Some beginner questions

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#13

I don’t use very many Android apps. It’s basically eID, mobile payments, and a bit of Spotify. (And mail tracking, but i should switch over to Paketti). Now that you mention it, Spotify looks like it is in retiree-mode, strange. So i checked the Android settings - and i could turn down the size one step, an now it looks much more reasonable.

Android settings are either accessed through the settings item added by aliendalvik-control, or by accessing app settings for an Android app, launching it’s Android settings, pressing the back button, and reactivating that window. (easy, huh?)

I have installed some security-senistive apps through Aurora with no issues so far, but i can’t vouch for it. Proprietary apps not being available is not something we can really blame Sailfish for though, is it? The publishers need to get their act together.

Supposedly the native app Foil Auth works with Microsoft, but i have no ideas if it is for your purpose.

I think the browser is actually pretty good now, not counting the crashes. And it is bound to get even better in the next release. Alternative native browsers, apart from maybe Angelfish aren’t any better nowadays (IMO). Firefox for Android works very well, if you happen to be frequenting pages that the built-in browser dislikes more than usual.

The Xperia 10 II is the likely new candidate, still midrange, but definitely a step up from the current ones. There is also perceived slowness in that animations are built to be quite slow, and i’d say slower than necessary nowadays. Obviously it is no iPhone, but i have had a Galaxy S9 (since new) for work, and i don’t care for it one bit. It still manges to lag where it hurts the most.

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#14

By no means am I blaming SFOS. I think its a great OS, with great potential. I am rather blaming out capitalism-driven society which does not exactly power open-source software and the likes :slight_smile:

Actually, the Xperia 10 II looks pretty nice.

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#15

I’m new too to Sailfish and am confused about how to install .apk apps. I see them in the Transfers section then tap the link and nothing happens. I did change the security settings to allow third part apps (that’s a bit scary!) and nothing. I tried installing the Here WeGo app (.apk) and didn’t thing anything happened and went back to the link and it said it was installed, but no icon…where do I go to open it?

#16

I assume you have the Android runtime installed?
When you say “went back to the link”, i’m getting the impression you mean some webpage, which then cannot know whether it got installed or not, just that it got downloaded.

There was a mention on here just recently about Android apps not showing up, but can’t find it right now.
Could definitely be worth going to #sailfishos on Freenode IRC to get faster answers and a discussion going.

#17

Exactly as attah said.

Noticed same strange behaviour on my test X without Android runtime.
Downloaded apk looks like getting instled but does/can not as not supported without official paid license, Android runtime installed.

In case of Android support installed did you try a reboot after activation/installation of it?

Or take a look here and follow up to this.

#18

I’m trying to “de-Google” and have avoided installing anything from them so have not installed Android Runtime. I read that if I find an app, let’s say for navigation, if I find the .apk link it can be installed on my phone?

#19

I have been using Apk Pure android store to install android apps. The experience has been good so far. By the way, I have very less android apps installed.

Whatsapp
Cricbuzz - App for cricket live scores
MySejahtera - Malaysia local contact tracing app for Covid-19

#20

Are you confusing this woth Google Play Services? In order to run Android apps, you need the Android runtime from Jolla. Obviously by virtue of being based on Android, this comes from Google, but does not contain the bits people usually worry about.

#21

Where did you find this? When I go to settings -> apps -> WhatsApp/Spotify/… -> Android Settings, I dont find any option to set any kind of sizes.

#22

And again, as attah said:

Android settings are either accessed through the settings item added by aliendalvik-control, or

But second method/bug does not work since 3.3 (or 3.4).
Afair there is no official method to access overall Android settings, else using the console.
By issuing:
apkd-launcher com.android.settings

And then Display-Advanced-Font size.

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#23

Ah, got it. Was able to reduce font and display size, now android apps look good :slight_smile:

#24

The native Telegram client Yottagram is claimed to be really fast, but I did not test this aspect personally.

#25

I have tried that one too, but its also not very feature-complete.

[edit] Sorry, I have confused it with Telegram’me i think. Yottagram seems nice, although it also has performance issues. E.g. scrolling in a chat is like 10 FPS, and also animated stickers are moving slowly, with like 5-10FPS.

But maybe thats just the overall performance of the XA2?

#26

If you’re using a German bank, you may want to try out Zaster Banker (written by Sebastian Wolf, who also wrote Fernschreiber). I don’t have a German bank account, so haven’t tried it myself, although I wish I could.

I’m happy to see you’re getting things sorted.

#27

For me, both clients show a decent performance, but I have the XA2 Ultra, which to my knowledge has more RAM. But I can not imagine that this makes such a difference. The only situation where I experience performance issues is the power saving mode, when the remaining battery charge drops below the configured level.

#28

Okay so after playing around with SFOS I’m getting used to the gestures and handling, and I begin to like it. Unlike with ubuntu touch, android apps seem to be pretty viable, stable and good.

So I really would love to use SFOS as main phone. I guess the things I would need for that to happen first are:

  • better hardware, thus better overall user experience
  • better cameras
  • phone of the size of a iPhone 11 pro - the XA2 is pretty huge, which I dont like much
  • nice to have: redshift (I use that on every electronic device, even my TV, since in my family there is some issues with eye deseases)

So just gonna stay tuned for updates in 2021 both regarding hardware and software :slight_smile:

#29

For a redshift like feature, there is an app an openrepos, it’s calles tint overlay

#30

With regard to hardware this topic could be interesting for you. I wrote a post there explaining what constrains the choice of devices

#31

Hey

Im currently trying to get telegram on my XA2 but to no avail.

Any chance you could detail how you got it installed as I’n running around in circles at this point

Thanks

#32

What exactly is your setting? Do you have android support and from what source do you try to install? Or do you try to use a native client?