support” should help.

Known issues specific to Xperia 10 II

Top edge swipes in landscape orientation may not work very well
Sidetone feature is not perfectly calibrated, and sidetone volume can be a bit high in wired accessories during voice calls
There is no partition for the factory-reset image on Xperia 10 II. Therefore there is no option for the factory reset in the Settings. Instead of resetting the phone, it can be reflashed.
Mobile data does not work in 2G and 3G networks on SIM #2.
Predictive text input may not show relevant words in some languages. To be fixed on OS release 4.3.0.

Known issues specific to Xperia 10

Features not implemented: FM radio, double-tap wakeup, support for dual camera, RTC Alarms.
Rarely, audio playback and sensors (display rotation) may stop working. If this happens, please restart the device
In some cases, the acceptance of the PIN code of a SIM card may take up to 5…20 seconds
The phone may not turn off by applying the Power key or the Top Menu. A forced power down goes like this: press both the Volume Up and Power keys down. Keep them down for 20-30 sec until the vibrator plays 3 times - now release the keys.
Transitions related to network switching 4G > 3G (call begins) and 3G > 4G (call ends) may take time on some networks. Getting the data connection via 4G back might require extra actions in the worst cases. Normally, in most networks, these transitions take few seconds on Xperia 10.

Known issues specific to Xperia XA2

Features not implemented: FM radio, double-tap wakeup, RTC Alarms (XA2 does not power up when alarm time has elapsed )
Bluetooth: there are problems in connecting to some peripheral devices
Flashing Sailfish X to XA2 might still fail (so far seen to happen on Ubuntu 18.04 when using USB3 port). Please read this article.
With v17B Sony vendor image we observed a decrease in the perceived signal strength of the 5 GHz WLAN access points (investigations ongoing). Version v16 may work better in this respect. Therefore we would not recommend flashing v17B for the time being if you use WLAN networks in the 5 GHz band. You can reflash the vendor image of your choice by following the instructions in here.
Some XA2 devices suffer from the loss of audio during voice calls. Reported here.

Known issues specific to Xperia X [ no changes here ]

Features not implemented: FM radio, double-tap wakeup, step counter, RTC Alarms
Issues with mobile data persist on some SIM cards. Turn the Flight mode on and off to reset the network setup. Reverting the device to Android and re-installing Sailfish X has often helped. See our support article.
[camera] Force autofocus mode for photos, and continuous for video. After this, camera focus is still not ideal - as the camera stays out of focus when it starts until you either tap or try to take a shot - but the pictures seem to be better focused now
Bluetooth: problems with some car equipment, some audio devices and computers may appear
The loudspeaker volume level cannot be adjusted very high
Not all SD cards are recognized and mounted.
There is a green stripe on the lower edge of the Camera viewfinder. This does not prevent taking pictures, though.

Known issues specific to Jolla Tablet [ no changes here ]

There is no progress bar during the installation phase of OS upgrades. This makes it difficult to follow if it makes progress or not. However, if there are no problems the device will restart itself in the end - please wait patiently. If you feel that you have waited enough, wait for yet another 20 minutes before you turn off the device to allow some more time for it to complete the job. Interrupting too early may break the tablet.
Taking screenshots is broken. Pressing the VOL keys together seems to create an image but it cannot be viewed in Gallery.

Known issues specific to Gemini PDA

Features not implemented: double-tap wakeup, RTC Alarms
Gemini Screenshot Button Fn + X does not work
Not possible to answer calls when Gemini is closed with a side button
Horizontal screen in Gemini is not supported by all 3rd party apps.

Know issues specific to Jolla C

If there are issues with the camera of Jolla C, do the following

/usr/bin/killall minimediaservice

and then start the camera again.

Firefox84 · 31 August 2021 19:49

I am an early suscriber, but the update is not showing up. Did you release this article too early like in the past? Or does the update take time from Finland to the rest of Europe

vlagged · 31 August 2021 19:52

which webview got the plently of improvements ? gecko or webkit? and what improvements , api or …?

Keto · 31 August 2021 20:07

Few small configuration glitches on the backend for some device models. Should be fixed now and update should show up to all early access subscribers.

fridlmue · 31 August 2021 20:13

It seems, that the Changelog is not yet publicly available in the Forum. Would be nice to give the package changes a look

EDIT: I see, it is now. Thank you!

nthn · 31 August 2021 20:17

The update is a whopping 910 MB on my Xperia 10 II. Whew! Looking forward to having it up and running.

Edit: nice to see so many ‘papercuts’ both new and (very) old fixed! Now I just need the Xperia 10 II’s camera to stop making backlit pictures so incredibly dark, then my needs will have been satisfied.

