Lets say you are -or will be sooon™- in the market for a new phone that can run SFOS.
What would you be buying?
I need ideas cause even if i overlook the idiotic sizes nothing feels nice enough to spend money on.
10iii
actually consider the 10iv and 10v a hardware regression given the lack of usb3.
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If ASUS, in its infinite wisdom, decides that they will allow unlocking of the bootloader again, I would probably choose the Zenfone 8. I lost a bit of faith in it and got rid of mine due to un-unlockability, but @vlagged did a port for it which seems to run quite well (as far as I can tell without hardware…). So if you still have time to wait for ASUS, I would take a look.
It is reasonably compact (not comparable with the XZ2c though), is well-specced and feels good in the hand. (But you probably shouldn’t buy one from the first batch, they seem to die frequently without warning, according to several complaints in different forums.)
A smartphone with 5 inch Screen or smaller!
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The main criteria for me is supported features with SFOS. Unfortunately the only realistic option is 10iii, I would be happy with a Fairphone if it was supported properly.
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i’d put all my design, engineering or any other skills i have into it if there was someone to fund something like this and have it made.
If you have 10-15 million euros or so lets talk. 
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Although I was hoping to recommend the Rephone, if you can find a new phone for under 200 Euro, I still recomend the GS5 or Volla22 if you want to support volla. I think @piggz would recomend the Volla x23 now?
Something with better SFOS integration than the sony xperias; ideally something without the android blobs but semi-full opensource stack (where “semi-full” means from drivers up to UI, silica excluded). Of course, being a spolied user, Id still want to have full android support 
So perhaps something in the style of Pine/Fairphone, but with more juice…
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That would be nice to have but there arent any phones like that.
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A smartphone with 6 Inch screen or bigger.
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I would go for the latest officially supported phone. Currently that would be Sony Xperia 10 III (but their availability is probably terrible now). Volla’s would be fine, but they are not officially supported in that sense.
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Agree to everything.
I would buy instantly a Volla X23 with official SFOS support (which include Android support as well). I brick my VollaX during installing SFOS some months ago. Right now I am very happy with my Xperia 10 III. The only disadvantages is the battery power drain.
Anything with good coverage of North American cellular bands and volte working. As far as Sonys go, that kinda rules out the 10 III, IV, and probably V. 
The 10 II is marginal, but I use it. My wife is not amused when I don’t answer the phone.
If a phone had a good camera, that’d just be gravy. All I really need is to be able to do is talk, text and use SFOS.
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10 iii is old and hard to find. It would be good if we got a new device (10 iv) in the next few months but there is not even a rumor around that and most likely i would turn a blind eye to the size -and hate every moment.
I am going mad and looking at iPhone minis or cheap dumb phones.
Mi Note 10? A little bulky, a tad older, but performance is good, camera awesome. The virtual proximity sensor… you need to forget about it. Just close the screen with the power button:D </advertising>
To the topic: I wondered the same, what device next, but from someone who had the time to try to port sailfish. I even made a scoring system for what I thought were my needs at the time.
I ended up using the objective scores and went with the Zenfone 8. The road was bumpy but there’s hope… wifi power drain, ASUS still not making unlocking of the bootloader available back…
What I discovered is that with time, the fact that the phone is small is not helping (for the eyes, you see…). Next time I will go in the 6"+ territory again, if there will be a next time.
Oh, and I miss infrared sensor from Xiaomi. Even if it is a gimmick:)
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Xperia I III ;D Would be cool to see a powerful smartphone running it
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I can’t say that an iPhone 13 mini won’t be great, but i don’t see how it will be a sfos replacement.
Unless of course you are not happy with other stuff too.
There are many stuff that i am not happy with SFOS but for sure i will be unhappier with iOS, its ads, its weird “gestures”, its subscribe to everything model and so on. And don’t get me started on Android.
It will be a more practical device in some ways but more annoying in other.
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How do people use non-supported devices without 5G / VoLTE support? I am really asking. I had to abandon Sailfish OS years ago due to not being able to make phone calls. I keep waiting for Jolla to come out with a phone that I can reliably use for work. I honestly don’t understand how they make any money, since the OS they sell works on hard-to-find old phones. It’s pretty strange. I am sadly getting pretty used to e/OS/.
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In the USA the Xperia XA2/Ultra can still make and receive calls on TMobile. The Xperia 10 ii and 10 iii both have VoLTE on TMobile and most GSM-T carriers, though some have mixed results. I’m in the process of writing bindings for implementing VoLTE on the Xperia 1, which is pretty powerful and had very good support for ATT and TMobile bands in the USA. I can’t speak for what’s ideal for other countries. I hear the varoius Volla phones work well.
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