Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

engadget.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 142 posts

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#21

Post by mempko »

zepearl wrote: post #2

I'm using Sailfish OS on an Xperia X since when it became available. My main reason to migrate from Android was "battery life" which was confirmed (battery now lasts ~5 days instead of the usual 2-3), but the OS has a lot of small and bigger bugs (e.g. carrier selection, 2G/3G/4G priority, stuck data comm for Android apps) and missing features (notoriously: tethering/wlan access point, bluetooth) that do not currentl…

Im using Sailfish on the Sony Xperia as my daily driver. Most android apps I care about work. But it isn't 100% convenient.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#22

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

I have a Jolla 1 phone, and I do enjoy many of its features that Android lacks, but I plan on replacing it with a Librem when and if possible. In spite of Jolla repeatedly advertising Sailfish as an open source operating system, much of Sailfish remains closed source (even simple, basic things like the mail app) and there are no plans to change this. Plus, like many other sailors to judge from together.jolla.com, I’m uncomfortable with the tight relationship Jolla now has with the Russian state, though I do realize that might be the only chance the company has to be profitable.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#23

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

shmerl wrote: post #15
zepearl wrote: post #2

I'm using Sailfish OS on an Xperia X since when it became available. My main reason to migrate from Android was "battery life" which was confirmed (battery now lasts ~5 days instead of the usual 2-3), but the OS has a lot of small and bigger bugs (e.g. carrier selection, 2G/3G/4G priority, stuck data comm for Android apps) and missing features (notoriously: tethering/wlan access point, bluetooth) that do not currentl…

What's the status of the browser? Before it was stuck with ancient Gecko, because IPC embedlite project basically died. What are they doing now about it? I wish they'd take something like Servo and browser.html for these purposes.

Latest Firefox Mobile LTS release still works on Jolla’s ancient Android version (through the Alien Dalvik compatibility layer). You can install it from F-Droid.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#25

Post by shmerl »

bruce_one wrote: post #18
shmerl wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the status of the browser? Before it was stuck with ancient Gecko, because IPC embedlite project basically died. What are they doing now about it? I wish they'd take something like Servo and browser.html for these purposes.

During the last community meeting there was talk that the browser engine is getting updated, but no more details than that: http://merproject.org/meetings/mer-meeting/2018/mer-meeting....

Interesting. I hope they'll figure something out with Gecko or Servo, instead of simply switching to Blink.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#26

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

deanclatworthy wrote: post #11

It’s hardly an alternative. Having tried it twice, the gestures are completely alien to a new user and I gave up with our test device within an hour.

> Having tried it twice, the gestures are completely alien to a new user.

When you buy a Jolla device, you are taken through a tutorial. The gestures aren’t that difficult to get used to. To me personally, they seem a lot more straightforward and intuitive than my wife’s Android phone.

Incidentally, this winter I traveled in a couple of developing countries and bought local SIM cards from an office of the main telecom concerns of these countries. Both times when I said I wanted to use 3G data, the clerks grabbed my Jolla from me and tried to get to where they thought the settings menu was by repeatedly mashing where the Android back button would be. When I said it wasn’t an Android phone, it was like they simply couldn’t absorb that information, they just started mashing harder. That really underscored for me just how much of a mobile monoculture the world is. (The clerks probably could have found their way around an iPhone, too, but I didn’t see many of them in this region.)

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#27

Post by [deleted] »

chrisseaton wrote: post #13

Sailfish OS has the most farcical history of renames, forks and merges I've ever seen. MeeGo, Mer, Maemo, Moblin, Harmattan, LiMo, SLP, Bada, Leste, Tizen, Nemo... It they spent more time on making a finished product rather than coming up with yet another stupid new name, logo and website they might have more traction.

[deleted]

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#29

Post by ahartmetz »

chrisseaton wrote: post #13

Sailfish OS has the most farcical history of renames, forks and merges I've ever seen. MeeGo, Mer, Maemo, Moblin, Harmattan, LiMo, SLP, Bada, Leste, Tizen, Nemo... It they spent more time on making a finished product rather than coming up with yet another stupid new name, logo and website they might have more traction.

The N9 took far too long indeed, but it was a great phone. It wasn't sold in any large market and quickly killed by Nokia and Microsoft management. It seemed like it had a chance at the time.

Re: Jolla is the last company with an 'alternative' mobile operating system

#30

Post by [deleted] »

[deleted] wrote: post #27
chrisseaton wrote: post #13

Sailfish OS has the most farcical history of renames, forks and merges I've ever seen. MeeGo, Mer, Maemo, Moblin, Harmattan, LiMo, SLP, Bada, Leste, Tizen, Nemo... It they spent more time on making a finished product rather than coming up with yet another stupid new name, logo and website they might have more traction.

[deleted]

[deleted]
Post reply on HN