Would you recommend XA2 as of 2023?

Devices
#21

I never had these problems. Apps closed in low memory situations.

A couple of significant bugs I had on the XA2 are gone. I kept trying to ask the forum if it was just me but never got an answer.

  1. Using net-heavy Android apps on my phone often broke the hotspot. This no longer happens.

  2. Android map applications no longer crash every ~15 mins. HereWeGo works a treat.

  3. My third-party 5V charger works every time on the 10iii.

I mention these because I can’t find my original reports and other users may be having such problems. If you are having major problems, and can figure out how to back up everything, it may be worth a fresh installation.

#22

I am reading this thread from time to time, but it seems complicated to me. I need a step by step tutorial.Is a Vollaphone needed or can you flash it on a plain GS5 or Rephone?

#23

No Android support with this port I suppose?

#24

Works on the GS5. I’m using it daily. But, important, not on a GS5 lite!
Limitations:
-I was not able to use the GPS into waydroid
-No copy/paste between the waydroid and SFOS
As I can’t remember the other limitations atm, they might be not so important :slightly_smiling_face: (but they are on the Volla 22/GS5 thread)
Anyway, it’s a pleasure to use SFOS on it. Camera is nice, GPS is quick, audio seems ok as I didn’t have any remark from correspondants, hotspot works, great memory, no oom kills, no crashes, just nice…

1 Like
#25

Yes, there is Waydroid. It’s a bit different than Android App Support.
I even prefer it in the sense that you have like another phone starting into SFOS. You have to enter this app/window and you are like in an Android phone…which has no access to your data, which I find pretty nice. In contrary of AAS which has copies of your contacts and perhaps other stuff, I dont remember exactly.

The only downside of the GS5 is that it is big. useful for comfy reading, but big in the pocket IMO.

Oh, I think we slipped away from the original subject.
Come to the dedicated thread, if you want.

#26

Unfortunately I don’t know how to flash a new GS5 / Volla 22… I purchased my Volla second hand and it was Volla OS installed on it. Then flashing SFOS onto it via UBports installer (available here: UBports Installer • Ubuntu Touch • Linux Phone ) worked at the first try. I also don’t know if the previous owner had to unlock the phone when it was new or if he only had to ‘hold down vol up while power on’ to get into fastboot mode.

edit: in the installer you can select 4 operating systems to install, one of them is SFOS.

#27

I’ve flashed both GS5 and rephone phones. I always unlock and developer mode the gigaset android, flash vollaos (using ubports) and then sfos (with the flash script). But others have reported that it’s not necessary to do the vollaos install. I don’t have any experience with waydroid.

#28

I hope Jolla do continue to support the XA2. Xperia 10 ii’s and iii’s are increasingly hard to find in a reasonable condition and at a reasonable price. They do pop up here in the UK occasionally on eBay and others, but not often. XA2’s are, strangely, much easier to get hold of. I’ve just bought an XA2 Plus (mainly coz of the 6Gb RAM and 64 Gb memory) as a backup phone for my 10 iii, and it wasn’t hard to find one new (old stock).

With the Xperia 10 v being the current model and the Xperia 10 vi due in mid 2024, the availability of these older models will become even more scarce.

There seems to be no news of an official port and/or the availability of Sailfish X on anything newer than the 2021 10 iii, so if Jolla do stop supporting 32 bit XA2s they will be limiting their available market (especially for Sailfish X licences) even further.

#29

I’ve the XA2 now. Well, first thing was unlocking the bootloader, as always, fairly simple. Then flashed SFOS 4.5.0.24. Well, what’s the experience? I feel some slowness, but it’s working fine. No license yet, I’m still thinking about it, using the free version. It’s like the 10, just a bit slower :wink:

2 Likes
#30

You don’t need anymore to install it
biggrin
I’m selling mine, in case. Installed with SFOS and WD working.

#31

Reacted on your offer. I you answer I will get an email.

#32

I have a 10 II and a 10 III but my daily driver is still the XA2 - I prefer the form factor, the fingerprint sensor is in the right place, GPS is good enough for Kuri, the battery is still good…

My operator (Elisa) shut down 3G a week ago (in Pirkanmaa, Finland). 2G call quality is good, and so far no mobile data during calls hasn’t been a problem.

1 Like
#33

I moved from a XA2 to a 10iii. I enjoyed the upgrade: faster browsing, better screen resolution, better camera; still has a 3.5mm jack. The thing I don’t like with the 10iii is the fingerprint sensor on the front side (I could not have it work with a glass cover).

2 Likes
#34

To answer the original question: The XA2 is still very usable and I would still recommend it if you have a good reason to prefer it. I only moved away of the XA2 because the 3.5mm jack stopped working.

Good reasons to prefer XA2 could be: backside fingerprint sensor, sturdy aluminium case, longer battery life (my XA2 lasts 5-6 days and that’s after 4 years, my 10iii lasts 2-3 days). Reasons not to choose the XA2: plastic cases or glass covers becoming unavailable (and the curved screen makes the non-specific ones them difficult to install).

4 Likes
#35

The 10 III has its fingerprint sensor integrated into the on/off switch.

#36

Which I have hated so far with all the Xperia 10 phones :smile:

Maybe I’m just clumsy but the power button it waaay too sensitive and I end up turning the display off again by accidentally pressing the sensor while it finally recognized my fingerprint.

#37

And it gets dirty all the time. You are so right. The positioning was no good idea.

#38

A few months ago, I switched from my XA2+ to 10iii. After that I flashed /e/OS onto my XA2+.
I was surprised how well /e/OS runs on the good old XA2+. SFOS 4.5, especially launching native apps, was extremely slow and Android apps often crashed due to OOM.
Though I don’t use XA2+ with /e/OS as my daily driver, so far it seems everything is running smoothly.

That makes me wonder what slows down SFOS with native Linux kernel and native apps so much.

#39

e/OS is still Android, they just removed the google services and applications… You shouldn’t compare the operating systems like that, Android is still far away from iOS and pure Linux in terms of performance (mainly cause they only focus on features, design and small security improvements…), heck, even Windows Phone was a better choice back then (this considering the same hardware specs).

#40

More than a couple of seconds to load apps?
Running 2+ bloated Android apps crashed them a lot eg HereWeGo and WhatsApp.