Why would they need that? Volla “”“OS”"" is Android.
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The current android implementation has nothing to do with the old aliendalvik versions which used myriads technology.
@miau, what makes you think so?
BTW, the binaries were just recently renamed (in SailfishOS 4.5.0) and the integration into SailfishOS has been a continuous development, AFAICS.
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Aliendalviik from Myriad was only used in the devices upto the XperiaX. These are also the ones that are stuck at Android 4.x. The newer ones use a different approach which was developed by Jolla(AppSupport - Jolla). Aliendalvik is also not present anymore on Myriads company website.
Only the name is still the same on jolla devices.
While this is (mostly*) true, with an emphasis on “from”, …
The newer ones use a different approach which was developed by Jolla(AppSupport - Jolla ).
… this is not: Jolla simply bought the right from Myriad Group to continue development of Alien Dalvik on their own, because Myriad Group obviously had ceased to do that for their only remaining customer of Alien Dalvik (i.e., Jolla). BTW, the Myriad Group’s principal marketing name was “Myriad Alien Embedded”, but it always meant the same product, i.e., the one called aliendalvik-….rpm on SailfishOS until SailfishOS 4.5.0.
It is actually quite easy to retrace this, if you look at the copyright information and comments of non-binary files (systemd units etc.) which are part of Alien Dalvik at the various stages of its development, i.e., on old SailfishOS releases and the three different device classes WRT Alien Dalvik (Jolla 1 → Jolla C, Jolla Tablet, Xperia X→ Xperia XA2 models with their initial SailfishOS release) .
But Jolla overhauled Alien Dalvik significantly after they bought the right to continue developing it, updating the AOSP utilised from v4.4 to v8 and running it in an LXC container instead of a chroot environment. But the basic design was always the same and the integration into SailfishOS a continuous development, up to and including “Android App Support” nowadays.
Aliendalvik is also not present anymore on Myriads company website.
Yes, for very long: Myriad Group stopped active marketing of Alien Dalvik in 2015, IIRC. Funny to see, that “Android App Support” has become Jolla’s principal product since the demise of Aurora OS (end of 2021 / early 2022).
*: Only “mostly” because Jolla did most of the integration of Alien Dalvik into SailfishOS right from its inception (i.e., starting in 2013). This can also be easily seen in non-binary files, which are part of the Alien Dalvik installation.
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I personally feel a bit conflicted with the new focus on Android AppSupport. I understand that selling Android App Support to car manufacturers is seen as a good revenue stream and that money is needed to keep the company afloat.
On the other side, I felt a bit dissapointed when the highlight of the 4.5 release was the updated Android App Support. I did not flee from Android to Sailfish OS to run Android apps really well. I’ve always seen it as a way to ease the transition from Android and I would have rather seen more effort put into Sailfish OS than in Android App Support. My end goal would be to be able to uninstall Android App Support one day.
Nevertheless, I am enjoying Sailfish OS 4.5 greatly and I really do appreciate the work the developers have put into it.
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I always thougt that Myriads AlienDalvik was an alternarive to the original Dalvik VM. Since Android switched from DVM to ART in 5.0 this approach was no longer working. Later the Anbox approach was used, which isn’t possible on older devices since the kernel doesn’t support the needed features.
Nope, that former product of Myriad Group was called “Dalvik Turbo” and was an alternative and supposedly faster Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to Googles Dalvik JVM. This was a product for Android < 5.
Alien Dalvik always was an emulation layer (see below) to run a stripped down AOSP (Android Open Source Project) on foreign (“alien”) operating systems.
Since Android switched from DVM to ART in 5.0 this approach was no longer working.
This is also not true, there was no “switch”: Dalvik JVM is still there, pure Java apps need it. Google only added the “Android Runtime (ART)” interface (often also called “native interface” and the apps using it “native apps” in contrast to Java apps) for compiled apps written in C++, C etc. If there would have been a “switch” Android 5 had been without any apps, initially.
