XA2 plus with 6GB ram worth it?

More than 6 months ago I’ve purchased 10 III hoping that echo / camera issues would be resolved within 2-3 months. Unfortunately this has not happened and looking at github repos for both SFOS and sony I don’t see that happening any time soon.

So I’m looking for alternative - I used XA2 when it came out and was pretty happy with it but ultimately had to move to something else because 3GB of ram is just not enough to have a nice fluid experience (with android apps running).

Now I see I can buy used or refurbished XA2 plus with 6GB ram and I’m wondering if someone out there has this device? Would performance be comparable to 10 III since it has equal amount of RAM? Any thoughts?

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XA2+ with maximum ram, probably 6 GB, is my daily driver. However, I cannot compare it to any other device. As it runs on 32 bit, I’d guess that it’s still a lot slower than the 64-bit devices.

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend switching to a XA2 with SFOS 4.0.2, as several Programs take a long time to start, e.g. camera takes 5–8 secs. The native browser is very slow, moderate websites take 15+ seconds to load, which is NOT due to bandwidth limitations. I get hit by OOM limits when running Android apps in parallel to native browser and native podcast player.

I hope that all this is better with 10x devices.

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If you flash the latest SFOS on the XA2 plus or update, you have also the latest browser that runs much better than the old one on SFOS 4.0.2 . @mjun if I were you I would reflash the XA2 plus and use it as an intermediate solution until SFOS on 10 III is better well-engineered.

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thanks, that was my train of thought because my experience with XA2 (classic) was really pleasent and it really felt polished and “complete”, so to say.

I’m also considering 10 II but I somehow got the feeling XA2 devices have less problems than 10 series.

I’m might be wrong though

I suggest the 10 III and not the 10 II, because CPU power is much more on the 10 III and so it’s much more future-proof.
10 series: The Xperia 10 without any I’s works like a charm! But unfortunately with a 32 bit Sony blob and so only at half power.

as I already own 10 III I guess I’ll try to get XA2+ with 6GB RAM and use that until 10 III bugs get fixed

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i have used the XA2 Plus for four years now, and it has been great.

however, with 3G services being turned off in many networks shortly along with a lack of volte on the pre 10ii devices means it won’t be a very good phone shortly.

2G will remain longer than 3G (I read, until 2030). The old phones can switch to 2G if 3G is not available and VoLTE not supported.

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Doesn’t XA2+ have 4G which should be supported much longer?

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Sure, but only for mobile data. It has no VoLTE support.

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Here in Croatia VoLTE is not even offered as a service by most of our carriers (afaik only Croatian telecom offeres VoLTE / VoWifi but at extra cost) so not having VoLTE is not really an issue for me.

All in all I’m planning on using XA2+ for the next year or two - this should be enough time to fix all of the 10 III bugs, i hope

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Telephony service in 4G is always VoLTE, 4G offers no other option. Telephony service without VoLTE is only provided in 3G and 2G networks. Unfortunately Jolla is not willing and/or able to implement VoLTE to older phone models (at this time), but as long as at least 2G is available, I see no problem with using an old phone for the next 1-2 years.

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I’m sure the bugs will be fixed. The upcoming SFOS update surely will bring a lot of improvements, as it always was every update time.

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I have an XA2+ with a broken card slot and I use it still at home with pleasure. I use a 10 III as my phone with that awful echo. It is more lightweight than the XA2+ , has an odd ratio and has 64-bit apps, etc. More future proof it seems.
The XA2 and especially the XA2+ have a better sound quality than the 10 III. The screen of the XA2+ is also nice, it has more saturated colours than the 10 III.
My husband still uses an XA2 with 4.4.0.58 and mobile functions on 4G.
There are more 32-bit apps in Jolla Store than 64-bit apps.

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I’ve put my sim in the XA2+ and in the right corner on top of the front screen appears 4G.Don’t know if it actually uses 4G, but I don’t know that with the 10 III either. There it says ‘in beta’.

With 6GB you have other band frequencies as the device with 4GB. If you don’t go to germany - it doesn’t matter, i think.

You are confusing LTE(4G) and VoLTE (voice calls over 4G) now.

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@Kea VoLTE is a transport protocol for telephony service over IP. The name means ‘voice over LTE’ with the meaning ‘telephony service integrated into 4G’s IP based network connection’. It’s similar to Internet telephony.

This is only a matter of software that was simply not implemented into SFOS until now except the two new devices (X10 II +III) in experimental stage.

Since 2G and 3G have their own telephony protocol in parallel to the IP network access, cellphones didn’t need VoLTE and the Sailfish phones simply switch from 4G down to 3G or 2G while making or receiving a phone call.

But 4G is a IP-only network, so voice calls over 4G are only possible if VoLTE is implemented in the phone’s OS.

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The problem with the lack of VoLTE is that in many places there is no 2G and 3G coverage left, so you can’t use your phone for calls. You should check your provider before choosing and old device.

At Germany it usually is still possible to use 2G for calls. However it has the drawback of almost no Internet access while calling due to 2G bandwidth

In my specific case (or for anyone living in Croatia) this is not an issue.

2G/Edge will remain active in Croatia for at least couple of years because both of our two major carriers (A1 and HT) have more than 5 million of devices still using GSM/Edge (mainly IoT devices where high traffic/bandwidth is not required). The main reason for this is almost 90% country coverage with GSM/Edge whereas 4G is only at ~50-60% and 5G is practically nonexistent - this reduces infrastructure cost as there is a strong push from EU to expand 5G connectivity so they really don’t want to lose their existing customers that still rely on GSM and don’t want to upgrade.

3G is being phased out for almost 5 years now but as you can see from this coverage map - even 3G is still pretty much live and kicking (at least for A1 carrirer) in 2023.

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