Edz · 31 August 2021 21:34

@jovirkuu
“Don’t install Whatsapp from Aptoide, use alternative webstores”, yeah, correctamundo!, but I think this is initially still bad advice, personally I ONLY install and update Whatsapp from Whatsapp’s webpage when Whatsapp itself says “There’s an update!” (funnily enough I mentioned this elsewhere on this forum recently!..echo, echo…)

KuroNeko · 1 September 2021 00:33

Since I don’t see it listed, I am assuming the tracker bug on 64bit devices is not fixed? Where if the creation time is unset on one file, it will not index any files? Index for media files & documents not updating (Xperia10 II, 4.1.0.23) - #10 by KuroNeko

Afaik tracker should get a bigger update soon anyway, did that get delayed?

mempko · 1 September 2021 01:08

Installed on my Xperia 10 II with no issue. Android apps feel much smoother and better integrated. Not sure if that’s just my imagination. But it feels faster. One thing I disappointed with is no mention of VoLTE support. Where I’m at 3G is being shut down and I can no longer use my sailfish device as a phone. I am currently tethering it to another phone when I go out.

lumen · 1 September 2021 04:39

Update fails on XA2 4.1.0.24. “Please try again later”
Some symptoms:
I tried to uninstall Storeman before updating as that was mentioned in the notes, but it just won’t disappear from the apps. Then I tried to pkcon refresh, but it just says “waiting in queue” and won’t do anything.
(I do not have any patches installed on the device)
Any ideas what to do next?

edit: After doing reboot with volume buttons up and down together (device vibrates 3 times) the pkcon refresh starts but gives a fail message immediately:
“/etc/zypp/repos.d/ssu_nubecula-mls-offline-repo_release.repo: Section [nubecula-mls-offline-repo]: Line 8 contains garbage (no ‘=’ or ‘:/?|,’ in key)”
That garbage part doesn’t sound too good need help…

edit2:
Now the update won’t download anymore, it just says “waiting for connection” for eternity, although Jolla browser loads pages so I do have a connection. Doesn’t start to download with WLAN either.

Multitude of reboots seem to have no effect.

edit 3:
Jolla store now shows “no apps installed”. Hmm, quite interesting already…
I guess I’m heading towards factory reset…
Tried to use “Utilities / Clear Package Cache” in the settings, the phone starts again, but nothing seem to have happened really… and the Jolla Store started to say “Critical Error”.

edit 4:
factory reset solved it, I’m now at 4.2 also
however…the backup utility…I’m pulling my hair off, I don’t get to choose what to backup, I don’t get to choose what I want to restore…and then the worst…restoring stuck for hours and phone useless for the time being…now restored for I don’t know how many hours and cannot know if anything happens for real, or am I waiting for nothing… GRRRR

karry · 1 September 2021 07:03

Thanks for this update! I’m looking forward for all fixes.

“double-tap wakeup” is not mentioned as known issue for Xperia 10 II. Does it mean that it can be enabled somehow?

Maximilian1st · 1 September 2021 07:16

Same here on an Xperia 10.

gaelic · 1 September 2021 07:17

I can confirm: on my Xperia 10 II Android behaves much smoother, overall the systems appears to be smoother.

martijntje · 1 September 2021 07:32

Failed to update here, XA2 Plus. Downloading was very weird. It was stuck at the first few percent for a long time, which isn’t unusual in itself (apparantly jollas servers are very slow), but then it continued with great spurts and when it reached 50% it suddenly jumped to complete.

I then tried to install it. The phone simply rebooted back into 4.1. Now I’m downloading the update again. Hoepfully it’ll download it for real this time!

A retry showed the same weird behaviour: The download was stuck at a few percent, then quickly went up to about 50% and then was suddenly “complete”. This time the phone got stuck after selecting “install update” and it just kept showing the sony logo. Had to force-reboot the phone. Now I’m back in 4.1.

Edit: Was able to install the update using sfos-upgrade.

Edz · 1 September 2021 07:40

FREE SailfishOS updated via terminal from 4.1 to 4.2 on Xperia 10 ii.

Update installation failed around 56% but Settings showed “BUILD: 4.2 (Verla)” after rebooting device.

Completed update in terminal using ‘pkcon update’ to finish installation.

Side note: I removed Storeman Installer as mentioned in the notes, but the installer fails to install Storeman in 4.2, the installer dies silently and its cover disappears. I have commented as much to Storman dev.

jovirkku · 1 September 2021 07:42

Unfortunately not. Line removed by mistake.

martijntje · 1 September 2021 07:44

Are you sure the storeman installer failed? For me the first time it seemed to “fail” as well, but then it actually did its work. The app launcher now has a storeman entry instead of the storeman installer.

Granted, it’s a bit strange, but it works OK, at least for me.

virgi26 · 1 September 2021 08:34

will there be support for multiple cameras for Xperia 10 in future? or maybe it can already be enabled in some beta state?

nephros · 1 September 2021 08:37

Xperia 10 does not actually have multiple (useful) cameras. The second one on the back is a bokeh lens intended to snap blurred backgrounds that are edited together with the main image by some app.
It’s a 5 megapixel sensor.

I doubt there is any useful application for it other than to take blurry, low-resolution pictures.

Edz · 1 September 2021 08:40

Yes, I’m quite sure. Before upgrading, I had installed Storeman on 4.1 using the new installer and it went without a hitch, I commented as much to @mentaljam, but this time, it fails, at least on my device (Xperia 10 ii).