Later the Anbox approach was used, …
Alien Dalvik predates Anbox (which became Waydroid much later) and they are completely unrelated (e.g., carry incompatible licenses, GPLv3 for Anbox / Waydroid), except for the basic concept of running an ASOP para-virtualised on something else. It is all about emulating the missing interfaces (bionic instead of libc etc. etc.) on that “something else”. Not that hard, if one uses a classic Linux distribution (as SailfishOS) as underpinning, but IIRC Alien Dalvik was also offered for WinCE (aka Windows Mobile etc.), WebOS etc.
Wait, didn’t I write all this before?
I did:
- Alien Dalvik on older devices has the same naming as Android App support on newer devices - #4 by olf
- Privacy and security of SailfishOS - #59 by olf
… which isn’t possible on older devices since the kernel doesn’t support the needed features.
Well, the technically correct answer is Android App-Support Update? - #13 by olf
P.S.: Please search first, and do not present guesswork based on the similarity of (badly chosen) names as facts.
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And regardless of the tech, Jolla have a contract with Myriad which may or may not cover App Support.
I agree with you but there are so many apps I desperately need that have no native Sailfish App. I’d rather this not be the case, but I need android for banking, for payment (sending money), and quite a few business related things, like editing documents or working on adds, etc.
I don’t think any alternative OS will be able to survive without Android or iOS support.
Very happy that I can do without GooglePlayServices and other trackers. There are so many things that make me happy about being back on Sailfish. The UI (mainly), the integration of calendar, mail and (nextcloud) accounts, and being free from Android and iOS (though somewhat shackled to their apps).
Would hope for more native apps that could take the place of android versions. I also hope there will be an official port for Xperia 10 iv because the camera on my XA2 Ultra is broken and I cannot find a replacement (needed for paying bills with a QR code).
Cordially,
Martin
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There was a poll in Telegram, Sailfish OS News Network. Only 78 voters voted about the list of possible hardware adaptations. Volla Phone/22 had the highest, 24% of the votes, then came ‘other’, 22%.
Gigaset seems to be flexible so it’s not a bad idea to coöperate and get something customised like Rephone did.
However, the GS5 is not 5G compatable. I think this compatability is a must for future adaptations.
Nobody talks about Nokia, e.g. the X20. I wonder why.
I’m not sure what the trajectory is, but the next iteration is already out (GX6, for instance) and 5G is supported. Looking at the volla releases, which is what @piggz seems to be tracking, they seem about a year behind. I’d guess the next iteration (next year) will normalize 5G gigasets. IF it continues.
I think 4G support will be about long enough and I’m just happy to have a phone with a battery I can swap out 
What’s interesting about it?
can’t you just open your bank account webpage and do money transfers from there? This is how I was doing this in the past, before my bank broke their webpage and it’s almost useless on the phone. Maybe yours is still usable? At least this part would be solved.
Hm, the Nokia X20 has 5G compatibility. For the rest nothing to boast about save the brand name. You are right: changing parts is a great advantage. So if Gigaset brings a 5G device on the market, that would probably be the best choice.
Just to underline that open_gl, which guys like me care about because we want to release games on SFOS, is borked on the volla ports. Otherwise, they are good inexpensive phones. I’m just testing the ‘modest use’ battery consumption of the GS5 with 4.5.0.18 and it’s looking pretty good (testing with under 2 hours of active use).
Well I could, if it weren’t the case that I need the BankID Android app to login. But sure, I could carry around the little digital login tool from the bank. But it is supposed to be kept securely at home… Haven’t tried the native browser with my bank web site in a while, though.
so you’re saying that your bank require you to buy exact third party product to be able to use it’s functionality? Isn’t this illegal? There was something like cross sell etc.
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I tried to use the app of my bank and it didn’t work and complained about GOOGLE SERVICES not available on the phone. This I consider as scandalous!
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No, they don’t require it, but it is very much easier to use than carrying around a little digital sign in assistant they hand you. Also, in Sweden we ise digital BankID for everything: sick day and parental leave registration, bank login, proving we are who we are in all kinds of situations. Without BankID you can barely do anything online that requires identification. And everything is done online. But BankID works with Sailfish OS android support so I am all set.
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I agree.
Soon, I’m afraid one will not be able to be a normal citizen with normal rights, if they don’t have IOS or Android.
Although citizenship is a state thing. Those companies are private…
So, the future of SFOS is to become stronger and spread much wider! 
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